Films that have "haunted" you... - Page 2

I watched Zardoz when I was a little kid. I was struggling with the film's nihilistic weirdness before its conclusion, but there was something about the big reveal of the title and the implications to the Sean Connery character that utterly destroyed me.

I was fine as a kid all the way through Psycho, but the superimposed skeleton image stayed with me the whole night!

The Last 120 seconds of the orginal version of The Vanishing. Just the way it casually reveals just what has happened.

Also, some of the lines in Manhunter, particulary the way Cox asks Will Graham "how is Officer  X, the one who first found my basement" is the kind of imagery that haunts you in ways showing you could never, ever do. In a same fashion, the glimpses we get of Freddy's workshop in the 6th Elm Street film suggest more horrors than anything any of the sequels every cooked up.

More than any other Lynch film...INLAND EMPIRE, one scene in particular kept me up for nights for a year. In fact I wish I hadnt posted this through fear of someone posting a pic in this thread!

More recently:

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Snowtown

Enter the Void

Melancholia - which I thought was more powerful then Anti-Christ and hit me on a more personal level....

Saw Melancholia on Netflix Instant yesterday and it's stayed with me through today and likely into the future. Didn't love it but who loves being haunted anyway.

Hey, long-time lurker, first-time poster here.

My number-one example would probably have to be Brokeback Mountain. The first time I saw it, I left the theater on a rainy Portland night and just wandered the streets in a daze for hours, completely soaked but not caring, so awestruck by what I'd just seen. So yeah, it made a bit of an impression.

(Maybe that's a bit too personal for a first post, but there it is. Take me as I am.)

Also: United 93, Mulholland Drive, Dear Zachary, The War Game

Months later, I still find myself thinking about Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Bicycle Thieves devastated me when I first saw it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bucho 

Fuck yes...  Terrified me when I was younger.. Aliens always scared the shit out of me but holy shit is this movie uncomfortable to watch at times.  

I'm perpetually fascinated by these Ken Russell films but will never - NEVER - watch them again.

God Altered States! I caught it as a late night movie at about 17 with absolutely zero idea what it was about.

Then William Hurt turned into an ape man.

*Post deleted due to misunderstanding the nature of the thread like a jackass*

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

God Altered States! I caught it as a late night movie at about 17 with absolutely zero idea what it was about.

 

Then William Hurt turned into an ape man.

It was the howling, deformed "Larvae Man" that got to me.

Yeah, that's the one.

For years, I'd found Ken Russell movies to be viscerally repugnant but I've grown to appreciate his peculiar brand of genius. The sheer amount of cinematic imagery that gushed out of that guy's brain is astonishing.

Yeah melty Hurt was fucked up, but for some reason neanderthal Hurt was much scarier to my young mind. Like a rampaging ID made flesh.

I actually just found FIRE IN THE SKY on Netflix and jumped to the scene where he wakes up in the spaceship.. Yup, still fucks me up.  I was covering my face with my hands at one point.. I think it's got something to do with eyes being poked with needles.

The practical effects hold up fairly well on the aliens, and the scene where he's floating through that revolving tunnel disoriented the shit out of me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Hexum 

I actually just found FIRE IN THE SKY on Netflix and jumped to the scene where he wakes up in the spaceship.. Yup, still fucks me up.  I was covering my face with my hands at one point.. I think it's got something to do with eyes being poked with needles.

 

The practical effects hold up fairly well on the aliens, and the scene where he's floating through that revolving tunnel disoriented the shit out of me.

I saw that in the theater and I was the only person there. Every time the surround-sound would kick in, I had to glance over my shoulder just in case an alien was sneaking up on me!

Movies that have haunted me:

Tin Drum

Forbidden Games

Schindler's List

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Day of Wrath: this scene just kills me http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/484814/Day-Of-Wrath-Movie-Clip-A-Fine-Confession.html

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

A younger, more innocent me: "Wait, movies can't end like that . . . can they?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curiosity Cosby 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

 

A younger, more innocent me: "Wait, movies can't end like that . . . can they?"

I saw it when I was super young and the carnivorous bunny totally freaked me out and haunted my dreams for weeks!

The movies that have haunted me the most over the years have probably been:

The Exorcist

The Road

Blue Velvet

Audrey Rose

the original Nightmare on Elm Street

Magic

Never Let Me Go

Oh, yt!  Good list!

The Exorcist, Magic, Never Let Me Go, The Road

Magic being the one with the dummy right?  Hopkins and Margaret?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teitr Styrr 

Oh, yt!  Good list!

 

The Exorcist, Magic, Never Let Me Go, The Road

 

Magic being the one with the dummy right?  Hopkins and Margaret?

