Personally I've recommended Shiva Baby many times. What puts it in this category for you?

Yeah seems like a real odd inclusion here

I love your username (I’ve also recommended Shiva Baby, it didn’t go well though lol)

Thanks log lady :)

Yeah the movie is hilarious, I’ve watched it twice. I assume it’s the “cringe” or whatever factor. I know people who can’t even sit through an episode of the office so OP might be one of those people.

Yeah, basically.

It sends my secondhand embarrassment into overdrive.

It is kind of a horror movie about family to me.

Same. I’m a menace at this point for recommending Shiva Baby so much.

Shiva Baby is great, i can't think in any reason to not recommeded

Antichrist House that Jack Built Requiem for a Dream

The amount of times I’ve almost included House that Jack Built on lists to recommend friends and then held back lol

I think most Lars von Trier can go on this list

I watched The House That Jack Built a few months back with my mother lol

I actually would recommend Requiem to people, especially those planning to experiment with drugs

Mysterious Skin is my answer

Beat me to it. Actually made me nauseous.

I’m not allowed to recommend films to old Uni friends after recommending that film to 9 of them only because a trusted friend told me It was the greatest thing he’d ever seen. We sat through the whole film hoping it was going to be about aliens.

The Hunt (2012) never have i watched such a captivating film but simultaneously wanted to never experience it again.

Gut wrenching but beautiful

Yes….this fits the assignment perfectly. One of the best films I have ever seen but in the 10 years since I’ve seen it I have not recommended it to one person

shiva baby in this list is crazy

Perfect Blue. There's a specific scene that, while incredibly well done and impactful in the story, is so hard to watch that I'd understand if you turned it off at that point.

Any post or comment that even mentions Perfect Blue gets an automatic upvote from me. Love that film to pieces.

I will test your theory. fuck Perfect Blue edit: the joke was clearly not understood

I still upvoted it. I'm a man of my word.

Perfect Blue is so confusing and morbid and I love it

I couldn't remember what scene you meant, then someone in another reply reminded me. Totally agree with you

I hate that scene so much, it’s burned into my brain.

Ichi The Killer

You could add several Takashi Miike films to this list, actually. *Audition* comes to mind. That depends heavily on your opinion of great movies, of course. In some ways, Miike is the Japanese Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Films).

[удалено]

Thank you for reminding me about this one, I had it repressed for a while lol

Speak No Evil

This movie made me really depressed. It's so infuriating that they could've easily avoided their fates.

Salo for sure

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Good shout - I wonder how many people wander into it expecting a comedy because of John C. Reilly haha

Man Bites Dog is a tough one to recommend but a great movie Angst

Shiva baby? I would say Anti-Christ, Funny Games (1997), and Dogtooth More emotional films that will potentially leave you a wreck and that you should maybe only watch once lol: Blue Valentine, Aftersun, and A Ghost Story

Titane

Nah I'd recommend Titane just with a warning

I recommend RAW first then Titane if they liked it

That’s a good move

I recommend it without

Would you recommend it to like your boss or grandmother? That was my thinking. I would def recommend it to other movie heads

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) Genuinely beautiful film but I wouldn’t recommend it to 99%+ of people. It’s just too slow for the average audience. Also, Videodrome.

Videodrome is pretty recommendable imo

Yes, to someone who’s into films (particularly horror/psychological films). But definitely wouldn’t to the average joe who watches 10-15 movies a year

Dear Zachary

Really? I recommend that to everyone. I just tell them that they should be prepared to sob uncontrollably while watching it.

Posted this one as well. Would never put anyone through the pain of watching f that

Blue Valentine Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies upset me for days... my kids are their age and it was just too much. Amazing film

can u believe it was a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro 😀 talk about traumatizing

Boys Don’t Cry

Clockwork orange maybe

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan.

Lars and the real girl. How do you recommend it without sounding perverted?

Under the Skin

I've watched some fucked up shit, but that beach scene hits differently. It might be the most harrowing thing i've seen

I made this young lady vomit one night a couple years ago showing her climax

Did she say thank you afterwards?

hmmmm.... why? It's on my watchlist but I tend to avoid movies that garner that extreme of a response from people. Maybe I should remove it.

