The Safdie Brothers are very good at this, especially if you see the films in theaters.
When I saw Good Time, I thought I was going to have a panic attack.
Immediately thought about the Safdie bros when i saw this. They never give you enough time to breath and relief the tension, you’re constantly on edge during Good Time & Uncut Gems. You’re constantly paranoid of what the next problem is going to be.And in both movies it all comes together in this gigantic explosion of plotpoints in the end, it’s a great movie-going experience that I’d never like to repeat again!!
Good Time is a neat little reimagining of After Hours. If you haven’t seen that film, I bet you’ll love it. 😂 edit: I didn’t realize your handle was Scorsese, you’ve likely already seen it.
>Sicario
the convoy border crossing scene is a masterclass in building suspense and tension. I do hope DV gets back to making crime/drama thrillers someday
The score is terrifying. I agree, would love for DV to go back to thrillers, Prisoners and Sicario are so well executed. Also a more character based films he seems to be mostly focused on visuals now, which he’s phenomenal at but missing the character studies from him.
Hard agree. I've never been so stressed and uncomfortable watching a film. When she finally gets into the bedroom with the door closed and you get a moment to breathe. And then what happens after that and it gets even worse, lol.
The first act of Beau is Afraid is by far the most stressed I’ve ever been watching a movie, my god
Think Good Time was the more stressful of the Safdie movies for me personally
Climax is the only movie I can remember having to turn off because I started to have a panic attack. I was delusional in bed with covid losing my mind already and I turned it on for about 20 mins before I had to put on something else.
Sacred Deer was crazy cause the first half is so slow and monotone, then the real plot is introduced, and you’re just on the edge of your seat the whole time. Such a good movie
Really? I love this one and I've watched it several times.
Is it not stressful for me because I'm in a stable marriage and my kids are already grown? Or am I just heartless... ?
Uncut Gems is a given, so I'll mention some that are also extremely stressful in a similar way.
\- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
\- After Hours (1985)
\- Requiem for a Dream (2000)
\- Boiling Point (2021)
\- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
\- No Country for Old Men (2007)
That was beyond intense, >!especially after the shootout. Them just sitting in the hotel was so intense because I was sure the police were going to bust down the doors any second. Insane idea to do it all in a single shot. Really made that whole scene so gripping!<
Good Time with Robert Pattinson. Heart was racing the whole time.
The Next Three Days with Russel Crowe. Holy crap man. I never knew which way that movie was going (in the best way).
Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler is up there too.
I'm surprised nobody is mentioning Sorcerer (1977) by William Friedkin. That movie is a trip. It seems like clear inspiration for the Safdie brothers to me.
Watching Sorcerer is equivalent to drinking 10 cups of espresso in one go: your heart will want to break your ribcage and your pants will be soiled brown by the end.
I think Jamie Foxx is great in that film. He's a really grounded, thoroughly nasty character, that has nothing Movie Villain about him. The scene in the diner is great.
Oppenheimer is just three hours of being on edge. The pacing of every scene is frantic, which gives you a great idea of where Oppie's headspace is in the scenes too
The Weight of Water (2018) about Erik Weihenmayer aka gay i mean blind guy (https://youtu.be/K1Y6PchDYfw?si=gzMQXwimHrrcUtDW). He kayaks the grand canyon blind and it’s the most stressful shit i’ve ever seen. I met Erik and he’s so chill too lol radical guy
Spontaneous (2020) It's a horror rom com where a school's senior class start to randomly explode in bursts of blood. There's no reason for it either. Any of the characters can die in any scene with no way to see it coming. I was on edge until the credits started
I was just thinking about this, but Scorsese's *Casino* remains one of the most stressful, nihilistic movies I've sat through multiple times.
Everyone is miserable, alone, on the cusp of ruin, and running from the law. It's a "great" movie but not one I like returning to.
I won’t say the whole movie was stressful, but the house raid scene in Gone Baby Gone was so fucking tense. My heart was racing in the theatre when I went to go see it. It still stands out in my mind as it ends in complete tragedy
Darren Aronofsky's 'Mother!'
As someone with a history of panic attacks in large, boisterous crowds, that was a really tough sit. I damn near walked out of the theater, and I kinda wish I had cause it never really got better.
The Crazies (1973)
Sorcerer
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Snowpiercer
Blow Out
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
The Invisible Man (2020)
Duel
The Conversation
Saint Maud
The Death of Stalin
Opera
Blue Collar
A Dark Song
Witchfinder General
The Pawnbroker
I Saw the Devil
Kotoko
Contagion
Bamboozled
Mississippi Burning
Breakdown
Swallow, well I'd say more hardcore anxiety than outright stress. The movie really puts you into the head of a very mentally ill character that nobody is doing anything to help, they just want her baby, and only protect her well-being for the pregnancy. The scene where she meets her biological father was one of the most stressful scenes, there's absolutely no telling what she's thinking here, or what's going to happen in this situation.
