The 10 most uncomfortable moments in movie history
Cinema has the power to make people feel virtually every emotion humanity is capable of, whether it ends with tears rolling down the cheek, joyous grins plastered from ear to ear, or the unwanted feeling of being made wildly uncomfortable.
Not every film that leaves viewers squirming in their seats does so by design, but it’s a lot more effective and harder to forget when discomfort was the filmmakers’ intention. It’s hardly beholden to any one genre, either, with the spectrum of cinematic history offering up a cavalcade of moments that were torturous to witness first-hand.
Whether it’s gross-out comedies, intimate dramas, dynamic thrillers, literary adaptations, or off-kilter sci-fi stories, certain films have specialised in making things achingly awkward for the innocent folks who simply wanted to sit down and watch a movie.
The following ten examples all create that feeling for a variety of different reasons, but the common thread is that it takes a little time to get back to feeling normal afterwards.
10 uncomfortable movie moments:
10. A dry execution (The Green Mile, Frank Darabont, 1999)
Frank Darabont’s second Stephen King adaptation was every bit as moving as the first, but The Green Mile has The Shawshank Redemption beaten hands down when it comes to a scene so harrowing that it’s difficult to watch.
Michael Clarke Duncan’s John Coffey tugs at the heartstrings with his tragic arc, but Michael Jeter’s Eduard Delacroix suffers a fate that’s harsh even by the standards of a death row inmate after he gets frazzled in the electric chair without a wet sponge to aid his demise in the chair.
Doug Hutchison’s Percy Wetmore deliberately places a dry sponge on Del’s head, and the blood-curdling screams he lets out as the scene descends into panic around him is enough to cause physical wincing and a deep-seated desire to have the eyes averted anywhere but the screen.
9. Zipped all the way up (There’s Something About Mary, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, 1998)
A nightmare made flesh, Ben Stiller‘s Ted Stroehmann suffers one of the worst fates imaginable when he accidentally zips the entirety of his genitalia into a zipper. As well as having the potential to scar its unfortunate victim for life, it had the same effect on viewers everywhere.
The mere thought of it is enough to generate discomfort, but the Farrelly brothers decided they wanted to go all-in and insert a brief shot of the offending article into the film, which became nightmare fuel for anybody who found their hands trembling whenever they had to zip anything up in the immediate aftermath.
It becomes even more uncomfortable when Charlie and Sheila Hansen try to offer their advice and assistance. As a result, “How the hell did you get the beans above the frank?” is a soundbite that doesn’t even bear thinking about.
8. The beach (Under the Skin, Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
Under the Skin is an uncomfortable watch at the best of times, with Scarlett Johansson’s ethereal extra-terrestrial murdering her way around Scotland, but nothing compares to the sheer bleakness of the beach.
Watching from afar as her next victim struggles into choppy waters to try and rescue a couple who’ve got themselves into a spot of bother, the character known only as ‘The Female’ shows no interest in the struggling pair but does seem rather concerned her prey might not survive, either.
When he returns to shore alone, the remorseless Johansson bashes his head in with a rock and drags him away. What makes it particularly haunting is the anguished wails of their infant child ringing out to close out the scene, an abandoned – and now orphaned – infant being left to fend entirely for itself.
7. Hobbled (Misery, Rob Reiner, 1990)
They say you should never meet your heroes, but in the case of Kathy Bates‘ Annie Wilkes, she couldn’t think of anything more exciting. Or permanent, at least until her plan to keep James Caan’s Paul Sheldon in captivity backfires eventually.
Giving off the air of a concerned citizen who saved his life and just happens to be a devoted fan of the author’s literary works, Annie becomes increasingly more unsettling the longer Paul spends in her company before making it clear in no uncertain terms that he’s not going anywhere.
To hammer that point home, she shatters his legs with a sledgehammer in Misery‘s most iconic moment, which doubles as a sickening masterclass in sound design that’s enough to make anyone want to cover their eyes just as much as their ears.
6. A marriage beyond repair (Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance, 2010)
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams both landed Golden Globe nominations – and an Academy Award nod in the latter’s case – for their devastating performances as Dean Pereira and Cindy Heller, a couple that can’t seem to realise the spark of their marriage has long since flamed out.
