entropykid
08-07-2003, 05:19 AM
Now we all watch films(some of us more than others) But I realize how brutal and unflinching a lot of movies are becoming...though you dont have to look back to far to see some real doozies. From the brains and gore splatterfest of Bad Boys 2 to the upcoming Texas Chainsaw remake Hollywood is all about the gore. But what films have you guys seen that truly was unlike anything youve ever seen, just really unsettling?
For me...
1. Irreversible(french, 2002, dvd) Dear goodness almighty. Ive seen almost 2000 films, and this has to be the most sickening, upsetting, and remarkably brave films ever made. I really dont think anything like this has ever been captured on film, as it makes Hannibal and Jason movies look like Telletubbies. Its a bit like Memento, flowing in reverse, but with what has to be the most disturbed continuous shot scenes ever.(really, I was in true horror during some of it..the 'curb' scene in American History X aint got anything on this)
2. Ken Park(2003, a film by Larry "Kids/Bully" Clark)
What will no doubt be one of the most controversial films in a long time, this film has already been banned in several countries. Ken Park does what no other American indie film has done, as Larry Clark goes way past his infamous Kids film.
The film includes non simulated graphic sex scenes with teenagers, unthinkable extreme violence, incest, hard drug use, etc. Like Irreversible, this film is unshakable, with many moments of unflinching depravity. Overall not his best film story wise, but brave non the less.
3. Cremaster 3(2003) Imagine if you will...an epic film like Lord of the Rings...Over 3 hours, beautifully filmed, opening with dueling ogres on an exotic mystical isle. Then imagine this film is over 3 hours with no dialogue, takes place mostly in New York's Chrystler building, and contains images so bizarre, ornate, and shocking it would be hard to formulate words for them. Yes folks, welcome to Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3 film, the final opus in his Cremaster Cycle. Til now shown only in selected art museums, Cremaster 3 gives new meaning to the word 'difficult viewing'. Visionary, brilliant, and unlike anything youve seen before...this is a film not to be missed.
4. Julien Donkey-Boy(1999) From the writer of Kids, Gummo, and Ken Park...comes a true portrait of schizophrenia. Forget A Beautiful Mind...this is the real deal. Shot in a very documentary like style, Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey Boy(for the folks able to sit through it) burrows into your head
like a harrowing car accident. Sad, funny, and often times frightening, Donkey Boy is definately a challenging film.
5. Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me(1992)
Call it a gift for the unsettling, David Lynch's Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me is one of those movies that really gets to you. I think out of all his films, from Eraserhead to Mulholland Drive, this is th eone that always gets to me.
6. Jacob's Latter(1990) What I'd consider to be Tim Robin's best film, I think this is one of the best psychological horror/thriller films of all time. filmed with such sorrow and emptyness, I think its almost better at realizing the horrors of Vietnam than even Apocalypse Now.
7. Bully(2001) While not as graphic as Larry Clark's latest film, Bully gets the job done. Based on a true story, this film really shows what happens when a group of stupid kids truly get stupider. Unflinching(but not unwatchable) and raw, I think it's one of Clark's best.
8. Begotten(1989) From the director of Shadow Of The Vampire...imagine if a whole movie was made of that cryptic vhs tape from the Ring? A little bit of Nosferatu, Eraserhead, and a whole lot of errant student art film making gives way to this cornocopia of grotesque imagery.
9. Hardcore(1979) Forget 8mm, this is the original.
George C Scott is a cleancutreligious man, whose daughter ends up in the seedy world of super underground pornography...eventually leading him to the darkest corners of societie's underbelly. 20 years before 8mm, this film already tackled that subject.
10. A Clockwork Orange(1972) 31 years later, and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange still strikes a chord. Youll never think of Singin in the Rain or milk bars the same way again.
