10 movies guaranteed to make you vomit
Cinema has the power to generate almost every emotion available on the human spectrum, whether it’s floods of tears, side-splitting laughter, abject terror, or nail-biting tension.
Vomiting isn’t regarded as one of the preferred responses for reasons that are entirely self-explanatory, but that hasn’t prevented a slew of movies from instilling viewers with the uncontrollable urge to retch. It’s not an ideal scenario, but in certain cases it’s unavoidable.
Whether by accident or design – although the latter is the more prevalent and questionable by far – there have been an alarming number of movies to come along throughout the decades that gain infamy for causing involuntary vomit to emerge from unfortunate patrons.
If there’s a single soul out there who could even theoretically make it through the following ten without getting that sinking feeling that something projectile is afoot, then they probably deserve a medal, such is the sickening feeling that permeates every single one of them.
10 movies that will make you vomit:
10. Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, 2008)
Under normal circumstances, the humble creature feature isn’t one to leave viewers drowning in their own bile, but Cloverfield had such an adverse effect on so many audience members that cinema chains in the United States had to display a warning to anyone susceptible to motion sickness.
As well as issuing guidelines explaining that “guests viewing this film may experience side effects associated with motion sickness,” the handheld camera techniques caused intense sweating, nausea, and migraines, to the extent even people who’d never suffered from motion-related maladies before found themselves clamouring for a barf bag.
Motion sickness is something that affects one in three people in one form or another, so even if somebody doesn’t think it’s applicable to them, Cloverfield underlined in no uncertain terms that its preferred visual language was more than capable of causing widespread vomiting in the aisles. Those odds are not great, so maybe it’s best to bypass the film entirely.
9. Taxidermia (György Pálfi, 2006)
In a turn of events nobody could have possibly seen coming, a grotesque surrealist horror that features lingering shots of pulsating organs in the midst of self-inflicted surgical procedures turned out to be a real stomach-churner.
György Pálfi’s graphic movie even folds in elements of absurdist comedy in an attempt to inject a little levity into the proceedings, which does nothing to dampen the harrowing images contained within. Even a scene of two characters overeating is the stuff of nightmares, and enough to convince anyone that fasting is the best available option the next time hunger strikes.
There’s blunt force trauma being applied to the most anatomically sensitive parts of the male body, the body of a dead pig being violated, and a grand finale where a contraption is used to allow one man to remove his own organs. It’s sick, twisted stuff, and it’s entirely OK to want to look away when that feeling in the pit of the stomach arises.
8. Pink Flamingos (John Waters, 1972)
John Waters was at least savvy enough to embrace the sickening feeling created by Pink Flamingos, with the filmmaker personally commissioning hot pink barf bags to be distributed in cinemas, proudly emblazoned with ‘Pink Phlegmingos’ branding.
The cult classic black comedy is quite literally about people competing for the vested prize of being named ‘the filthiest person alive’, and with a maverick like Waters at the helm, it was never going to make for a straightforward or easy viewing experience.
Banned in several countries and causing outrage in many more, it’s hard not to look away when Divine confessed how they “followed that dog around for three hours just zooming in on its asshole” for the express purpose of eating freshly-deposited poop. Pink Flamingos is adored by millions, but that doesn’t make it any more bearable to sit through, not that it wasn’t to be expected from a story predicated on disgusting people doing disgusting things.
7. The Human Centipede (Tom Six, 2009)
Going ass-to-mouth can be a contentious topic at the best of times, never mind when it serves as the backdrop to a movie that seemingly only exists to push the envelope of horror so far beyond the boundaries of bad taste the first thing on the mind after the credits come up is going for a shower.
The filth just won’t wash away, though. The core concept of a deranged scientist stitching his subjects from their mouths to the rectum in the person in front of them became a meme when word of its existence first swept the internet, but only a very small percentage of those cracking jokes even dared to watch.
Director Tom Six spends so much time lingering on the end results in such graphic fashion that it’s enough to make the skin crawl, and the only reason why the first film in the horrendous franchise takes precedence is that the filmmaker leaned too far into his reputation to embrace the jokes that he ended up trying too hard to shock with the sequels.
6. Irréversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002)
Wearing its infamous reputation as a badge of honour, Gaspar Noé‘s Irréversible proclaimed on the front cover of its home video release that upwards of 300 people walked out of its very first screening, and it doesn’t take a genius to see why.
