Funny Games and the Killing of a Sacred Deer are both super anxiety inducing for the same reasons for me. The idea of being put in an impossible scenario with no room to breathe is terrifying.
My most anxious movie moment is still the highway scene in Nocturnal Animals. Scarier than any supernatural horror or monster, makes my heart rate go crazy
Don't know whether you liked the movie or not (I hated it 😂) but either way, I absolutely agree with you! I can still feel the anxiety I got from that part and it's been years.
Speak No Evil would definitely be on my list. Even the scene where the dude is dancing awkwardly made me cringe, and it seemed like that was purposeful
I feel like that film inflicts anxiety only in those who don't already have it. Because I have a milder form of it, and I found the movie hilarious, in a truly messed up way.
Yes!! I have anxiety and while it was anxiety -inducing, I thought it was hilarious and well made! However, I Mother was too much for me because I have social anxiety and seeing all those people in her house was a literal nightmare for me.
I think I can blame an anxiety inducing movie for ALL of my real life anxiety. It’s weird, but it works for me. That said, yikes, I doubt I’ll EVER be able to rewatch REQUIEM 😱😱. That was TOO REAL!! It was beyond excellent, but… 😵🤢🫣😬🫨😵💫❌.
It's funny, that's how I feel about horror in general. It's always been therapeutic in the way that I push through my fears vicariously. But with movies that feature anxiety ridden people and anxiety inducing things, sometimes it triggers my anxieties. I have to be sort of careful of those movies that feel a little too subjective.
Antichrist was pretty bad for me, particularly in the first 20 minutes or so. I'll never rewatch it. Repulsion is another where it's kind of first person "anxiety cam". Nothing like seeing through the eyes of someone rapidly losing their mind and not knowing what is real and what isn't.
Gotta say that anxiety movies are my favorite "genre" and it shows, because there's only 2 on this list I haven't watched. I would also add Speak No Evil
I was really taken aback by Compliance. The Milgrams 37 theory was proven " We Do What We're Told " I've never been that " compliant " in any job & I question authority before I submit to it. Legitimately , a terrifying film.
I remember seeing that for the first time on TV when I was about 15 or so and I was riddled with flu. I knew it was meant to be weird, but I wasn't prepared for the utter mind fuckery that followed! The same thing happened to a slightly less extent when I watched 'Sin City' also on TV. I was even more ill with flu and I kept nodding off. So when I would come to and it would be on that weird demon-looking villain that Bruce Willis' character eventually rips his nuts off and kills him? I was like "Am I just dreaming this shit or is this really part of the movie?!"
I'm so glad Mother made the list! I have had people watch it who don't understand what clinical anxiety is like. The feeling is captured terrifyingly well.
I was hoping you'd mention Uncut Gems. That movie gave me a MASSIVE headache and made me feel so anxious. I had to look it up afterward to see if it happened to anyone else 😅
The only movie I’ve ever stopped watching because I was so filled of dread and anxiety is We Need to Talk About Kevin. I still haven’t gone back to finish it.
@@DPaisleyDaisy-pr5wzI still haven’t finished it. I got maybe half way through and turned it off. I’m a Mom of a 20 year old boy and he’s great, but as a Mom I felt her guilt and pain. So hard!
I really hated that film so much. It's such a horrible blend of bad psychology with incredible acting so it seems believable. It's such a a terrible portrayal of how a student can become a school shooter that I actually think it is harmful misinformation
One of the most anxiety-inducing films I've ever seen is Boiling Point, starring Stephen Graham. Like The Bear, it's set in a restaurant kitchen, but the entire film is done in a single take which just adds to the tension as things keep going wrong.
some great mentions in the comments, that scene on Nocturnal animals is hard to top and Speak no evil too becomes more and more unbearable. Good call for Sorcerer/Wages of fear too. Also, I remember Eden lake (a modern Deliverance) quite tense. And the much criticized The visit comes to mind.
Love your lists! I think The Jacket (2005) and Source Code (2011] and Vanilla Sky (2001) could also fall under this category, they all have this theme of things spiralling more and more out of contro. By the way! As a suggestion I would be curious to see your take on childrens movies/cartoons that were actually ‘too scary to watch’ or that scared you in some way
Oooo that’s an interesting video idea! Also I went to see source code with a friend in uni, he as stoned and at the end he couldn’t get up from the seat because he was petrified he was in the source code hahaha
Boiling Point from 2021 would be a good addition to this list. It’s a real-time single take film in an upscale restaurant. Doesn’t sound too thrilling, interesting, or anxiety-filled but it is.
Your videos are gold. I find it so hard to find movie recommendations because I've seen so many but every video of yours I watch I leave with a couple of new recommendations. Gold.
