Most depressing movies

[Smokey]

These movies probably will not get a second run in my house due to being too depressing. They are good movies in their own right, but not my cup of tea.

Not in any particular order:

What Dreams May Come (1998): Robin Williams seem to cry thruout the whole movie as he searches the afterlife for his wife.
http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~robb/RobinPaint.jpg

Schindler's List (1993): The subject matter is depressing in itself, but being filmed in B&W give it another sad dimension to cope with.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkhomsnlUD1qj0x80o1_500.jpg

Monster (2003): Charlize Theron as the female serial killer was outstanding, but too real for me.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01183/arts-graphics-2008_1183232a.jpg

Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973): Rod Steiger and Robert Ryan are head of two rural families that tries to shoot each other down.
http://classicscomingup.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/c_nv47_ewk___kgrhquokimezud-ubjvbndvd_c96____1.jpg

Bringing Out the Dead (1999): Outstanding soundtrack by Van Morrison, which also add to gloominess of this dark movie by Martin Scorsese.
http://www.theshiznit.co.uk/media/Feb2011/cage-bringing.jpg

[JohnMichael]

After watching "What Dreams May Come" friends went ahead and removed any sharps from the house.

"Schindler's List" is a must see movie much like "Saving Private Ryan". No matter what I have read about the Holocaust or diaries of friends parents and grandparents the visuals brought the story home. Again having no real idea about war I think SPR brought me closer to understanding the sacrifices. There is not enough money to make me ever see them again but I believe they need to be seen once. I did appreciate that the gay men wearing the pink triangles were actually depicted in the movie.

"Deer Hunter" more because of my state of mind at the time. We went from the bleak home town to war to losing at Russian Roulette. The idiot I went to see that movie with told me it was not too sad.

[Smokey]

"Schindler's List" is a must see movie much like "Saving Private Ryan". No matter what I have read about the Holocaust or diaries of friends parents and grandparents the visuals brought the story home.

Have not seen Private Ryan, but IMO Steven Spielberg might have took the Schindler's List story too personally. The movie feel more like a personal journey than more wide angle view of the subject matter. Coming off Jurassic Park film phonemena, guess I expected more.


"Deer Hunter" more because of my state of mind at the time. We went from the bleak home town to war to losing at Russian Roulette.

Deer Hunter definitely make the list :)

[Hyfi]

Monster is a tough one for sure and I don't know if I will watch it a second time. However, What Dreams May Come is one fantastic film with a lot of meaning as well as some of the best special effects that are not just over the top explosions.

In order to truly understand the move, one needs to be familiar with a book called Heaven & Hell written by Emanuel Swedenborg in the 1500s. The whole second half of the movie is based directly on the theory/teachings of the book. The levels of despair, the Faces of the Water, and so on.

I bought this movie on VHS when it came out and will probably get it again on DVD. It is depressing but it also shows how deep love can be and all the actors in this movie are stellar.

I have watched The Deer Hunter several times and would probably watch it again if hit upon while channel surfing. I saw it in the movies when it came out.

Just watched After Life the other day and it was also depressing.

[noddin0ff]

Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, which reminds me I still need to see Black Swan).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/92/Requiem_for_a_dream.jpg/220px-Requiem_for_a_dream.jpg
When I first saw this I thought that this would forever be the most depressing thing everyone should see. Should in the sense that if you want to keep your kids off drugs make them watch this--although it is a completely inappropriate movie for kids under 17 by any standards as per our rating system. It's a great film; you really like the characters and hope all their dreams and ambitions come true...but it doesn't. You feel the lure of their highs as you watch them destruct. Make sure you get the unrated, NC-17 cut as that is the original with the harsher ending. The R version was released on video only. Still the most depressing thing I've seen...and would recommend.

[Hyfi]

Oh yeah, Black Swan is mighty depressing.

[Feanor]

One of the problems of being old and having seen so many movies over many decades is that it becomes really difficult to answer questions like "what was the best?", "what was the worst?", etc. The problem is you just can't bring to mind all the flicks you've seen in a given category.

Of viewings the last couple of years that come to mind as depressing on a count of poverty, social deprivation and/or racism are:

Winter's Bone ~ director: Debra Granik

Do the Right Thing ~ director: Spike Lee.

City of God ~ director: Fernando Meirelles

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kE3RFRlcL._SX500_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JEsFETeeL._SX500_.jpg
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjA4ODQ3ODkzNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTc4NDI3._V1._ SY317_.jpg

It gets really depressing when you bring in actual politics and political economy; I was ready to puke after seeing ...

Inside Job ~ director: Charles Ferguson

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61z5IIXbn5L._SX500_.jpg

[noddin0ff]

Good pick with "Do the Right Thing". I was in a funk for quite a while after that one. I remember going home and blasting Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" after getting out of the theater that day.

