Wildo1966

Well I am sure this opinion will be argued...But I finally watched Maniac (with Joe Spinell) last night for the first time in over 20 years. I thought this was one of the sickest horror movies I have seen in a long time. Before last night the sickest movies I have seen were Audition and MOH: Imprint....
Now either tonight or tomorrow night I am going to watch Cannibal Holocaust. I have heard this may be the sickest movie ever released. Any truth to this claim? Any other seriously sick movies am I missing? I recall a sick flick named SNUFF many years ago, was that one bad?

Giles

saw SNUFF, didn't really impress me, actually, come to think of it, I honestly don't remember a thing about it..

rent Ebola Syndrome - that is just vile.

it's flawed, but some of the explicit violence in
Murder Set Pieces is a tad offputting and jarring. Don't rent the recently released R-rated Lionsgate release, it's significantly hacked of it's extreme gore.

Lt Ripley

The real animal killing in Cannibal Holocaust is the only thing sick about it. The rest is no worse than anything you see today.


Edit: You want sick, get a hold of August Underground and it's sequel Mordem.

brainee

If you go into Cannibal Holocaust looking for something extreme, you'll be disappointed. Outside of the animal killing, the actual violence shown in the movie is rather tame. Still a damn effective and unsettling movie IMO. A mandatory see for any fan of exploitation horror. Later cannibal movies (like Cannibal Ferrox and Dr. Butcher) are more graphic, but nowhere near as disturbing.

August Underground (both movies) are sick stuff, but tedious as hell. I confess to fast-forwarding through parts. Not because it was too sick, but it was just so boring to see these scenes just go on and on. I didn't quite get the vomiting fetish the filmmakers seem to have as well.

Snuff sucks. In every sense of the word.

Salo is one of the sickest movies ever made. One of the only movies I literally had to turn my head away from the screen because I was getting sick watching. Gore is one thing. But scatology is something I just don't need to see. Extremely realistic and well-made to boot, which makes it different from other "sick" movies since most are complete amateur hour.

The Nekromantik movies are sick stuff. The effects alternate from effective to laughably cheesy. It's so damn earnest though, from a filmmaking point of view.

Though not graphic, per se, In a Glass Cage is one of the most psychologically sick movies I've seen. A great and unforgettable movie.

Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave are very well-known american "sick" movies. If you're interested in the genre, they're probably worth checking out, if for nothing else than to form your own opinions.

Bloodsucking Freaks is considered sick, though personally I found it too silly to be truly disturbing.

Asian movies can be in a "sick" class of their own. You already know about Miike. Early movies in the Guinea Pig series are hard to swallow (though like August Underground rather boring, since there's only so much entertainment value in watching scenes of people being tortured, murdered, and mutilated, with no plot). Man Behind the Sun is a nasty (but good) WWII prison camp movie. Naked Blood is a rather effective and interesting "splatter-gore" horror movie. That's just the tip of the iceberg. There are whole series of movies based on torture rape/stories.

Giles

crap! I was going to include that but decided not to since it's technically not 'horror' but I agree, some of the scenes and one in particular implied alot.

I Stand Alone and Man Bites Dog wallow in their graphic violence and ultimate depressing tone and outcome.

In regards to 'I Stand Alone', I can stomach alot of hardcore gore, but the

brainee

I'm kind of loose in my definition of "horror". Even if a movie doesn't follow a traditional horror-movie format, if the point of the movie is to evoke the feeling of horror in the audience, its a horror movie to me.

Speaking of Gaspar Noe (director of I Stand Alone): Irreversible is another one. Has a couple of scenes that manage to sicken even the most jaded of movie-goers. And an outstanding movie to boot.

Lt Ripley

Yeah, the only one I actually watched was Mordem. I didn't enjoy it. I didn't like the feeling I had while watching it nor afterwards.

The scat in Salo is pretty rough to watch. I have yet to see the Nekromantic films. I'll get around to it sometime.

Doh! I forgot about Irreversable. I actually had to turn away while watching that. The only other film that made me turn away (That I can currently recall) was American History X. I still do not know if the curb scene actually shows what happens.

Giles

however, I don't recommend, his segment from the compliation film 'Destricted' - its straight (pun intended) on hardcore sex with a headache inducing strobelike flicker for twenty minutes (pass me the gun - stop the madness)

Chad

I'm not trying to be facetious here, but Maniac probably wouldn't even rate in my top 10 list of sickest horror films. Guess I've become desensitized from watching so many over the years. Something more in the vein of Nekromantic and August Underground Mordum would probably be up there. The Japanese film "Shogun's Sadism" also comes to mind.

wlj

i saw Cannibal Holocaust once. i felt like i needed a bath afterwards LOL

cultshock

Most people have already mentioned the films I was going to, especially the AUGUST UNDERGROUND ones. Very sick but yes, boring too.

SNUFF is a waste of time in my opinion, and isn't shocking or sick at all. It sure made a lot of money back in the 70's though, as curious filmgoers heard that it was supposed to be a real snuff film.

