Some films are frightening to watch, and some can be downright disturbing. Real people have shared their honest confessions about times they were forced to leave the theater because they felt so uncomfortable. Can you relate to their dark (yet kinda funny) recollections?
Saw II
“Let’s play a game”… the frightening words that everyone who’s ever watched a Saw film never wants to hear. Because if you hear those words, it means that Dr. Jigsaw has you in one of his conivingly horrific traps.
One person was so scared of the sequel that they were forced to leave the theater about a third of the way into the film. Once they were outside, they just sat on a bench until their friends were done watching the movie.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Just because Willy Wonka is an absolute classic, doesn’t mean it didn’t terrify a few youngsters to sleep for a great part of their childhood. One young adult in particular reflected on his fear of the movie…
“Where do I begin? That kid getting sucked up a tube? A girl turning into a giant blueberry? And those dreadful Oompa Loompas… They haunted my dreams for years. When I saw it in theaters as a kid, I literally sat on the floor and faced the ground – until deciding to leave the room for good.”
The Purge
The concept behind the Purge was intriguing, if not remotely disturbing, and therefore enough people were interested enough to go see it. However, it wasn’t just the gore that scared people – it was the masks.
“The masks in the movie were so disturbing,” one person said, continuing that he was actually 20 years old at the time, which isn’t very young. He left the theater not long after a particular vicious jump scare that clearly surprised him too.
Ouija
If you don’t know what an Ouija board is, you probably shouldn’t use this movie as an introduction. There were frightening scenes throughout the entire experience, and one young girl said that she was forced to exit the theater halfway through.
Then again, she was nine years old at the time, so maybe she just needed to be given another chance? Well… not really. Turns out she went to see it two more times, but still couldn’t manage to stick it out.
Signs
M. Night Shyamalan is known for his mind-bending twists that come when you least expect it, but there are also some dark themes and scary images that make their way into his films too.
One person went to go see Signs when he was 12, and completely freaked out when he first saw the alien appear on screen. He says that he “couldn’t breathe” at that point, and that his grandmother actually thought he was having an asthma attack.
Final Destination 3
The entire Final Destination film series is known for its freakish horror and blatant gore, but it’s the psychological aspect that also stays in peoples’ minds.
One girl said that she was in her early teens when she first went to go see it with her sister, friend, and father. Her dad didn’t know what kind of movie it was, and by the time three people had died in the movie, he was forced to take her outside and soothe her as she cried.
The Reaping
The Reaping was intended to be a modern take on the fabled Ten Plagues from the Bible – and it was pretty darn scary. One person said, “I saw that movie in theaters when I was in high school. It seemed pretty harmless – it wasn’t even a horror film.”
“But there was one scene in particular where a young man’s skin got all cursed and decayed, right before he died on the spot. That image was seared into my mind, and I was literally afraid to go sleep for weeks after that (yes, while I was still in high school).”
Revenge
One person wrote, “I went into it not knowing how physically painful it would be.” You know a movie must be gross if it can put a person in physical pain just by watching it.
This person said that she was watching through her fingers, but when she witnessed one of the characters hitting a tree a bit too viciously, she was forced to retire herself to the bathroom. She then proceeded to sit calmly on the floor and relax herself while she got that image out of her head.
Scream
When it comes to Slasher films, let’s just say that this type of genre isn’t for everyone, and some people find out the hard way.
One high school student went to go see a movie with a bunch of friends, and even though she didn’t want to see a scary movie, they peer pressured her into watching Scream. She sat there miserably, wishing she could go home. The problem was, she didn’t have another ride, so she kept her eyes closed, and plugged her ears the whole time.
The Green Inferno
This movie isn’t for the faint hearted… But if we’re being honest, it’s not for the strong hearted either. It’s for a specific demographic that enjoys watching disturbing things on screen, and many people can attest that this flick caused them to walk right out.
One person saw a scene so gross that calling it violent would be an understatement – and he immediately ran right out of the theater and went straight to the bathroom. His brother was then forced to pick him up and bring him home.
I Am Legend
There are many differing opinions about this film, but there are some who don’t like it in the slightest. Why? Because there are simply no redeeming qualities. It’s just constant suffering, fear, and stress the whole time.
One person couldn’t stand it, and considering the fact that she was 13 years old, it was even harder on her. When protagonist Neville’s dog gets infected, she was forced to leave the theater crying while her family stayed inside.
Child’s Play
Child’s Play is the freakish nightmare of every kid’s childhood, and let’s just say that it’s not for everyone. It involves the presence of dolls that come to life, and in case you weren’t sure, they go ahead and kill people too.
One person went to go see it, believing it to be just another horror film – but they were sadly mistaken, when they saw Chucky doing his gory thing. “It was as weird and disturbing as ever,” the person said.
The Hills Have Eyes
The title should’ve been enough to warn anyone not to watch it, if they don’t like horror films. But this wasn’t just any horror film.
This was a film that engaged in some pretty messed up stuff, involving mutants, and intimate violation that we cannot go into detail about here because it’s too inappropriate. It was bad enough that when one person saw it, he walked right out. He also said, “It’s the only movie I couldn’t finish watching.”