[Feanor]

...
"Deer Hunter" more because of my state of mind at the time. We went from the bleak home town to war to losing at Russian Roulette. The idiot I went to see that movie with told me it was not too sad.
The Deer Hunter ranks among my favorite films, and by "favorite" I mean most affecting. It is certainly deeply tragic as well as possibly the best Viet Nam war flick.

[Hyfi]

I have had Inside Job in queue for some time now but have yet to watch it, like you said, it will make me want to puke knowing for sure just how badly we little guys get screwed over.

[lizard54]

The Cove is worth a watch I tried to post up the link but I am not at ten posts yet, also the 11th Hour. These are both documentaries but worth watching.

[lizard54]

That last post was my tenth so here ya go:
<img src="http://www.movieposterdb.com/posters/09_11/2009/1313104/l_1313104_4700d74c.jpg" id="il_fi" height="300" width="250" style="padding-right: 30px; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; ">
and
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/70/The_11th_Hour_Poster.jpg/220px-The_11th_Hour_Poster.jpg" id="il_fi" height="300" width="250" style="padding-right: 30px; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; ">

[Hyfi]

The Cove is worth a watch I tried to post up the link but I am not at ten posts yet, also the 11th Hour. These are both documentaries but worth watching.

The Cove is heart wrenching.

[Worf101]

1. "Winters Bone" - Poverty destroys.

2. "Precious - See above

3. "Boys Don't Cry" - Sigh this thread is depressing me more.

4. "Glory" - Even if they'd won the battle the war goes on and on...

5. "X" - For obvious reasons.

6. "Spartacus" - That war also goes on and on and on...

7. "Inside Job" - Now I'm really depressed.

8. "I Want to live!" - Early treatise on capital punishment.

9. "City of Hope" - The decline and selling of the American city.

10. "The Wire" - I can't even begin to tell you.

Worf

[LeRoy]

Wow, what a list of movie dread. Yep, I have seen most ofl the movies that are listed in the thread so far and yes watching these types of movies can really mess with my emotions and "hope" for a more sane human existence for all. Here is my list of movie gloom.

1) 8MM- I was sick with a churning stomach and aching heart for 3 straight days after watching this film. I felt so violated and disturbed after having seen this movie.

2) The Elephant Man- For any one being to have endured cruelty from so many people but to have also known sweetness from only a few during a short life- bittersweet.

3) The Green Mile- every time I see this movie I have to admit to two things: a) I get so worked up by the antics of the evil runt guard. b) I tear up when during the dialogue near the end of the movie when the warden is asking John Coffey what he can do to help him escape and J.C. forgives the warden for the actions he will have to take to carry out the sentence.

4) Immortal Beloved- Just a few moments late changed the course of 2 lives forever.

5) State Of Grace- everybody lost.

6) Moon- A human clone is not so special after all.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

The movie "The Day After" was mine.

The Day After (TV 1983) - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085404/)

After watching this made for TV movie, I wanted to end it all. So depressing to watch people slowly die from radiation poisoning.

[Smokey]

Thanks eveybody for great movie listings. Wished movie rental places like Blockbuster would still be around to rent some of films on the list I have not seen.

But tend to stay away from documentary movies like "Inside Job" or like films from Micheal Moore. It not only make one depress watching these documentaries, it also outrage the viewer to the gov. mishaps.

[RGA]

The movie "The Day After" was mine.

The Day After (TV 1983) - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085404/)

After watching this made for TV movie, I wanted to end it all. So depressing to watch people slowly die from radiation poisoning.

watch "Threads" - it was a much much better - much much more realistic film on the subject.

[RGA]

Some excellent ones already listed.

I did a history degree because of the movie Schindler's List. Spielberg took some flack in some circles but I discovered that he did a very good job of sifting through the material and keeping largely to accuracy to the history and to the Thomas Keneally novel. It was somewhat bothersome to read that a few critics blasted Spielberg for the girl in the red coat - but she is in the novel - which those critics apparently didn't read. It's a fine novel and an instance where the film betters it.

I saw Schindler's List something like 9 times in the theater during it's long theatrical run. I find it depressing in one sense but also uplifting in another. Spielberg could not bring a movie out about the holocaust that simply showed the atrocities - there is nothing to tie that to as a film - that would be better left to documentaries.

Hanging the movie onto an imperfect drinking, womanizing, greedy industrialist and member of the Nazi party in Oscar Schindler was the stroke of genius. The film is not "about the holocaust" it is about a man who decides that he could take the bags filled with riches and leave the country as massively wealthy or elects to use the money and put himself in great danger to buy people from being certain death. That is what this is about and that's why it's not called "The Holocaust" but "Schindler's List."

Spielberg simply put a matter of fact style to the film and left the commentary out. Fiennes was perfect - a monster with a dose of hypocrisy falling for the Jewish maid and hating himself for it.

I'll add a couple more that have not been mentioned that almost always go under the radar.

[Jack in Wilmington]

I finally came up with 2

Midnight Cowboy
The Champ

Ironic that they both star Jon Voight. You could add Deliverance to the list and make it a Jon Voight hat trick.