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST could be considered sick if you don't want to see real animal deaths onscreen. But despite that, I'm a fan of the film.

wlj

i have read some reviews of the August Underground movies. my goodness they sound awful. i have read about some of the stuff depicted on screen...i don't see how that film isn't banned. my curiosity is up though

Hiro11

"Man Bites Dog" or "Henry" for me. Both are seriously disturbing "entertainments".

Mondo Kane

Is August Underground similar to Guinea Pig-Devil's Experiment?

TomOpus

I own about 90% of the movies mentioned

Not much for me to add.... oh, I'll mention Splatter: Naked Blood and Cannibal.

Seantn

Cannibal Holocaust didn't make me sick, it made me angry. Angry that the filmmakers had such little talent and imagination that they just went off and filmed themselves murdering actual animals in the hopes that people would say "Oh, shocking! What a masterpiece of horror!". It's not. I won't ever see this film again, because it'd be giving them money if I rented it.

brainee

Yeah, they're similar. Same psuedo-snuff style. Instead of being in one room torturing one woman for the whole time, you follow a couple of jack-ass serial killers as they go around torturing, raping, killing. It's a bit more ambitious than Guinea Pig, in that they try to put other stuff in the movie. To make it really seem like what you'd get from a couple of losers who like shooting stuff with a video cam. Them just hanging out, talking, going to a concert, picking up women. And the torturing, raping, killing is just a matter-of-fact event in their average day.

The follow-up is heavier on the gore and nastiness, has a larger cast of serial killers (essentially a whole clique of friends), but is basically the same deal.

wlj

i watched Guinea Pig 1 - Devil's Experiment and Guinea Pig 2 : Flower of Flesh and Blood last night. These movies are way overrated. Devil's Experiment was not that gory at all. The victim sure didn't seem to be phased much with the torture that was given out -- she just gave these little whimpers. I like Flower of Flesh and Blood alot more, but it was not as shocking as I had read it would be. The samurai dude was pretty creepy though. Cannibal Holocaust and I Spit on your Grave are probably the 2 sickest movies I have seen so far. I am sure that will change though whenever I watch one of those August Underground films -- they look freaking brutal.

Sex Fiend

Although one would probably not technically classify it as a "horror" movie per se, and it is definitely not graphic, the most upsetting film I have ever seen is Funny Games. After watching it, it definitely leaves you feeling like you've been punched in the stomach. But it's also a very thought-provoking film, and guaranteed to provide opposing and controversial perspectives afterwards with whomever you might view it.

I have seen most of the so-called "sick" horror films that are generally referenced in forum threads like this one, and while some of them are indeed off-putting and occasionally slightly nauseating, they are also almost universally cartoonish and/or lack a sense of being grounded in reality, which in turn alleviates the reaction you might get from a seasoned horror film viewer. Funny Games on the other hand, projects a "reality" (even as it questions the notion of that "reality") that indeed makes you question the morality of the depictions of violence in media, and in a larger sense, our cultural reaction to violence and the depictions thereof.

inri222

Visitor Q

The Reaper

Visitor Q is a riot.

wlj

how does Cannibal Ferox compare to Cannibal Holocaust? i have only seen Holocaust. I heard there are animal killings in Ferox as well...is that true?

wlj

what animals are killed in Ferox? i want to be prepared in case i decide to watch it.

DVDsAreMyLIFE

There are turtle killings and also a few discovery channel type animal fights and deaths. I recently watch Ferox but was very disappointed in it verus Holocaust, which I think is a much better film.

The part that got me was:

wlj

last night I watched these 2 movies for the first time:

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
August Underground: Mordum


Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer -- I thought that this movie was fantastic. It was very disturbing and unsettling. There was not a whole lot of gore, but gore was not needed -- it shocks aplenty without it. This movie also had some great acting -- each actor played their roles flawlessly. The ending was creepy as hell.

August Underground: Mordum -- My gosh...I really can't believe what I actually saw last night. This movie has knocked off Cannibal Holocaust as the most disturbing movie I have EVER seen. It is definitely a movie where you ask yourself while watching it -- "Am I some sick bastard for watching this?" It is so hard for me to believe this movie is not banned EVERYWHERE. I am guessing the right people haven't seen it yet. It isn't really a movie, it is just as if you walked up on a strange videotape and put it in the VCR only to find you are viewing a group of serial killers video journal. There is no camera man per se...the killers take turns holding a camera while every thing is going on. You thought Blair Witch would give you motion sickness? LOL you haven't seen the "camera work" in this film. I can say this film accomplishes what it sets out to do -- disgust the living hell out of you. I mean this movie goes further than ANYTHING I have ever seen before. Like I said -- you won't believe what you will see in this film. Would I recommend this movie to anyone? Not really. I mean...I watched it because I had heard so much about it and I was curious. I don't know why, but I like to be able to say..."Oh yeah...I have seen that." To be honest I kind of feel ashamed that I watched it -- it was rough. LOL my wife would divorce me if knew I watched something that bad.