Most traumatic scenes in movies (spoilers?)

[3ric]

One which hasn't been mentioned before - the scene at the end of "Hannibal" where Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) has sawed off the top of Ray Liotta's skull and is feeding him his own brain... I literally couldn't watch. My wife had to tell me when it was safe to look again.

[Critch]

The end of Braveheart when the english mutilate William Wallace. Bastards.

Only time I ever had to leave a movie theater was the pink elephant scene in Dumbo, which is seriously freaky when you're 3 years old.

[Franklinnoble]

Any Star Wars scene with Jar-Jar Binks

[Kodos]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
Any Star Wars scene with Jar-Jar Binks

I think you could have stopped after "Any Star Wars scene" from the prequels. Talk about not living up to the previous movies...

[bbor]

The Exorcist....When Regan(Linda Blair) does the backwards crab walk down the stairs....

Deliverence:Ned Beatty...uhh...squeeeeeeeeling like a pig.....ick

[cartman]

I'm surprised one of the horror movies from my youth hadn't appeared.

The scene at the end of the original Friday the 13th scared the jebeezers out of me. You knew going in it was going to be gory, but when you see the girl wake up the next morning after the carnage, you figure the credits are about to roll. When Jason came up out of the lake, that freaked me out. I was about 9 or 10 when I saw it, and I was a basket case for about 30 minutes after that. My mom said, "Bet you won't ask to see a movie like that again for a while."

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by cartman
I'm surprised one of the horror movies from my youth hadn't appeared.

The scene at the end of the original Friday the 13th scared the jebeezers out of me. You knew going in it was going to be gory, but when you see the girl wake up the next morning after the carnage, you figure the credits are about to roll. When Jason came up out of the lake, that freaked me out. I was about 9 or 10 when I saw it, and I was a basket case for about 30 minutes after that. My mom said, "Bet you won't ask to see a movie like that again for a while."

I remember a scene from I think it was Friday the 13th II, where there was a fat lady hitchhiking while eating a banana. Well, Jason got her by stabbing a knife straight down through her skull....and you see the banana get squeezed to a pulp.

[Wolfpack]

I wouldn't say I'm traumatized by scenes, though I do find some a bit disturbing (I'm probably too desensitized anymore).

The opening sequence to SPR was very intense, but oddly enough wasn't that bad to me. What was worse was the depiction later on of a failed attempt to plant a "sticky bomb" on a tank. I cringe thinking about it.

The hammer scene in "Payback" that was previously mentioned. Yep. I can't imagine my big toe being smashed like a grape.

Not so much traumatic as utterly depressing, just about any chunk of the movie "The Day After" after the bombs have been dropped. Leaves a nice little sick feeling in the stomach.

Sam Neill in "Event Horizon": Hell is just a name. The reality is much worse. (And you only got a couple of seconds of bad recorded footage earlier in the movie to give your imagination a bit of a starting point)

The ending seen of Raiders of the Lost Ark with the nice pretty ghosts turning into ugly monsters and then watching the Nazis melt away was an enduring image seared into the mind of a seven-year old. Continuing in the series, the lovely seen of the man's heart getting plucked ever so kindly from his chest in Temple of Doom.

[Coffee Warlord]

While Private Ryan has a lot of scenes that qualify, I agree.

Probably the most moving/traumatic/etc scene of that kind of movie goes to Blackhawk Down, when the two Delta snipers and the pilot finally go down. That entire sequence sticks with me to this day.

[Qwikshot]

How bout in the Exorcist when they give little Reagan a spinal tap...far more disturbing then any of the demonic scenes...supposidly that is what made people run out of the theatres.

[Nyarlahotep]

Most traumatic scenes in movies:

None. Most of the scenes mentioned have been either funny or lame to me. I do keep hoping that they will come out with something I find traumatizing or at least scary.

[Qwikshot]

Originally posted by Nyarlahotep
Most traumatic scenes in movies:

None. Most of the scenes mentioned have been either funny or lame to me. I do keep hoping that they will come out with something I find traumatizing or at least scary.

You may have to try snuff films.

[Blade]

Originally posted by Qwikshot
You may have to try snuff films.

Speaking of which, I found some of the scenes in 9mm pretty disturbing...

[John Galt]

Originally posted by Nyarlahotep
Most traumatic scenes in movies:

None. Most of the scenes mentioned have been either funny or lame to me. I do keep hoping that they will come out with something I find traumatizing or at least scary.

I don't know how anyone could find the curbing scene from American History X to be either "funny or lame."

