Fans of horror cinema love their movies. Most of us are always looking for that next film that puts us on the edge of our seat—literally. Once you’ve seen the worst of the worst it’s hard to get a good scare out of even the most terrifying scenes. There’s another way to achieve success in finding things that will scare even the most seasoned horror fan—find movies that aren’t necessarily horror, but unsettling in the worst ways. Stuff that makes you question your choices in movies, things that stick in your memory like a photograph, moments you know you will never forget. For the rest of your life…

Upstream Color

In the movie’s description, it’s classified as a cerebral science fiction piece. And it is…but not one for the faint of heart. Some of the scenes are downright disturbing as hell. To put it simply, a thief uses hypnosis drugs obtained from a rare plant to violate and steal people’s money. The drug turns into a parasitic worm that must be removed from the victim. Once it’s removed it’s placed inside a pig. From then on, the person wakes up from the hypnotic state and has no memory of what happened, but retain a psychic connection to the pig who has their parasite inside it. The man who takes care of the pigs, (dubbed ‘the pig farmer’) touches the pigs and can see through the eyes of whoever had that pig’s parasite. The pig farmer breeds the parasite infested pigs and drops the piglets in a river. When the bodies decompose, the drug is reintroduced into the flowers where the hypnosis drug came from in the first place. It’s a difficult movie to understand. There’s very little dialogue, and much of the film is shot in short scenes that jump from one character to the next. It’s like pieces of a puzzle that you have to put together through interpretation, and the film as a whole can be seen from different perspectives.

I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore

This movie starts out as a quirky but well-made independent film, but has its unexpected moments that get absolutely gruesome. The plot revolves around a woman whose house is robbed. She calls the police but gets no help. She ends up meeting an oddball neighbor down the street who helps her track down her stolen laptop, but when they get it back, they discover the people who had it bought if from a pawn shop and weren’t the thieves after all. They go on a quest to find the thief and things go from weird, to bad, to an all-out WTF moment…

Fire in the Sky

This was based on a true story, where a man named Travis Walton claimed to be abducted by a UFO and was subjected to terrifying and agonizing medical experiments. It isn’t exactly considered a horror movie in general terms, but it’s quite possibly the most realistic cinematic representation of an alien abduction ever created. The scenes of Travis Walton inside the spacecraft, the experiments and strange tools, and the physical appearance of the extraterrestrials themselves, are enough to induce nightmares in even the most seasoned horror fan.

One Hour Photo

When one thinks of a movie starring Robin Williams, titles like Patch Adams, Jumanji, and Mrs. Doubtfire come to mind—movies full of good laughs. But late in his career Robin Williams began to explore darker roles in movies like Insomnia and The Final Cut. But none of these films compare to the horror of One Hour Photo. The film is about a painfully lonely man who works as a one-hour-photo technician. He becomes obsessed with a particular family who over the years have had their film developed where he works. He has an entire wall in his apartment covered in every photo the family has ever taken, lit up by industrial spotlights. It’s by far the most disturbing role Robin Williams ever played, and just the fact that it’s him makes it even more unsettling.

Eraserhead

Anyone who knows the name David Lynch has seen some messed up stuff that doesn’t really make any sense. Even if you try to rationalize what you see in his films, it just doesn’t add up; there are always loopholes. But his first film is undoubtedly his most horrifying. The entire atmosphere is filled with unsettling sound and desolate images. But the ending is what burns into your memory. It’s something you’ll probably remember as long as you live. There’s speculation on what the true meaning of the film is, even though it makes more sense than most of his other work.

The Lobster

This film is extremely unusual and the reality it portrays is terrifying. It’s set in a world where being single is unacceptable by society and is even prohibited by law. If you’re single for a certain period of time, you’re sent to a rehabilitation center with other single people and given a short deadline to find a mate. If you can’t find one, they use a strange technology to turn you into an animal of your choice. The main character chooses a lobster, and enters the center with his dog (who is actually his brother turned into a dog). He tries and fails to find a partner. In fear of being turned into an animal, he escapes and finds a band of rebels living in the forest outside the facility, who ironically are opposed to being in a relationship and punishes its members if they don’t stay single. He’s thrown from one extreme to another, but finally finds love. And pays a high price…

Antiviral

David Cronenberg is known for making some of the best and most memorable horror films out there. And although none of his movies are on this list, he’s worth an honorable mention. And because his son, Brandon Cronenberg made this movie. It’s set in the future, where obsession with celebrities has become a disturbing phenomenon. When celebrities get sick, or get a disease, fans can purchase the disease and experience it themselves, making them feel closer to their favorite star. A company purchases blood samples directly from sick celebrities and infect customers with it. If that isn’t twisted enough, there are butcher shops that cell cloned human meat, and it’s cloned from the cells of their favorite celebrities. In this sick world, one can actually eat their favorite movie star, singer, or other famous person. But the ending of the movie is where it crosses the line. I won’t spoil it for you. See it for yourself…