A thread related to the other two on films.
There are a few films that I found astoundingly good and affecting but I don’t think I could watch again. In my case the three that immediately spring to mind are; Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo’s truly harrowing and disturbing (to me as a late teenager) anti-war tale, Johnny Got His Gun, Eraserhead – watched at a late night showing a few years after its original release – on stuff I shouldn’t have done, given the content, and Ai No Corrida (In the realm of the Senses), again a late night show, not the sex but the ending…
Any films you couldn’t put yourself through again?
Irreversible. Requiem for a Dream. Breaking the Waves. There are probably others but those three spang immediately to mind.
Oh yes – all good calls PC. I am kinda girding my loins to watch Requiem for a Dream but haven’t made it yet…
All three are sitting on my shelves. Funnily I never had an issue with watching Audition or The Vanishing both films that are pretty bleak depictions of human behaviour. There’s bleak and then there’s a level beyond that. Funny Games is another we never had any great urge to watch more than once. Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Bad Lieutenant…
Having seen all those you mention, I also won’t be rushing back to any of them.
Of them all, The Vanishing was the best for me, with an ending I didn’t see coming (as expected, the Hollywood remake is rubbish because it lacked a lot of the original’s bleakness). The others I just found grim and not particularly entertaining, if that’s the right way to describe something like The Audition or Henry.
You’re right the remake is trash. I suppose it was destined to be so. It’s the completely blank, unjudgemental, prosaic presentation of the original that gives it such an impact. Hollywood is mostly incapable of that total lack of emotional detachment.
I’ve read Hubert Selby’s original novel, “Requiem for a Dream”.
It’s good, but short on laughs…
Irreversible was the first film that popped into my head too. Not an experience I would like to repeat.
Star Wars
The version originale or “Star Wars: Gobaith Newydd”?
Seen that twice – that’s enough for me.
Have seen Empire Strikes Back & Return Of The Jedi just once
Saw Star Wars when it first came out. Never felt tempted to see any of the multitude of others, partly because not knowing which order they were supposed to be in did my head in.
I suspect there are two camps with Star Wars.
One and done, or none and done.
And multiple watches.
I’ve watched most of them. At their best, they are decent sci-fi films. At their worst, they clunk like a MK2 Escort that hasn’t ever been serviced.
Threads. I recently watched it for the second time, and it was even bleaker and more horrific than I remembered from watching it when it was first broadcast about 40 years ago. I’m no stranger to dark films or stories, but Threads is too much. Anybody who advocates the use of nuclear weapons (hello, Mr “why can’t we fire nukes at hurricanes?” Trump) should be forced to watch it until they realise the error of their ways.
Wolf Creek. One of the few horror films that has really given me nightmares. There’s something about the relentless, awful glee of the killer out in the extremely empty Outback, where help is certainly not coming. It definitely gave me the fear. A film that’s made so well, or is so good at achieving its objective, that I don’t want to see it twice. (Similarly, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. My only memory of it is of a terrified woman screaming for what seemed like the entire film. Not one that needs to be experienced twice, thanks.)
Son of Saul. The ending just finished me. Never again.
“Head on a stick”! Yikes!
*Shudders*
Wake In Fright is another Outback nightmare I won’t be seeing again.
Yes, Threads is the bleakest thing I’ve ever seen. I recall reading that when they did a test screening of it, there was nothing but silence at the end…save for one person sobbing.
I’ve never been able to face it.
Me neither…
I lived in Sheffield when Threads was released, I was a very idealistic, right-on 22 year old. I didn’t get to the end of it and have no desire to see it again.
There was a very funny moment in it. The local council leadership are gathered on their special underground bunker, completely unable to control anything. at all. Many days pass and they are all on the brink of death – boils, vomiting, covered in sweat. One councillor lights a cigarette.
“Careful! They’re bad for your health!” – wheezes another.
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
Forest (f*!@ing) Gump
Ladybird, Ladybird.
….more to follow later I’m sure.
I think if a film is good I could watch it again, regardless of how dark and troubling it may be.
