What's the most depressing film you've ever watched?

What's the most depressing film you've ever watched?

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Discussion

LimaDelta

6,530 posts

219 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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I agree with Threads and On The Beach (also to a lesser extent The Day After, When The Wind Blows, etc.), however they were very much 'of a time' and politically skewed. The 'science' of nuclear winter has since been pretty much debunked and though survival would certainly be no picnic, it would probably not be quite as bleak as these movies make out.

The Road is fantastic, and I read it within the context of recently becoming a father, so found it particularly moving. The movie did a pretty good job of staying true to the book IIRC.

BS30

1,097 posts

106 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Prisoners
The Orphanage
Requiem for a Dream

Legacywr

12,148 posts

189 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Jude.

There Will Be Blood.

Foliage

3,861 posts

123 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Twilight

toasty

7,486 posts

221 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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The Plague Dogs - From the guys who made Watership Down, Two dogs escape from a vivisection laboratory and are hunted as possible carriers of the bubonic plague. Well worth a look if you think you've hit rock bottom and can't take any more.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084509/

C0ffin D0dger

3,440 posts

146 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Zod

35,295 posts

259 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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zoom star said:
Midnight Express
but he gets out?

Requiem for a Dream is utterly depressing.

I read Watership Down as a kid before I saw the movie, so it was the book that hit me. I had an anthology of Richard Adams' books and they were pretty well all as bad. Tarka the Otter seemed like a lovely story until the otter hounds got him.

The most recent film I've seen that left me feeling empty was Calvary. It's a film about an Irish priest in the back of beyond, starring Brendan Gleeson and Chris O'Dowd (not in his usual comfortable, comedy role). It is beautifully filmed, well acted and and scripted, but utterly bleak. It could not be further from Father Ted.



Edited by Zod on Monday 7th December 15:37

maxxy5

771 posts

165 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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The Killer Inside Me
A Serbian Film
Happiness
Funny Games

Oh I forgot - Irreversible. But not worth watching IMO. (Nor is A Serbian Film)

I might visit some of the other films on this thread though!

Edited by maxxy5 on Monday 7th December 15:44

dudleybloke

19,852 posts

187 months

Monday 7th December 2015
quotequote all
toasty said:
The Plague Dogs - From the guys who made Watership Down, Two dogs escape from a vivisection laboratory and are hunted as possible carriers of the bubonic plague. Well worth a look if you think you've hit rock bottom and can't take any more.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084509/
I'd forgotten that one.

V8mate

45,899 posts

190 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Mr Gearchange said:
But I reckon Harry Brown to be the most bleak and depressing thing I have every watched - bits of it were just horrible. That film stayed with me for days afterwards - but jesus it's compelling - so much so that I have since watched it a few more times.
Harry Brown is a great film.

Have you seen Ill Manors too? Better still, IMHO, but based in the same, hopeless, London circles.

supertouring

2,228 posts

234 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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nil by mouth I vividly remember

Precious I though was sad also

Mr Gearchange

5,892 posts

207 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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V8mate said:
Mr Gearchange said:
But I reckon Harry Brown to be the most bleak and depressing thing I have every watched - bits of it were just horrible. That film stayed with me for days afterwards - but jesus it's compelling - so much so that I have since watched it a few more times.
Harry Brown is a great film.

Have you seen Ill Manors too? Better still, IMHO, but based in the same, hopeless, London circles.
A couple of people have mentioned this when I talk about Harry Brown.
I will watch it - I'm just waiting for a beautiful sunny summer afternoon when I have nothing to worry about and my seratonin levels are at their peak before I do...

maxxy5

771 posts

165 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Remembered another one: Down Terrace. Dismal Brit crime drama (but pretty good).

Elroy Blue

8,689 posts

193 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Benjamin Button. Saw it at the cinema and left in silence. Just brought the getting old and dying thing far too close to home

P5BNij

15,875 posts

107 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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The Offence - When Sean Connery agreed to return as Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, this was one of the films he insisted be included in his contract (I think the other may have been Zardoz). It's thoroughly grim from start to finish, but beautifully made.

CarTimeNow

956 posts

167 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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wisbech said:
Grave of the Fireflies.
+1


Dick Dastardly

8,313 posts

264 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Another vote for Requim for a Dream. I felt sick after it. You wouldn't want to show it to anyone on suicide watch.

Mr Moley

527 posts

191 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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pork911 said:
nil by mouth
This for me, brilliant, but so bleak. Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke as good as I've ever seen them.

the road - bleak in that it's just so, so bad

chris watton

22,477 posts

261 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Off the top of my head, Million Dollar Baby and Threads.

D-Angle

4,467 posts

243 months

Monday 7th December 2015
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Eden Lake. Brilliantly done, but I've watched it once and won't watch it again.