Good list, watching Uncut Gems make you want to tear your own hair out, Beau is afraid questions what is reality and is disturbing at times. I know of the rest of the list, Compliance has my interest , also can recommend “Cam “ another Netflix film which fits in this category.
@@spookyastronautsI am intrigued on the book you read, I would consider Cam an honorary mention only because, Cam is reality not science fiction, identity theft is real.
Great list. Movies that I'd include: Angst and Come and See. Something about the way they're filmed is so anxiety-ridden, on top of the tough subject matter.
Son of Saul was the most anxiety inducing film in a theater ive ever seen. I sat and shook and cried after. I also think Wake in Fright deserves a spot here.
Another banger served 🤘🏼 I'm desensitized to most things lol, but will pick I SAW THE DEVIL & both WOLF CREEKS. Tension and disgust for those 2 villains an understatement
you are amazing! the whole time this video was going, i kept thinking "i gotta comment about Climax, that's the only thing missing from this list..." and of course you finished off with it. all of these are nerve-crawling and nail-biting gems.
I'd add The Omen (1976) to the list. I really enjoy the back and forth between whether what's happening is for real or if it's just the result of Gregory Pecks' paranoia.
Thank you for mentioning uncut gems it was one of the most anxiety inducing movies I’ve ever seen I can’t even rewatch it. And same with requiem for a dream But somehow I love mother and have seen it a dozen of times lol
Great list Emma, lot's of squirm inducing films. I know these lists tend to be mostly 21st Century, but to my way of thinking none of these is nearly as anxiety provoking as William Friedkin's remake of the old French film The Wages of Fear (there was a pointless remake of that a year or so ago). Friendkin's follow up to the Exorcist was called Sorcerer. And with a title like that people expected more horror. But what they got was a crime adventure film with two trucks traveling through a South American jungle with old sweating dynamite over bridges you wouldn't even want to walk over, let alone drive a five ton truck across, and one bad move and the dynamite blows. My vote for the absolute anxiety provoking champ. But I suspect what you were going for here was psychological more than physical. My 21st Century physical anxiety nightmare is Fall, which rivals the Descent for physical anxiety. Two women trapped on an old tower. I get nervous just thnking about watching that one again. Maybe a list of films sometime focused on physical anxiety. (Says the guy who used to take people to see bears in Alaska.) Thanks again, for pumping my brain with thoughts!
Agreed on 'Fall', I watched that recently and I really enjoyed it. I don't really have an issue with heights, but even watching that on my 21" monitor, there were definitely a few parts that made me go "FCUK that right off"! 😆 I also don't like big birds, especially vultures/buzzards, so that hit a nerve for me too at a certain point *eughh* 🤢
Before the devil knows your dead(2007) had the same effect on me as Uncut Gems did just a bit more gritty but ugh the feeling of dread I’ll never forget 😬
13 tzameti immediately came to mind. Timecrimes also could fit the bill, loved that movie! Staying in Spain, Corpse of Anna Fritz was pretty rough and heart racing
Compliance is a pure anxiety induced nightmare that is so incredibly close to the real events that actually occurred. All of these are fantastic picks but I'd have to add "Bug" to the list.
It's that last few minutes for me that made the whole thing worth while. Not that it's not a good film or well-done (I LOVE found footage stuff), but for me, that climax really sold it. I've still got REC 2 to watch (I'm not bothering with the 3rd one)!
Black swan is one that is definitely anxiety inducing though I am a bit biased because it's one of my favorite movies since I do ballet/pointe just not professionally
I don't know why, but the film They Look Like People gave me major anxiety the first time I watched it. I got so involved with the two leads and their friendship that I spent the entire film dreading things that I suspected might happen.
I love tiny indie movies so I think I gave it a pass more than I would have done. I will say though that the climax had me both riveted, anxious and then kind of sad which was the intent. And speaking of micro-budgeted indie genre fare, I did like a film called 'A Ghost Waits'. Not exactly 'anxiety-inducing' but very bittersweet and charming in its own odd little way 🙂
I can't believe Nothing Bad Can Happen is not in this video, complete anxiety I felt watching that movie like nothing I've ever felt watching a movie before
It almost was tbh but I removed it because it has a different journey for the main character who goes back because of his religious beliefs. I felt the aim of the filmmaker wasn’t to give the audience anxiety but to tell this story (which is based on some truth) about the lengths people will go to in dangerous situations. I did have a good think about it
Different type of stressful, I once felt like a like hearted Jack Lemmon film, so I rented The Out of Towners, only to realize it was one of the most stressful comedies ever.
