Movies that messed up your piece of mind.

[Kevin164]

I was talking with one of my best friends yesterday about going to see the movie Event Horizon. We saw this movie in a pretty much abandoned movie theater slated to be demolished with about three others. We didn't get out till midnight and to be honest we all ended up at a Denny's just talking till sunrise. My friend's girlfriend was shaking over the "message scene" from the previous crew of the Event Horizon. I gotta tell you even I was slightly disturbed by that one.

I have a couple picks that are my top 10. What are yours?

10. Audition. This Japanese pycho movie had the same effect on me as Fatal Attraction.WHAT I GOT FROM IT: Screwing around with hormonal women is a no, no. EFFECT: I never trusted any smiling girl for about two months.

11. Night of the Living Dead. Zombies man. I remember when Dawn of the Dead came out and I was just a kid trying to get a peek while my mom dad were watching another movie. Yeah, I learned my lesson quick. I saw the original when I was seventeen and after that well I started looking at home defense a little more differently. WHAT I GOT FROM It: Installing a deep rooted chain fence around the house for the dog might have some extra benefits. EFFECT: I'm always looking for escape routes just in case...


9. The Thing 1982 I saw this movie on HBO and it scared the hell out of me for a night and a half. I felt perverse and wanted a shower just to get the doomsday feel from my skin; it was watching a butterfly getting eaten alive by a spider after you threw it into the web. WHAT I GOT FROM IT: A big healthy dose of fear of syringes. EFFECT: I can never own or go by a Husky or Malamute without being suspicious.



8. Alien I caught the chestburster scene as a young child at five in the morning when I was trying to watch Saturday morning cartoons. Apparently my parents had left the channel on HBO the previous night and when I turned on the TV, I was scarred for life. I would only catch parts of this movie until I turned eighteen, never seeing it all the way through from start to finish, till then. At twelve I must have jumped three feet at the mall when they were showing the Air Vent Scene in the store's window for everyone's amusement.
WHAT I GOT FROM IT: Being able to draw, next to dinosaurs and Godzilla this movie monster inspired me to pick up a pencil to try and capture the horror I had only glimpses of. EFFECT: Internet geekdom as a fanboy.



7. Event Horizion. Never go into space without a Denny's close by. I've seen Galaxy of Terror, Creature, and Ice Pirates. All classics for space and what a shit hole it is. But nothing could have prepared me for Event Horizon. It is as if Clive Barker's Hellraiser would meet Disney's Black Hole movie and they had a psychotic child. Its evil at it worst and it has no barriers between skinning you alive while gouging out your eyes and raping your soul over and over till time ends... and even then its an iffy if it will stop. WHAT I GOT FROM IT: Deep discussion into the nature of Hell and some pancakes and eggs. EFFECT: We're all screwed if the Hadron Super Collider opens a stable Black Hole on Earth and never ever divide by zero...oh shi....



6. REC. You'll know this movie as Quarantine by the end of fall this year. Quarantine is a remake of a very horrific movie out of Spain from last year called REC. ( record, pretty much what you see in your camera when filming ) REC is 28 days later meets Blair Witch. Filmed similarly as hand held footage like Cloverfield, only your stuck in an apartment complex under siege by the police trying to keep a contagion at bay. Most of the movie is not that scary beyond 28 days later, but the last seven minutes of this bastard will have you holding your breath; it is a must see if you have a girlfriend and you want her to maul your leg off. WHAT I GOT FROM IT: My leg mauled off. EFFECT: My wife will never live in a low rent apartment building evar!


5. Seven. I watched this movie with a now ex-girlfriend years back and It wasn't scary like the others. Most of the carnage was already finished and we were carried along into its aftermath with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. It was how gruesome your mind can work that made this movie a real hard choking swallow. When I saw the strap-on weapon used for Lust I was pretty much ready to walk out on this movie. I mean Sloth by itself was pretty horrific but Lust and how she died... urrg. WHAT I GOT FROM IT: An Ex-girlfriend. EFFECT: I never accept UPS ground delivery without a... pause.



4. Prophecy. This isn't the flick about the Angels. This one is about a twelve foot tall mutated grizzly bear from mercury poisoning. The Bear monster was actually portrayed by Kevin Peter Hall who would go onto star as the Predator and the Bigfoot from Harry and the Hendersons. Needless to say that Momma Bear was pretty ticked off and was good at killing everyone for its mutated cub. Watching the flashlight jiggle around at the base of cliff as one of the two man hunting crew and their dogs gets mulched was a chilling opening scene. WHAT I GOT FROM IT: Only you can prevent forest fires, mercury poisoning and giant Trout. EFFECT: I will never zip up a sleeping bag all the way because of this movie.



