Disturbing Art Cinema
by peter_mezosi | created - 09 Oct 2013 | updated - 08 Sep 2022 | PublicA list of disturbing films with art house pedigree
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1. Pigsty (1969)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama
A man wandering in a volcanic desert forms a band of murderous cannibals. A post-war German industrialist learns that his son is unable to make decisions or form relationships.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Alberto Lionello, Ugo Tognazzi
Votes: 3,975
2. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
TV-MA | 117 min | Drama
In World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental, and sexual torture.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti
Votes: 65,793
3. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
While vacationing on a remote German island with his younger pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gertrud Fridh, Georg Rydeberg
Votes: 22,568
4. Trouble Every Day (2001)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Two American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.
Director: Claire Denis | Stars: Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle, Alex Descas
Votes: 9,303 | Gross: $0.01M
5. The Seventh Continent (1989)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
A European family who plan on escaping to Australia seem caught up in their daily routine, only troubled by minor incidents. However, behind their apparent calm and repetitive existence, they are actually planning something sinister.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Birgit Doll, Dieter Berner, Leni Tanzer, Udo Samel
Votes: 16,973
6. Benny's Video (1992)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Drama
A 14-year-old video enthusiast obsessed with violent films decides to make one of his own and show it to his parents, with tragic results.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, Ulrich Mühe, Ingrid Stassner
Votes: 18,601
7. Funny Games (1997)
Not Rated | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Arno Frisch, Frank Giering
Votes: 84,016
8. The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971)
Not Rated | 32 min | Documentary, Short, Horror
At a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned.
Director: Stan Brakhage
Votes: 1,661
9. Antichrist (2009)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm
Votes: 136,475 | Gross: $0.40M
10. I Stand Alone (1998)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A horse butcher's life and mind begin to break down as he lashes out against various factions of society while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankie Pain, Martine Audrain
Votes: 25,791 | Gross: $0.05M
11. Irreversible (2002)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon
Votes: 147,592 | Gross: $0.75M
12. Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
Director: Toshio Matsumoto | Stars: Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshimi Jô, Koichi Nakamura
Votes: 7,274
13. Sweet Movie (1974)
Not Rated | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
After winning the "most virgin" contest, Miss Canada is married to a rich milk tycoon. But she quickly flees the marriage to experience the world around her, full of sweetness and anarchy.
Director: Dusan Makavejev | Stars: Carole Laure, Pierre Clémenti, Anna Prucnal, Sami Frey
Votes: 6,444
14. Trash Humpers (2009)
Not Rated | 78 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
Follows the lives of a small group of sociopathic elderly people in Nashville, Tennessee.
Director: Harmony Korine | Stars: Rachel Korine, Brian Kotzur, Travis Nicholson, Harmony Korine
Votes: 5,473
15. Honeycomb (1969)
PG | 102 min | Drama
Isolated from the rest of the world in their countryside mansion, an unhappily married couple engages in a series of increasingly violent role playing games in an effort to heal their relationship.
Director: Carlos Saura | Stars: Geraldine Chaplin, Per Oscarsson, Teresa del Río, Julia Peña
Votes: 376
16. Dogtooth (2009)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, Thriller
A controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Christos Passalis
Votes: 110,340 | Gross: $0.11M
17. Calvaire (2004)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Marc, a traveling entertainer, is on his way home for Christmas when his van breaks down in the middle of a jerkwater town with some strange inhabitants.
Director: Fabrice du Welz | Stars: Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Lahaie, Gigi Coursigny, Jean-Luc Couchard
Votes: 13,785 | Gross: $0.00M
18. The Ape (2009)
81 min | Drama, Thriller
A descent into hell, Jesper Ganslandt's disturbing and suspenseful second feature begins with a man waking up in unfamiliar surroundings, only to find the life he knew the day before is gone.
