People Are Talking About The Most Brutal Movie Scenes That Left Them Shocked, And This Discussion Is Not For The Weak
You already know Bone Tomahawk is on this list.
Recently on Reddit, user Jules-Car3499 asked the people of r/moviecritic, “Which movie has a brutal scene that made you shocked?” The example they cited was the scene in Casino in which Nicky and his brother get beat up by Frankie and his friends with the metal bats.
This prompted a lot of passionate responses from other movie fans. Here are the top-voted ones:
Warning: Major spoilers as well as graphic descriptions ahead.
1. American History X (1998) — “The curb stomp really shocked me, and I’d seen loads more shocking things before (and since) that, but it just stayed with me.”
2. Trainspotting (1996) — “When they wake up from doing heroin for a couple of days straight to find they not only neglected their baby, but the baby died in its crib.”
3. Misery (1990) – “When she hobbles his feet and they show his foot actually go around the side of the wood plank in the process.”
4. Bone Tomahawk (2015) — “The ‘captured’ scene and then the scene where we see the pregnant women shocked me even more. Great movie.”
5. Django Unchained (2012) — “When Candy sets his dogs on a runaway slave. That scene was absolutely cruel and visceral.”
6. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) — “The bottle scene.”
7. Saving Private Ryan (1998) — “The D-Day landing. Our tenth grade US history teacher showed our class that opening scene. No parent permission forms, nothing. He said if you’re squeamish you can leave the room, but many WWII vets say that is an extremely accurate depiction of the battlefield. One of my favorite teachers ever.”
8. Casino (1995) — “When they bury Joe Pesci and you can see he’s still breathing/alive. Always freaked me out.”
9. RoboCop (1987) —”Murphy’s death.”
10. The Mist (2007) — “The ending. I hadn’t felt my stomach drop like that in ages while watching horror movies until watching that movie.”
11. Zodiac (2007) — “Zodiac stabbing the couple at the lake always gets me.”
12. Hereditary (2018) — “Obligatory…the decapitation.”
13. Jojo Rabbit (2019) — “When he saw his mom hung, it literally came out of the blue.”
14. Requiem for a Dream (2000) — “The electrotherapy/orgy/amputation scene. Are there far more graphic films that exist? For sure. Have any of them made me as sick to my stomach as this scene? Not even close.”
15. Antichrist (2009) — “The scene with the scissors.”
16. Schindler’s List (1993) — “Schindler’s List has some brutal scenes in it, but the one that sticks with me is at the end when Schindler is thinking about all the extra people he could have saved with the few possessions he had left. Made my heart sink.”
17. Midsommar (2019) — “The scene with the sledgehammer.”
18. The Departed (2006) — “When Leo got smoked. I was like, oh sh...”
19. Se7en (1995) — “The ending in the desert. Brutal scene.”
20. Green Room (2015) — “The arm scene and the box cutter scene both shook me. The box cutter is so brutal and matter-of-fact that it comes out of nowhere.”
21. Event Horizon (1997) — “The blood orgy. You barely make out what’s going on, but it makes you go, ‘WTF?!’!!!”
22. Reservoir Dogs (1992) — “The scene where the cop’s ear is cut off. I think I actually stopped watching the movie after that. It was so cruel and over the top.”
23. All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) — “The scene in the crater with the two men. Had to skip it the second time I watched it.”
24. 12 Years a Slave (2013) — “I don’t watch many violent movies. But one example I can think of that really shocked me was the causal and callous violence/cruelty displayed in 12 Years a Slave. Even worse because that is based on real-life events.”
25. Doctor Sleep (2019) — “The scene with the baseball kid. I’m 39 now and watched it again recently, and that gets me. I can handle anything gore, love horror movies, but something about that scene is too realistic.”
26. Michael Clayton (2007) — “This one might sound weird, but the scene where they kill Tom Wilkinson’s character in the bathroom, it always stuck with me. It’s the hopelessness and the helplessness he portrays in that scene. It was hard for me to shake off when I first saw it.”
27. Mother! (2017) — “The end scene with the baby.”
28. Murder in the First (1995) — “The scene where he is handcuffed over his head and is hanging when they slice his Achilles tendon and he takes that first step. I still feel the pain to this day.”
29. The Green Mile (1999) “Eduard Delacroix’s execution gone wrong.”
30. Nope (2022) — “I haven’t even seen it but the chimp scene in that movie is my pick. The description was enough.”
31. Finally, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) — “The shoe getting dipped!”
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