3. The Exorcist 3. I've seen the original and it is scary. Not many movies make my own father say he'll pass on seeing that one again, which astounded me since he fought in some pretty bad places in Vietnam. I didn't think anything could scare this man, but the Exorcist did mostly because I believe that it was due to the fact he was raised a Catholic and steeped in church doctrine when he was young. Plus demon possession is just damn frightening because it is like leprosy or cancer. That you never know if can truly avoid it because it out there somewhere waiting to be stepped on or breathed in like asbestos. The whole nurses station scene in the Exorcist 3 had me jump right out my seat and it is considered one of the top most terrifying scenes in the genera for good reason. It just comes out of left field out of nowhere. Your mind reels as you ask yourself what the hell did I just see!
WHAT I GOT FROM IT: Always check both ways before making a turn. EFFECT: A healthy respect for Spiderman at age eighty.


2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The bastard son of Hitchcock's Psycho and the Vietnam war has no mercy or understanding of its own cannibalistic inherit insanity. Leatherface and the family became the welcome matt for Texas in the 70's. Like in Jaws you were treading in black waters bartering with your life along those abandoned roads to nowhere in the southernly western regions of the United States.
Where Norman Bates is the Grandfather to all movie mass murderers, Leatherface is the father of such silver screen icons of violence like Jason, Michael Myers ( Halloween) and Freddy Krueger. Leatherface is one of those contraptions that Jigsaw from the Saw series would invent only this puzzle is alive and moving to its own accord under a simpleton mind of carnage. You... your trapped in the farm with a muscled 300 pound insane man wearing the skin of the dead and he has a chainsaw and the mind to eat you alive and you got... nothing. That in a nutshell is one of those definition for things worse than death. WHAT I GOT FROM IT: Traveling through Texas can be dangerous to your health. This might explain the drive through liquor stores through out this state. EFFECT: I found myself wondering if LeatherFace could take out Jeepers Creepers.



1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers 70's. You're going what? Yeah this movie had me worked up for years as a kid. Whenever it would rain. I was on sleep deprivation watch. The movie itself is a nice cheap shot at communism or socialism from the 50's. The 70's version is just downright terror for me. It's the smart Zombie plague but you can't see the zombies forming around you everyday as you head off to work. Hell you don't even know your one of them when it happens. You just don't like emotions anymore and anybody showing any gets the hive mind blare of "get the hummanoids!" The worst part is sleep is your enemy. One of the most basic tenants of being alive and in this movie it will announce your pending doom. WHAT I GOT FROM IT: Rain is bad! EFFECT: lots of sleepless nights because of an over active imagination.

[The Dreaming]

- Fight Club. I found it hard to sleep after I watched this movie, it took me quite a while to calm down enough to drift off.

- A Clockwork Orange. Another movie that may be responsible for forming the way I think and behave now.

- 12 Monkeys. It's a movie that, like Vertigo, seems different every time I watch it. There's a lot there to wonder about.

- Frailty. This is, to me, perhaps the most frightening movie I have ever seen. Something about the implosion of this family really deeply unsettled me.

- Alien. The only monster I *ever* lost sleep over. H.R. Giger is a seriously strange man.

- Princess Mononoke. By Extension I include almost every Miyazake movie, this was just my first. Few other artists make me feel such pure, unadulterated joy. Every one of his movies changes me. Through pure wonder, delight, and narrative power he makes every part of my mind sing with happiness.

- Munich. I knew almost nothing about these events before I saw the movie. I was probably more thrilled by it than any movie I have seen except...

- Children of Men. I have talked too much about this movie already, but it thrilled me to the bone. Never has a movie played me so much like an instrument. (A few books have, guess which ones )

[Fullmetal660]

A german film called "run lola run", it's makes no sense, repeats itself over and over again and is just so damn rubbish that it drove me insane.

[ItisWritten]

Gotta agree on Frailty. The good guy is the bad guy, is the good guy--er wait, forget about the twists. Is there a good guy? What I get out of this movie is some deeply disturbing shit about vigilantism, justice and family.
The devil didn't make me do it; that was God.

Memento is a train wreck of a movie. The master stroke of storytelling here isn't the narrative, but the presentation. No matter how trapped we feel by the choices left to us, those choices matter.