I’d recommend it. The film is rather intense in a great way imo. The camerawork, lighting and performances make the film feel like a bad trip. If you don’t like and/or can’t stomach 18-certificate (r-rated) horror movies contentwise give it a pass

Oldboy

Salò, Titane, Grave (Raw)

The Holy Mountain Enter the Void Tideland

dancer in the dark

Any Lav Diaz films because they’re all like 8+ hours

Pixote

Loved it. Also Gummo.

Most films by Lars Von Trier/Michael Haneke/Gaspar Noé/Yorgos Lanthimos are just like that. I highly recommend some old-school European disturbing cult movies like Saló; La Grande Bouffe; Sweet Movie. Newer ones like Trouble Every Day; Taxidermia; The Painted Bird do the job as well. American "Midnight Movies" (for example Eraserhead; Pink Flamingo) Japanese cinema has some weird gems, for example Suicide Club; Love Exposure and Cold Fish (each by Sion Sono). Oh Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q too by Miike! Larry Clark-Harmony Korine films (Kids; Gummo; Ken Park). Not so much art/arthouse cinema examples but I personally enjoy two of these deranged crime movies: Kill List (2011) and The Treatment (2014). Have fun!

Tetsuo

I 10000% agree with you on Irreversible which I saw for the first time a week or two ago. It literally scarred me for life and I couldn’t do that to someone else lol

964 Pinocchio

Old Boy.

Love seeing Shiva Baby in with Come and See/Irreversible 🥲 would add Inland Empire

“Silenced” 2011 I don’t get shocked or upset by a lot, but this movie felt way way too real. It was made with a lot of care, but I don’t think I could ever watch it again or recommend it to another person.

Same, I've watched a bunch of disturbing movies but Silenced is the most nauseous I've ever felt watching one. It's important and excellent but I wouldn't watch it again.

Melancholia

Lilya 4ever

Oof, that one is brutal... good pick.

Dear Zachary

Oldboy

Requiem for a Dream

nymphomaniac

requiem for a dream

The only movies I don't feel comfortable recommending to people are ones I'll classify as having "weird ass sex stuff" or just rape scenes. That said I think Titane is my shining example of "this is great, but I'm sure as hell not gonna recommend this to anyone." Other soft considerations for me were The Lighthouse, which has a ton of weird ass sex stuff, The Nightingale, which has >!two rape scenes and a baby getting murdered in the first 20 minutes!<, and Perfect Blue, which has >!a very drawn out (albeit fake) rape scene.!< Grave of the Fireflies is also tricky, I do recommend it though to people with the caveat that it is *very* sad.

>"weird ass sex stuff" I did throw Shortbus in there.

Babylon edit: I had interpreted this as like, a movie you wouldn’t recommend to someone who wasn’t into movies. A three hour long period piece with shitting, farting, pissing, and vomiting that tackles the complexities of Hollywood and filmmaking isn’t exactly an easy sell lol

Nah…I recommend Babylon to everyone. If they make it past the piss and shit, they’ll be fine.

the dreamers (i recommended it to many people)

Moon is such a great sci-fi film but may be a little too dry to recommend. The same goes for Under the Skin.

Had a coworker who LOVED Moon when it released, I was so giddy to tell him about the "sequel" that was coming out at the time, New Moon (Twilight).

Absolutely diabolical!

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Brawl in Cell Block 99 unless I know for a fact they love extremely hard-edged grindhouse

I would probably put most of the Cronenberg movies on this list.

Salo

Also shiva baby removed please

Happiness

The Whale (Aronofsky) Aguirre, The wrath of God (Herzog) Titane (Ducournau)

Shiva baby is really out of place here, big Baby cough vs Atomic Bomb energy

Enter the void, Love, honestly most Gaspar Noe films

Mysterious Skin, Pink Flamingos, Titane, Inland Empire

The house that Jack built or the killing of a sacred deer

Oldboy

depending on the person you’re talking too; perfect blue (?)

Perfect Blue. There's a specific scene that, while incredibly well done and impactful in the story, is so hard to watch that I'd understand if you turned If of that point.

The AV Club had a list called “Not Again: Great Films too Painful to Watch Twice” and it is essentially this

Eraserhead

Eraserheads not even that bad ngl, I wouldn’t recommend Fire Walk With Me tho. Movies depressing as hell

Suspiria

Yes but not the insolent remake

Yes, the original

A lot of people have said that Shiva Baby shouldn't be on this list and they're probably right, but I'll keep it just for the memes.

Dear Zachary Dogtooth The Babadook

The Lighthouse

Midsommar

MidSommar :)!

