Most traumatic scenes in movies (spoilers?)

[Kodos]

Kindof as an offshoot of The Ring thread, what is the most jolting/traumatic scene in movies for you.

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. Same with the guy who gets shot in the helmet, takes off the helmet to look at the hole and make sure he hasn't been hit, and then gets shot in the head. I remember thinking: "You idiot! Put your helmet back on!" right before he got shot. That movie was just full of moments like that. :(

Also, the jolt scene of the girl in the closet in The Ring was pretty shocking.

What scenes got to you?

[KWhit]

The beans and frank scene from "There's Something About Mary." I couldn't take a wiz for a week!


:)

[stkelly52]

In the sixth sence when bruce willis discovers that he is actually dead. I totally did not see that comming.

From a looooong time ago, when Bambi's mom was killed.

[cuervo72]

As a kid, I was pretty taken aback by the miniseries 'V', when there was a guy who was around some dry ice or frozen gas or something, had his arm frozen and then bumped into a railing, shattering his arm off.

On a similar note, I thought Bruce Willis blowing Jack Black's arm off in 'The Jackal' was a little much. Probably not horrible by today's standards, and not necessarily jolting, but pretty gruesome.

Oh, Emilio Estevez' demise in Mission Impossible didn't thrill me much either. And again, as a kid I didn't think it too cool in IJ & the Temple of Doom when they pulled the guy's heart out...

I guess I tend to like sex in my movies more than violence anyway :)

[KWhit]

There are tons of scenes in Schindler's List, but the one that stands out is of the little boy hiding in the outhouse. Oh man...

[QuikSand]

I still can't enjoy "Stuck in the Middle With You" the same way after watching Reservoir Dogs. Grisly.

[Marmel]

In Se7ev, when the body in the bed came to life, and you realize that he was still alive!

[Fritz]

Opening scene in Saving Private Ryan put me in shock.

[scooper]

Originally posted by Marmel
In Se7ev, when the body in the bed came to life, and you realize that he was still alive!

That entire movie counts. Never before or since have I been in a theater were after the lights came on, everybody stood up silently and just kind of stared at each other with jaws dropped.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by stkelly52
In the sixth sence when bruce willis discovers that he is actually dead. I totally did not see that comming.

From a looooong time ago, when Bambi's mom was killed.

I have the unfortunate tendency to try to figure out movies if I know there is some sort of catch to them. When everyone was talking about Sixth Sense and how the ending came out of nowhere, I had to try to figure it out. After about 15 minutes I had, and everything else in the movie pretty much confirmed it for me. Good movie, but I think I ruined it for myself :(

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by Marmel
In Se7ev, when the body in the bed came to life, and you realize that he was still alive!

yeah, that REALLY freaked me out when I first watched it.

[Marmel]

Originally posted by scooper
That entire movie counts. Never before or since have I been in a theater were after the lights came on, everybody stood up silently and just kind of stared at each other with jaws dropped.

True, but I was trying to pick out the most shocking scene.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by cuervo72
I have the unfortunate tendency to try to figure out movies if I know there is some sort of catch to them. When everyone was talking about Sixth Sense and how the ending came out of nowhere, I had to try to figure it out. After about 15 minutes I had, and everything else in the movie pretty much confirmed it for me. Good movie, but I think I ruined it for myself :(

Exactly. I saw the movie without knowing that there was a hook ending, so it really blew me away. I always prefer seeing a movie knowing as little as possible about it.

That's one of the things I really liked about Signs. The advertising of the film didn't tell you AT ALL what you were really going to see. That's why the scene at the birthday party freaked me out so much - it was totally unexpected. I wish more movies would keep their secrets out of the trailers.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by KWhit
Exactly. I saw the movie without knowing that there was a hook ending, so it really blew me away. I always prefer seeing a movie knowing as little as possible about it.

That's one of the things I really liked about Signs. The advertising of the film didn't tell you AT ALL what you were really going to see. That's why the scene at the birthday party freaked me out so much - it was totally unexpected. I wish more movies would keep their secrets out of the trailers.

this is easily the most alarming trend in movies today. Look at the trailer for the movie 'The Italian Job' (which I haven't seen yet).
I find out that 1. Ed Norton's character turns on them, 2. Ed Norton's character kills Donald Sutherland's character, 3. A huge revenge plot ensues.

