(Don't know if this has been done before but) Movies so Traumatizing You Could Only Watch It Once.

[Bugguy]

1Midnight Express (1978): This hit me square between the eyes, as several years prior, in my early 20's, I was living alone working in a government capacity in South Korea and was frequently exposed to situations similar to those events that landed the young man in the movie in a Turkish prison. At the time, we laughed off any risks and rationalized that if there was trouble, the US embassy would run interference. The profound take-away from the story, however, was just how vulnerable, naive, clueless we were. We could have become someone's leverage in a grievance with the US and a PR nightmare. At the time we were nearing the end of a very unpopular 'police action', so nerves were raw. It scared me then, and now. I can't watch it again.

 

[Fandorin]

The Lighthouse, 2019 with Robert Pattinson and Wilhelm Dafoe. So disturbing I couldn't finish it. And a constant reminder, since I live in the land of the lighthouses, Maine USA.

 

[DesertDan]

Grave of the Fireflies
Fantastic movie, beautiful animation. I never want to watch it again.

 

[Flos]

Requiem for a Dream. Once is definitely enough for that one.

 

[jchance]

Midsommar. It’s been 6 years, I’ve forgotten most of it, and I’ve been wanting to rewatch it, but I haven’t gotten around to it.

 

[Benny Holiday]

A new one out, The Surfer with Nicolas Cage. One hour and forty minutes of rubbish. I kept waiting for it to get better . . . nope. The trauma is in just how bad this flick really is and the supposed 'resolution' of the plot which is pathetic. Mr Cage must be hard up for work these days.

 

[Zombie_61]

Frances (1982), starring Jessica Lange as actress Frances Farmer in the story of Farmer's rise to fame in Hollywood and the horrors she endured after she was blacklisted. Saw it once, don't need to see it again.

 

[postpaper]

"Come and See" - Perhaps the rawest depiction of the hell of war ever made.

Yes. Without spoiling anything, I have found behaviors of the main characters so alien that it was just so Weird. Maybe I'm missing some context but it was just so unsettling.

The most memorable horror movie experience for me was Skinamarink(2022), because later part of the movie just felt like eternity. Not in a bad way per say, but It wasn't a catch and release jump scare type, there really wasn't a moment of release at all.

 

[Miss Moonlight]

Schindler's List is one. But I feel this way about quite a few films that depict tragic and horrifying history. I actually do better with studying the actual history, I and strive to know history, verifying and checking sources, but film... I think it just brings it too close, in too many dimensions. So one view is fine for me.

 

[Mister Cairo]

The Lighthouse, 2019 with Robert Pattinson and Wilhelm Dafoe. So disturbing I couldn't finish it. And a constant reminder, since I live in the land of the lighthouses, Maine USA.

The family were looking for something to watch for Friday night movie night. One daughter had heard this was a "noir" kind of thing, period piece, so hey, why not.

Why not indeed...

 

[Mister Cairo]

Frances (1982), starring Jessica Lange as actress Frances Farmer in the story of Farmer's rise to fame in Hollywood and the horrors she endured after she was blacklisted. Saw it once, don't need to see it again.

Saw this as a teen on "pay tv", an early Canadian movie channel.

I've never looked at a knitting needle the same way again...

 

[zebedee]

I think that Gummo, Scum, Hostel, Last Exit to Brooklyn and The Road (though an excellent film, I cannot bear the part when the boy asks his father if he'll ever see him again). I teach a lot of Cormac McCarthy and think that he's an excellent writer, but I could only read The Road once, too. Everything else by him I've read several times.