Movies are an excellent way of showcasing visual art, often times portraying works of fiction or highlighting important social issues. This is why the Oscars are handed out each year, showcasing the best of the best in the industry. However, not every movie created is enjoyable. Some will burn a hole through your brain and leave you scarred. Others with make you regret even finding out about their existence.

Everyone has different tastes when it comes to what they want from a movie. While some people can stomach anything, the rest of us aren’t as capable. That’s why many of us carefully research what we plan to put on after a long tiring day. Look, we won’t judge you if you plan on actively seeking out some of these but we would highly suggest staying away from them if you cannot handle disturbing and violent stuff. Here we have compiled a list of all the movies you should avoid because not only are they extremely upsetting but will prevent you from having a peaceful night’s sleep as well.

15. Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah’s controversial film, Straw Dogs is an upsetting take on violence and masculinity. An American mathematician and his young English wife move to a Cornish village in search of a peaceful life. However, beneath the apparent peace and isolation, there lies gruesome savagery that quickly takes the couple in its fold, threatening their very existence.

Straw Dogs is the embodiment of violence, featuring a painfully long rape scene. As the audience follows, the protagonist is put through a brutal test of his manhood through a bloody fight to the death. Gory and violence packed, there’s a reason why this movie had to go through a number of edits and censorship upon its release.

14. Teeth

If you’re looking for a comedy/horror film that will make any man hold on to his package for dear life, Mitchell Lichtenstein’s “Teeth” is for you.

The plot revolves around a woman who has teeth in her vagina and is on a mission to avenge herself on the men who raped her. Rape and revenge movies aren’t new, but this one is the oddest of them all.

The audience will follow this humorous dark comedy develop into a charming movie. However, no one wants to see a man’s penis being bitten off, that too by a vagina. Safe to say, the movie will wreck serious nerves as Dawn get’s in bed with a man, keeping everyone’s legs locked as viewers sit in anticipation to see if “the bite” happens or not.

13. I spit on your grave

There’s nothing about this movie that you need to remember. And if you’ve already seen it, it’s best to forget. The plot of I Spit On Your Grave revolves around an aspiring female writer who takes a break from life only to be thrown into the worst tragedy and ultimately revenge.

Needless to say, the characters of the men in the movie are vile, gang raping a helpless woman over and over and leaving her for dead. But actions come to bite, as the audience follows the gruesome murders of the men turn by turn as the victim plots and executes her revenge. Lots of blood and violence is what will keep you squirming in front of the screen till the very end.

12. Inland Empire

While many will find this movie pointless, fans of Director David Lynch and his production style with enjoy the weirdness of this movie.

The plot revolves around an actress who slowly starts to become the person she is supposed to be on screen. Making her life a confusion about what is real and what is not. Audience struggles with the female lead, as she goes through a nightmare of her own, discovering that the movie she is filming is a remake of a past movie doomed by a tragedy no one speaks of.

The film was shot without a complete screenplay. Actors were handed freshly written dialogues each day, and their discomfort portrayed in their on-screen personas.

11. Kids

A controversial 90’s release, “Kids” isn’t as innocent as its title would lead any one to believe. Initially released with an NC-17 rating, the movie was later re-released as an unrated film.

The plot of this disturbing movie is centered on a group of sexually active, drug abusive teenagers in New York, and their mission to spread toxic behaviors among peers. The audience watches as this group smokes weed, beats up a man and spread AIDS among everyone they come in contact with.

At best, the movie is cringe-worthy and unartistic, providing an over exaggerated insight into the minds of teenagers who think they’re invincible. Leaving audience squirming in their seats.

10. Precious

Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, this movie is as depressing as it gets. The main character Precious, is an abuse victim, having undergone a series of physical mental and sexual abuse all her life. The frighteningly convincing execution of the characters by the respective actors and actresses is what makes this movie stick with the audience after the curtain falls.

Precious is seen recovering from depression while trying to make a life for herself and her daughter (who she was raped and impregnated with by her own father), separate from her abusive mother Mary. While the movie has a semi-happy ending, it will leave the viewers tear stained.

9. Old Boy

If you’re looking for a gorier version of Gone Girl, this South Korean mystery film is for you. The plot revolves around Oh Dae-su, a man imprisoned by an unknown captor in a room for 15 years. The audience joins in on Oh Dae-su’s journey to unravel the mystery behind his years’ long kidnapping, leading to a very disturbing climax.

As the film progresses, we see the protagonist fight enemy after enemy in graphic fist fights, and a gruesome murder committed with a hammer. A thriller tragedy with a horrifying end, this movie will make you squirm from the mental and physical anguish Oh Dae-su goes through as he discovers the truth behind his imprisonment.