Now if this movie were just pitched as some fancy heist (that of course being the Italian Job), wouldn't the movie have an aweomse twist when Ed Norton turned on his co-thieves? They could have marketed it as some sort of Oceans-11 like grand heist, rather than revealing ever detail.

[Bonegavel]

As a kid, I remember having nightmares after seeing the "Airport 77" flick. The scene where the dead people float by the windows gave me nightmares for weeks. Today, I'm sure it wouldn't even shock a 4 year old, but at the time, t.v. didn't show a lot of that stuff.

As an adult, I must admit that JAWS still creeps the shit out of me.

[Anrhydeddu]

I saw Twilight Zone's Eye of the Beholder for the first time 35 years ago and I still get nightmares from it. I read recently that they are doing a remake of it.

[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.

[Anrhydeddu]

Originally posted by BoneGavel
As a kid, I remember having nightmares after seeing the "Airport 77" flick. The scene where the dead people float by the windows gave me nightmares for weeks. Today, I'm sure it wouldn't even shock a 4 year old, but at the time, t.v. didn't show a lot of that stuff.

There is something quite profound in that statement. But we can't complain because there is something "progressive" about de-sensitizing 4 yrs olds (or any other ages).

[Franklinnoble]

Jack Black in his skivvies in "Orange County"

*shudder*

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally posted by Fritz
Opening scene in Saving Private Ryan put me in shock.

Ditto that one. I never felt so claustrophobic in a movie theater, nor had such a visceral reaction to a film. Every part of my body wanted to "get the hell out of there". Haunted me for days and nights.

The other would be Wizard of Oz. When I was a kid, and the Wicked Witch showed up. See ya! I was out of there. Put me in bed, mommy! Took me about five years to make it through that part. Of course, that only got me to the part when those damn flying monkie things come dropping out of the sky. I've never gotten past that point. Still don't know how the movie ends.

Oh yeah, although I know some people thought the movie was stupid, I was so scared at the end of the Blair Witch Project that I was hypterventilating.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally posted by Marmel
In Se7ev, when the body in the bed came to life, and you realize that he was still alive!

I think that's why I like that movie so much, there's tons of scenes like it. Even though you could guess what's in the box at the end, it's still something.

[Butter]

The scene in American History X where Edward Norton's character tells his victim to "bite the curb". Mother of God, I had to stop the DVD for about 5 minutes before I could continue.

[Craptacular]

Originally posted by Fritz
Opening scene in Saving Private Ryan put me in shock.

You weren't one of those kiddies whose mommy and daddy took them to an R-rated WWII movie and then complained about how they had to leave the theater because of the violence, were you?

[SplitPersonality1]

Originally posted by ColtCrazy
I think that's why I like that movie so much, there's tons of scenes like it. Even though you could guess what's in the box at the end, it's still something.

True. At the end, I knew what was in the box and I was hollering at the TV (I saw it on video). "Don't open the box. Dammit, DON"T OPEN THE FREAKING BOX". Se7en is one of the few movies that drew me in hook-line and sinker.

For a shocking scene that hasn't been mentioned yet, how about the "Singing in the Rain" scene from A Clockwork Orange. Truly disturbing.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by Butter_of_69
The scene in American History X where Edward Norton's character tells his victim to "bite the curb". Mother of God, I had to stop the DVD for about 5 minutes before I could continue.

I turned my head. This is an excellent example of a really disturbing moment in a movie.

[Craptacular]

The scene in Payback where they hammer Mel Gibson's toes is nasty. Just thinking about the sound of the hammer hitting the concrete (through his toes) makes me cringe. I'm glad they didn't "show it".

[JeeberD]

Originally posted by Craptacular
You weren't one of those kiddies whose mommy and daddy took them to an R-rated WWII movie and then complained about how they had to leave the theater because of the violence, were you?

Heh, I remember when I went to see the SouthPark movie and right in front of us there was a woman with two kids who had to be around ten. Needless to say, after the opening scene (Shut your fucking face, uncle-fucker...) they were out of there...

[KWhit]

That reminded me of the "hobbling" scene from Misery. Oh man.

[TroyF]

I have a REALLY tough time watching any rape scene in a movie. The opening sequence of Eye for an Eye was horrible. Sally Field is on the phone and listens to her daughtered get raped and murdered. I had a really tough time with that one.

