Let's list the Other kind of bad movies

[skuts]

Usually when speaking about bad movies, we think about classics like Manos or Plan Nine. But what about the other kind of bad movies, the kind that are actually spiritually, emotionally or psychically harmful? These are the kinds of movies that would probably play on the Videodrome Channel. Some are outright sadistic and cruel and make no effort to hide what they are, like Make Them Die Slowly but the more insidious ones may disguise themselves as "message" films, pretending to have some alleged deeper purpose like the vicious animal snuff porn distributed by certain "animal rights" groups.
Here's a few titles that I've had the misfortune to have seen.
Salo: 120 Days of Sodom
Funny Games (original, I didn't see the remake)
Last House on the Left (original)
Maniac (Spinell's version)
Hostel 1 & 2
The Devils Rejects
I Spit on Your Grave (original)
Irreversible

Maybe I'm a p***y, but these movies left me physically ill after watching them.

[bob]

A Serbain Film
Saw 3d -- I enjoyed the Saw series but this one is horse manure 

[InformationGeek]

Human Centitpede
Porno Holocaust
Most of the later Saw films
and Standing Ovation (That's a whole another kind of sadism though)

[Archivist]

These movies are on my 'avoid at all costs' list.  The movies listed above are also on this list.  I see no point to these kinds of movies, as this kind of horror just makes me feel ill, like the OP.

Men Behind The Sun (1988) Hong Kong movie about the Japanese experimental medical unit 731
The Guinea Pig movies from Japan
August Underground trilogy - never seen it, never want to.  That stuff is bad enough just reading about it.

[skuts]

Another one I just thought of, Bloodsucking Freaks. I've seen amateur porn that was less degrading.

[Chainsawmidget]

Another one I just thought of, Bloodsucking Freaks. I've seen amateur porn that was less degrading.

I used to threaten my friends with making them watch that one. 

[Criswell]

Seriously! I'm the first person to mention Cannibal Holocaust. Pretty much the sickest thing ever filmed.

[peter johnson]

"Cannibal Holocaust" and "Make Them Die Slowly" are the same film.  Just differently titled.  Strangely, I didn't mind "I Spit on Your Grave", the original.  I found it to be a pretty straightforward vengeance flick.

peter johnson

[Criswell]

"Cannibal Holocaust" and "Make Them Die Slowly" are the same film.  Just differently titled.  Strangely, I didn't mind "I Spit on Your Grave", the original.  I found it to be a pretty straightforward vengeance flick.

peter johnson

No actually Cannibal Ferox and Make Them Die Slowly are the same films if I can recall.

[voltron]

If anybody really knows me on this board, these are exactly the type of films I tend to seek out when I'm in the right mood. I'm all for extreme cinema and I love to see people pushing the envelope. I'm a MASSIVE fan of Spinell's Maniac. I liked the August Underground trilogy quite a bit (Penance was my fave cause there was a bit more character development). I kinda thought Cannibal Holocaust was a wee bit overrated - still haven't seen Cannibal Ferox, though. I thought the Saw movies were s**t. Eli Roth is a lamewad. "Torture Porn" is a catchphrase made for stupid kids. Rob Zombie is a dork (musically and directorial wise). A Serbian Film was AMAZING. Only mistake I made was reading some reviews before I saw it. Why did I like it so much, you ask? The cinematography was fantastic, the soundtrack was excellent and the plot was quite unnerving and it definately got to me. Any movie that truly disturbs me automatically gets a thumbs up. No one has mentioned Polanski yet - I find a lot of his films to be disturbing in a more subtle way ie: The Tenant spooked me like no other movie before. Threads was pretty devastating as well. The short film Cutting Moments was brilliant - made me feel like someone kicked me in the stomach after watching it. The juxtapostion of mundane (dysfunctional) family life coupled with horror gore was just...oh man, WOW! 

[RCMerchant]

I dont care for the nazi horror films. Garbage like the BEAST IN HEAT and GESTAPOS LAST ORGY. Ugh.
I agree one hundred percent about I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and MEN BEHIND THE SUN. Horrendus.
Some of HG Lewis's stuff can be over the top....like the WIZAED OG GORE. But the gore effects are sooo bad...it's more laughable than disturbing.
Thats why BLOODSUCKING FREAKS dosnt bother me....it's just so fake and silly.
I can do without HOSTEL and SAW. Hated both.

[skuts]

If anybody really knows me on this board, these are exactly the type of films I tend to seek out when I'm in the right mood. I'm all for extreme cinema and I love to see people pushing the envelope. I'm a MASSIVE fan of Spinell's Maniac. I liked the August Underground trilogy quite a bit (Penance was my fave cause there was a bit more character development). I kinda thought Cannibal Holocaust was a wee bit overrated - still haven't seen Cannibal Ferox, though. I thought the Saw movies were s**t. Eli Roth is a lamewad. "Torture Porn" is a catchphrase made for stupid kids. Rob Zombie is a dork (musically and directorial wise). A Serbian Film was AMAZING. Only mistake I made was reading some reviews before I saw it. Why did I like it so much, you ask? The cinematography was fantastic, the soundtrack was excellent and the plot was quite unnerving and it definately got to me. Any movie that truly disturbs me automatically gets a thumbs up. No one has mentioned Polanski yet - I find a lot of his films to be disturbing in a more subtle way ie: The Tenant spooked me like no other movie before. Threads was pretty devastating as well. The short film Cutting Moments was brilliant - made me feel like someone kicked me in the stomach after watching it. The juxtapostion of mundane (dysfunctional) family life coupled with horror gore was just...oh man, WOW! 