An emotionally devastating drama, Blue Valentine follows the highs and lows of their relationship in a nonlinear narrative, but things don’t sink any deeper than they do during a tryst that’s as uncomfortable for them to partake in as it is for anybody to watch.
The miserable spouses try to celebrate their anniversary in a weird sci-fi motel but instead get blazing drunk and hurl insults at each other. They still mark the occasion with a sexual tryst, though, albeit one that sees her with a pained grimace etched across her face, all while Derek Cianfrance ups the awkwardness by shooting almost the entire thing in close-up.
5. Severing the nerves (127 Hours, Danny Boyle, 2010)
A biographical drama about a man who self-amputated his own arm to avoid certain death was never going to be an easy thing to sit through, but Danny Boyle‘s 127 Hours somehow still turned out to be stomach-churning almost beyond belief.
Aron Ralston’s story is a remarkable one and a testament to the strength of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity, but dear lord, was it far too gnarly watching James Franco maniacally hack away at his own arm, which comes after he’s broken the bones to loosen it up.
Desperately sawing away with a blunt pocket knife, everything about it is gruesome, from the pain etched on the character’s face to the grotesque combination of sinew, muscle, tissue, and nerve endings being severed.
4. The Ludovico technique (A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
Individually, aversion therapy and metallic instruments coming dangerously close to exposed eyeballs are things that should be avoided at all costs. Put them together and install Stanley Kubrick at the helm, and it’s one of the most unforgiving moments in an altogether punishing film.
Not only is Malcolm McDowell’s Alex DeLarge forced to have his peepers pried open, but it requires him to watch footage of atrocities in an effort to coerce him into mending his wayward behaviour. The effects linger not just on the protagonist but on the audience, too.
It’s one of the most stark and visceral images in a movie that’s packed to the rafters with them, with the knowledge the actor suffered scratched corneas and temporary blindness making it even worse in retrospect.
3. The opening scene (Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
In essence, it’s largely a scene comprised of nothing except two people talking in a room, but the tension is excruciatingly palpable from the second Christoph Waltz‘s Hans Landa makes his unforgettable arrival in Inglourious Basterds.
Seamlessly switching between languages, the disarmingly charismatic Nazi officer looks as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, even if Waltz’s performance is pitched perfectly to make it clear his overt politeness and adherence to manners is all a facade.
Nerve-shredding to an almost unbearable degree, it’s easy to see why Quentin Tarantino views Landa as the single best character he’s ever written, with the star giving viewers the world-over heart palpitations from beginning to end in a masterclass of turning the screws.
2. The final revelation (Oldboy, Park Chan-wook, 2003)
Just when it seemed as if Choi Min-sik’s Oh Dae-su couldn’t possibly face any more hardships in Oldboy, along comes Park Chan-wook to drop the most devastating bombshell imaginable on the movie.
Up until that point, the film had been a relatively simple – if wholly unique – revenge thriller with a romance thrown in for good measure. And yet, discovering the final revelation for the first time is the cinematic equivalent of being punched in the gut.
Yoo Ji-tae’s Lee Woo-jin was so twisted he hypnotised his former captive into meeting Kang Hye-jung’s Mi-do for the sole purpose of having them fall in love, knowing full well that she was Oh Dae-su’s daughter all along. Everyone felt his reaction in their very bones, and even thinking about it makes the skin crawl.
1. Degloving (Gerald’s Game, Mike Flanagan, 2017)
Nope, just nope. That’s about the only way to describe the most infamous scene in Mike Flanagan’s gripping thriller, with the filmmaker doing an incredible job of adapting a Stephen King novel that had long been deemed unfilmable.
Ingeniously working its way around the narrative, mental, and psychological subterfuge that doesn’t readily translate to the screen, Flanagan crafts an exquisite thriller defined by Carla Gugino’s ferocious, fearsome, and fearful turn, with the bulk of the action revolving around her being handcuffed to a bed.
When she does orchestrate her escape, though, it’s by way of a technique so brutal in theory, practice, and execution that it almost begs not to be watched. Seeing it once is enough to last a lifetime, with the notorious degloving a barometer that tests even the strongest of stomachs.
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