10 <\/p>\n
‘Angst’ (1983)<\/p>\n
![\"Erwin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ansgt-1983-horror-movie.jpg\"\/)
\n Erwin Leder as the Psychopath hiding around a corner in AngstImage via\u00a0Les Films Jacques Leitienne<\/p>\n
The appropriately named Angst is an absolute nightmare<\/a>, and mostly in a way that\u2019s hard to explain to anyone who hasn\u2019t seen the film itself, which is another problem because you probably don\u2019t want to see it<\/a>. On paper, it\u2019s just about a serial killer who eventually targets a family, and it\u2019s got more of a premise than an actual story, so trying to explain it might make it sound stretched out or kind of boring.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s also the kind of thing that\u2019s been done before, so you’d probably ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point?\u201d or \u201cWhat makes it so bad?\u201d But it is. Angst is one of the most disturbing movies ever made, without a doubt, because it\u2019s uncompromising and filmed in a way that makes it feel like a nightmare<\/a>, or a bad trip, or both. It\u2019s relentlessly confronting, and the level of despair is both palpable and crushing.<\/p>\n 9 <\/p>\n ‘Dancer in the Dark’ (2000)<\/p>\n Dancer in the Dark<\/a> is a bleak crime drama and a musical at the same time, and it aims to make you feel a little sad for the first hour or so, and then absolutely drown you in melancholy for the rest of the runtime. That\u2019s to say that there\u2019s something of an unexpected development here, so to keep things vague, it\u2019s about a single mother who has a lot of problems she\u2019s dealing with, and then a new one, suddenly, that\u2019s even more dramatic.<\/p>\n Of all the musicals ever made, Dancer in the Dark has a well-earned reputation for being one of the bleakest and most emotionally intense<\/a>. It\u2019s remarkable, and a highlight of Lars von Trier\u2019s filmography for sure, but it\u2019s only really recommendable to people who are sufficiently readied \u2013 and at least somewhat prepared \u2013 for a big old downer.<\/p>\n 8 <\/p>\n ‘Blonde’ (2022)<\/p>\n If you go into Blonde<\/a> hoping for a Marilyn Monroe biopic, you’ll probably be disappointed, because that\u2019s not really what this is. The film is instead something that uses Monroe to explore an issue inherent to the film industry (and other areas, really), regarding how people are used, exploited, and have their lives destroyed by more powerful individuals. It\u2019s a story that has to be told, but using Monroe specifically to tell it might be a bit much for some.<\/p>\n So, in that sense, the controversy around Blonde is understandable, but as something that sheds light on abuse and predatory behavior within purportedly professional spaces, it\u2019s bold and maybe even necessary. If you’re offended by it, you won\u2019t have fun, and if you get what it\u2019s going for and appreciate it for that, you also won\u2019t have fun<\/a>. Everyone will come away from this feeling bad, but the divide comes from people disagreeing on what the film was going for, and the way it delivered whatever that was.<\/p>\n 7 <\/p>\n ‘Harakiri’ (1962)<\/p>\n In Harakiri<\/a>, the main character states he wishes to take his own life in a suicide ritual early on, so you know you’re in for a bad time right from the jump. Before doing it, though, he tells a clan of samurai why he\u2019s been driven to such a state, and his tragic backstory makes the whole movie feel progressively more upsetting and confronting, and before the knife gets twisted literally<\/a>, it figuratively twists again and again in (again, the figurative) stomach of the viewer.<\/p>\n Harakiri is not a fun sort of samurai or martial arts film, and is instead intended to brutally deconstruct a whole class\/group from Japan\u2019s history.<\/p>\n There is some swordplay here<\/a>, and if you count samurai films as belonging to the martial arts genre<\/a>, you can technically call Harakiri one. But it\u2019s not a fun sort of samurai or martial arts film, and is instead intended to brutally deconstruct a whole class\/group from Japan\u2019s history, and suggest a lack of morality that\u2019s sometimes assumed and associated with such people. It\u2019s a fantastic film for sure, but also an immensely challenging one.<\/p>\n 6 <\/p>\n ‘Come and See’ (1985)<\/p>\n Perhaps the most nightmarish of all war movies (or it\u2019s at least a contender), Come and See offers nothing by way of thrills or excitement in its depiction of war<\/a>, seen through the eyes of a child who loses his innocence and appears to age decades in the space of a couple of hours. He joins some resistance fighters in Belarus, but the invading German forces prove to be too strong, and so things just go from bad to worse and then keep sinking to new lows.<\/p>\n It’s one of the more despairing movies out there, and though it\u2019s not a horror film<\/a>, Come and See is terrifying in just about every conceivable way. The feeling of heaviness comes about here because the weight of war \u2013 on a physical and psychological front \u2013 has seldom been this crushing, which is to the film\u2019s credit while also being something that makes it difficult to recommend.<\/p>\n 5 <\/p>\n ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (2023)<\/p>\n At the time of writing, Killers of the Flower Moon<\/a> is the most recent film directed by the great Martin Scorsese<\/a>, and it also could well be his heaviest. The Irishman certainly gives it a run for its money, with that one being like a Scorsese gangster film but creakier, slower, and more somber than usual, and uncompromising as an exploration of aging and regret.