It may be that as we grow older, our level of empathy matures (or at least it should). When I was younger, I enjoyed all manner of grotesquery. The more depraved the better. Films like Maniac and Cannibal Holocaust were required multiple viewing. I think it is only in hindsight that we come to realize just how unhealthy these films really are.

I still enjoy a bit of the old ultra-violence, Machine Girl and Rubber's Lover come to mind. I think there is some truth to what Cronnenberg says in Videodrome, that what the eye sees on television is interpreted by the mind as raw experience. Whether we know it or not, or like it or not, the images we watch (and we have to actively watch this stuff, it doesn't just appear in front of us by accident) are forever swilling around in our subconscious and affecting our thoughts, feelings and actions in ways we are not even aware of.

There is a theory call "predictive programming" in which these images of bloody horror and death are used to desensitize us in order to prevent us from reacting when we see the real event unfolding in front of us. For example, most people in the past, if they were to see an individual being savagely assaulted would try to help. But nowadays they'll just stand by and gawk, probably filming it to post on youtube.

[Rev. Powell]

If anybody really knows me on this board, these are exactly the type of films I tend to seek out when I'm in the right mood. I'm all for extreme cinema and I love to see people pushing the envelope. I'm a MASSIVE fan of Spinell's Maniac. I liked the August Underground trilogy quite a bit (Penance was my fave cause there was a bit more character development). I kinda thought Cannibal Holocaust was a wee bit overrated - still haven't seen Cannibal Ferox, though. I thought the Saw movies were s**t. Eli Roth is a lamewad. "Torture Porn" is a catchphrase made for stupid kids. Rob Zombie is a dork (musically and directorial wise). A Serbian Film was AMAZING. Only mistake I made was reading some reviews before I saw it. Why did I like it so much, you ask? The cinematography was fantastic, the soundtrack was excellent and the plot was quite unnerving and it definately got to me. Any movie that truly disturbs me automatically gets a thumbs up. No one has mentioned Polanski yet - I find a lot of his films to be disturbing in a more subtle way ie: The Tenant spooked me like no other movie before. Threads was pretty devastating as well. The short film Cutting Moments was brilliant - made me feel like someone kicked me in the stomach after watching it. The juxtapostion of mundane (dysfunctional) family life coupled with horror gore was just...oh man, WOW! 

It may be that as we grow older, our level of empathy matures (or at least it should). When I was younger, I enjoyed all manner of grotesquery. The more depraved the better. Films like Maniac and Cannibal Holocaust were required multiple viewing. I think it is only in hindsight that we come to realize just how unhealthy these films really are.

I still enjoy a bit of the old ultra-violence, Machine Girl and Rubber's Lover come to mind. I think there is some truth to what Cronnenberg says in Videodrome, that what the eye sees on television is interpreted by the mind as raw experience. Whether we know it or not, or like it or not, the images we watch (and we have to actively watch this stuff, it doesn't just appear in front of us by accident) are forever swilling around in our subconscious and affecting our thoughts, feelings and actions in ways we are not even aware of.

There is a theory call "predictive programming" in which these images of bloody horror and death are used to desensitize us in order to prevent us from reacting when we see the real event unfolding in front of us. For example, most people in the past, if they were to see an individual being savagely assaulted would try to help. But nowadays they'll just stand by and gawk, probably filming it to post on youtube.

Excellent points.  Obviously every movie with "extreme" content is different, and some have more justification than others.  But there are lots of films that ask you to identify with the torturer rather than the victim so that you can get a sick sadistic thrill.  My reaction to movies like that is hatred.

[ChaosTheory]

I ..... kind of liked I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE.  Like Peter Johnson said, it's a straightforward revenge flick.  I've seen exploitation movies where the rape scenes, though not as graphic, are meant to be titillating, and that's way worse.

DEAR ZACHARY, while not horror exactly, is pretty brutal.
ADDIO ZIO TOM - if you don't know about this movie, you're just as well off.
There's a movie called NAKED MASSACRE on one of my Mill Creek sets, that I had a hard time getting through.  It's technically fictional but very obviously based on the Richard Speck case and it's just an ugly ugly viewing experience.

[voltron]

Excellent points.  Obviously every movie with "extreme" content is different, and some have more justification than others.  But there are lots of films that ask you to identify with the torturer rather than the victim so that you can get a sick sadistic thrill.  My reaction to movies like that is hatred.

I found that Maniac tried to get you to almost feel empathy for Frank Zito. The film isn't your typical slasher. Frig, I wouldn't call it a slasher really because it's so much deeper than you typical F13th knockoff. I think that's why it's such a powerful film for me - we're almost seeing things through Frank's eyes and it's not pretty. That's the thing, it's not supposed to be pretty and I raise a shot to Mr. Lustig and Spinell for creating one of the most believable potrayals of a serial killer ever (screw Henry: POASK, I think it's way overrated and lame compared to Maniac). I remember reading a short story long ago that was about horror movies and censorship and one character described Maniac as "the most reprehensible film ever made" because " the killer is portrayed in such a positive light".BTW, I also enjoyed the original I Spit On Your Grave as well. My only complaint would be that some of the revenge scenes could've been fleshed out more. The rape scenes took up so much time, that the revenge scenes - especially the last one - seemed like an afterthought. But, like others have said , I think it's a solid rape-revenge flick that doesn't deserve some of the derision it gets (usually from mainstream critics).