TroyF

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by Craptacular
The scene in Payback where they hammer Mel Gibson's toes is nasty. Just thinking about the sound of the hammer hitting the concrete (through his toes) makes me cringe. I'm glad they didn't "show it".

Oooh, that just reminded me of the bed scene from Misery - ouch!

Of course, from what I've heard Kathy Bates was in an equally if not more disturbing scene recently :eek:

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Craptacular
You weren't one of those kiddies whose mommy and daddy took them to an R-rated WWII movie and then complained about how they had to leave the theater because of the violence, were you?

heh, no.

edit: perhaps the movie should have been NC-17

I know I stopped breathing for a while and was completely immersed in the unfolding carnage. If the movie had not shifted to the view from the seawall I may have passed out.

Would have interesting to put a BP collar on.

[MizzouRah]

(ditto)Misery when Kathy Bates breaks James Caan's ankles. Ouch!

Also, a friend of mine called me before the Blair Witch Project was even mentioned on TV and told me he had a copy of it for the pc. We all watched it that night and the last scene freaked me out. About a week later I discovered it was all a hoax, but that scence still bugs me somewhat.


Todd

[Fidatelo]

Originally posted by TroyF
I have a REALLY tough time watching any rape scene in a movie. The opening sequence of Eye for an Eye was horrible. Sally Field is on the phone and listens to her daughtered get raped and murdered. I had a really tough time with that one.

TroyF

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

[KWhit]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Oooh, that just reminded me of the bed scene from Misery - ouch!

Of course, from what I've heard Kathy Bates was in an equally if not more disturbing scene recently :eek:

Hey, didn't I just say that?


:)

[Pyser]

requiem for a dream.

the whole movie shook me. bad. has ruined every other drug-themed movie for me ever. nothing compares.

but to stay with the specific scene theme....i guess id have to go with what jennifer connolly's character does at the end to score some more drugs. horribly degrading. and then her reaction after scoring the stuff.

come to think of it, everyones "fate" at the end of the movie shook me. damn. that movie plain messed me up.

[cuervo72]

Whoops, guess you got there while I was writing it! My apologies KWhit.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Whoops, guess you got there while I was writing it! My apologies KWhit.

Just bustin' your balls, cuervo. I thought it was funny that we said the exact same thing.

Speaking of movies about drugs, the baby on the ceiling scene in Trainspotting was pretty traumatic. Not easy to watch at all.

[cuervo72]

Strange movie but....

In 'Cemetary Man' (Dellamorte Dellamore), when Rupert Everett's character kills Anna Falchi's char, and you realize that she hadn't yet been dead before (the premise of the movie, if you haven't seen it, is that Everett works at an Italian cemetary where everyone comes back to life and has to be "killed" a second time, or they go around doing a Night of the Living dead act). A grim "D'OH" kind of moment.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by KWhit
Just bustin' your balls, cuervo. I thought it was funny that we said the exact same thing.

Speaking of movies about drugs, the baby on the ceiling scene in Trainspotting was pretty traumatic. Not easy to watch at all.

Yeah, I know. Sometimes I think about my wording too much and I take an hour with my replies :rolleyes:

If we're dealing with babies, that clip of Michael Jackson dangling "his" baby over the balcony was pretty traumatic too!

[sabotai]

I agree with the scene in American History X. Whenever I think of what he did...*shudders*...what a horrible way to go...

And I agree that I like to go into a movie not knowing anything. I did that with Se7en and it was great. Recently, I went to see Identity with no idea of what it was about. Going into a movie not knowing what it is about puts my "guard" down, so I'm not looking for any twists, and then I am pleasently surprised. :)

[korme]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
Jack Black in his skivvies in "Orange County"

*shudder*

nothing screams HOT like that did

[Radii]

I'm sure if I hadn't blocked most of the movie out of my mind, I could come up with something out of American Psycho.

But the first thing that came to my mind was the whole storming the beach opening to Saving Private Ryan. How long was that opening scene anyway? It was by far the most... intense experience I've ever had watching a movie.

Out of all of it the part where you see a guy looking around the beach aimlessly, and he picks up his own arm that had been blown off... that was the roughest part of it for me I think.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Pyser
requiem for a dream.

the whole movie shook me. bad. has ruined every other drug-themed movie for me ever. nothing compares.

but to stay with the specific scene theme....i guess id have to go with what jennifer connolly's character does at the end to score some more drugs. horribly degrading. and then her reaction after scoring the stuff.

come to think of it, everyones "fate" at the end of the movie shook me. damn. that movie plain messed me up.

