10 amazing movies that get worse on second viewing
Sometimes, you’ll be sitting in front of a massive cinema screen, and as the lights come back on and the credits begin to roll, you’ll declare the movie you’ve just watched a masterpiece. Maybe it was because you had a large bucket of popcorn to keep you company; perhaps it was the collective atmosphere of watching the film among rows of other eager movie-goers. Or, maybe you were just captivated by the sheer scope of the screen, making everything look more glorious and spectacular.
A few months later, you might find yourself wanting to watch the movie again, hoping to prove to someone that it’s just as good as you’ve been saying. Yet, watching it at home, you find yourself less enthralled, less impressed. While this isn’t always the case, it is certainly true that many movies fail to affect you the same on a second viewing for numerous reasons.
Outside of the cinema, where spectacle prevails, certain movies lose their allure. Elsewhere, after one watch, there are movies which feel much less worth a second viewing when you already know the plot twist. There are also those films which appear good on the surface but, on a second watch, reveal flaws that we might not have picked up on the first time.
From Kill Bill to Dune: Part Two, here are ten great movies which feel slightly less great on repeated watches.
Movies that get worse on second viewing:
10. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
When John Carpenter released Halloween in 1978, it was genuinely groundbreaking. The slasher genre was still in its infancy, and for the first time, audiences were introduced to a killer who targeted random teenagers in the supposed safety of their own homes. Set in quiet suburbia, the film suggests that no one is truly safe from harm. Watching Michael Myers ruthlessly slash young people for no real reason is scary – yes. But on a second watch, the movie becomes considerably less horrifying.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that by today’s standards, the violence in Halloween isn’t that intense. Additionally, its straightforward plotline leaves little for us to get excited about all over again, particularly due to the fact that we’ve seen countless movies attempt to replicate Halloween in its wake. It’s still a great movie, but due to its place in cinematic history and the development of the horror genre, it never hits as hard as it does on a first-time watch.
9. The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003)
Upon first watch, The Dreamers, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the same man who helmed the infamous Last Tango in Paris, is a sexy slice of cinema with enough controversial erotic scenes to keep the film on your mind. Set in 1960s France, the movie contains plenty of nods to the French New Wave, as well as references to the tense political state of the country and the subsequent protests.
Yet, when you watch it again, all you can see is the sheer pretentiousness of every single character. While the film prefers to focus on the interior lives of the pseudo-intellectual characters as protests rage on beneath their windows, it gets exhausting to witness the siblings torment each other with supposedly niche film references and sexual dares. Louis Garrel’s character is so French that he borders on parody, walking around a very nice apartment in the nude while chain-smoking and looking incredibly pensive.
8. Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino, 2003)
Uma Thurman gives a great performance as The Bride in Kill Bill, seeking revenge on her former assassin squad after they attempt to kill her. Quentin Tarantino blends influences such as martial arts cinema and grindhouse movies to create an action-packed joyride through pain, violence and vengeance. It’s highly enjoyable, especially when The Bride is faced with O-Ren Ishii and her fighter squad, the Crazy 88s.
On a second viewing, however, Tarantino’s penchant for fetishisation becomes more clear. Thurman always manages to look perfect as she fights her way to ‘freedom’, with close-ups lingering on her pained face. There are many moments where it feels as though Tarantino is playing into a male fantasy of a strong woman capable of fighting and dominating her opponents. His depiction of violence against female characters is relentless and highly stylised, and, paired with the knowledge of Tarantino’s poor treatment of Thurman on set, watching Kill Bill again reveals some of its more problematic flaws.
7. Kids (Larry Clark, 1995)
Chloë Sevigny got her start in the 1995 coming-of-age drama Kids, which was written by Harmony Korine and depicts the lives of New York teenagers as they face the AIDS crisis. Directed by photographer Larry Clark, Kids is a brutal watch that depicts adolescents with scary honesty, not hesitating to expose the violent realities of youth culture during a politically and socially tense time in American history.
While Kids is an important film, one watch feels like enough. Viewing it again, you begin to wonder where the boundaries between real life and fiction are. You also find yourself questioning if the opening sequence literally borders on child porn. It’s uncomfortable and hard to stomach, paired with that devastating ending. You come away from it wondering if all that was necessary. No longer does it feel subversive and groundbreaking – it’s just incredibly sad.
6. Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981)
There’s no denying John Travolta’s fantastic performance in Blow Out, which allowed him to demonstrate his capability to embody darker characters compared to his earlier roles in Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Directed by Brian De Palma, the movie takes inspiration from Michelangelo Antonioni’s swinging sixties mystery Blow-Up, swapping out photography for sound effects recording.
Blow Out is an enjoyable film with plenty of suspenseful moments, including a mad car sequence which results in Travolta crashing his Jeep into a shop window during a parade. Yet, when you know how the film ends – which arguably lets down the whole film – a second watch is much more disappointing and infuriating.
5. Valerie and her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jireš, 1970)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, a seminal entry in the Czech New Wave movement, is, at least visually, a masterpiece. Gorgeously shot and full of ghostly white bedrooms, close-ups of blood-stained daisies, and haunting imagery of genuinely terrifying hooded villains, the film is surreal and otherworldly. Exploring Valerie’s coming-of-age through a bizarre lens where vampires and men who are beyond creepy lurk around every corner, the movie is certainly not one you’ll forget.
However, after you’ve seen the film once and the beauty of its cinematography, costumes, set design, and soundtrack has slightly worn off, you’re left with a series of incredibly unsettling images, such as the attempted rape of 13-year-old Valerie and even shots which show her naked body. Much of it feels unnecessary, having been approached without proper sensitivity.
4. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
This might be a bit of a divisive pick, but there’s a strong argument to be had that Schindler’s List approaches its depiction of the Holocaust in the wrong way. On the surface, the film is a moving watch that exposes the horrors that countless Jewish people faced, with many audiences praising Steven Spielberg for making such a big-budget production that has educated many people about the Holocaust.
On a second watch, though, you begin to wonder if Spielberg has placed too much of a Hollywood gloss over one of the most significant human atrocities in history. Michael Haneke summed this up pretty well in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: “The idea of creating entertainment of this […] The mere idea of trying to draw and create suspense out of the question whether out of the shower head, gas is going to come or water, to me is unspeakable.”
3. Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve, 2024)
The most recent film on this list, Dune: Part Two, follows 2021’s Dune, which saw Timothée Chalamet take on the role of Paul Atreides. The first film was impressive in its scope and grandiosity, with Denis Villeneuve clearly not wasting a penny of his $165million budget. However, with the sequel and an increased budget of $190m, the director has created a film that many have labelled even better than Dune and one of the best things Hollywood has churned out in a long time.
But if you try and watch Dune: Part Two again, swapping out an expansive cinema screen for a modest home movie set-up on a television or laptop, much of the movie’s epic nature is lost. Without this grand scale to keep audiences captivated by the film’s world, the movie becomes considerably less amazing than you might’ve first thought. That’s not to say it’s not good. It just feels like there’s a little too much reliance on spectacle here.
2. Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
The 1990s gave way to some of Hollywood’s most compelling directors, with David Fincher emerging with heralded movies like Se7en and Fight Club. The latter, which has become somewhat of a meme in recent years due to its association with ‘film bro’ types and its common misinterpretation, is, regardless, an undeniably good movie. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are incredible, and its use of an unreliable narrator is captivating.
However, once you know the iconic twist—something that even those who haven’t seen the film seem to be aware of—the magic is almost ruined. When you know that a certain character is actually not real, so to speak, watching the movie again is simply not as enjoyable and worthwhile.
1. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
Before Jared Leto was acting like the Messiah in a bizarre “cult,” he starred in Requiem for a Dream as a heroin addict named Harry. The movie is a harrowing look at the effects of addiction and the lengths people can go to when they’re in the throes of extreme drug use. He stars alongside Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans, with the film truly refusing to hold back in showing pure brutality and grimness.
On first viewing, Requiem for a Dream is simply transfixing and devastating. But once you know what you’re in for and how it all ends, you’ll hardly want to watch it again anytime soon. Remove the shocking scenes, and you’re left with pure bleakness and misery, similar to the experience of watching Kids.
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