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally posted by Blade
Speaking of which, I found some of the scenes in 9mm pretty disturbing...

8mm? The entire film is disturbing, mainly because it sucks so bad and Nicolas Cage is pathetic in it. MAN! That movie sucks. Fun to watch to mock though.

[DataKing]

A film that hasn't been mentioned yet is "The Cell." The one that particularly sticks out to me is when the horse gets cut into layers by those falling "glass sheets" or whatever they were and then separated. Then you see the heart is still beating.

I'm pretty well desensitized, but that one gets to me (as well as others that have been mentioned here; SPR, Schindler's List, others).

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by 3ric
One which hasn't been mentioned before - the scene at the end of "Hannibal" where Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) has sawed off the top of Ray Liotta's skull and is feeding him his own brain... I literally couldn't watch. My wife had to tell me when it was safe to look again.

I'm sorry, but I just thought that was stupid. I hate that movie.

Saving Private Ryan's opening is definitely the one for me. Jarring, and accurate which is why it was jarring. Talking with men who were on that beach afterward, I just couldn't stop saying thank you.

[hahnkim]

Okay, since this list has tended toward the gruesome, I'm gonna throw out one that is just plain excruciatingly uncomfortable, but not gruesome. The scene in "Swingers" where Mike calls the girl from the bar and leaves like 7 messages. That one hurts to watch.

[DeToxRox]

Simple.

Nurse Nancy, when Pee Wee busts.

[Nyarlahotep]

Originally posted by Qwikshot
You may have to try snuff films.

I don't think that would be traumitizing or scary. I would think it was a fake unless I knew firsthand it wasn't, and while the stuff listed here is at best amusing to me, I don't feel any need to go out and kill someone for fun.

[tucker342]

Originally posted by RonnieDobbs
Again I was a kid, but many of the scenes from Poltergeist freaked the living shit out of me. I'll give it to the tree trying to eat the boy.

I remember that movie...

It was pretty freaky...

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by Wolfpack
I wouldn't say I'm traumatized by scenes, though I do find some a bit disturbing (I'm probably too desensitized anymore).

The opening sequence to SPR was very intense, but oddly enough wasn't that bad to me. What was worse was the depiction later on of a failed attempt to plant a "sticky bomb" on a tank. I cringe thinking about it.

I hate to say this, but I actually laughed at the sticky bomb scene. I think i was kind of nervous and tense from the first two hours of the movie, and it just came out. I was with 2 other friends, 1 of them laughed as well, and the other (female) scolded us for the rest of the night. I found the slow-stabbing death scene much more disturbing.

And for pure emotion, Giovanni Ribisi kind of made me really sad in that one scene in the church where he wonders why he didn't talk to his mother more often. I fear for the millions of regrets that will flood through my head in my final minutes.

[Buzzbee]

Opening scene of Saving Private Ryan is the first one that jumped to my mind, so I've got to give it the nod.

There is another movie that hasn't been mentioned yet, that I know several FOF'ers have seen that I think has several scenes.

THE CHANGELING

The first scene that makes my heart jump through my throat is the ball bouncing down the stairs. Just chilling! Then the wheelchair at the top of the stairs makes my ass pucker every single time. Lastly, when they are in the ladies house looking for the well, the image of the boy in the water at the bottom of the well freaks me out. Oh yeah, the seance is pretty freaky too. And when he replays the tape and you hear the voice for the first time.

Damn! I forgot how many scenes there are in that movie that really get me. No wonder it's one of my favorites.

[Qwikshot]

Originally posted by Nyarlahotep
I don't think that would be traumitizing or scary. I would think it was a fake unless I knew firsthand it wasn't, and while the stuff listed here is at best amusing to me, I don't feel any need to go out and kill someone for fun.

This wasn't a knock at you, if nothing disturbs you then you are completely desensitized...

You want to know the most traumatic scene ever...

I was watching investigative reports on trains. And they show a clip from a video that was detailing on crossing tracks safely. The video is at a train station. It's dual tracked, one train is at the crossing loading. The warning gates are down, but people are crossing regardless to get to the other side. You can hear the horn of a train coming...people still crossing, some looking as they go, some not...

next scene...you see a businessman walking he peers beyond the train, looks, and turns back...

it's at this moment you notice a woman rushing, she's running...she runs by the man...

the horn is louder...you see the train, it's barrelling down the track...the woman looks a split second too late, and tries to turn out of its way...

needless to say they freeze frame there, and you know what has happened, my heart pounded as I watched that...

of course, on the net, you can find it in complete form...

that is trauma...because it is real, a person died. I remember when I commuted by train, the raw power of one of those trains coming in to pick us up...if you stood near the edge you could feel that air slam into you...and it's why I never take chances at a crossing.

