The 10 most disturbing documentaries of all time
Is there anything more disturbing than real life? Documentary cinema often tells viewers of the darkest atrocities of human history, shedding light on tragic historical events, insidious individuals and sinister cults. Naturally, many documentaries that address solemn subjects are indeed disturbing, revealing a shadowy side of the human condition that makes you question the makeup of life on earth.
Horror cinema recognised this fact long ago, with endless genre films going to significant efforts to reflect a ‘true story’ with varying degrees of success. From old classics like The Amityville Horror, Poltergeist and 10 Rillington Place to more modern flicks such as The Blair Witch Project, The Conjuring and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, horror has long wished to reflect the terror of reality.
Our list of the ten most disturbing documentaries of all time covers various bases, touching on grizzly serial killers, insidious cults and the atrocious mistreatment of human life. Some films are indeed more watchable than others, telling admittedly thrilling true crime stories, while others are a little too close to the bone of reality; still, they remain valuable pieces of documentary history.
Take a look at our list below, and tread carefully if you want to put any of these films on in a group setting.
The 10 most disturbing documentaries of all time:
10. Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father (Kurt Kuenne, 2008)
Released in 2008, Dear Zachary carries many similarities to contemporary tales of true crime, for better and for worse, telling a truly shocking and disturbing story with broad strokes and maybe a little too much melodrama.
Deciding to memorialise his murdered friend, filmmaker Kurt Kuenne explores the life of Andrew Bagby, a 28-year-old man who was murdered by his pregnant ex-girlfriend who fled to Canada while on bail. Assembling home movies and interviews to immortalise the life of Andrew whilst also leading the viewer down a genuinely surprising trail of breadcrumbs, Dear Zachary is an eerie watch that will make you reconsider the intentions of total strangers.
9. Jesus Camp (Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, 2006)
Notorious upon its release, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s documentary tells the story of a religious summer camp where young children are taught the ways of Christianity. Though things aren’t all that straightforward in this documentary, organised religion looks more like a cult, driving young children to tears whose complete identity is changed by the Catholic church and its questionable leaders.
Remove yourself from the film, and this documentary may look like a bizarre work of fiction, yet, the fact that it reflects the reality of a very real summer camp makes for a disconcerting piece of media.
8. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003)
Andrew Jarecki’s documentary looks into the peculiar Friedman family who harbours a surprising, sickening secret, one of the strangest and most curious true crime stories to explore the disturbing underbelly of small-town America. The seemingly typical middle-class family is thrown into turmoil once the father and youngest son of the family is arrested and accused of several crimes related to child pornography.
The true brilliance of Capturing the Friedmans is in its presentation, weaving an enigmatic puzzle using home video footage and curious talking head interviews to create a sense of disturbing uncertainty. Who can you believe?
7. Earthlings (Shaun Monson, 2005)
Exploring humanity’s use of animals for pets, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research, Earthlings is an unflinching assessment of our relationship with the species we share our planet. Taking six years to complete, the film, directed by Shaun Monson, covers puppy mills and meatpacking plants, using disturbing footage captured by hidden cameras that expose some of the largest animal industries in the world.
Opening the film with meditative images of the earth and its bountiful species, Joaquin Phoenix narrates: “Since we all inhabit the earth, all of us are considered earthlings. There is no sexism, no racism, or speciesism in the term earthling; it encompasses each and every one of us, warm or cold-blooded, mammal, vertebrae or invertebrate, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish and human alike”. It makes for brutal and graphic viewing.
6. Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967)
Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies is a landmark of Cinéma vérité filmmaking, adopting a raw observational style that differs significantly from the narrative linearity of modern documentaries. Portraying the occupants of Bridgewater State Hospital, a Massachusetts mental institution, Wiseman films individuals cooped up in empty cells, publicly stripped naked and force-fed. It’s a dark, disturbing watch, particularly as it’s all filmed in distinctive monochrome.
Exposing the vile conditions of the institution, Wiseman’s film is also crucially important, proving an integral piece of evidence in the closing of multiple psychiatric facilities just like Bridgewater State Hospital.
5. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (Stanley Nelson, 2006)
Whilst many documentaries have sought to tell the story of Jim Jones, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple is the most definitive movie on the subject, depicting the horrific tale of the cult, the Peoples Temple. Encouraging over 900 people to commit suicide in 1978, Jones is one of the most despicable yet curious individuals of the late 20th century.
With so much to unpack about the story that rocked the modern world, Stanley Nelson does well to wrangle the source material, neatly laying out the story of the Peoples Temple whilst creating a comprehensive view of its impact. It’s a harrowing viewing experience.
4. The Bridge (Eric Steel, 2006)
A notorious documentary of the mid-2000s, Eric Steel’s The Bridge provides a brutal insight into suicide and mental health, capturing the many people who commit suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. Interviewing the victims of those who are depicted in the movie, Steel’s movie is a tough watch, but if you’re able to get through the harrowing scenes, there’s an important message underneath.
Interviews with the loved ones of such victims speak of the beauty and kindness of each subject, with each emotional conversation working to battle in the fight against suicide and speak the importance of mental health.
3. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn, 2012)
Joshua Oppenheimer’s celebrated and deeply disturbing documentary feels like the early work of Werner Herzog as it fearlessly digs deep down into the unknown with an observing eye. Blurring the line between reality and fiction, the film follows the modern life of a former Indonesian death-squad leader as he is challenged with reenacting his mass killings in an array of cinematic genres.
Such a set-up leads to some dreamlike, surreal depictions of death in the form of outlandish musical numbers led by the eccentric, psychologically disturbed minds of mass murderers. It’s crazy, masterful filmmaking.
2. The Killing of America (Sheldon Renan, 1982)
Perhaps more interesting in retrospect than it ever was during its release in 1982, Sheldon Renan’s documentary is less a film about one specific crime, instead focusing on the whole scope of modern American violence, looking into serial killers, war and much more. Understandably disturbing, featuring some truly violent images, this is a graphic true crime story that focuses on the ferocity that festered in 20th-century America.
An exploitation film made to capitalise on the craze of the “mondo movie” that depicted violent pseudo-documentary topics, The Killing of America has since become something of a fascinating sociological document.
1. Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1956)
Nothing is more disturbing and incomprehensibly evil than the atrocities that the Nazis carried out in WWII, condemning over six million Jews to death from 1941-1945. As a result, the top pick on our list of disturbing documentaries could easily go to Claude Lanzmann’s seminal nine-hour talking heads study Shoah. Still, we’ve opted for a considerably shorter documentary in Alain Resnais’ hugely important WWII film Night and Fog.
Telling the history of Nazi Germany’s death camps, Adolf Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ and the barbaric treatment of human life in several concentration camps across Europe, Night and Fog is essential viewing to truly comprehend the violence and cruelty of the Second World War.