I agree - that movie was deeply disturbing. I guess I wouldn't point out any one scene, but the depiction of the unhappy endings for each and every character we care about was very moving. For me, maybe the best scene in the film was the phone call - the guy calls his girl back home, and promises her that he's coming back to get her. It's amazing how powerful that movie was... I'm not sure I "liked" it, but it was seriously compelling.

[Fritz]

The boat sinking scene in White Squal gets to me too.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by QuikSand
I agree - that movie was deeply disturbing. I guess I wouldn't point out any one scene, but the depiction of the unhappy endings for each and every character we care about was very moving. For me, maybe the best scene in the film was the phone call - the guy calls his girl back home, and promises her that he's coming back to get her. It's amazing how powerful that movie was... I'm not sure I "liked" it, but it was seriously compelling.

me and my friends just walked out of the theater like, "wow, how depressing." The movie was really moving. Yes Quik, the "ass to ass" scene at the end is pretty shocking for jennifer connelly's character, showing she's sunk as far as she possibly can. I definitely really liked the movie overall, it was very well done.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Several scenes popped into my head when I saw the thread title --

1) Opening sequence of "Beverly Hills Cop" of all things. Where Eddie's partner is executed via gunshot to the back of the head. As it struck me at the time (and I haven't watched the scene since), the camera angle gave you a quick profile silhouette of the victim and you see his face exploding outward. I can't think of any other film that uses that specific angle for a head shot and it really got to me.

2) "Reservoir Dogs" cop torture scene.

3) The end of "Blair Witch" is the most genuine terror I've ever felt in a theatre. My ass (nor any of the rest of me) will never go camping again. And I knew it wasn't a documentary when I watched it, the damned thing scared the crap out of me.

4) Manson-stops-the-prosecutors-watch scene in "Helter Skelter". It wasn't the watch stopping, it was the look of Manson's eyes at the end of the scene, I had nightmares about that for several years later. (Hey, I was young at the time)

And like somebody already mentioned, I'm pretty creeped out by rape scenes in general.

[Draft Dodger]

I remember a few scenes from movies that I saw when I was too young...

- the Russian Roulette scene from Deerhunter
- when they chopped off the foot in Roots
- the one that caused me the most trauma - by far, was The Great Santini. I have NO idea why I wanted to see this movie when it was on TV, but I was too young; there's a scene which a black man is attacked in his trailer by the local yokels, and it has always stuck with me. I had nightmares for several nights after that (followed by several days of "I told you so's" by my mother).

Ryan was the most overall haunting film I've seen - 5 of us went to see it, and none of us spoke for about 10 minutes on the drive home. I don't plan on seeing that again until I feel my son is old enough and is in need of a little direction in life.

[JonInMiddleGA]

One more that I forgot to mention would be several of the battle sequences in "We Were Soldiers". It's not gory, it's not particularly gruesome, it's just nerve-wracking. More intensity than I'm used to in a combat film (and I've seen a ton of 'em).

Unlike most war movies, which seem to turn the battle volume down at just the right moment so you can hear the key dialogue, "WWS" just let the bullets fly & let the dialogue compete with everything else. Created a noticeably different feel IMO.

[John Galt]

Originally posted by Butter_of_69
The scene in American History X where Edward Norton's character tells his victim to "bite the curb". Mother of God, I had to stop the DVD for about 5 minutes before I could continue.

This is by far the most traumatic scene for me too. As soon as I saw this thread that is what I thought of. When I saw it in the theater I almost lost it.

Another scene that affected was the recent rape scene from Irreversible - it is just off-the-charts bad, but at least I knew that before I saw it. I also was affected by Requim for a Dream, but the two parts most jarring for me where the walking refrigerator and the infected track mark on the arm. The Trainspotting scene where he is going cold turkey and sees the dead baby crawling on the ceiling is also really bad.

[Ragone]

Couple of different ones..

Signs-The Brazilian Footage.. tempered with the sudden Music change when the alien appeared on camera

A Walk to Remember- Maybe not gruesome, but finding out what's wrong with Mandy Moore's character was quite a shock

White men can't jump-Rosie Perez naked.. i'm scarred for life :)

But the ones that really got me are already listed

Blair Witch Project-That ending was just.. You knew what was going to happen..

[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. :D

[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.