You had me at Mother! The Venn Diagram between most of my favourite films & films I am willing to recommend to people that I don’t know very well, it’s basically 2 circles. Love this list. Again, you could swap out any film by most of the directors on this list and you’re pretty much in for an anxious ride. I would add “Funny Games” (either version), which I see is on your extended list; Bully (K Clarke), and “Elephant” (Gus Van Sant). Great list.
Great list! Perfect Blue was extremely anxiety packed for me, partly due to the terrifying music. But I think the most anxious I've ever been was as a child watching ET, when his parents leave him behind and when he gets all white and has to be jolted back to life!!! Traumatic. Maybe a list of disturbing kids' movies would be fun haha!
I watched the movie "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" when I was a young kid (on tv) and was traumatized . I was so anxious about Joan Crawford's character being able to get help. It may be too tame by today's standards. lol.
S Craig Zahler's films have always been super anxiety inducing for me. I think it's because he doesn't use flashy cinematography or visual "tells" that violence is going to happen to his characters. Especially Dragged Across Concrete! There's barely any music in that movie, and lots of static shots with no camera movement. So every gunshot feels like a jump scare. Some of Takeahi Kitano's earlier films felt like that too. Just constant tension that something bad is going to happen and the camera won't treat it as anything special.
Great list!!! Personally Possession(81) gave me a lot of anxiety watching it. Isabelle adiani gave such a great performance i was convinced she was really mentally ill and i was watching an actress lose her mind filming a movie.
I know it’s not a great film but Fall is the only film that really set of my anxiety. I have a genuine fear of heights and often dream of falling from a great height so that obviously caused my reaction. I won’t be watching it again because of how ill I felt watching it! It’s funny how different things affect people…..Mother, I can watch without any anxiety but Fall made me physically sick!
The Korean thriller I Saw the Devil is it for me. Starring Lee Byung-hun from Squid Game and the legendary Choi Min-sik from Oldboy. It's about a serial killer who murders the pregnant wife of a police detective, who then decides to stalk the serial killer and torture him repeatedly instead of bringing him to justice. It's pretty brutal and definitely anxiety-provoking because things happen nonstop and you never know exactly whats coming next.
@@spookyastronauts I guess for me it was anxiety-inducing because you could see the detective's downward spiral and what it eventually caused, even if you root for him in the beginning. There was a whole lot of me yelling "no!" at the screen. But to me that's why the film is so amazing, it isn't a simple revenge tale at all.
While not a horror or thriller (but it's absolutely horrific), for me Come and See was one of the most anxiety-provoking films I've ever watched. It's a brilliant movie, I'm just not sure I ever want to watch it again. Eraserhead also gave me a lot of anxiety, and still does to some extent, I'm just so used to it by now that it's not the same level as when I watched it for the first time. But it's absolutely up there for me as well!
Scrolled too far to find this! I had a pretty similar experience to "Speak No Evil"; screaming at the screen: "GTFO from there! What are you guys doing?! Noooo!"
Speak no evil got me almost stunned by the ending. Without spoiling anything, it's a great movie but it's hard to watch due to the sheer anxiety you feel throughout.
Coffee table is currently the most anxiety inducing movie I have ever watched. I didn’t finish the whole thing. I felt so guilty watching it. I was super mad at Jesus bc I felt complicit. I was yelling for him to just tell her.
I would consider Irreversible by Gaspar Noe - extremely difficult watch (rape content) - AND - it moves in reverse. I would also consider The Invitation by Karyn Kusama because it is a very well made anxiety thriller that will make you squirm in your seat.
I would add the danish movie A Horrible Woman from 2017. It is basically the story of a man who falls in love with a woman who slowly but surely tears him down using mental manipulation and torture. It has been categorized as a black satire, but to me, it is straight up horror. Every moment of the film had me locked in this uncomfortable state. At any moment you are waiting for one of them to grab a knife and start stabbing the other. The tension is so horrible and there is never any release. The worst moment for me happens when they are around the sculptures. Im not explaining more. The actress is brilliant. Pure fucking evil and it is all just words.
Requiem For a Dream is a masterpiece, but boy is it a rough watch. I would put Synecdoche New York on this list too. I need a few days to recover after watching that one.
My goodness, Compliance is just horrific!!! As is the documentary. Goodtime also got to me, however it was the film that made me realise Robert Pattinson isn't Twilight. Haven't seen Calvaire so that's on the list. Beau tops them all 🏆 Brilliant vid yet again, thanks Emma
Cool list. Must check out ‘Compliance’ - the doco was fascinating. But I must say - my anxiety levels were raised every time you pronounce the word ‘everything’ as ‘everythinK’. Is that a Perth thing?
