Some movies are disturbing, some movies are beautiful, but the two often go hand-in-hand. From startling, jaw-dropping scenes to emotionally engaging messages, there are many ways to plague the viewer’s mind. Some of the most haunting films happen to be the most disturbing, crafted with the intent of troubling our psyche. Occasionally, however, a deliberately disturbing movie might become too alarming to digest. Mesmerizingly beautiful cinematography is an ingenious way to frame the discomfort caused by particular themes or events within a cinematic experience that lingers in the mind.

These movies frequently delve into themes that humanity is often too scared to think of in an excessively crude, shameless way: from death and destruction to drug addiction and abuse. These subjects emerge from the artistically ethereal portrayal of events and situations that seem to have come out of our most picturesque nightmares, even if they are wrapped in dreamy scenery. Whether you are a fan or not, these disturbing movies will always have a haunting beauty to them.

9

Melancholia

Lars Von Trier

Lars Von Trier is known for his artistic sensibilities and interest in exploring universally unsettling situations. Among his many works, however, nothing stands out more than Melancholia, one of the most twisted and distressing movies ever. Usually, catastrophic films about the end of the world are action-packed stories about ordinary heroes attempting to save their families, leaving a heartwarming sentiment in us. Still among Kirsten Dunst’s best movies, Melancholia strips its characters and the viewer of any shred of hope, telling us, through the chilling voice of Dunst’s character, that there is nothing we can do.

Von Trier’s masterpiece is cruel, almost disagreeable to experience. But the movie feels like a horror journey into an achingly beautiful hell. From Dunst’s portrait in her wedding gown – tragic yet magnificent looking in a snap that echoes Ophelia’s ethereal painting – to the depiction of the sky, menacing yet alluring, Melancholia is a torture of beauty and pain. The film’s vicious magnetism keeps us attached to the screen to witness humanity’s most devastating fear.

8

The Banshees of Inisherin

Martin McDonagh

The premise of The Banshees of Inisherin is simple to the point of being unusual: Set in the 1920s, the close friendship between two men on a fictional and remote Irish island abruptly ceases when one of them decides to end the relationship without explanation. In true Martin McDonagh style, this prompts a series of absurd events that verge on the line between tragic and comic. The plot evolves into a back-and-forth of petty quarrels and disturbing acts that influence the bizarre inhabitants of this lonely village. From severed fingers to promises of revenge, the movie is unsettling.

However, despite the occasionally gruesome scenery and the sharp exploration of loneliness and lost friendship, there is a wistful beauty embedded in The Banshees of Inisherin’s characters and landscape. The movie almost feels like an ancient portrait of solitude. From the fog to the unforgiving sea, from the sparse cottages to the gray sky, there is a painful yet calming allure serving as a backdrop to the grotesque events depicted.

7

Pan’s Labyrinth

Guillermo Del Toro

Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the most heartbreaking and, tragically, authentic portrayals of war ever captured in cinema. It is this blend of sadness and realism that makes the movie so disturbing, even when cloaked in myth. Most of the time, the public feels uncomfortable witnessing the extent of human cruelty, yet Guillermo Del Toro’s masterpiece curses us to watch all the way to the end. The genius director uses unique and whimsical aesthetic sensibilities to tell us the most horrific of stories.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a tragic fairy tale. The fantasy element might initially appear as a refuge, but it is also a mirror of the horror unfolding in the real world. The whimsical beauty captured does not soften the themes of the movie, but it sharpens the melancholia. Many of the greatest works of art are poignant expressions of humanity’s most profound traumas. Pan’s Labyrinth is no different, exuding a beauty that only exacerbates the agony it is trying to denounce.

6

Requiem For A Dream

Darren Aronofsky

Unlike many other films about drug use, Requiem for a Dream leaves very little hope in how it delves into the tragedy of addiction. The deliberate choice to divide the movie into different chapters named after the seasons only to exclude spring is astute. The message is clear: there is no rebirth in this story. The bleak pessimism emerges through the cruel realities different characters are subjected to. Each of their situations often becomes too unsettling to witness.

There is no beauty in drugs, and that is made painfully clear. However, there is a subtle elegance in the way Aronofsky crafts the film’s visuals. Requiem for a Dream‘s cinematography is grim in a haunting, unforgettable way. Even the characters have a magnetic allure, which creates a deeper emotional connection to viewers. Faithful to its тιтle and themes, Requiem for a Dream feels like a drug-induced fantasy in its disorienting beauty.