For lesser movies once or less is enough. Shindler’s List I wouldn’t watch again. I just think there’s something questionable about it. Clearly it’s a well made film though. I sort of wonder why I would watch what I already know happened as almost an entertainment. Is a documentary more appropriate? But then Spielberg’s film reached a mass audience so that’s important of course.
I agree with Eraserhead.
My experience parallels yours.
Also Forrest Gump. How on earth did it end up winning any film awards?
Star 80. Horrible film.
Much discussed in our film-watching group is 120 Days of Sodom
Can’t watch it by yourself. Too grim/bleak/upsetting.
Can’t watch it in a group.
Agree best solution is for it to be on streaming and we all watch in different places on the same evening then assemble for the therapy/post mortem. Not on streaming…
Schindler’s List – thought it was a masterpiece but not sure I want to see it again
Gary Oldman’s “Nil by Mouth”
There’s some superb acting in it, but it’s a pretty tough watch…
Completely agree. Heartbreaking and grim.
The Zone of Interest another Holocaust film, important but again not sure there’s a need to watch it twice.
Zone of Interest was so very good – I went with a friend to see it when it came out and really went to see it again a few weeks later, to pick up on stuff I missed the first time round. Its incredibly subtle and textured and made a huge impression on me
I’ve watched it three times. It’s a very very good film.
“Seven”. Horrible film.
“Amen” – brilliant film which I popped in to see as it looked interesting and emerged utterly traumatised 2 hours later. I bought the DVD but haven’t quite been able to bring myself to watch it.
The film that came to mind is Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. The first thing that needs to be said is that it’s an excellent film, in which the police drive a killer around to find the grave of his victim. It’s tense, but once you realise what’s going on (it’s never made explicit in the film) it becomes upsetting. Tremendous film. No way I’d watch it again.
@hawkfall Coincidentally watched that this week. A long film but immersive.
Are you referring to Cause Of Death or did I miss something?
I’m referring more to who did it. The doctor figures it out in the car, which is why he doesn’t record all the details of the autopsy at the end.
Ah yes.
Agree with all the above, particularly “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer”
George Franju’s “Eyes Without a Face”.
Also “Man Bites Dog”, (I didn’t get through the whole film to be honest). Both of them I can appreciate the skill and craft that has gone into them but they’re both harrowing films and not something I’d ever want to see again.
Eraserhead is my absolute favourite movie never, ever to see again. Other faves: Alien, Wait Until Dark.
There are a few seconds of Alien that I still haven’t managed to see, despite having watched the movie a few times. My eyes involuntarily close – and have done since I saw the movie on release.
My nephew can’t get past the scene early on in aliens when the motion detector is beeping faster and faster before they realise the aliens are in the ceiling. I’ve seen him run out of the room more than once.
The first time we saw The Evil Dead Donna made me sing to her from the sitting room when she took a bathroom break so she knew I hadn’t been possessed by a Sumarian demon while she was out of the room.
This is wonderful – I love it!
What song did you sing? Out Demons Out? I’ve Put a Spell on You?
It was just loud tuneless humming. If I was to attempt actual singing she would definitely think from the horrible noise that I was definitely going to get her.
That’s a strangely heart-warming story. Loved all your posts on this btw.
Bad Boy Bubby
I would also nominate Wolf Creek but I never finished it.
Palm Beach with Bryan Brown Richard E Grant et al for its sheer awfulness.
There’s no shortage of films not worth watching due to their sheer awfulness. I sat through Disclosure Day just last night.
I made it half way. Jesus. It’s like someone kidnapped Spielberg and replaced his brain with Michael Bay’s.
We’ve given Palm Beach a go a couple of times because, y’know, Sam Neill/Bryan Brown double act – and I’ll usually turn up for Greta Scacchi and Richard E Grant. B ut we bailed after 10 minutes both times.
It got worse Mike
Straw Dogs – never felt so uncomfortable in a cinema
Which cinema? (So we know to avoid it).
Leicester Square Odeon (Gaumont?)
If I ever go there, I’ll be sure to take a cushion.
