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40 Enlightening, Disturbing Facts About the Film Industry

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40 Enlightening, Disturbing Facts About the Film Industry

June 08, 2024

For every wholesome Pixar movie, there are dozens of creepy films that will fill you with despair and anxiety.

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40

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Best Movies Ever One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The movie exists because of Kirk Douglas. Douglas bought the novel's rights before it was even published, and played McMurphy in a stage version. The movie, however, took so long that he aged out of the role, so he gave the rights to his son Michael. CRACKED.COM — Source

39

Best Movies Ever 12 Angry Men Henry Fonda was never paid. The movie got great reviews but never turned a profit, so the lead actor didn't get his salary (along with writer Reginald Rose). Fonda was still happy with to be in the movie, though. ARK CRACKED.COM — Source

38

Best Movies Ever It's a Wonderful Life The movie was going to be darker. It was originally about a congressman who tried to kill himself after losing an election. But what made it dark was Mr. Potter dying from a heart attack, Spooked by Clarence the angel. CRACKED.COM — Source

37

Best Movies Ever Vertigo The movie almost had an over- explaining ending like Psycho. The Hays Code people insisted on an ending explaining that morals had prevailed, but Hitchcock cut it for the U.S. release. The ending was still seen to foreign markets, and today it can still be found as a bonus feature on home releases (and YouTube, of course). CRACKED.COM — Source

36

Best Movies Ever Vertigo The title sequence was the first ever to be done with computers. Designer Saul Bass created the graphics with the elp of a World War II computer used to aim cannons at flying targets. This allowed him to animate curves based on mathematical equations. CRACKED.COM — Source

35

Best Movies Ever The Good, The Bad and The Ugly The movie is actually a prequel. This is the last movie in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, but it's set during the American Civil War, before 1964's A Fistful of Dollars and 1965's For a Few Dollars More. It also shows Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name acquiring his iconic poncho. CRACKED COM — Source

34

Best Movies Ever The Godfather Marlon Brando wouldn't learn his lines. A man of Brando's legendary talent could take some liberties, like having his lines all over the set instead of committing them to memory. Just look at Robert Duvall acting as a living cheat sheet for him. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

Best Movies Ever Seven Samurai The theatrical version was much shorter. The 207-minute version film buffs see today is not the only one. A shorter cut was presented at the Venice Film Festival, and an even shorter, 160- minute version played in American theaters when the movie premiered a few years later. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Best Movies Ever Bicycle Thieves The ending is a tribute to Charles Chaplin. Director Vittorio de Sicca was a huge Chaplin fan, and the shot of Antonio and his son walking away was intended as an homage to his movies. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Yeah. Duh.

Best Movies Ever The Shawshank Redemption The ending was changed. Frank Darabont originally had the movie ending with Red taking the bus to Zihuatanejo, but after test screenings, he realized he had to include the reunion between him and Andy. CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Best Movies Ever Sunset Blvd. Gloria Swanson initially turned down the movie. Good thing she talked it over with My Fair Lady director George Cukor. Не was so sure Norma Desmond would be her definitive role, that he said, If they ask you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests, or I will personally shoot you. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Best Movies Ever Schindler's List An extra was a real Holocaust survivor. One of the extras during the gas chamber scenes was a woman born in a concentration camp. She was too young to remember anything, but still the shoot proved too much for her to bear (and she wasn't the only one who couldn't endure he experience). CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Best Movies Ever Citizen Kane It was Orson Welles' first movie as a director. How many players do you know who knocked it out of the park the very first time they swung a bat? His ensuing career proved it wasn't a fluke - he was actually that good. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Best Movies Ever Citizen Kane The real Kane made sure the movie flopped. Kane was overtly based on real-life millionaire douchebag William Randolph Hearst. Hearst banned his newspapers from mentioning the movie except to diss it, which ended up making it something of a flop. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

The Godfather

Best Movies Ever The Godfather The horse head was real. Francis Ford Coppola didn't find the original prop convincing, so they just found a soon-to-be- terminated horse and managed to have its head shipped to the set on an ice bucket. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Best Movies Ever Casablanca Everyone thought the movie would be crap. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman kept trying to get out of the movie, what with the rushed production, the ever-changing script (which they thought was bad), and the maniac of a director. Absolutely no one expected Casablanca to become an enduring masterpiece. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Best Movies Ever La Dolce Vita Marcello Mastroianni was drunk during the Trevi Fountain scene. Mastroianni had to wear a wetsuit under his clothes and chug an entire bottle of vodka to avoid freezing. Meanwhile, Anita Ekberg just put up with the ice cold water like a champ. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Best Movies Ever Citizen Kane No, the movie wasn't written solely by Herman J. Mankiewicz. David Fincher's Mank shows this to be the case, but that movie is based on a debunked article. The script was a collaboration, and Welles made substantial contributions (besides, you know, actually directing the movie). mgt MA MM rer GRACKED.COM — Source