Brüno
This movie was intended on being a comedy, but let’s just say they toed the line between comedy and some seriously inappropriate scenes. A family walked into the theater to go see it – three girls, ages 5, 10, and 15 – and their parents.
The man selling tickets asked the parents, “Are you sure you’re okay with your kids watching this movie?” And the parents said yeah, unaware what the movie actually was. They ended up walking out as well…
The Ring
There are some people who would never go see horror films if they didn’t know any better. When a girl went to go see The Ring, “I didn’t see any previews for it… I just showed up.”
She had no clue what she was in for, and once she realized was the movie about, she was forced to leave halfway through the film. One year later, she decided to revisit the film and give it another go. This time, she watched it in on a bright, sunny day – to help her conquer her fear.
The Village
Another M. Night Shyamalan movie, this movie traumatized a young 6 year old child, after his father made him watch it. Did we get that right? A father showed The Village to his 6 year old child? Now that’s just wrong.
The result? They had to turn it off halfway through, because the child thought the mysterious creatures were actually real monsters – and he proceeded to have nightmares about them for a solid 10 years after that.
Mother!
This might be a drama, but there are some graphic parts that became seared into some peoples’ memories. There was one particularly jarring scene where Jennifer Lawrence and a baby are both getting seriously attacked, and one moviegoer wasn’t able to handle it.
She was seriously disturbed by it, so much so that she could no longer watch anything with Jennifer Lawrence in it, since J-Law was the star of the film. Everything she’s in now reminds her of that scene.
Frozen (2010)
Unlike Disney’s Frozen, with Elsa and Anna and Olaf and all kinds of fun characters – this movie was much different. Three friends get stuck on a ski lift over a weekend, with no one there to help them get down.
One scene involves one of them jumping down, breaking his leg, and getting eaten by wolves. People actually got nauseous during this particular scene – and one person actually fainted before having to leave the room too.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
You don’t really have much to complain about if you walked in to see this movie and didn’t like it – they’re pretty up front in the title about what you’re going to get!
Nevertheless, one father took his 11-year-old to see this film in the theater, and naturally it freaked the kid out to his very core. To this day he’s still scared by it, and he hasn’t been able to watch any more of those films since then. Well, that doesn’t surprise us in the slightest…
Hacksaw Ridge
Hacksaw Ridge might not be a horror film, but it sure is a war film. And when you’ve got war films, chances are you’re going to get a lot of shooting, a lot of violence, and certainly a lot of gore.
There’s one part in this film where Andrew Garfield’s character gets splattered by a man close to him who’s just been shot. The scene is very graphic, and one person got pretty queasy afterward. “I was so shocked that I had to go get air.”
Borat
Also a Sacha Baron Cohen masterpiece, Borat wasn’t as gross as Bruno, but it was nevertheless hard for many people to watch. There were many scenes involving people wearing minimal clothing, and sometimes not at all.
There were so many graphic scenes that people couldn’t bear to stay in the theater the whole time. Thankfully, it was actually a lot funnier than Bruno was – so at least some people enjoyed it, the ones who stayed at least.
Gothika
In this film, Halle Berry’s character gets attacked (in a disturbing way which we won’t go into detail here) while she’s in a shower.
One person watching the film was so put off by this scene that she literally didn’t shower for a whole week after that! Her own dog started trying to get her to shower! Finally, she was able to overcome her fear… But it just goes to show how movie imagery can seep into our real lives.
Midsommar
This movie came out as recent as 2019, and it’s been making waves with its weirdness, and the psychologically horrific things that go down throughout its runtime. There are many scenes that are hard to watch, but one scene in particular made this person leave the theater.
“When the lady and the guy jumped off the cliff and I saw everything, I had to go.” That’s probably for the best, considering everything that happened in the movie afterward.
Jaws
Here we have literally one of the most iconic and classic films of all time – and still, this Steve Spielberg classic still rendered people frightened out of their wits when they first saw it.
The opening scene, for instance, scared the bejeezus out of one young kid. He said that he seriously was afraid to go to the bathroom for a long time after that. If we’re being honest, we probably all had that fear after watching that scene…
Unsane
“Unsettling” was the word that one moviegoer used to describe this movie. When you think about the premise, she makes a good point. The movie is about a young girl who’s trapped all alone in a mental institution.
Well, not completely all alone – she does have a caretaker. Unfortunately, that caretaker also happens to be her stalker. This same moviegoer said that she was literally crying during the film, and that she had to stop watching it.
Ghost Ship
Young kids shouldn’t be allowed to watch horror films – it’s simply not right. This one guy told a story about how he watched the movie Ghost Ship with his friend when they were in 8th grade.
They were both eating Rice Krispies at the time, and during the scene where the maggots came in on screen, you can imagine how that made them want to throw up. They were forced to turn off the film, and the storyteller said that he had to sleep in his sister’s room that night.