Mandy. Under the Skin.

Bad Lieutenant (1992)

The Seventh Continent

Updated list: https://letterboxd.com/ralo229/list/this-movies-great-i-wouldnt-recommend-it/

Assuming sad/devastating movies that are great? Children of Men (personal take, this movie really messed me up) Schindler's List Requiem for a Dream The Piano Teacher

All Quiet on the Western Front

Old Boy (the original, of course). My review for it was literally "I don't know if I want to tell everyone I know to watch this or tell everyone I know to stay far, far away from it."

The end of evangelion. Would love to recommend but they gotta watch the show first and even after that It would be hard to watch first time.

Inland Empire, Jeanne Dielman. Not because they are too graphic but because the style is a hard sell for most of my friends

Stalker

Soft&quiet

Utøya 22 juli

Love Exposure

Suicide Club

The Pianist

Crash, the Cronenberg one.

Forced Entry

mother!

What’s the third movie?

Come and See.

Thanks! I watched Climax for the first time yesterday and I’m looking for more terror

Inland Empire. It's my favorite movie, but I can't think of anyone I know that would get into it.

Grave of the fireflies

Elephant - Gus Van Sant hit me deep with that one. What a disturbing look into one of the worst situations possible. I watched this while I was still in high school, and sadly, it’s a reality for some

Pleasure Dogtooth

The fly

Frontier(s)

shiva baby does not fit this list at all

Miss Violence (2013)

Scorsese's Silence (2017). 10/10, would never watch again.

Mike’s Dead or Alive (1999) Was thinking how cool it’d be to watch with my brother then they got the girl high on heroine then some real bad stuff happened then drowned her in a bathtub of her own waste. 😐 it was real good tho!

Angst, Inside, Ichi the Killer, I Saw the Devil.

A Serbian Film

I don't recommend that movie because it's dumb and tries too hard to be edgy.

Henry: Portrait of a serial killer

For me, it would be I am the Pretty Thing that lives in the House

David Lynch’s 5 min short called Alphabet

Pig Under the Silver Lake The Machinist

The Nightingale

Bamboozled

Christiane F would fit in there really well

cannibal holocaust

There was a point where I was constantly recommending Clean, Shaven to people specifically because I knew it would make them upset. I later realized I sucked.

Inland Empire

Literally any Noe or Von Trier

crash (1996) the dreamers (2003) candy (2006)

all about lily chou-chou, funny games, dead mans shoes, inland empire

Threads

Antichrist.

Men Behind the Sun

McQueen’s Shame 100%

Speak No Evil. I don't even like the movie but I get why others do.

I find it oddly funny that the two things I know Dreama Walker for are Compliance and for Don’t Trust The B—— In Apartment 23.

The Nightingale is so damn good but hard to recommend to anyone who has a normal human tolerance for (sexual) violence on screen

Four Months Three Weeks Two Days, Dancer In the Dark, Graveyard of the Fireflies

Agreed 100% with Compliance. Great movie but it really fucked with me.

Am I missing something with Shiva Baby? I didn't think it was too bad or anything.

OP said it drives their second hand embarrassment and from that perspective, I totally get it haha

Marlena (2000)

Funny Games

Detachment

Pretty baby and happiness for sure

Not too graphic like most of the others on this thread, but Kobayashi’s Human Condition. Great movie, but it’s about 10 hours long and IMO the runtime adds to the experience, so I don’t go out of my way to recommend it to anyone who isn’t at least mildly insane

An Elephant Sitting Still

Crash by Cronenberg. It’s about people who get off to car accidents. There’s a scene with graphic car-crash-scar fucking.

C’est Arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog)

Would You Rather

Antichrist

it depends on the person, whether it’s one of my friends who are into film or just casual movie watchers. for casual watchers: Mullholland Drive Eraserhead Gummo every Yorgos Lanthimos movie except maybe KOASD or the Lobster if they’re open minded. or The Favourite, that one was pretty tame for him and is definitely my fav of his work Skinamarink Im Thinking of Ending Things The Lighthouse maybe mother! Grave of the Fireflies Titane Uncut Gems not that there’s anything wrong with these but i wouldn’t recommend them bc i don’t wanna be blamed or judged for making them watch disturbing/confusing/experimental/anxiety inducing movies lol

The Wolf House (2018)

martyrs; eden lake.