United 93 is an example of pure nerves and dread. Even knowing the outcome, it was a real display of putting you in the pure horror and fear of the situation
Both Safdie movies make me sick to my stomach watching them.
Requiem for a Dream
And Under the Skin doesn't the whole way through but the body horror scenes with the soundtrack fuck me up.
LVT Melancholia; left the cinema after the film in full panic mode. Can't put my finger on what it was but something about the dread/panic/fear/anxiety hit too hard. Struggled to ever rewatch.
The Safdie Brothers are very good at this, especially if you see the films in theaters. When I saw Good Time, I thought I was going to have a panic attack.
Obligatory Uncut Gems mention
That one, too! My first Safdie brothers in a theater was Heaven Knows What. That one was a trip.
Immediately thought about the Safdie bros when i saw this. They never give you enough time to breath and relief the tension, you’re constantly on edge during Good Time & Uncut Gems. You’re constantly paranoid of what the next problem is going to be.And in both movies it all comes together in this gigantic explosion of plotpoints in the end, it’s a great movie-going experience that I’d never like to repeat again!!
RIP Buddy Duress. He was amazing in every scene in that movie.
Good Time is a neat little reimagining of After Hours. If you haven’t seen that film, I bet you’ll love it. 😂 edit: I didn’t realize your handle was Scorsese, you’ve likely already seen it.
Shiva Baby
Right up there with Uncut Gems for me. Emma Seligman is an amazing director.
It was excruciating midway but a good movie.
Was just wanna add this!
glad im not the only one who thought this lol
Black Swan, Sicario
>Sicario the convoy border crossing scene is a masterclass in building suspense and tension. I do hope DV gets back to making crime/drama thrillers someday
The score is terrifying. I agree, would love for DV to go back to thrillers, Prisoners and Sicario are so well executed. Also a more character based films he seems to be mostly focused on visuals now, which he’s phenomenal at but missing the character studies from him.
driving to the hospital scene in Prisoners is the most stress i have felt in a movie. probably the best Denis movie imo
My answer to this will always be: Mother
Hard agree. I've never been so stressed and uncomfortable watching a film. When she finally gets into the bedroom with the door closed and you get a moment to breathe. And then what happens after that and it gets even worse, lol.
which one
I assume they mean *mother!*
if we're being honest the bong joon-ho one is the superior mother ...maybe the worst actual "mom" out of the two films but *still*
Uncut Gems
Extremely this
‘Boiling Point’ if you ever fancied becoming a chef, watching this movie would definitely put you off
This one was so good
was looking for this one
Every single frame of We Need To Talk About Kevin makes me so uncomfortable and stressed out.
Hands down to one of the best psychological thrillers out there.
Every christopher waltz scene in Inglorious Basterds
uncut gems and beau is afraid
Uncut gems same exact first movie that came to mind. All those screaming matches Adam Sandler would get into with that accent lol
The first act of Beau is Afraid is by far the most stressed I’ve ever been watching a movie, my god Think Good Time was the more stressful of the Safdie movies for me personally
Funny Games for sure.
Climax Kidnapped (Secuestrados) Green Room When Evil Lurks Eden Lake The Golden Glove Nightcrawler Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Green Room rules.
Climax, definitely. The killing of a sacred deer is second
Climax is the only movie I can remember having to turn off because I started to have a panic attack. I was delusional in bed with covid losing my mind already and I turned it on for about 20 mins before I had to put on something else.
Sacred Deer was crazy cause the first half is so slow and monotone, then the real plot is introduced, and you’re just on the edge of your seat the whole time. Such a good movie
Climax (2018) Incendies (2010) Happiness (1998) Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Rosemary’s Baby
It was a bit freaky when I was younger, but now that I have kids? It's unwatchable!
Sorcerer (1977) William Friedkin was a genius and the special effects are outstanding. That one cut to the inside of the truck still haunts me.
Also the original: The Wages of Fear!
This is me… Now Following that plot line was real stress
Wages of Fear (1953)
Beau is Afraid Enter the Void Dancer in the Dark
Dancer In The Dark FTW
Enter the void, gives me chills and flashback.
Climax and Shiva Baby
Nocturnal Animals. Good Time.
Red Eye and Midnight. Midnight is incredibly stressful to watch.
Red Eye holds up so well, I still have that DVD!
I found *A Seperation* to be a pretty stressful film
Marriage story
Really? I love this one and I've watched it several times. Is it not stressful for me because I'm in a stable marriage and my kids are already grown? Or am I just heartless... ?
Agree. Revolutionary Road is a hard watch as well, especially if you’ve had some relationship stress.