<\/p>\n There\u2019s not as much of a personal angle to Killers of the Flower Moon, and it\u2019s instead more sprawling, showing a series of crimes that occurred on a massive scale and over multiple years. It\u2019s technically a Western, or a kind of Western, and a great one<\/a>, but also a hugely soul-crushing one in the way it unpacks greed and the manner some people can normalize or try to personally justify the most abhorrent crimes imaginable. If you haven\u2019t already lost your faith in humanity, a film like this could be the one to push you over the edge.<\/p>\n 4 <\/p>\n ‘Manchester by the Sea’ (2016)<\/p>\n Manchester by the Sea<\/a> is a straightforward drama if you’re looking at things purely from a genre standpoint, but it stands out and excels because it\u2019s such an emotionally brutal drama. It follows a man trying to make sense out of his various misfortunes and the feeling that his life is going downhill, with things being pretty sad for a while, until his past is fully explained, and then it all becomes devastating.<\/p>\n This does feel human, and maybe calling it \u201ccruel\u201d would itself be cruel to do, but Manchester by the Sea makes you squint pretty damn hard if you want to scan it to find any sort of hope or even marginally uplifting thing in it. Instead, it\u2019s more just a film about anguish and the most intense sort of grief<\/a>, all done in an attempt to make it feel as real as possible, and mortifyingly believable. Mission, perhaps unfortunately, accomplished.<\/p>\n 3 <\/p>\n ‘An Elephant Sitting Still’ (2018)<\/p>\n Though it\u2019s four hours long, it\u2019s hard to call An Elephant Sitting Still an epic movie<\/a> in the traditional sense, because the drama here is all very personal, and the timeframe covered is surprisingly short. It\u2019s a debatable epic in the way Magnolia<\/a> is, and though that 1999 film is also long and heavy, it\u2019s not entirely crushing or 100% devoid of hope, whereas An Elephant Sitting Still is all about despair.<\/p>\n It was made by Hu Bo, who only ever directed this one feature film, and took his own life before it was released<\/a>, and then subsequently praised for being about as uncompromising an exploration of depression and despair as there\u2019s ever been on-screen. An Elephant Sitting Still is slow, but it\u2019s also absorbing and undeniably tense<\/a>, albeit in a quiet way, and it\u2019s very much worth watching if you have both the time and the stomach for it.<\/p>\n 2 <\/p>\n ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me’ (1992)<\/p>\n David Lynch was no stranger to harrowing movies<\/a>, but he had a lighter side too, and wasn\u2019t just a cynic or pessimist by any means. There\u2019s hope to be found, eventually, at the end of the otherwise mortifying Blue Velvet<\/a>, for example, but then you come to something like Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me<\/a>, and it\u2019s just non-stop with all the crushing things that happen and the overall sense of despair.<\/p>\n It does have to be that way, since Twin Peaks<\/a> started with a horrifically tragic event, and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me details the lead-up to that event, and then the event itself happening in unflinching detail. It also ends up making the more soul-crushing and tense parts of Twin Peaks, the show, feel even more intense once you have all that added context, so it\u2019s a pretty remarkable achievement as far as surreal horror\/mystery\/tragedy movies go<\/a>.<\/p>\n 1 <\/p>\n ‘The Human Condition’ (1959-1961)<\/p>\n A film that lives up to its title by showing how rough it is to be human, The Human Condition<\/a> actually does more than that, in all honesty, since it\u2019s about World War II<\/a>, shown from the perspective of a pacifist. He resists the war early on, finds himself unable to get out of it completely, and then after Japan surrenders, he\u2019s left alone and forced to survive with the slim hope of returning to his old life.<\/p>\n![\"Catherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/catherine-deneuve-holding-bjork-s-face-in-dancer-in-the-dark.jpg\"\/)
\n Catherine Deneuve holding Bjork’s face while she smiles in Dancer in the DarkImage by\u00a0Constantin Film<\/p>\n![\"Ana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Blonde---abuse.jpg\"\/)
\n Ana de Armas, looking sad, as Marilyn Monroe in BlondeImage via Netflix<\/p>\n![\"Tatsuya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/harakiri-1962.jpg\"\/)
\n Tatsuya Nakadai in the duel scene from Harakiri (1962)Image via\u00a0Shochiku<\/p>\n![\"Alexei](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/come-and-see-1985.jpg\"\/)
\n Alexei Kravchenko in ‘Come and See’Image via\u00a0Sovexportfilm<\/p>\n![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/killers_of_the_flower_moon_photo_0123.jpg\"\/)
\n Robert De Niro as William Hale, leaning on a fence, in Killers of the Flower MoonImage via Apple TV<\/p>\n![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/manchester-by-the-sea-2016-1.jpeg\"\/)
\n Michelle Williams as Randi and Casey Affleck as Lee talking on the street in Manchester By the SeaImage via Roadside Attractions<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/an-elephant-sitting-still-2018.jpg\"\/)
\n Image via\u00a0KimStim<\/p>\n![\"Tatsuya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/the-human-condition-3.jpg\"\/)
\n Tatsuya Nakadai as Kaji in The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (1961)Image via Shochiku<\/p>\n