10 Disturbing Films – How Much Can You Handle?

Posted on by Jim Cox

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Cinema certainly has the power to entertain, provoke, and, at times, deeply unsettle its audience. While horror films often rely on cheap jump scares and spooky supernatural threats to achieve this, there exists a darker realm of films—one that delves into the most disturbing aspects of human nature, suffering, and depravity. These titles don’t just scare; they linger, haunt, and challenge audiences with their brutal honesty, shocking imagery, and uncomfortable themes.

From hyper-realistic found footage nightmares to pessimistic explorations of violence and power, the following 10 films are some of the most unsettling ever made.

Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom is a 1975 Italian period drama written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, with additional writing from Sergio Citti, and Pupi Avati. The film is based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom, written by French author and libertine Marquis de Sade. In World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of torture.

What makes Salo so disturbing isn’t just its explicit content, but its cold, detached presentation of prolonged suffering. The film’s unflinching presentation of sexual violence, degradation, and cruelty is not just shocking but profoundly unsettling because it refuses to offer any relief or moral resolution. Pasolini offers no catharsis or moral lesson—just the stark, systematic exploitation of power. Additionally, its philosophical underpinnings—critiquing fascism, capitalism, and the commodification of bodies—force the audience into complicity, making the experience all the more harrowing.

Unlike conventional horror, Salo disturbs not through traditional elements but by exposing the darkest depths of human cruelty—making it a film that many find unwatchable, yet impossible to forget.

August Underground’s Mordum (2003)

Mirror portrait

August Underground’s Mordum is a 2003 American found footage horror written and directed by Cristie Whiles, Fred Vogel, Killjoy, Jerami Cruise, and Michael Todd Schneider, with additional writing from Allen Peters. The film is the second in the infamous trilogy of extreme found footage films also consisting of August Underground (2001), and the final film in the series, August Underground Penance (2007); produced by ToeTag Productions. Obsessed with inflicting pain on others while recording everything on tape, brutal serial killer Peter Mountain is still at large. After making friends with two new perverts: sadomasochistic Crusty and her mentally challenged brother Maggot, the diabolical sadists are hell-bent on broadening their horizons, willing to experiment with self-mutilation, decaying corpses, evisceration, and rape. However, when yet another psychopath enters the picture, eager to hang out with them, depravity reaches new heights.

What makes Mordum so horrifying isn’t just the graphic nature of its violence—consisting of torrents of torture, rape, and mutilation—but its complete lack of narrative or morality. The film follows a group of sadistic killers who revel in their crimes with a sickening sense of enjoyment, making the viewer feel like a helpless witness rather than a passive observer. Furthermore, the lo-fi VHS aesthetic, shaky camerawork, and unscripted but highly choreographed performances add to the realism, making it one of the most immersive yet claustrophobic cinematic experiences imaginable.

The Bunny Game (2011)

The Bunny Game is a 2011 American horror film written and directed by Adam Rehmeier, with additional writing from Rodleen Getsic. In it, a prostitute looking for her next meal hitches a ride with a trucker, leaving her praying for her next breath.

What makes The Bunny Game so disturbing is its sheer realism—with lead actress Rodleen Getsic, who also co-wrote the film, enduring real physical abuse on camera (as claimed by the creators), blurring the line between performance and actual suffering. This sadistic level of suffering holds its basis in the lead actress’s (supposed) personal experiences, adding a layer of authenticity to the horror.

The guttural use of music, the disorienting editing, and the claustrophobic cinematography create a suffocating atmosphere that forces the viewer to experience the protagonist’s agony in an almost surgical manner–an exercise that strips horror down to its most raw, visceral, and uncomfortable form.

American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore (2014)

American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore is a 2014 American splatter horror written and directed by Stephen Biro. Two women are abducted by a group of snuff filmmakers and brought into a Hellish nightmare of unmistakable brutality, viciousness, and destruction that will leave every viewer shocked, amazed, and awestruck.

Inspired by the infamous Japanese Guinea Pig series, the film presents a gruesome, hyper-realistic depiction of torture, mutilation, and dismemberment with minimal narrative—just pure, unfiltered carnage. The practical effects are shockingly convincing, far more realistic than anything presented in the Japanese series—sawing, disembowelment, and other gruesome acts are intentionally drawn out and delivered with a sickening level of fidelity.

When twinned with the film’s grainy, lo-fi aesthetic blend of 8mm and VHS footage compounds this illusion of authenticity dramatically. The detached, methodical approach of the killers—who treat their victims like objects—creates a sense of total hopelessness, making the film feel more like a document of real atrocities than a traditional horror movie.

eROTik 2: The Beyond (2024)

eROTik 2: The Beyond is a 2024 extreme horror film directed by Felice Santulli (better known as Slade Wilson), with Marylu’ Lallo working as assistant director. The film is a sequel/reboot to Tetromaniac: eROTik (2018), written by Levent Kaya and directed by Domiziano Christpharo. In the decaying ruins of an old house, Dahmer, a young man with an unhealthy obsession with all things necrotic, continues his attempt to create the perfect army of submissive slaves as commanded by the ancient Egyptian god Anubi, the deity of death and the underworld.

What makes eROTik 2: The Beyond particularly disturbing is its juxtaposition of eroticism with abject violence, creating a tense atmosphere of unease. The sleek cinematography and purposely ambiguous narrative structure give the film a sense of nihilism, offering no relief for the audience from the graphic imagery. The deliberate focus on taboo subjects, such as human degradation, exploitation, and control, as well as graphic necrophilia, creates a film that feels like a maniacal fever dream throughout.