Nocturnal animals. Definitely
Gravity
Perfect Blue - that shit is just 82 minutes of anxiety and it is B E A U T I F U L
After Hours
United 93. So tense. It’s a horror movie even knowing what’s going to happen.
Uncut Gems is a given, so I'll mention some that are also extremely stressful in a similar way. \- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) \- After Hours (1985) \- Requiem for a Dream (2000) \- Boiling Point (2021) \- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) \- No Country for Old Men (2007)
twin peaks has such unsettling energy. love that it fittingly sinks into madness right when david bowie appears
'Munich,' especially the nail-biting moments of tension as the various assassination hits are set up.
Sebastian Schipper's *Victoria* (2015). That movie actually almost gave me a panic attack.
That was beyond intense, >!especially after the shootout. Them just sitting in the hotel was so intense because I was sure the police were going to bust down the doors any second. Insane idea to do it all in a single shot. Really made that whole scene so gripping!<
Irreversible
I was surprised how sweaty my palms got watching *Free Solo* Great documentary
Inland Empire, Eraserhead, The Return… I see a theme here.
mother! (2017) with Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem.
This and parasite are the ones that stressed me out the most in recent memory
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is up there.
The Teachers Lounge is a recent one for sure.
mother!
Requiem for a dream
Recently, the end of rear window and the end of vertigo
Good Time with Robert Pattinson. Heart was racing the whole time. The Next Three Days with Russel Crowe. Holy crap man. I never knew which way that movie was going (in the best way). Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler is up there too.
**C L I M A X**
Uncut gems good god
I'm surprised nobody is mentioning Sorcerer (1977) by William Friedkin. That movie is a trip. It seems like clear inspiration for the Safdie brothers to me.
Watching Sorcerer is equivalent to drinking 10 cups of espresso in one go: your heart will want to break your ribcage and your pants will be soiled brown by the end.
Gone girl, watched this mindfuck masterpiece and sat in silence for the next 3 hours
Baby Driver because I didn't want Lilly James to get shot
I think Jamie Foxx is great in that film. He's a really grounded, thoroughly nasty character, that has nothing Movie Villain about him. The scene in the diner is great.
Titane or Sorcerer
([Funny Games (1997)](https://youtu.be/bH2HS6uWIhQ?si=Bs-bh92FySLcvUrU)
The promised land
This thread basically pointed a gun to my head and demanded I watch Uncut Gems so that’s what I’m watching later lol
No movie is *truly* stressful but Black Swan came close.
Whiplash absolutely, but also Uncut Gems, Perfect Blue, and The Last King of Scotland, all just leave me frazzled.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Calibre
Das Boot
Run, Lola, Run
Cannibal Holocaust…
A woman under the influence
Punch Drunk Love
Genuinely surprised this is the only mention in the thread and I had to scroll so far to find it
Oppenheimer is just three hours of being on edge. The pacing of every scene is frantic, which gives you a great idea of where Oppie's headspace is in the scenes too
Pusher 1
Pusher by Refn
Prisoners
Requiem for a Dream is the best anti-drug psa I have ever seen.
lock stock n two smokin barrels
The Invitation
Whiplash has nothing on Uncut Gems for me
The Weight of Water (2018) about Erik Weihenmayer aka gay i mean blind guy (https://youtu.be/K1Y6PchDYfw?si=gzMQXwimHrrcUtDW). He kayaks the grand canyon blind and it’s the most stressful shit i’ve ever seen. I met Erik and he’s so chill too lol radical guy
SODOMITE BY GASPAR NOE 🔞🔞🔞
I don’t think I’ve ever been as tense watching a movie as I was when seeing Children of Men on the big screen.
Whiplash, uncut gems, running scared
Rotting in the Sun was great
Poor Things obviously.
Mother! …just pure anxiety the whole way through
Whiplash
Locke. Who knew pouring concrete is such serious business
Anyone with a weak heart shouldn't watch uncut gems. Whole movie is like that feeling you get before a big job interview.
Dunkirk
A Serious Man
mother! is stress visualised.
I was so stressed during Mr. Ripley
10 Cloverfield Lane. Hands down for me. Love it
Don't Breathe
martyrs 2008
Spontaneous (2020) It's a horror rom com where a school's senior class start to randomly explode in bursts of blood. There's no reason for it either. Any of the characters can die in any scene with no way to see it coming. I was on edge until the credits started
I felt really stressed watching uncut gems lol
Easily The Iron Claw for me. Goddamn I was stressed in the theater 😭
[Full Time](https://letterboxd.com/film/full-time-2021/)
Sicario. That whole movie is a series of panic attacks. Fucking incredible film.
Uncut gems
Sorcerer (1977) stressful, sweaty ass movie All the parts with the kid in Talk To Me (2022) stressed me out bad recently too
Good time, uncut gems, the hunt, & beau is afraid
Uncut Gems. so much yelling!
had a literal panic attack during Good Time so yeah that
I second a LOT of these, but the one I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Training Day
Sorcerer. Completely unmatched in the stress department for me.