I was persuaded by a couple of friends to watch American Pie 2. They thought it positively hilarious and guffawed throughout. I, on the other hand, sat stony faced and astonished by its sheer puerile awfulness. I’ve never seen it or them since.
You ought to get your revenge by inviting them round to see either Béla Tarr’s “The Turin Horse” or Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublev” – the two most ARTHOUSE films in the history of cinema!
I’ve seen The Turin Horse and quite enjoyed it, though I’d be hard-pressed to tell you why.
Yeah, I liked the Turin Horse, too.
The screenplay is by Nobel Prize Laureate László “Laughing Boy” Krasznahorkai.
Bone Tomahawk. IYKYK.
Saving Private Ryan for the stabbing scene.
Bone Tomahawk certainly has it’s ‘moments’.
I thought it was brilliant film, but I couldn’t watch it a second time
I went to see it in the cinema. On the way out, the usher said “sleep well!”.
I didn’t.
The Exorcist – I recall I was out with a mate and his girlfriend and we’d had a few drinks and decided to see a late night showing. It scared the life out of us, and lives with me to this day. We went back to his bedsit, and I slept on his floor there because I was too scared to go back to the flat I was temporarily staying in on my own.
I saw it in Brighton on what turned out to be pensioners’ afternoon. The screams and vomiting were punctuated with quavery voices saying, ‘Oo, I didn’t know it was going to be like this.’ That helped.
I love the Exorcist. I saw it twice during it’s release week. The first with my then girlfriend Tina at an evening screening and a couple of days later on my own after I’d dropped acid.
Christ you’re brave.
I think daft is more accurate. It is true though that I don’t scare easily. The one film that properly did me in when I first saw it was The Haunting, the original Robert Wise film not the awful remake. I must have been about fourteen and my mam & dad had gone on holiday leaving me at home. It was on the telly late one night so I watched it. It sacred the hell out of me and I refused to watch it again for years afterwards. Now of course I adore it.
I don’t do horror films. I went to see a film on the 70s called “Race with the devil” starring Peter Fonda and it scared me shitless to the point where I’ve never watched a horror film since.
Twang Jr, who likes a good horror, watched it and pronounced it “all right”.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073600/?ref_=ext_shr
I watched it just the once. It completely jaundiced me to the thought of a life lived in a Winnebago.
The motorbikes on the back are cool though.
Yes but seemingly ineffectual in warding off the attentions of satanists. I’ll stick to using the bus.
@twang Race With The Devil is a film I keep up my sleeve for when people ask me, “Can you recommend anything that I may not have seen”. Had no complaints yet!
They’re obviously made of sterner stuff than I am!
I think it is Mark Kermode’s favourite film.
First time I watched The Wicker Man I thought I’d never want to put myself through it again. It’s now one of my most-watched movies.
Oddly I didn’t find it scary at all. I found it arty and weird and interesting and I have the DVD and have watched it many times but given my nervous disposition I’m surprised it wasn’t actually scary. For me anyway.
I never got over my disappointment when I discovered that they used a stunt bottom for Britt Eklund.
if you’ve not seen this only watch it once … I saw it late night as a teenager, have never forgotten it
That scene was the inspiration for a Blue Oyster Cult album cover.
Agree with the OP re Johnny’s Got His Gun. That hit hard – saw it more than forty years ago. Still remember a lot of it!
For me, Elem Klimov’s “Come and See” is one of the greatest war films – or anti-war films – ever made. I have it on DVD and have watched it once. That was enough. “Un Chien Andalou” is another must-not see. I once presented “Man Bites Dog” to a bunch of film students as an example of a pseudo-documentary. There’s an extended sequence where the film’s subject (Remy) explains why he chose not to use his enormous revolver to murder an old lady. While he goes into some detail to the filmmakers, within the same frame his unfortunate elderly victim gradually expires. Sensing that this was not going down well, I turned to the students and just said: “enough?” before ending the screening. Their loss….