[Vain]

Pretty Woman - made me look at hookers in a whole new light

[danlo]

Kevin-love what you said about Event Horizon.

In the Mouth of Madness-never get stuck in your own novel.
Jacobs Ladder-you're better off dead.
The Ring-don't answer the phone.
Jewel of the Nile-Kathleen Turner can kick your ass!
Strange Days-Angela Basset can kick your ass!
Total Recall-and even Sharon Stone can kick your ass!

[Kevin164]

Kevin-love what you said about Event Horizon.

In the Mouth of Madness-never get stuck in your own novel.
Jacobs Ladder-you're better off dead.
The Ring-don't answer the phone.
Jewel of the Nile-Kathleen Turner can kick your ass!
Strange Days-Angela Basset can kick your ass!
Total Recall-and even Sharon Stone can kick your ass!

In the "Mouth of Madness" is one of my favorite John Carpenter movies next to Prince of Darkness and They Live. The coolness of his movies will carry his legacy for a long time to come. His body of work reminds me of Don Henley's " The Boys of Summer" or the Eagles "Hotel California." They'll be playing those still in 3045 I reckon as well as watching Michael Myers get after his sister.


The Pretty Woman remark above by Vain was pretty funny.

[dANdeLION]

Three movies had such an impact on me that I've never watched them again, but I don't think I can ever forget them anyway:

Apocalypse Now
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan

[Holsety]

The Thing really creeped me out when I watched it as a kid (the john carpenter version, don't remember what year that was). NOLD did not freak me out so much except the little girl kills mommy part. Little girls are 100 times scarier than little boys.

Audition is really freaky. That is somewhere in my top 3.

[Worm of Despite]

Was fifteen and flipping channels--suddenly saw the title screen to A Clockwork Orange. I didn't get up until the move ended.

[Vain]

I should also add Blood diamond to my list - never thought I'd see the day when i thought that Di Caprio was actually good. Disturbing movie and one that certainly can only really affect you in a visceral way if you're from Africa

[Kevin164]

Three movies had such an impact on me that I've never watched them again, but I don't think I can ever forget them anyway:

Apocalypse Now
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan

I agree on Saving Private Ryan and and I would throw in Schindler's List as one of those movies I can never watch again as well. I can get through most Brave Heart, but the ending really made me pass on it for the DVD collection. I've never seen Black Hawk Down but my buddy said it was one of those great movies you can easily miss out on.

[Usivius]

wow, there are some great picks here. I agree with:
- Invation of the Body Snatchers
- Seven (it's what you DON'T see that messes you up!)
- Children of Men
- Alien
- Fight Club
- Momento

And I will add:
- White Buffalo - a Charles Bronson western of all things. I saw it when I was young and that image of that HUGE white buffalo charging down the 'avenue' of pine trees still haunts me to this day... (i will have to see it again some time)
- The Changelling (the horror movie with George C Scott). Amazing how a whispering voice and a bouncing rubber ball can affect someone...
- Blue Velvet - how can a movie with that begins with whiet picket fances and singing robins turn so horrible?... (in a distrubing good way...)

[The Dreaming]

I should also add Blood diamond to my list - never thought I'd see the day when i thought that Di Caprio was actually good. Disturbing movie and one that certainly can only really affect you in a visceral way if you're from Africa

Catch me if You Can?!

Why does everyone always forget about Spielberg movies? Why are we blase about his excellence? (ok, War of the Worlds wasn't that great... and neither was 1941)

[Usivius]

Why does everyone always forget about Spielberg movies? Why are we blase about his excellence? (ok, War of the Worlds wasn't that great...

I agree with the first part ... Speilberg is a Master director, making it look effortless. Take a look at a relatively mediocre peice like "The Terminal" ... they guy makes it good! (yes, good performances also help.. but it's the director whose responsible for everything we see.)

But you lost me with the second bit. War of the Worlds was amazing.

[Cail]

Spielberg has made exactly one great film; Jaws. He has made a handful of good films; Always, Close Encounters, Minority Report, Schindler's List. And a lot of crap; everything else.

[[Syl]]

Those not already listed:

Naked Lunch
Man Bites Dog
Barton Fink

[Usivius]

Spielberg has made exactly one great film; Jaws. He has made a handful of good films; Always, Close Encounters, Minority Report, Schindler's List. And a lot of crap; everything else.

Naked Lunch ... oh yah, that one messed me up too!

[Cail]

Naked Lunch was awesome.

[danlo]

Amistad and Empire of the Sun were two dam good Spielberg flicks.