Yes! 

Ha!  That movie scared the dickens out of me when I saw it!  I must have been 12 or 13...

Since childhood, no film has haunted me as much as this has. It remains in my top films of all time.

Runners up: Mulholland Drive, City of God, Children of Men, 12 Monkeys

No other film's ending has moved, stirred, and haunted my emotions as the climax to "Fearless" has.

Only watched it 2 days ago but Red, White & Blue has been on my mind a lot since, and I can't see that changing. I tried explaining it to my wife and she asked why I'd even watch that. Hard to watch, impossible to forget.

Workyticket mentioned CE3K. As much as I love that film my greatest memory of it will always be the first night they screened it at the little one screen theatre in the town I used to live in back in England. They got it about 6 months after everyone else (par for the course) & I'd already seen it a couple of times but when you're 12 in a small town there ain't a lot to do! Anyway, whoever was in charge had got the bass cranked way up & the scene where the mothership appears was incredible, the whole place was shaking! It was almost like seeing it in Sensurround (anyone remember that?) I told my friends about it the next day & we all headed to the theatre again that night but sadly the sound levels were adjusted to a saner level.

I'll never forget that, might be the one time that place impressed me. Now I can watch it at home on BD with the subwoofers turned up but it'll never be quite the same.

I've got to agree with Inland Empire, I think I know exactly the image you mean, and I hope to never see it again either.

Also gotta mention Martyrs, not just for the violence, but for the overall theme... just creepy. I saw it over a year ago and it still pops into my head in the middle of the night.

Also, Avatar... the horror, the horror...  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ade Brooks 

Only watched it 2 days ago but Red, White & Blue has been on my mind a lot since, and I can't see that changing. I tried explaining it to my wife and she asked why I'd even watch that. Hard to watch, impossible to forget.

 

Workyticket mentioned CE3K. As much as I love that film my greatest memory of it will always be the first night they screened it at the little one screen theatre in the town I used to live in back in England. They got it about 6 months after everyone else (par for the course) & I'd already seen it a couple of times but when you're 12 in a small town there ain't a lot to do! Anyway, whoever was in charge had got the bass cranked way up & the scene where the mothership appears was incredible, the whole place was shaking! It was almost like seeing it in Sensurround (anyone remember that?) I told my friends about it the next day & we all headed to the theatre again that night but sadly the sound levels were adjusted to a saner level.

 

I'll never forget that, might be the one time that place impressed me. Now I can watch it at home on BD with the subwoofers turned up but it'll never be quite the same.

I saw the trailer for Red, White & Blue a couple years ago, and even that small taste made a deep impression. It helped that I'd already seen Noah Taylor in He Died with a Falafel in His Hand (movie's better than the title) and knew how good he was. It's finally available on Netflix, so I'll have to watch it at long last, some time when I'm looking for a movie to assault me.

I echo the love for Unbreakable, the scene with Bruce Willis and his kid and the gun has been in my mind ever since. I'd also say 2 other films that "haunt" me are The Deer Hunter and The Last Picture Show. Just the melancholy of both films just get to me. Sam the Lion's speech about old times is just so hauntingly beautiful. 

I'll second you on "The Last Picture Show". The Sam the Lion speech you mentioned, plus the last scene with Bottoms and Leachman. And the panning opening and closing shots of the deserted town.

And on the subject of Lynch: "The Straight Story", but for different reasons than the previously mentioned Lynches. Haunting in a good way, not a disturbing way. Richard Farnsworth's face tells a thousand stories.

Synechdoche, New York

It got into my bloodstream the first time I saw it, had a far more complete experience when I watched it a second time w/ my ex, and now I find it impossible to watch since that person is no longer in my life. The content of the film and the memories it evokes practically guarantee that it's going to gather dust on my shelf for the forseeable future.

Near Dark

Not the entire film so much, just one line after Caleb nearly over-feeds on Mae. "You can kill me if you take too much." Again, everything I read into that line and that relationship, really preys upon my mind sometimes.

DONNIE DARKO and BATTLE ROYALE, back in the day.

Childhood: ON THE BEACH

I forgot to mention THE GREY ZONE. Man, after that movie was over sunshine was nonexistent for a week.

A recent one: Fincher's ZODIAC

Also from childhood: SHOAH

Yeah - Zodiac. People often talk about the brutality in Se7en but nothing in that movie is as troubling as the murder of the couple by the lake in Zodiac.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

The image of Caesar pounding on the glass as James Franco leaves him behind haunts me. As do the scenes where Caesar tries to be friendly with the other apes and is subsequently assaulted by them.

