TOD
As a youngster I was disturbed by a few horror films, but I nevertheless love them -- they're a thrill ride type of thing for me.
The films that are prone to disturbing me are the type of thriller whose scary elements are within the realm of possibility of actually occurring. Things like Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon. Terrifying possibilities there. And yet I love those, too!
So, certain modern-day serial killer type stuff has that power. But so do certain quiet dramas. A couple of days after Robin Williams had died, I just happened to pick up the Blu-ray of One Hour Photo for a song at Costco. I'd only ever seen it on its original release, and thought it was great but I'd never returned to it. Well, I put that Blu-ray on, more just to have a quick look than to sit through it right at that moment, and there was obviously much I'd forgotten about the events of the story. As I used the chapter skip button to check out various scenes before moving on to something else that evening, I was stunned at the portrayal of his character, and at how every damned scene I looked at was profoundly disturbing, re the illness and the involvement with the family. I do look forward to watching it straight through sometime soon, but I was already squirming just in having a glance at it.
Here's an odd one pulled from memory: Deliverance really got to me in a disturbing way when it was new. I saw it at the Cinerama Dome on a weekend afternoon with friends, and throughout that evening I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach caused by my horror of being trapped in just such a situation in a region of the country and with its people, where one could end up feeling like they're in a foreign land. A scary foreign land.
Re the notes and Texas Chain Saw Massacre -- If I'd been attracted to seeing this back in the day, I imagine you could add it to this list. But I wasn't, back then, maybe not for the exact same reasons as BK, but it somehow remained outside my sphere of interest. I a DVD, which I believe I've never even looked at. Will be happy to check out the Blu-ray at some point, though, because I suspect I, too, will end up appreciating it in historical context.