Finally...Freddy Got Fingered(2001) Maybe its the scene of Tom Green affixing an arrangement of strung suasages to a piano...tom Green licking a brutal compound fracture, Tom Green disembowleing a fallen deer, or Tom Green delivering a kid...but this film makes my list for "most upsetting comedy of the last decade". Freddy Got Fingered goes where Something About Mary only dared think of.
For me...
1. Irreversible(french, 2002, dvd) Dear goodness almighty. Ive seen almost 2000 films, and this has to be the most sickening, upsetting, and remarkably brave films ever made. I really dont think anything like this has ever been captured on film, as it makes Hannibal and Jason movies look like Telletubbies. Its a bit like Memento, flowing in reverse, but with what has to be the most disturbed continuous shot scenes ever.(really, I was in true horror during some of it..the 'curb' scene in American History X aint got anything on this)
2. Ken Park(2003, a film by Larry "Kids/Bully" Clark)
What will no doubt be one of the most controversial films in a long time, this film has already been banned in several countries. Ken Park does what no other American indie film has done, as Larry Clark goes way past his infamous Kids film.
The film includes non simulated graphic sex scenes with teenagers, unthinkable extreme violence, incest, hard drug use, etc. Like Irreversible, this film is unshakable, with many moments of unflinching depravity. Overall not his best film story wise, but brave non the less.
3. Cremaster 3(2003) Imagine if you will...an epic film like Lord of the Rings...Over 3 hours, beautifully filmed, opening with dueling ogres on an exotic mystical isle. Then imagine this film is over 3 hours with no dialogue, takes place mostly in New York's Chrystler building, and contains images so bizarre, ornate, and shocking it would be hard to formulate words for them. Yes folks, welcome to Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3 film, the final opus in his Cremaster Cycle. Til now shown only in selected art museums, Cremaster 3 gives new meaning to the word 'difficult viewing'. Visionary, brilliant, and unlike anything youve seen before...this is a film not to be missed.
4. Julien Donkey-Boy(1999) From the writer of Kids, Gummo, and Ken Park...comes a true portrait of schizophrenia. Forget A Beautiful Mind...this is the real deal. Shot in a very documentary like style, Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey Boy(for the folks able to sit through it) burrows into your head
like a harrowing car accident. Sad, funny, and often times frightening, Donkey Boy is definately a challenging film.
5. Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me(1992)
Call it a gift for the unsettling, David Lynch's Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me is one of those movies that really gets to you. I think out of all his films, from Eraserhead to Mulholland Drive, this is th eone that always gets to me.
6. Jacob's Latter(1990) What I'd consider to be Tim Robin's best film, I think this is one of the best psychological horror/thriller films of all time. filmed with such sorrow and emptyness, I think its almost better at realizing the horrors of Vietnam than even Apocalypse Now.
7. Bully(2001) While not as graphic as Larry Clark's latest film, Bully gets the job done. Based on a true story, this film really shows what happens when a group of stupid kids truly get stupider. Unflinching(but not unwatchable) and raw, I think it's one of Clark's best.
8. Begotten(1989) From the director of Shadow Of The Vampire...imagine if a whole movie was made of that cryptic vhs tape from the Ring? A little bit of Nosferatu, Eraserhead, and a whole lot of errant student art film making gives way to this cornocopia of grotesque imagery.
9. Hardcore(1979) Forget 8mm, this is the original.
George C Scott is a cleancutreligious man, whose daughter ends up in the seedy world of super underground pornography...eventually leading him to the darkest corners of societie's underbelly. 20 years before 8mm, this film already tackled that subject.
10. A Clockwork Orange(1972) 31 years later, and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange still strikes a chord. Youll never think of Singin in the Rain or milk bars the same way again.
Finally...Freddy Got Fingered(2001) Maybe its the scene of Tom Green affixing an arrangement of strung suasages to a piano...tom Green licking a brutal compound fracture, Tom Green disembowleing a fallen deer, or Tom Green delivering a kid...but this film makes my list for "most upsetting comedy of the last decade". Freddy Got Fingered goes where Something About Mary only dared think of.