American Me

Rule #1 in life: NEVER do anything that might land you in prison. Just...don't.

In both haunting me in a scary sense, and in a lingering sense:

I believe I was 12 when this movie came out and during the summer, I would spend a day or so during the week at my grandparents house. Who live on a farm. With crops. Even today I get chills thinking about this movie. I constantly want to watch because it is such a great film that is overlooked nowadays. M Night used to have perfect pacing and tension along with a hauntingly beautiful script and Mel Gibson at his finest and Joaquin Phoenix at his looniest.

And another one I'd like to add is One Hour Photo. Watching that as a kid, has scarred me for life because I always had it in my head that Robin Williams was the nicest man in the world. I mean he was in Flubber, Patch Adams, Jack, and he was the genie in Aladin. When One Hour Photo showed up at our house via a television screen, a small part of my childhood was raped and murdered. I can appreciate it now that I'm older, but as a kid, that transformation is truly terrifying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

A recent one: Fincher's ZODIAC

 

Also from childhood: SHOAH

I saw Shoah over two days at a rep theatre when I was about 17, and it hit me like a drunk foster parent. A relentless litany of man's inhumanity to man.

A few more. Miike's Imprint (I have a copy, have only watched it once). Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, so bleak, and Oates is fucking unbelievable. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, after which all other serial killer movies are just irrelevant.

Coming from a strict religious up-bringing of only going to church when my Grandparents visited, I did not expect this film to hit me as hard as it did. It's a very raw, personal view of faith from Scorsese that really makes you examine the true meaning and significance of religion. Harry Dean Stanton's final scene as Saul/Paul is worth it alone. Plus, that Peter Gabriel score.

"The Fountain": Spirituality and the concept of death and the afterlife are heavy topics for me, so this movie hit me hard, even if it was in positive, even reassuring way; The "I'm going to die" moment of the film never, ever fails to downright demolish me; Hugh Jackman's performance in that scene, couple with the music and framing of it, just leaves me stunned and shaken to my core every single time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomTastic 

 

Coming from a strict religious up-bringing of only going to church when my Grandparents visited, I did not expect this film to hit me as hard as it did. It's a very raw, personal view of faith from Scorsese that really makes you examine the true meaning and significance of religion. Harry Dean Stanton's final scene as Saul/Paul is worth it alone. Plus, that Peter Gabriel score.

Oh hell yes. The closest I ever came to accepting Christianity into my life was after seeing this for the first time. It haunted me for weeks. The film is a love letter to "faith" and it's almost baffling why "Christians" would respond to it so negatively.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrchineSLICE 

In both haunting me in a scary sense, and in a lingering sense:

 

 

I believe I was 12 when this movie came out and during the summer, I would spend a day or so during the week at my grandparents house. Who live on a farm. With crops. Even today I get chills thinking about this movie. I constantly want to watch because it is such a great film that is overlooked nowadays. M Night used to have perfect pacing and tension along with a hauntingly beautiful script and Mel Gibson at his finest and Joaquin Phoenix at his looniest.

The core theme of the movie about faith and death is incredibly well handled and its the soul of the movie; hell, the alien invasion (and its so maligned flaw) are simple a plot device in order to frame the story of Graham regaining his faith; hell, one of the most thoughtful and incredible little touches that make me love this movie is that the opening and ending scene are the same...except that in the beginning, you can see the dust and dirt on a wall outside Graham's room revealing he took down a crucifix from it...and at the end, as Graham is getting his pastoral clothes on, the crucifix has been placed back.

That little detail always floors me when i see this one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 

Oh hell yes. The closest I ever came to accepting Christianity into my life was after seeing this for the first time. It haunted me for weeks. The film is a love letter to "faith" and it's almost baffling why "Christians" would respond to it so negatively.

As a "Christian raised guy and sort of a spiritual believer (I'm very Christian in my moral and ethical beliefs, except I'm one of those "Jesus would be totally OK with gay people" guys), i can attest that a lot of the hate for this movie comes from extreme and old fashioned believers; the movie is pretty much a love letter to the idea of God becoming human and becoming like us in order to save us; hell, its very narrative is about redemption, faith and humanity finding the divine and salvation in itself; it doesn't get anymore Christian than that if you ask me.

You guys have just reminded me of two more from last year:

I would second, or even third Red White and Blue, that film is devastatingly powerful. Just the subject matter alone is uncomfortable and harsh. Noah Taylor's final attack scene is just one of the most brutal things ever put on screen without being all that graphic.

