Roaches, Dismemberment, And Chicken Nuggets: Matt Donato’s Top 10 Most Disturbing Movie Moments Of 2015

Whenever I'm having a bad day, I can always rely on my favorite films to cheer me up. Cheerful, jovial efforts that inspire hope, achieve humor, and glow with positivity. Movies are my escape from the daily grind, and I always love revisiting those magic moments that make me feel alive. Unless, of course, I'm volunteering to relive the most disturbing movie moments of 2015, counting down every single scene that had my skin crawling uncomfortably. It's a dirty job, but since my life is essentially blood and fire most days, I have no problem digging into the past to extract the most devilish, nearly-unwatchable moments in an otherwise jovial year of film. It's not that these moments are necessarily the goriest, or the most visually appalling excerpts. Sometimes reality is most disturbing, or a disgusting relationship between father and daughter, for example. Yes, there will be some graphic portrayals of violence that follow, which I should warn are NOT SAFE FOR WORK, but the themes to come vary drastically in nature. Kudos to those movies who made this list, and thank you for completely ruining me after your credits rolled. You bastards. 10) It Follows: Human Pretzel The efficiency of It Follows is an exercise in brooding minimalism, starting with an opening that jumps right into action. Director David Robert Mitchell doesn't prepare us with any information, as we immediately see a girl running around, presumably being chased. Nothing seems awry, but the girl is obviously panicked. There's something horribly wrong, yet we have no idea what that "something" is. She runs, and flees, but eventually gives up. Then in the next scene, we're met with the above image. The gruesome shot becomes something more horrifying because we have no 'effing idea who or what could commit such a brutal crime. The act is so primal, yet there are no clues as to what monster could savagely twist bones like twigs. All we have is a girl's hopelessness, a frantic phone call and her mangled corpse. That, in its unexplained glory, could be the strongest, and most disturbing, opening to a 2015 film. 9) The Treatment: A Glimpse Into Madness The Treatment floored me back in 2014, where I sandwiched it between two more wacky Fantastic Fest screenings. Having just seen a zany zombie flick, or something of that nature, I simply wasn't ready for this Prisoners-esque story from across the sea. Hans Herbots' adaptation of Mo Hayder's novel is one gigantic gut-punch, and a haunting criminal caper with dire implications. It's memorably disturbing throughout, but one scene in particular sticks out, where the horror of this case takes true form - a simple shot that strikes with paralyzing, evil fury. It's rather simple - there's a hole, and a character looking through it. They're trying to spy on a suspected culprit, and just as we learn that hunches are proven correct, the criminal lunges towards the eye-hole, strangely energetic because of their unfortunate circumstance. I know it's vague, but in that moment, the film's antagonist shows himself for the individual he is and we experience a complete breakdown in humanity. Said character evolves into a grotesque monster, captured through a small eye-hole which acts as a glimpse into utter madness. 8) Backcountry: Leftover Body Parts The Revenant might have made bigger waves over its ridiculous "bear rape" claims (I hate the Internet sometimes), but Backcountry is where this year's most disturbing animal attack takes place. Based on a true story, Adam MacDonald's backwoods thriller features a grizzly mauling that leaves nothing but a bloody husk left of main character Alex. As the attack goes on, close-up shots feature the disfigured remains of Alex's body, which showcase some gnarly practical effects that bring death to life. Like, way too real, in fact. As Alex's body lays there, torn and lifeless, we're left with nothing. It's the comparison of just having seen him alive, and then only moments later seeing gaping holes where organs used to be - that's what lingers. We're reminded of how quickly life can be taken from us and the brutality of Mother Nature's wrath. The Revenant is pretty damn rough, but it's got nothing on Backcountry. 7) Goodnight Mommy: Roach Stomach Goodnight Mommy itself is an unsettling, disturbing flick, based on a familial nightmare that blends childhood curiosity with real-life implications. Yet, there's a scene that crawls under our skin more than any other visual image created by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz. Bugs are nasty enough little pests as is, but a certain dream sequence makes use of some disgusting cockroaches in a way we never asked to see. Someone might want to check Mommy's diet... In the exact scene, we aren't quite sure if reality is playing out or if it's a dream sequence. Then a young lead character slices his mother's stomach open and a swarm of roaches comes crawling out of the open wound. Yes, gag away - it's as cringe-worthy as you'd expect. The insects skitter around the woman's stomach, but then we learn it was all just fantasy. Real or fake, it's still a disturbing image that'll never be erased from my mind. 6) Contracted Phase II: Maggot Wound Infestation I guess there's just something about bugs coming out of bodies that makes me a little upset, since Contracted: Phase 2 comes next with its maggot infestation. While the subpar sequel doesn't quite meet the same standards of Eric England's original, director Josh Forbes does ensure that the same horrific gore returns. For better or worse. You could point to many scenes as disturbing bouts of body horror, like actor Matt Mercer peeing blood, or another character eating bloody queso dip, but nothing beats the maggot wounds. As Mercer's character deteriorates from the inside out, he attempts to clean out worsening wounds by removing a multitude of squirming, slimy maggots from pustulating openings. And if there's no opening, then Mercer is forced to cut into himself, and perform a little self-inflicted cleaning. 