22

Hear me out: eight samurai

Best Movies Ever Seven Samurai The samurai were originally just six. Kurosawa's plan was to tell the story of six honorable and serious samurai, which he and his writing team soon realized just sounded boring. So they added Toshiro Mifune's non-samurai, and allowed him to bring some improvisation to his character. ç٥ CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Best Movies Ever The Godfather The movie turned Al Pacino into an A-lister. Pacino got paid $35,000 for The Godfather, but by the time the sequel came out just two years later, he commanded a salary of $600,000 to reprise the role of Michael Corleone. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Disturbing Movies 2008, United Kingdom Dir. James Watkins Eden Lake A young couple sees their lake trip interrupted by a gang of kids. The husband, played by Michael Fassbender, tries to tell them to keep the noise down, and a night in hell ensues - followed by the most depressing ending ever. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Disturbing Movies 2016, United States/ United Kingdom Dir. Antonio Campos Christine Based on real events, Christine tells the case of Christine Chubbuck, a journalist in Florida who, erm, unalived herself on live TV. The always reliable Rebecca Hall absolutely nails the complex role. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Disturbing Movies 1996, Denmark/ United Kingdom Dir. Lars von Trier Breaking the Waves Emily Watson plays a naïve woman married to an oil rig worker. When he suffers a work accident, she begins to offer herself sexually to the entire town in hopes that God will accept her sacrifice and heal her husband. Yup, this is a tough one. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Disturbing Movies TRAFFIC WARDEN 1984, United Kingdom/Australia Dir. Mick Jackson Threads One of the most realistic depictions of the aftermath of a nuclear war, this British TV movie unflinchingly shows the absolute bleakness and ultimate meaninglessness of it all. No food, no government, no hope, just misery. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Everybody cut loose. Spoorloos.

Disturbing THE FEMME A DISPARU LYA 3 ANS 1988, Netherlands Dir. George Sluizer Spoorloos Rex becomes obsessed with the sudden disappearance of his girlfriend. Не eventually gets contacted by the kidnapper, but trust us, he shouldn't have chased the truth. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Disturbing Movies 2013, United States Dir. Ti West The Sacrament A news team enters a secluded community to document their lifestyle and interview their leader. Of course, things soon turn out to be much darker than they seem. The movie is based on the Jonestown massacre, which tells you everything you need to know. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

Disturbing Movies 2001, France/Austria/Germany Dir. Michael Haneke The Piano Teacher Isabelle Huppert plays a repressed woman who lives with her overbearing mother. But she also has some disturbing sexual fantasies, and when she hooks up with a student, they soon get out of hand. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Disturbing Movies 2010, South Korea Dir. Kim Jee-woon I Saw the Devil A serial killer brutally murders a woman. Her boyfriend, a government agent, gets revenge not by killing him (that would be too easy), but by stalking and torturing him in increasingly violent ways. The feedback loop of escalating violence gets wild. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Inside

Disturbing Movies 2007, France Dir. Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury Inside A relentlessly brutal and bloody horror flick about a pregnant woman suffering from a home invasion. Not awful enough? The invader wants to take her baby. So yeah, gory body horror ensues. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Disturbing Movies 2007, United Kingdom Dir. Dom Rotheroe Exhibit A A found-footage film about the suburban nightmare of financial problems, family drama, and a violent father slowly losing his grip on reality-until the highly distressing conclusion. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Disturbing Movies Angst A serial killer has just been released and is dying to kill more people. Think Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, but even more disturbing. Leave it to the classy Austrians to make one of the most unsettling movies ever. 1983, Austria Dir. Gerald Kargl CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Disturbing Movies 1975, Italy/France Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom A bunch of fascists kidnap young people and torture them for months-and we see all of it. It's not pretty, but it is the best attempt to take Marquis de Sade's perverted writings to the big screen to date. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Sounds like a romp

Disturbing Movies 2016, United States Dir. Tom Ford NOCTURNAL ANIMALS KUWARD SHEPPIELD Nocturnal Animals Amy Adams receives the manuscript of a novel written by her ex-husband, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Besides their own story of estrangement, we also see the novel's sad, violent story. This is the sort of movie that just leaves you empty inside. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Disturbing Movies Saint Maud Nurse Katie is assigned to take care of a dying former dancer. Katie has just gone through a personal crisis and a religious conversion, so the movie is all about mood. It also avoids jump scares and such tropes, slowly building the horror until reaching its burning point. 2019, United Kingdom Dir. Rose Glass IEU TASTE SEITUDE CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Disturbing Movies 2017, United States Dir. Darren Aronofsky Mother! An underrated masterpiece, its heavy-handed symbolism is necessary in times like these, and it completely succeeds in offering a two- hour anxiety attack. If you happen not to have seen it, then there's homework to do. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Disturbing Movies 1977, United States Dir. David Lynch Eraserhead A surreal, black-and-white horror movie about a strange man caring for a deformed child- or something. It's not an easy watch, but it is Film 101 for any aspiring movie buff. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Disturbing Movies Kill List What looks like a standard hitman movie turns out to be much more. The hit jobs get darker and darker, and eventually Neil Maskell's killer gets in way over his head in a plot involving snuff films and secret cults. And boy, is that ending bleak. 2011, United Kingdom Dir. Ben Wheatley CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Disturbing Movies 2002, France Dir. Gaspar Noé Irréversible This French classic tells the story of the worst night ever backwards. Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel give amazing, heart-breaking performances. Even if you know what happens in that underpass, you are not ready for it. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Hm. No thanks.

Disturbing Movies Repulsion Catherine Deneuve plays a mentally unstable woman who descends into nightmares and hallucinations while all alone in her apartment, her repulsion for sexuality haunting her as her mind decays. Roman Polanski really nails the sexual creepiness (we wonder why). 1965, United Kingdom Dir. Roman Polanski CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Disturbing Movies 1999, United States Dir. Scott Elliott A Map of the World Remember the depressing ending to Requiem for a Dream? Now imagine that as an entire movie. Sigourney Weaver plays a mother who gets distracted for a few minutes and becomes responsible for the death of a friend's child. Then things get bad. CRACKED.COM — Source

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