Also Bellflower from last year..people seem to either love or hate this one but it hit me hard and felt like a film born from real life pain. It starts like an indie charming hipster rom com and half way through there is a scene which just hits you in the guts from how matter a fact it is and the rest of the film is all about misery and pain experienced from a break up. I must admit though I did see it at the tail end of a two year period where I was getting over my ex so maybe my experience was different than it would have been had I not been all heartbroken...

Oh god yes. Cliched as it is too, Caesars first human utterance still rings in my ears every time I think of it. Between that and Caesar drawing his window on the wall of his cell and placing his face against it, the film fucking breaks me every time I remember it - and I still haven't steeled myself to watch it a second time and I own the bloody thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

Oh god yes. Cliched as it is too, Caesars first human utterance still rings in my ears every time I think of it. Between that and Caesar drawing his window on the wall of his cell and placing his face against it, the film fucking breaks me every time I remember it - and I still haven't steeled myself to watch it a second time and I own the bloody thing.

Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever watch it again either. It's too brutal, emotionally.

It really is a crime that Serkis didn't get nominated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 

Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever watch it again either. It's too brutal, emotionally.

 

It really is a crime that Serkis didn't get nominated.

It's my two puppies man, every time I find myself in front of a "film from the animals point of view" I'm a goner. Serkis was simply so fuckin good in that role (and to a lesser degree his Kong), that all I see is my two boys in his eyes, and then my heart just breaks. Fuck humanity - Caesar rools OK.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryoken 

 

As a "Christian raised guy and sort of a spiritual believer (I'm very Christian in my moral and ethical beliefs, except I'm one of those "Jesus would be totally OK with gay people" guys), i can attest that a lot of the hate for this movie comes from extreme and old fashioned believers; the movie is pretty much a love letter to the idea of God becoming human and becoming like us in order to save us; hell, its very narrative is about redemption, faith and humanity finding the divine and salvation in itself; it doesn't get anymore Christian than that if you ask me.

Nailed. I'd discovered the novel just before seeing the film, but whether it's delivered by Kazantzakis or Scorsese, it's an amazing piece of storytelling that strips all of the bullshit out of the Jesus story, and by doing so magically elevates its message. You want to see a Christian who never got the fucking point? Those ones who hated The Last Temptation are a great place to start.

Let me put it this way: I haven't stepped inside a church in eighteen years, but this story has stayed with me more strongly than any part of the bible. Whether it's the power of the novel or Willem Dafoe's pitch-perfect portrayal... Fuck man, this movie and novel are a milestone to me. They came along right after I stopped going to church, and they were like a huge thumbs-up telling me that this crazy idea I had about not practicing Catholicism anymore but trying to live by the moral teachings was the right thing to do. Seventeen years later, they still say the same thing. 

One of the achievements of The Last Temptation Of Christ is how well it illustrates the inherent nobility of following Christ's example.

As I said before, the scene that sticks with me the most is Jesus confronting Saul/Paul near the end of the film. It doesn't really matter who Jesus was or what he did, what really matters is the symbol of Jesus and how it inspires of millions of people. It made me reevaluate my whole stance on the subject.

And besides all that, the film is just full of amazing performances. Barbara Hershey is heartbreaking, Keitel is the perfect mixture of anger and devotion, Bowie kills it in a single scene and what else can be said about Dafoe?

I caught the last half of the 9th Configuration one night (it may have been under the Twinkle Twinkle Killer Kane title though). Was nearly ten years before the internet was invented and I could IMDB that shit. There's obviously a lot of weird resonances going on in the movie and that fight at the roadhouse is apocalyptic. But it's that final scene with Stacy Keach and Scot Wilson that just gets right inside you. I'd occasionally tell people about this movie I'd seen half of and try to explain this powerful final scene. I think it may have been one of the first movies I found I had to grapple with on a thematic level in order to understand what I'd experienced. Probably the best way to parse a "haunting" in cinematic terms is: "I experienced something profound, and I'm not sure how to describe it".

Later, finally getting the DVD I found I could take or leave the very final bit/coda with the "sign" as I felt I'd already "got" the point without it needing spelling out, in the same way I didn't need The Exorcist to spell out too much.

I'd agree with Donnie Darko further up the page. Up until Kelly spoiled it with the director's cut and commentary.

Great thread.

Adaptation really got to me, probably because I saw it so young. It might be my most personally depressing film, and I often return to it specifically for that reason. I end up an anxious wreck for a few days after, especially if I don't see it through to the end.

Same with Closer. Once again something I saw far too young, but it scarred me with its portrait of how horribly wrong relationships can go once jealousy rears its head. Too bad about the shitty song over the opening/closing.