Zero Day (2002)

Zero Day is a 2002 American found footage horror written and directed by Ben Coccio, with additional writing from Christopher Coccio. Two troubled adolescents chronicle the events that ultimately lead up to a terrifying assault on their school.

One of the first films influenced by the Columbine High School Massacre to be released, Zero Day is a harrowing exploration of a growing epidemic in America that only seems to be worsening. Shot in a found-footage format, the film presents the protagonist’s personal diaries and interactions, giving the audience an intimate and uncomfortably voyeuristic look into their troubled minds as they prepare for their violent act.

What makes the film so disturbing isn’t its depiction of violence but its stark portrayal of alienation, mental illness, and youthful disillusionment. The film avoids sensationalism or overt political commentary, instead focusing on the two boys’ growing sense of detachment from the world around them, making their eventual act of violence feel almost like a cry for help. The performances are hauntingly naturalistic, and the lack of a musical score or dramatized moments makes the film feel even more grounded in reality, amplifying its unsettling effect.

However, the final scene, shot through the perspective of CCTV cameras with audio provided through a connected line from the killers to the police, provides a harrowing portrayal of a school shooting that is sure to leave the audience in utter shock with its pragmatism.

The Green Elephant (1999)

The Green Elephant is a 1999 Russian horror thriller written and directed by Svetlana Baskova. Set in a Russian military facility, the film follows two soldiers who are subjected to bizarre and inhumane treatment by their commanding officers, gradually devolving into a nightmare of sexual violence, mental breakdowns, and depravity.

What makes The Green Elephant so unsettling is its relentless portrayal of suffering and degradation. The unrelenting psychological horror experienced by the protagonists causes a rapid decline in mental stability, devolving into acts of coprophilia, forced sexual acts, and violent fits of rage—offered without any semblance of reasoning or understanding.
Additionally, the disturbing visuals are amplified by the raw, almost documentary-like cinematography, which captures the visceral terror of the characters’ downward spiral–the audience is made to feel like a participant in the film rather than just a viewer.

Nekromantik (1987)

Nekromantik (1988)

Nekromantik is a 1987 West German erotic exploitation horror film written and directed by Jörg Buttgereit with additional writing from Franz Rodenkirchen. A street sweeper who cleans up after grisly accidents brings home a full corpse for him and his wife to enjoy sexually, but is dismayed to see that his wife prefers the corpse over him.

A notorious cult horror film that purposefully pushes the boundaries of taste and decency, Nekromantik is a shocking blend of graphic violence, necrophilia, and dark humor that unapologetically embraces its taboo subjects—particularly death, decay, and sexual perversion—in a confrontational way. The film doesn’t attempt to justify or explore the psychological motivations behind the characters’ actions; instead, it lays them bare in their raw, uncomfortable form, making the viewer complicit in their disturbing desires. The graphic depictions of necrophilic acts, accompanied by stark, clinical cinematography, create a visceral, unsettling experience that can be difficult to process.

Despite its shock value, Nekromantik also critiques the desensitization to violence and death in society, using its extreme content to challenge the audience’s understanding of love, perversion, and the body. Furthermore, this vivid depiction of these explicit acts was in direct response to the government’s crackdown on graphic horror films in the 1980s—though was never submitted to the German film rating board, knowing the film would receive heavy censorship.

The Degenerates (2021)

The Degenerates is a 2021 American found footage horror film written and directed by
Jonathan Doe. The film is the second entry to Jonathan’s Ero Guro Nonsense series, consisting of Barf Bunny (2021), and Defilement of a Porciline Doll (2022). What seems like a candid video of a couple in love (Jonathan Doe and Felicia Fisher), soon deteriorates into a twisted frenzy of drugs, sex, and mutilation, as the pair use the body of their recently deceased friend to spice up their honeymoon festivities.

An incredibly graphic depiction of pseudo snuff, the unflinching nature of The Degenerates results in an incredibly vivid depiction of the true crime case of Robert Berkowitz that pushes the boundaries of artistic expression. While the actual murder occurs off-screen, the pragmatic destruction of the corpse offers an uncomfortable realism as the protagonists revel in the playful dismemberment. Additionally, with Jonathan’s signature blend of paraphilia, such as Emetophilia, Hematolagnia, Urolagnia, and Necrophilia with the extreme levels of gore–the film is a nihilistic representation of the dark savagery capable by human hands.

A Serbian Film (2010)

A Serbian Film is a 2010 Serbian extreme horror written and directed Srdjan Spasojevic, with additional writing from Aleksandar Radivojevic. An aging porn star agrees to participate in an “art film” in order to make a clean break from the business, only to discover that he has been drafted into making a snuff film.

What list of disturbing films is complete without mention of A Serbian Film, one of the most infamous and controversial films ever made? The film pushes the boundaries of extreme cinema with its shocking blend of graphic violence, sexual exploitation, and nihilism to create a series of events that has seared itself into the memories of many of those who have witnessed it. What makes A Serbian Film so disturbing isn’t just its extreme content—depicting rape, necrophilia, and child exploitation—but its polished, highly stylised presentation of such atrocities. Unlike many films in the genre, it is well-acted, professionally shot, and disturbingly methodical in how it escalates its brutality. Moreover, the naturalistic effects presented only further compound the overly disturbing elements bombarded at the audience in a non-stop assault on the senses.

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