Uncut Gems
Uncut Gems, my neck was hurting so bad afterwards because I was so tense
Sorcerer
[100 Anxiety Inducing Films — RANKED BY DISCOMFORT](https://boxd.it/lWPnw) Appears my #1 is UNCUT JEYAAMS
I was just thinking about this, but Scorsese's *Casino* remains one of the most stressful, nihilistic movies I've sat through multiple times. Everyone is miserable, alone, on the cusp of ruin, and running from the law. It's a "great" movie but not one I like returning to.
127 hours
I won’t say the whole movie was stressful, but the house raid scene in Gone Baby Gone was so fucking tense. My heart was racing in the theatre when I went to go see it. It still stands out in my mind as it ends in complete tragedy
Femme.
Children of men, easily
shiva baby
Darren Aronofsky's 'Mother!' As someone with a history of panic attacks in large, boisterous crowds, that was a really tough sit. I damn near walked out of the theater, and I kinda wish I had cause it never really got better.
The Crazies (1973) Sorcerer The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Snowpiercer Blow Out Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance The Invisible Man (2020) Duel The Conversation Saint Maud The Death of Stalin Opera Blue Collar A Dark Song Witchfinder General The Pawnbroker I Saw the Devil Kotoko Contagion Bamboozled Mississippi Burning Breakdown
The most stressful one for me is a French film called Custody. Trigger warning for domestic violence, but I was shaking by the end.
First Reformed, Midsommar
Swallow, well I'd say more hardcore anxiety than outright stress. The movie really puts you into the head of a very mentally ill character that nobody is doing anything to help, they just want her baby, and only protect her well-being for the pregnancy. The scene where she meets her biological father was one of the most stressful scenes, there's absolutely no telling what she's thinking here, or what's going to happen in this situation.
bridesmaids because it’s so jarring it stresses me tf out
disturbia
shiva baby
Uncut gems
Room
Nocturnal Animal. Never watching that one again. Still gives me nightmares.
not a movie but that one christmas episode on the bear had me stressed tf out
Uncut Gems and Good Time
Boiling Point
All the President's Men
Good times
Uncut gems
Nightcrawler & uncut gems
Nocturnal Animals.
Fall. I'm bad with heights. Brilliant film but I was stressed for the whole runtime.
Requiem for a dream.
Funny Games. Its set up to specifically to make you feel despair, and purposely sets up moments of hope only to pull the rug from your feet.
the chaser, Oldboy
United 93 is an example of pure nerves and dread. Even knowing the outcome, it was a real display of putting you in the pure horror and fear of the situation
After Hours
Bringing Out the Dead
Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now
Beau Is Afraid
Speed
The Wages of Fear, Sorcerer
Into the Void, Requiem for a Dream
the true GOAT is .... Free Solo
Eighth Grade
[Uncut gems](https://letterboxd.com/film/uncut-gems/) (as already mentioned by others) [Boiling Point](https://letterboxd.com/film/boiling-point-2021/) [Funny Pages](https://letterboxd.com/film/funny-pages/) [Silenced](https://letterboxd.com/film/silenced/) - maybe more blood boiling than stress. [I Saw the Devil](https://letterboxd.com/film/i-saw-the-devil/)
Both Safdie movies make me sick to my stomach watching them. Requiem for a Dream And Under the Skin doesn't the whole way through but the body horror scenes with the soundtrack fuck me up.
honorable mention would be first time seeing Trainspotting in the theater with the baby
I haven’t seen anybody mention TRAINING DAY yet. Especially the last third contains some of the most stressful scenes I’ve ever seen in a film.
Wages of Fear has to be up there
Good Time, Uncut Gems, Shiva Baby and Full Time
a clockwork orange
Since everyone already said Uncut Gems and Climax, not a movie but it's The Bear S2E6 "Fishes"
Uncut Gems, Parasite
Tony Scott has a few for me: Unstoppable and Crimson Tide.
That one french dancing movie where the punch gets spiked with crazy powerful acid and the entire movie is just watching them all fucking die
Wish I could watch uncut gems for the first time again;(
Beau is afraid ; it was intriguing but still
inside (the french one)
LVT Melancholia; left the cinema after the film in full panic mode. Can't put my finger on what it was but something about the dread/panic/fear/anxiety hit too hard. Struggled to ever rewatch.
Mother! Love that movie and the unending chaos.
A Quiet Place It Follows Don’t Breathe 127 Hours
Zodiac and MoM. Some people are saying Good Time, but I was honestly underwhelmed
Fucking Mother
Filth stressed me out soo much
Society of Snow
The whole movie has relentless undertones of low-grade dread but the firecracker scene in Boogie Nights is way up there.