8. Hard Candy

Hard Candy is a pervert’s final nightmare. The plot revolves around the physical and mental torture of a pedophile, 32-year-old Jeff, who preys online on unsuspecting victims until the day he meets his match. Hayley plays the convincing role of an innocent little girl until Jeff wakes up knocked out from a drug and tied up to a table.

As the movie progresses, the audience follows Hayley and Jeff as she puts him through immense torture. Jeff’s remorse for his past deeds becomes useless as Hayley reveals all of his secrets to him. The cruelest scene of the movie shows us a helpless Jeff about to be castrated and pleading and begging for his life. Definitely not something you want to watch a second time.

7. Audition

This Japanese horror thriller follows the story of Aoyama, a widower who decides to date again. With the help of a film-producer friend, Aoyama sets up auditions for a fake production in order to find his new lover.

He manages to start a relationship with the quiet and beautiful Asami, only to find himself rudely awakened from his seemingly perfect lover. There’s no love without pain for our protagonist, as viewers will see when the plot unfolds.

A tale of sadomasochism, torture, death and impossible crazy, the movie is packed with disturbing imagery that will leave the audience confused and squirming when the screen goes black.

6. Nekromantik

Released in 1987, this German horror movie is every bit its title suggests and more. Rob Schmadtke works for a cleaning company – a cleaning company that specializes in scrubbing up after crimes and deaths.

Which is why Rob is able to get his hands on dead bodies he can take home and make love to. But he’s not alone. His girlfriend is even more enthusiastic about necrophilia.

Packed with insane amounts of blood, outrageousness, crazy and gore, this film is hard to stomach and the audience will find themselves reaching for the stop button less than half way through. Making it one of the most disturbing movies of all time.

5. Antichrist

What happens when you lose a child whose death you could’ve avoided? You go crazy. This is more or less the pretext of the movie, telling the tale of a couple who after the death of their only child move to a cabin in the woods to deal with their grief. While the man begins to experience bizarre visions, his wife begins to exhibit extremely violent sexual behaviours and becomes sadomasochistic.

Cut scenes from their child’s death interlaced with genital mutilation and gruesome images make the entire movie extremely disturbing as audience try to keep pace with both past and present. Lars Von Trier came up with the plot of Anti-Christ as a catharsis for his own depression, making it easier to understand why this movie is so unbearable to watch.

4. Happiness

A star-studded cast in a troubling tale of suburban despair is what Todd Solondz controversial movie, “Happiness”, is all about.

The plot revolves around three sisters and their extended families, mostly unpleasant characters, who try to find truly meaningful happiness through the fulfillment of their bizarre desires. Critics agree that this movie is a tender comedy about child abuse.

Pedophilia, suppressed desires and obscene phone calls are the highlight of this distressing movie, as the audience is forced to watch characters do horrible things in pursuit of happiness. Full of dark humor and uncomfortable scenes, the movie will leave most viewers very disturbed and not very amused.

3. Requiem for a dream

Addiction, drug abuse, and delusions are what this Daren Aronofsky movie is all about. The movie plot follows four different people and four different forms of addictions that end in a similar tone. The audience follows as the actors and actresses struggle with themselves, falling into a world of delusions and wild desperation, ruining their lives and losing battles to their demons in the process.

Audience will be pulled into the psychological drama as the four main actors and actresses embark on a terrible path towards their ultimate doom.

Requiem for a dream is a classic tale of addiction and what a person can lose because of it, especially when he/she has already hit rock bottom.

2. Martyrs

Disgusting, horrible, uncomfortable gore. That’s the only thing that gives Pascal Laugiers’ “Martyrs” any worth. The plot revolves around two women who discover a secret philosophical society, the main aim of which is to uncover secrets of the afterlife.

What tools do the members use? Martyrs, or simply putting it, people tortured out of their skin and mind who can provide the insight this society needs. The audience will find themselves queasy throughout the movie from the sheer amount of violence, gore, and suffering shown on screen. The unapologetic viciousness in the entire movie will make it hard for anyone to sit through till the end, leaving most viewers very scarred in the process.

1. August Underground Mordum

We would like to advise some extreme viewer discretion with this one, possibly avoiding it altogether. A love triangle between two men and a woman, plus a whole lot of gore and violent imagery, makes this movie a simulated snuff film at best.

Here’s a list of reasons why it is so horrible. The movie lacks a plot and is shot with a handheld camera to accentuate it’s faux-reality. Audiences are offered with infanticide, necrophilia, pedophilia and over the top super graphic imagery of brutal murders. When the screen turns off, viewers will find themselves mentally scarred from the August Underground Mordum. So, there is literally no reason for this terrible movie to exist, except for maybe the occasional special effects the production company flawlessly executed.