It Follows
This movie has a strange, but also very scary premise. A young woman learns that she’s been infected with a certain curse – a curse that can only be transferred via intimate relations with someone else.
You can imagine how this premise could psychologically freak people out in the theater, and indeed, there were people who were forced to walk right out. One person said that this was the only film he had ever walked away from finishing.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
This movie is… well it’s just freaky and terrifying on so many levels, no matter what your take on religion is.
One person spoke about how when she was in high school, she watched this movie, and during the barn scene (where she’s counting to six) she started crying. She left the theater on the spot and after all these years, she still hasn’t finished the movie. That being said, the film remains a cult classic to this day.
When a Stranger Calls
The premise of this movie is that a babysitter turns up to her job, only to receive a terrifying phone call that leads to an even more horrific night. One teenager said that she first saw the movie around the age when she started babysitting, fittingly enough.
As you might expect, she couldn’t finish the movie, but even more appropriately, every time she would babysit after that she would also be afraid that someone was hiding upstairs.
Poltergeist
The pool scene from Poltergeist was enough to make someone afraid of swimming in a pool for a whole year after watching it. For three years after that, the same person refused to swim in any body of water in which he couldn’t see the bottom.
That’s how disturbing that scene was, and we’re not surprised that people were forced to leave the theater when they watched it. Don’t get us wrong, it was memorable – but not in the best way.
Evil Dead
Apparently the remake of Evil Dead didn’t sit well with some people. One person said that it messed him “really badly for a few weeks.”
He actually didn’t even finish the movie, and on the same night that he saw it, he was unable to close his eyes for longer than a brief blink. He also said that he was nauseous and shaking throughout the entirety of the day. With these movies, at some point we gotta ask ourselves, “Is it worth it?”
The Watcher in the Woods
The Watcher in the Woods was a Disney movie that was released in 1980, but even though it was a Disney, it certainly had no shortage of creepiness in store for one young child.
“I made it to the creepy ‘Narek’ scene before I gave up,” he said. Today, the same kid is 42 years old, and he admits that he still hasn’t made it to the end of that movie after all these years. Some wounds are just too deep to heal.
Date Movie
This might not be a horror film, but make no mistake, there were people who left the theater because they had gotten repulsed.
Intended to be a spoof on other romantic comedies, this movie didn’t really succeed in the box office, and perhaps the person who left the theater after seven minutes into this film can explain why. He said that after he’d witnessed a man shoot himself in the head with a nail gun – “I needed to go.”
Wolf Creek
The fact that this movie is based on a true story makes it even crazier that it terrified people so deeply. In other words, it’s pretty crazy that the story actually happened.
It’s based on a group of road-trippers in Australia who never should’ve asked for help… because when they do, it leads them down a dark path. One viewer said that he was unable to finish it, and that he never plans on trying to watch it again, because of how “real” and “upsetting” it is.
I Saw the Devil
Here’s another movie buff who claims that he normally loves scary movies, but that this one hit a place that he didn’t really appreciate at all. Even though he had seen “hundreds” of horror films, I Saw The Devil was the first one he had ever had to stop halfway through.
Some movies just have something about them that don’t sit right with us… This was one of those films for this guy, and he never thought it was possible with his track record.
Slender Man
One person said that he and his friend are “huge horror movie fans.” They love all kinds of horror films, and yet they weren’t able to appreciate this film. They didn’t find the film to be scary or redeemable in any way.
They actually found it to be pretty boring and a pretty big waste of time – before leaving as well. When that comes from the mouth of a horror film fan, you know there’s something wrong – maybe the Slender Man should’ve grabbed himself a meal.
The Strangers
This movie revolves around a happy couple who go on a getaway to a cabin in the woods – only to find that there are dangerous strangers living there who mean them very much harm. But perhaps the freakiest quality in this movie are the masks that they wear, among other things.
One girl and her boyfriend were alone on Halloween and it was her idea to watch the film… “Big mistake,” she said… When her boyfriend showed her the masked man, she shamelessly turned it right off.
Gravity
There are many different things that can scare people – it’s not just gore, and other unstable horrific premises. In this case, it’s space. Gravity starred Sandra Bullock, who plays an astronaut finding herself in a very uncomfortable position while in outer space.
Halfway through the film, one moviegoer got “so stressed” that they actually felt like they were going to be sick. They felt a strong wave of anxiety, and simply couldn’t handle it at all.
Fifty Shades Freed
This film didn’t use horror shock value so much as they used “adult content” to woo their audiences. But let’s just say that people should only walk into these films if they know what they’re going to get, and most importantly, if that’s what they’re looking for.
One 15 year old had no idea what they were getting themselves into. She said that she immediately got queasy, left her seat, and ran to go throw up in the bathroom.
House of Wax
Throw Paris Hilton in a film with some other young stars – what could go wrong? Well… in a film as freaky as this one, quite a lot. House of Wax tells the story of a group of friends who happen upon a mysterious town that seems to be made of a lot of wax people.
However, soon they realize a much more disturbing nature of these wax “statues.” One viewer felt sick to his stomach, and his entire group of friends walked right out of the theater.