It’s the home invasion scene in that film, up until then it was a very black comedy. I couldn’t watch any further. Your students got off lightly I reckon
Come and See is an extraordinary film. The young lad at its heart seems to age and turn into an empty shell before your eyes.
I have no first-hand experience, thankfully, but I imagine that Come and See is about as close as we’ll get to a realistic portrayal of what war actually does to people/survivors.
Re Man Bites Dog. I’ve only seen it once, as a teenager IIRC, with a friend. We started off laughing at the sheer nerve of the concept and the weirdness of the killer being filmed. We soon stopped laughing, and by the end we were numb. Once was enough, thank you.
A really good harrowing film (adapted from a really good book) is The Painted Bird. It got compared to Come And See a lot, but I far preferred it, mainly for the beautiful black and white cinematography.
Yeah, Jerzy Kosinski’s “The Painted Bird” is a classic. I remember my Dad recommending it to me when I was a teenager.
I read it after seeing Siouxsie Sioux talking about it as the inspiration for her song of the same title.
Dancer in the Dark. One of those handheld camera Lars von Trier things. Bjork plays a blind woman. Spoiler alert: she dies.
Miserable but the music was good.
Breaking The Waves. A brilliant film but I can’t imagine why I’d ever want to watch it again.
Menace II Society. Saw it in a cinema in Canada when on holiday. Nearest I’ve come to walking out on anything. Violence was horrific, but I guess that was the “message”.
I grew up on this movie! Seen it at least 20 times.
I would suggest Mother! (Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem) and Men (Jessie Buckley and Rory Linear), both of which elicited the reaction ‘What the hell have I just watched?’.
Midsommar also has many ‘wtf?’ moments, but has layers upon layers of depth which reward repeat viewing.
I quite liked Mother and will certainly watch it again. Knowing right from the start who/what the characters symbolise will be interesting.
*Kinnear, not Linear. Glad I straightened that out.
Is he a straight up guy
Witchfinder General 1968. Was supposed to meet girl, got stood up. Went in to an almost empty and dark cinema – 80 terrifying minutes later staggered out into the late summer sunshine (that far north sunset was somewhere after midnight). Still haunts me to this day .
After considerable wheedling I persuaded a girl to come to the movies. What film did I choose? Carry On Camping. She was not impressed.
Life imitating art from what I remember of what passed for a plot.
Indeed…
I haven’t seen the WG but have discovered it’s on YouTube so I shall watch it.
A great film, and one of the peaks of the folk horror genre, along with Blood on Satan’s Claw and the above-mentioned Wicker Man. Vincent Price tones down his usual slightly camp delivery, and the violence is pretty shocking (even though the “blood” is a bit too obviously Kensington Gore). Extra horror comes from the fact that at least some of it is roughly based on real events.
Well I watched it on YT. It’s quite nasty at times but I wouldn’t call it horror – no jumping out of your skin moments.
Of its time – they were working to a different definition of horror when Hammer dominated the market (nb: I know it’s not a Hammer movie – but working to a similar template).
Sure. Well done on that basis.
Spanish film The Coffee Table is by far the most intense and disturbing film I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I could sit through it again. Stephen King wrote on X:
“There’s a Spanish movie called The Coffee Table on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. My guess is you have never, not once in your whole life, seen a movie as black as this one. It’s horrible and also horribly funny. Think the Coen Brothers’ darkest dream.”
Under The Skin featuring Scarlett Johansson.
A 2013 movie that definitely lives up to its title while watching.
In 2024, Father John Misty referred to its impact in a song called She Cleans Up on his Mahashmashana album.
🎵 What is the one about the female alien?
Scarlett drives the Scottish countryside inside of a white van
Oh I dreamed about it last night and it did my whole day in
Undid something man I’m never gonna touch that shit again 🎵
There’s a harrowing beach scene in particular midway through the movie that made me switch it off and seriously consider if could keep watching. Glad I did watch it until its end.
Good movie and certainly memorable. But once is enough.
Johnny Mnemonic (with the hallowed Keanu Reeves). Tedious. There was a Wooden Acting competition between Dolph Lundgren, Ice T and Mr Reeves. Ice T romped it despite the quality of the field.