Beyond the traumatic nine-minute sequence of Monica Bellucci’s character being subjected to a horrific assault, the filmmaking techniques used by Noé were specifically designed and implemented to turn as many people away from watching the movie in its entirety.
That’s not even relating to the shocking depictions of violence or disorientating camerawork, either, but a soundtrack that employed low-frequency bass notes that had originally been developed during World War II to serve as a non-lethal deterrent. He wanted to induce nausea among audiences, and that’s exactly what happened in a number of different ways.
5. Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016)
As the director of Raw and Titane, Julia Ducournau knows a thing or two about pushing the envelope, although each of her features to date has gained notoriety for its own distinct set of reasons.
Garance Marillier’s Justine is a lifelong vegetarian studying to become a veterinarian, where she gradually comes to the realisation that she’s developed an unquenchable taste for human flesh. Essentially a coming-of-age story, but with grotesque violence replacing any semblance of a sexual or spiritual awakening.
The emergency services were called during Raw‘s international premiere due to faintings and vomitings, which offers an outline as to just how far Ducournau takes the body horror. Even those with the strongest of dispositions will struggle to make it all the way through without getting at least the slightest hint of a dry heave, and that only applies to the staunchest and most dedicated of gory aficionados.
4. Terrifier 2 (Damien Leone, 2022)
Any horror movie that runs for 138 minutes is obligated to justify why viewers should persevere, but there are plenty who got nowhere near to making it to the end of Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2.
The low-budget sequel garnered worldwide headlines for reports of multiple audience members throwing up in the cinema, which did absolutely nothing to prevent the $250,000 flick from recouping its budget more than 60 times over at the global box office. Why? Who knows, but maybe it’s true that people really are gluttons for punishment.
Unlikely genre icon Art the Clown at one stage stabs a woman in the eye, scalps her, breaks one of her arms off, pours bleach and salt into the wounds he’s created, and then rips her face clean off. That’s not even the grisliest scene to be found, either, with Terrifier 2 going so far out of its way to shock that gag reflexes are severely tested, with many failing miserably along the way.
3. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)
One of the most controversial movies ever made, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom was made to be intentionally repulsive, although it did find two noteworthy supporters in Martin Scorsese and John Waters, the latter of whom unsurprisingly called it “a beautiful film.”
Depraved, degrading, difficult to watch, and obscene in its depictions of sexual and physical violence, the most vomit-inducing scene by far is an excruciatingly extended sequence where children are force-fed and urged not to poop for the rest of the day, before promptly being served a meal of their own shit.
Quite why that needed to be committed to celluloid remains up for discussion, but that’s only one instance of 120 Days of Sodom‘s cinematic barbarity. It was extensively banned, and even now, almost half a century on from its release it retains the power to be seared deep into the brain in all the worst ways.
2. Antichrist (Lars Von Trier, 2009)
Willem Dafoe’s penis being too hefty to be captured on camera was about the least concerning thing to emerge from Lars von Trier‘s Antichrist, a sadomasochistic nightmare that requires the sternest of iron wills to experience.
Never one to discriminate, von Trier incorporates both male and female genital mutilation into his film, with Dafoe’s stunt cock jizzing blood after his testicles get annihilated while Charlotte Gainsbourg snips off her clitoris with a pair of scissors. It’s disturbing to an almost unmentionable degree, with the mass walkouts during its premiere feeling completely justified.
It takes a genuinely brave soul to dive headlong into Antichrist and emerge as the same person they were before, and it’s equal parts excusable and acceptable to take at least a couple of breaks to gather composure throughout, and it’s definitely in everyone’s best interests to keep a barf bag close at hand.
1. A Serbian Film (Srđan Spasojević, 2010)
Incredibly, the director and writer behind A Serbian Film – one of the most shocking motion pictures that’s ever going to exist unless society finally collapses in on itself – set out with the intention of making a borderline parody that took deliberate aim at the restrictions imposed on filmmakers by the local authorities.
To achieve that end, they opted to craft a tale following a past-it porn star who agrees to star in a snuff film for a provocative director. There’s sexual violence, paedophilia, necrophilia, and incest involved and shot without a care in the world for holding back, right down to the bleakest imaginable ending.
There’s nothing off-limits for A Serbian Film, which is a truly nasty piece of work, regardless of what the intentions behind it were. There’s using art to criticise those in power, and then there’s this, an abhorrent movie so unspeakably depraved that even hearing the plot described in words is puke-worthy.