Director: Jesper Ganslandt | Stars: Olle Sarri, Eva Rexed, Françoise Joyce, Sean Pietrulewicz
Votes: 2,010
19. Bad Lieutenant (1992)
NC-17 | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness and redemption.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Brian McElroy, Frank Acciarito, Peggy Gormley
Votes: 47,853 | Gross: $2.00M
20. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,114
21. Fireworks (1947)
20 min | Short, Drama, Horror
A dissatisfied dreamer awakes, goes out in the night seeking a 'light' and is drawn through the needle's eye. A dream of a dream, he returns to bed less empty than before.
Director: Kenneth Anger | Stars: Kenneth Anger, Gordon Gray, Bill Seltzer
Votes: 2,902
22. Eraserhead (1977)
Not Rated | 89 min | Fantasy, Horror
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 127,400 | Gross: $7.00M
23. El Topo (1970)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama, Western
A mysterious black-clad gunfighter wanders a mystical Western landscape encountering multiple bizarre characters.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, José Legarreta, Alfonso Arau
Votes: 31,376 | Gross: $0.04M
24. Un chien andalou (1929)
Not Rated | 16 min | Short, Fantasy, Horror
Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil, Luis Buñuel, Pancho Cossío
Votes: 53,784
25. Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Baron Frankenstein creates two "zombies" - one male, one female - planning to mate them in order to create a master race.
Directors: Paul Morrissey, Antonio Margheriti | Stars: Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Monique van Vooren
Votes: 6,915 | Gross: $10.25M
26. A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
Twin zoologists lose their wives in a car accident and become obsessed with decomposing animals.
Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Brian Deacon, Eric Deacon, Andréa Ferréol, Frances Barber
Votes: 7,563
27. A Short Film About Killing (1988)
Not Rated | 84 min | Crime, Drama
A soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
Votes: 22,400
28. Possession (1981)
R | 124 min | Drama, Horror
A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
Director: Andrzej Zulawski | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent
Votes: 42,789 | Gross: $1.11M
29. Code Blue (2011)
TV-MA | 81 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Marian, a middle aged nurse, devotes herself to her patients like a saint. Sometimes she even takes on the role of a redeemer, by helping the gravely ill to the soothing order of ultimate ... See full summary »
Director: Urszula Antoniak | Stars: Bien de Moor, Lars Eidinger, Annemarie Prins, Sophie van Winden
Votes: 1,100
30. 4 (2004)
Not Rated | 126 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Two men and a woman happen to meet in a bar. We learn from their conversations both the intriguing and banal details of their lives. But is anyone really telling the truth? From the meat ... See full summary »
Director: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy | Stars: Yuriy Laguta, Marina Vovchenko, Sergey Shnurov, Andrei Kudriashov
Votes: 2,258
31. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania.
Director: Cristian Mungiu | Stars: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean
Votes: 63,279 | Gross: $1.19M
32. The Day of the Locust (1975)
R | 144 min | Drama, Thriller
An art director in the 1930s falls in love and attempts to make a young woman an actress despite Hollywood who wants nothing to do with her because of her problems with an estranged man and her alcoholic father.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton
Votes: 6,364 | Gross: $17.79M
33. Tony Manero (2008)
TV-MA | 97 min | Drama, Music
A man is obsessed with John Travolta's disco dancing character from Saturday Night Fever (1977).
Director: Pablo Larraín | Stars: Alfredo Castro, Amparo Noguera, Héctor Morales, Paola Lattus
Votes: 4,556
34. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
R | 121 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Steven, a charismatic surgeon, is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Barry G. Bernson, Herb Caillouet, Bill Camp, Raffey Cassidy
Votes: 187,147 | Gross: $2.29M
35. Happiness (1998)
NC-17 | 134 min | Comedy, Drama
The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Director: Todd Solondz | Stars: Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker
Votes: 74,401 | Gross: $2.81M
36. The Night Porter (1974)
R | 118 min | Drama
A concentration camp survivor rekindles her sadomasochistic relationship with her lover, a former SS officer - now working as a night porter at a Vienna hotel - but his former Nazi associates begin stalking them.
Director: Liliana Cavani | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Charlotte Rampling, Philippe Leroy, Gabriele Ferzetti
Votes: 14,713 | Gross: $0.63M
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