The denouement involves a dolphin as some kind of super intelligent thing (as I recall). It’s as shit as that sounds.
So not worth watching even once? There are so many crap films not worth watching at all (including Reeves’ latest, Outcome) it’s impossible to list them all. Films worth watching once but only once are much more interesting.
True. Although I did set a benchmark on how poor a film I could watch whilst having good expectations. I have missed the brief though.
Re horror films. Never “scared” me as I can’t get over the artifice. It’s a film. Can be entertaining (if more psychological in nature). But body horror etc. it’s prosthetics or special effects. A jumpscare may work if not telegraphed.
I find more disturbing films which are more rooted in reality. And can be difficult to watch or leave a disturbing memory. Anything involving children, for example. Or sadistic treatment of women (eg the evil genius with baroque methods of killing women in a cat and mouse vs police). I remember I couldn’t watch a late Luther series as I couldn’t see the premise and graphics as entertainment.
(In fairness to other correspondents my definition of “horror” may be somewhat narrow to the nuances of the genre).
Yes we gave up Luther and some of the Scandi series.
Surprised nobody has mentioned The Blair Witch Project. Massively hyped, but utter shite.
I agree on the subsequent hype but I quite liked what they did with a low budget. The follow up was utter, utter shite though.
I did watch it twice. Once just after it came out and the other time last Halloween so a gap of 25 years or so. And second time I was actually terrified.
Watched it when it came out on Halloween. Sat through it and just when I thought it was going to get scary and the horror start the film finished. I have no need or wish to see it again.
I’m still at a loss as why the film was found in buried in film canisters unless I’ve remembered incorrectly.
The lost canisters thing was part of the plot and then used as the marketing for the incredibly low budget film
I just meant that why were they buried why weren’t they still in the camera. Why would the ‘witch’ remove the film from camera put it into canisters and bury them.
I am a great admirer of Jack Nicholson but Anger Management is a crock of steaming shite. Better suited to a thread called “Films to avoid at all costs”. Indeed, after I had the misfortune to sit through it I started exactly such a thread.
Oh, it’s a bad movie, absolutely. But the scene in the car when he makes Adam Sandler sing “I Feel Pretty” was the one scene that made me laugh. But for the rest, crock of steaming shite is an appropriate assessment.
I gave that one a lot of thought.
Many of the movies on this thread belong in the “wonderful film – too traumatic to watch again” pile. Add Grave of the Fireflies to that list – a Ghibli masterpiece, but I’m never sitting through it again. It was famously released in Japan as a double feature with Totoro, which is warm, gentle and lovely and, ironically, probably the film I’ve watched most by choice (I’m not counting the forced Lion King re-runs from when my kids were small). Famously both films were released in Japan as a ‘double-bill’ showing.
“wonderful film – too traumatic to watch again”? TBH that is the kind of film I was thinking off when I originally posted, CRV.
Edge of Tomorrow (out again on Netflix) It’s a great film but because of it’s repetitive nature you’ll not want too watch again (it says here)
Pasolini, “Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom”: intellectually brave anti-fascist film and all that, but disgusting and upsetting.
“Sansho the Baliff” by Kenji Mizoguchi: Beautiful, Japanese classic about a mother spending her lifetime searching for her abducted children, but just crushingly sad. I know it will only make me miserable again.
What’s that film with the men eating themselves to death?
I remember watching it as a kid, somewhat enjoying it but I can’t say I’m eager to see it again.
I haven’t enjoyed a Bond film since Goldeneye, but I used to be a big fan of most of the Connery/Moore/Dalton films. I chanced upon You Only Live Twice the other night, however, and I remember why I’ve never rewatched it: it’s total guff.
The Connery films are actually a very mixed bag: he’s absolutely brilliant in the first three, but it’s tish, pshaw and nonsense afterwards.
I actually think Rog’s tenure has held up pretty well. Even The Man With The Golden Gun – dreadful theme tune aside – has its moments.
Here, you! I’ll not have a word said against the Dennistoun Diva!