5

Midsommar

Ari Aster

Ari Aster knows how to disturb us as much as he knows how to captivate us, and Midsommar is proof. The story of Dani is deeply unsettling – a young girl, tormented by her loneliness and past trauma, is lured into the violence of a Swedish cult while on vacation with her emotionally unavailable boyfriend. The viewer feels sympathetic to Dani’s struggles, but this only exacerbates the tragedy of her descent, where she loses her lucidity and sense of self. Although classified as a horror, and undoubtedly full of gruesome imagery, Midsommar is a tragedy.

As much as one might remember the visual atrocities and discomfort of Midsommar‘s ending, the ethereal image of Dani crowned in flowers also lingers in our minds. Although the movie is set in the graceful green of Northern Europe, that image in particular captures the ambivalence of the film, caught between the nightmarish themes and the bright beauty of the surroundings. This is a tribute to the almost fairy tale appeal that a haunting folk horror masterpiece needs.

4

Suspiria

Dario Argento

From Deep Red to Phenomena, Dario Argento has the unique ability to craft powerful and mind-blowing sensory experiences. The most intense of these is Suspiria, a film that is as much an ᴀssault on the senses as an agony brought to life. The story is about a young girl who joins an elite dance school in Germany in the late 1970s, only for a series of wicked events to unfold, hinting at hidden secrets of spooky witchcraft and twisted rituals.

From the first iconic scene, Argento pulls the viewer into a world of blinding colors and unspeakable horrors, finding a magnetic beauty in death and torment. Suspiria‘s visuals are bold and emotive: each sH๏τ is a mischievous game of lighting and shadows that creates a surreal atmosphere that perfectly matches the absurdity taking place in the background.

3

The Virgin Suicides

Sofia Coppola

It is no surprise that this beautifully disturbing cult classic is among Sofia Coppola’s best movies. The story, told through the perspectives of a group of neighborhood boys, explores the tragic lives of the five Lisbon sisters, whose collective suicides became a point of discussion in America. In a meticulously intelligent way, Coppola captures the innocent, fragile beauty of youth through a poetic direction characterized by pastel tonalities and elusive smiles.

The contrast between the dreamlike quality of the film and the cruelty of the story adds to the unsettling feelings evoked. The sisters occasionally almost feel surreal, like fallen angels restricted by the bigotry of their parents, but nevertheless driven by a fierce resilience and youthful curiosity about the world. The fact that their deaths feel inevitable, an ultimate act of rebellion against an unforgiving world, is both tragic and poetic.

2

Annihilation

Alex Garland

Annihilation is an upsetting exploration of the unknown. The film follows Natalie Portman’s character, a biologist and soldier, who joins a group of scientists to investigate what happened to her husband inside the mysterious area called Shimmer, an anomalous place influenced by an alien presence. True to the body horror genre, Annihilation has an abundance of disturbing, almost nauseating scenes, with gruesome imagery and horrific creatures that torment the researchers.

However, the sci-fi element of the film is not simply terrifying – it also has a poetic allure. From eerie landscapes to surreal beings, the beauty is always paired with an undercurrent of horror that is both magnetic and troubling. The exploration of transformation and self-destruction adds an intellectual layer to the story, making the film not only visually unforgettable but also mentally upsetting. Annihilation is a simultaneously beautiful and grotesque blend of sci-fi and horror that explores the darkest secrets of nature.

1

The City Of Lost Children

Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet

The City of Lost Children is a bewildering, yet darkly enchanting, journey through a dystopian world. The plot follows Krank, a highly intelligent but wicked enтιтy whose inability to dream causes him to age at a faster rate. For this reason, he uses a dream-extracting machine to steal dreams from children. The premise, simultaneously bizarre and twisted, gives life to a gothic fairy tale that blends imaginative world-building and storytelling unrestrained by conventional limits.

The City of Lost Children‘s visuals are simultaneously whimsical and grim, forming a contrast between the dreamlike imagery and the industrial background. The creators managed to create beauty out of the uncanny. The combination of bleak storytelling, spooky characters, and magical allure gives life to a journey that seems born out of our wildest dreams – a chaotic fantasy that only obeys its own strange, internal logic.