We’re pretty sure this goes without saying, but if you have a weak stomach, the movies on this list probably aren’t for you. Heck, some of the descriptions are enough to make my stomach turn…and watching the movies themselves did a lot worse to their audience members.
So check out these 12 horror flicks that are so extreme, they made people more than just sick.
1. Raw (2016)
It’s safe to say that any movie about cannibalism isn’t going to make your stomach feel good. This French film got some buzz at the Toronto International Film Festival after paramedics were called to a screening when many viewers reported feeling ill.
2. Psycho (1960)
Back when it didn’t take as much to shock viewers, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic had people “running out of theaters” in terror. But what can I say? We all go a little mad sometimes…
3. The Green Inferno (2013)
Some directors wear negative reactions like a badge of honor, and Eli Roth is definitely one of those. It makes sense that the mind behind such horrors as Hostel and Cabin Fever would be thrilled to discover that someone fainted during his film’s premiere.
4. Antichrist (2009)
Lars von Trier is not a name one associates with a relaxing film experience. His avant–garde pictures are meant to push viewers to their absolute limits. So, what happens when you mix a grieving couple, an isolated woodland setting, and enough nightmare fuel to keep you up from now until eternity? You get the 2009 film Antichrist. You also get four people fainting during the film’s first screening and a ban in France due to too many complaints from a Catholic Group.
5. The Exorcist (1973)
Considered by many to be one of, if not the scariest movie ever made, The Exorcist used its audiences reactions as a way to get people into theaters. I mean, who could resist checking out a movie that had made people faint, vomit, and straight-up walk out of the theater?
6. Irréversible (2002)
For this harrowing picture, the director employed the use of a low-frequency score that was specially tailored to make people feel sick and confused. During its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France, 250 audience members walked out. This is likely due to the unsettling score and even more unsettling rape/revenge plot.
7. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
While you don’t see any actual blood or gore in this one, the “shaky-cam” style was enough to give viewers motion sickness. It has since kicked off a popular trend of low-budget horror movies in the “found footage” genre.
8. The Human Centipede franchise (2009-2015)
I think this one goes without saying. I just tried watching the trailer for the first one and had to tap out about halfway through. The TRAILER. I can’t even imagine how disgusting the actual movie is.
9. Goodnight, Mommy (2014)
This psychological thriller tells the story of two young brothers who become convinced that their mother is not the same person after an intense face surgery. The director is quoted as saying that two people fainting was “the best compliment we’ve had so far.”
10. Saw III (2006)
You think people would know what they were getting into the third time around, but nope. Apparently, there were reports of three different ambulances being called on opening night because people were fainting in the middle of the theater. It wasn’t even one of Jigsaw’s sick traps that sent them over the edge, but a graphic brain surgery scene. Yikes.
11. Bite (2015)
The film’s crew handed out barf bags at the premiere, a gesture many assumed to be a publicity stunt. They were wrong.
12. Freaks (1932)
One of the original cult classics, Freaks used real carnival performers to shock audience members. At the time, one woman tried to sue MGM because she believed that the emotional trauma she endured during the film was the cause of her miscarriage. Whoa.