The 10 Most Disturbing Horror Movies of All Time

This is a movie many horror buffs may be familiar with—at least by name. Released in 1980, this movie was originally banned across more than 50 countries. It follows the story of an anthropologist, Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman), who embarks on a rescue mission through the Amazon rainforest to locate a missing crew of documentarians. But as Monroe uncovers clues as to the gruesome fate of the filmmakers, the deadly local tribe closes in on him.

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Despite the obvious issues of racism the film carries, it went on to be the inspiration for more modern flicks, like Eli Roth's Green Inferno. The gore in this movie is so visceral and vivid that some audiences at the time believed the atrocities they were seeing were real. As most disturbing horror films tend to be, this movie is also full of sexual assault. And as upsetting as the fake violence may be, it is perhaps more disturbing that seven animals—including a young pig and two monkeys—were actually killed on camera for the film.

This comedy horror flick is as bizarre as it is disturbing. Following a devastating earthquake in Los Angeles, survivors are left mutated and compelled to carry out an array of despicable and downright disgusting acts.

When the film was shown at Sundance, a significant portion of the audience walked out. While Verge describes the film as "the grossest movie ever made," the depictions in the movie are so graphic that Shudder is the only streaming service willing to carry it. From mid-masturbation murder to consumption of feces, this movie shies away from nothing as it pushes audiences through a surreal trip inspired by Cronenberg, Giger, and Jodorowsky.

To put it simply: This movie is so disturbing that it was almost impossible to find an image that was tame enough to share with this article. This is a Japanese film from 1996, and really goes a long way to support the belief that Japanese horror is in a league of its own. It's actually a remake of director Hisayasu Satô's 1987 film Genuine Rape, yet unlike many of the movies on this list, it doesn't contain any rape or pornographic content. Don't let that make you too comfortable, though...

The movie follows a scientist who concocts a strange and dangerous drug called "My Son." The scientist's mother works at a hospital conducting birth control experiments on women—which gives the scientist the perfect chance to use the drug on three test subjects. The women who have been drugged have their minds warped, with pain translating into pleasure. The worse the better.

Murder is to be expected. Self-mutilation quickly follows. This movie is rife with disembowelment and consumption of one's own body—from eyeballs to female genitalia.

This 1978 rape revenge flick spawned a 2010 remake with subsequent sequels. Many argue that this film exploits violence against women—an argument used to ban the film in the UK, Ireland, West Germany, Iceland, and Norway. Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, it's hard to deny how disturbing this movie is at its core.

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Big-city author Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) goes off on a peaceful Connecticut vacation to shrug off the bustle of New York. Unfortunately, her secluded cabin brings more trauma than relaxation. Having caught the eye of Johnny (Eron Tabor) and his like-minded misogynistic lackeys, Jennifer is repeatedly raped before being left for dead. Unluckily for her rapists, she survives to hunt them down and slaughter them on a brutal rampage of revenge.

More genital mutilation and disembowelment can be found in this gruesome film. But most disturbing of all is the full third of the film dedicated to graphic and humiliating depictions of rape.

Another Japanese horror film, this movie from 2009 is the pure definition of torture porn. A doctor has lived his whole life having his every want and need catered to—but this life of privilege has led to his desires becoming more and more warped. After kidnapping a young couple, he subjects them to a series of brutal torments, slowly stripping them of their will to live.

Instead of the nervous joy of the couple's first date, your stomach will be churning from the depictions of yet more genital mutilation, amputation, and general disfiguration. All in the name of sadistic sexual pleasure.

Yet another Japanese horror movie, this 1999 film is a popular title dropped in recommendations for foreign horror, female villains, and, of course, generally disturbing thrillers. When widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) decides to start dating again, he uses his filmmaker friend as a resource to sort through women via a fake production. When Shigeharu falls hard for the enchanting Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), he has no idea just how much danger he is in. When Asami feels like she's not receiving enough of Shigeharu's love, she decides to implement pain as a means of trust.

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As you might have come to expect from this list, there's no shortage of amputation and dismemberment in this film. Beyond pain-based torture, this film also includes the consumption of vomit.

Filmmaker Lars von Trier is notorious for his extensive catalogue of disturbing films—and the 2018 film The House That Jack Built is certainly no exception. The movie takes place throughout the 1970s, following a highly intelligent serial killer named Jack (Matt Dillon). Jack considers murder to be an art form, and over the course of 12 years sets out to stage the perfect kill. As the police close in on him, his risk-taking sky rockets in this philosophical and twisted exploration of violence.

This film contains depictions of animal cruelty, but that's really the least of the disturbing aspects thrust upon audiences. You can expect mutilation, the murder of children, psychological torment, and some creative uses of corpses.

This film is so taboo and gruesome that the streaming link below is actually an edited version. An uncut version of the film is available only by purchase of a physical copy—but proceed with caution. This isn't the kind of imagery you just shrug off when it's done.

A has-been porn star scores a job in an "art film" in a bid to break out of the porn industry. But though he has made a career out of engaging in the shocking, he's not prepared to be a part of a snuff film. A snuff film which centers around necrophilia and pedophilia.

46 countries have banned this movie, which had to be edited down for content in order to receive even the NC-17 rating within the US. In Japan, the film was given an R20+ rating—the first and only of its kind. And for good reason. This film includes plenty of rape. Besides the removal of teeth to aid in the sexual abuse, A Serbian Film also includes mid-rape decapitation. If that's not enough to warn you away, it also depicts infant rape.

Few things are as horrifying as the above film, but if it can count as a relief, at least take comfort in the fact that Nekromantik is primarily centered around necrophilia.

This film from West Germany was made in 1987. It centers around a couple, Robert (Bernd Daktari Lorenz) and Betty (Beatrice Manowski), who share a twisted obsession with the dead. Robert works as a custodian who cleans up the scenes of deaths, removing corpses. He takes his job a little too seriously by bringing limbs and organs home with him. But when he lugs a complete corpse home to seek out sexual pleasure with Betty, he is off-put to find that Betty prefers sex with the dead over him.

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Director Jörg Buttgereit has admitted that this film was made for the express purpose of shocking as many people as possible—a direct snub at the German film rating system. Though, oddly enough, if you didn't get enough corpse-loving the first time around, there's actually a sequel.

Though I maintain that A Serbian Film is probably the most disturbing movie in existence, I have to admit that a mere description of The Poughkeepsie Tapes and its violence made me physically ill.

While this found footage horror movie clocks in at less than an hour and a half, you may end up wishing it was even shorter. It centers around a series of tapes found by the police in an abandoned house in Poughkeepsie, New York. The tapes belong to a decades-long serial killer who had documented hundreds of murders that only get sicker as they go on.

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This film features child murder, mutilation of corpses, rape, and psychological torture. One scene even includes the filmed reaction of a woman waking up to discover the severed head of her husband has been surgically implanted in her womb.