[AgPete]

Originally posted by Fidatelo
Stay away from Rules of Attraction then, it's got the most god-awful rape scene ever right in the first 10 minutes.

Yep, that was a disturbing scene. Especially when the guy puked all over her.

Troy, I also had a problem with the rape scene in the Sally Field flick. Wasn't she yelling "Mommy!" while the guy raped her? Very disturbing scene.

The teeth to the street curb scene in American History X that someone mentioned was also gruesome. Not disturbing, but one of those moments when you wince in pain with the character on the screen.

Generally, the better the movie, the more the scene gets to me. Some people mentioned movies such as The Cell and 9MM but those movies didn't bother me that much because to me they were just bad movies to begin with. I was waiting for the movie to end rather than biting my lip at another shocking moment.

[EagleFan]

Blair Witch Project at the end also got me, mostly because watching it and thinking, wow this is the kind of stuff I used to do with my friends. We would always be out camping and looking into creepy cultish kind of stuff, just for the curiosity of it.

Only because I was little but the Nazis gunning down the prisoners in Battle of the Bulge. It is extremely tame by today's standards but I was very young at the time that I first saw it and it got me.


But let's not forget one of the most traumatic of all-time. The binocular scene in Something About Mary.

[WSUCougar]

Although I concur with the intense scenes from Saving Private Ryan that have been mentioned, the one that I find perhaps the most difficult to watch is when Giovani Ribisi dies. He's gut-shot, they're all trying to help this guy who has helped them, but it's obvious he's mortally wounded and we just have to watch it play out. "Tell us what to do." "I could use some morphine." "Momma." Man!

Another one is the scene in Casino (or is it Goodfellas?) when Joe Pesci has to watch the guys beat his brother to death with baseball bats. For some reason I am particularly disturbed by scenes when people get held down and beaten.

[AgPete]

I guess I'm odd because the most disturbing scene to me in Saving Private Ryan was when the translator froze up while the other guy was being stabbed to death. I have a hard time understanding that mentality. All he had to do was step outside the door and kill the Nazi who was an easy target but instead he let his fellow soldier die because he didn't have enough...I don't know....balls? That scene really bothered me but yeah, the beach landing could pretty much be described as "shock and awe." I know a few wartime vets who didn't watch the movie after hearing about that scene.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally posted by Kodos
I think in Saving Private Ryan, where the two guys are fighting, and the one is slowly stabbing the other through the heart while he begs for mercy is perhaps the most traumatic scene I have ever watched. It haunted me for a long time afterward.

I still cant watch that movie just because of that scene. It sickens me. If that pussy ass translator would have just helped out...AHHHH!! I wouldnt watch any war movie because of that scene until I finally gave in and watched Band of Brothers.

Another movie that hasnt been mentioned is Pearl Harbor. To see those people in the USS Arizona pounding on the hull hoping to get out. I hate watching people drown or burn in a fire. Just like in the scene in The Perfect Storm when the ship is capsized and the one guy says just before he is ready to drown "I wonder how my boy is going to take this?" Just breaks my heart.

[Wolfpack]

The stabbing scene to me wasn't traumatizing, just incredibly frustrating. "Get in there and fight! Your buddy needs you!" Grr...

I think I read somewhere where some vets who had seen the movie said the reality was actually worse than that, even. I've been reading Ambrose's "D-Day" lately and the stuff that went on that day makes you incredibly thankful that the Germans f-ed themselves up or it could have been so much worse.

[Fidatelo]

Originally posted by hahnkim
Okay, since this list has tended toward the gruesome, I'm gonna throw out one that is just plain excruciatingly uncomfortable, but not gruesome. The scene in "Swingers" where Mike calls the girl from the bar and leaves like 7 messages. That one hurts to watch.

Haha, great addition! I just watched that movie for the first time about 3 weeks ago and that scene was agonizingly painful! I was watching with my brother, who had already seen the movie, and I was like

"he's not gonna call her is he?..... ok, don't call back...... your kidding me, again?..... oh man!...... he can't really call again can he?...... what the hell! Stop calling!..... when does this end?!?..... holy crap...."

I love that movie, so many funny parts. "You've got these big fuckin' claws!"

[Cuckoo]

Has anyone seen Ghost Ship? Not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but that first scene is pretty cool.