5) Bone Tomahawk/The Green Inferno: Bodily Dismemberment Some people argue that Bone Tomahawk delivers the best (most goretastic) bit of body dismemberment in 2015, but I propose that Eli Roth's The Green Inferno evens the field. I'm including them both on my list, but I'll let you decide which is worse. In S. Craig Zahler's shocking cannibalistic western, a captured frontiersman is split like a wishbone. These Native Americans first scalp their victim, and then open him up for the delicious goodies hidden inside. Ugh, that ripping noise when he comes apart - it's just too much. Too real. Too 'effing disturbing. Not to be outdone, below is a video from The Green Inferno. Jonah (played by Aaron Burns), an eco-friendly protestor, is the first from his captured group to be turned into a meal, and boy do these cannibals make a brutal opening impression. The leading priestess first claws out one of Jonah's eyes as he screams in pain, and then goes right back in for the other eye just as we've processed Jonah's first horrific procedure. From there some limbs are hacked, flesh is torn, and dinner is served. Roth has always been known for gore, and this is why. 4) The Look Of Silence: The Silence Itself The Act Of Killing left our jaws on the floor, and Joshua Oppenheimer's sequel, The Look Of Silence, picks up exactly where he left off. This second glance into Indonesia's harrowing genocide problem doesn't bother to create a gimmicky facade like The Act Of Killing did, and goes right for the jugular. Oppenheimer can no longer hide behind the safety of filmmaking, and interviewees show more aggression towards the questions being asked. This is the angrier, more emotionally charged take on Indonesia's bloody past - an opposition many of these people deserve. It's the silence itself that's so disturbing, though. Not the threats, not the lies - eerily dead moments of nothingness where people reflect upon the atrocities they've committed. Oppenheimer doesn't fill these moments with any kind of distraction, and fixates on his subjects without flinching. The silence suggests a struggle to admit wrongs, and make personal peace, but then these monsters spew more hate, refusing to address their own flawed judgement. This is a chance for killers to make things right, in the smallest of ways, but the silence proves otherwise. 3) Cooties: Chicken Nugget Factory When it comes to food, sometimes we're better left in the dark on preparation methods. Chicken nuggets, for example, have never been a delicacy we believe to be made of all natural ingredients. You remember those rubbery little pucks from cafeteria lunches, right? Natural chicken products shouldn't bounce or bend like a malleable substance, but we eat them anyway because that's the worst they could be made of, right? That's what I thought too, until Cooties ruined chicken nuggets for me. The opening credits to Cooties shows how these breaded brown chunks are made, from the decapitation of chickens to the addition of pink slime. Machines squirt out suspicious liquids, real products are tainted by synthetic fillers and disgusting health conditions suggest a whole plethora of horrors being ingested with each bite. The little girl whose nugget oozes an infectious green slime is just insult to injury, but it wasn't even needed - fellow critics were gagging just at the sight of gooey chicken byproducts churning around in metallic bowls. Video included for your viewing "pleasure." 2) Felt/I Spit On Your Grave 3: Dick Mutilations There's no flowery way to introduce this entry, so yeah - dick mutilations. From two very different movies this year comes two examples of penile mutilation that had me covering my intact member out of instinctual protection. One take is pure torture-porn perversion, while the other is an artistic reaction to the lingering effects of rape. Both are horrifying, but one is charged by emotion, while the other is just pure pain infliction. In I Spit On Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine, the "hero" (a brash feminist murderer) skewers her victim (a womanizing man) mid-blowjob. Jennifer (Sarah Butler), who struggles to deal with her emotions after being raped in the original remake, takes her aggression out on deserving men - one of whom gets dealt with as described above. She stabs upward, pulls through, and then like a bloody banana split...actually, no. I can't go any farther. Just watch the video above. Felt, on the other hand - well, it's not much different. Amy (Amy Everson), much like Jennifer, is trying to deal with lingering anguish after being raped. She doesn't trust men, until Kenny (Kentucker Audley) convinces her he's different. Amy drops her guard, only to find out that Kenny is a scumbag like all the rest. So she takes him into the woods, starts going down on him and then stops to stab him repeatedly in a fit of disillusioned gender hatred. Amy then removes Kenny's penis and places it between her legs to "feel his power" - a more meaningful act than the entire rebooted I Spit On Your Grave franchise. Still just as f#cked, though. 1) Amy: Mitch F$&king Winehouse Mitch Winehouse, the father of deceased singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse, has logged numerous complaints that suggest Amy holds no truth when it comes to the relationship he shared with his daughter. In the documentary, he's painted as a money-hungry "parent" who saw his daughter as a monetary label, not a human being. Did he love his daughter? Let's just say I like to think he did. Does that mean he was able to repress greedy, destructive decisions that lead to her demise? Unfortunately, and in hindsight, he only helped continue her spiral downward if we're to believe the footage shown in Amy. Actual, candid and public footage that can't be disputed. It almost seems frivolous to bring up now, because the irreversible damage has been done, but Mitch's treatment of Amy is hands-down the most disturbing footage put to screen in 2015. Nothing he did, or said, was with Amy's well-being in mind. When rehab could have saved her, Mitch claimed it wasn't necessary. When the pressures of stardom were too much for Amy, Mitch marched her back out for bigger shows. When Amy sought refuge from media attention, he brought cameras for a reality show based around his own life. Amy didn't have a father early in her life, and when he came back, it was with the worst intentions - but Amy didn't care, because she had a daddy again. Mitch Winehouse was the toxic influence we all heard about, but through the lens of Amy, we witness actions that no caring father would ever push upon their child - but he did so early, often, and right until the end. So sad, and so unfortunate that he couldn't react properly to his daughter's outcries for help, even though I'm convinced he heard them, and ignored each one.