When we all think of the most disturbing films we’ve ever seen, our minds will naturally go to horror films.
Whether it be A Serbian Film, Human Centipede, or Cannibal Holocaust, many of the consensus most unsettling movies ever are horrors.
That doesn’t meant that non-horror films can’t disturb viewers though as, in some cases, dramas and thrillers can stay with people even longer.
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This led fans on Reddit recently to debate what the most disturbing non-horror film ever is.
While there were several answers, one in particular had others responding in full agreement, a ‘haunting’ Netflix anti-war drama that has 90 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and received a whopping 9 Oscar nominations.
The film in question is All Quiet on the Western Front.
The response on Reddit to the thread debating the ‘most disturbing non-horror films’ said: “All Quiet on The Western Front was disturbing as all hell.”
All Quiet on the Western Front is an adaptation of the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.
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Having been previously adapted into films in 1930 and 1979, this newest version in 2022 won four Oscars, including for Best International Feature Film.
The movie focuses on a young German soldier thrust into the midst of World War One on the western front.
One 9/10 review of the film on IMDb said they had ‘never felt war so intense before’.
They went on to say that they are a ‘film nerd’, before adding: “What [director Edward] Berger and his teams show here is incredible & and the most horrifying depiction of war I've ever seen before.
“The violence makes you feel sick, there were really some moments I thought I have to leave the cinema.”
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Meanwhile, another 8 star review called it a 'haunting portrayal of the horrors of war, and it's a film that stays with you long after the credits roll'.
In Peter Bradshaw’s four star review of the film, the legendary film critic said: “All Quiet on the Western Front is a substantial, serious work, acted with urgency and focus and with battlefield scenes whose digital fabrications are expertly melded into the action.
“Perhaps nothing in it quite matches the shudder of the brutal opening sequence of the war machine.
“A soldier is killed and his uniform is removed from his corpse, washed and mended with all the others and then dished out to raw recruit Paul with the dead man’s name tag accidentally left on the collar, to Paul’s bewilderment.”
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One discussion of the film on Reddit described the film as the ‘closest thing to hell on earth that man has created on a large scale’, going on to add: “The movie really did a good job capturing that visually and emotionally.”
All Quiet on the Western Front is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, Reddit, TV and Film, Film
Michael Slavin