Movies don't always present viewers with idealized and pristine experiences. It's certainly more likely to get a fictional film that shows a better world than the one viewers may be used to, but not all filmmakers choose to conform to this. Movies can provide escapism by showing a fantastical or sometimes even perfect setting, but not all of them aim to present places viewers would want to escape to.

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The following films all demonstrate this well, as they can prove to be quite confronting through their settings, stories, and aesthetics. These are the kinds of movies that aim to disturb and even elicit feelings of disgust in those who watch them. It's safe to say that they're also the sorts of films where you might feel tempted to take a shower immediately after watching them, thanks to how visceral, dirty, sweaty, or gross they can feel.

10 'Oldboy' (2003)

Choi Min-sik looking deranged in 'Oldboy.'

Oldboy goes to darker places than most revenge movies, and becomes an incredibly confronting movie in the process. It depicts one man's quest for answers and revenge after he's imprisoned by an unknown person for unknown reasons for 15 years, only to be suddenly released and left to fend for himself in a greatly changed world.

It's a movie that has a good deal of gruesome violence, and also one that features consistently grimy locations and disturbing subject matter. Right from the start, the depiction of the main character's time spent imprisoned is nerve-wracking and claustrophobic, and the unpleasant sights and sounds don't let up from there. There's also an infamous scene where the main character eats a live octopus, further adding to Oldboy's sometimes distressing content.

9 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover' (1989)

The Cook, The Thief

Within the opening scenes of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover things are gross and disturbing, with the antagonist - Albert Spica - going out of his way to demean and degrade a man who owes him money. He's a notorious gangster who torments the patrons and staff of a restaurant he frequents, dragging his entourage and wife - Georgina - around with him constantly, the latter of whom he also distressingly mistreats.

When Georgina starts having an affair with another of the restaurant's regulars, it kicks off a wave of brutality and revenge that ensures the movie gets more and more violent as it goes along. It's quite often sickening - there's a particularly harrowing scene with two characters trapped in a truck full of rotting meat - meaning that a nice, cooling shower after watching might be in order for the brave viewers who do stick this one out.

8 'Babylon' (2022)

Nellie LaRoy, played by Margot Robbie, gives an interview after attaining fame.
Image via Paramount Pictures

Babylon takes a look at the end of the silent film era and the beginning of the "talkies," the name given for movies with dialogue. It's a film that's earned a degree of notoriety since release, given it clocks in at over three hours and length, and also contains some extreme content and a good deal of gross-out humor.

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It's a movie that pulls no punches while also being unafraid to show the dangers of working in the film industry in graphic detail. Similarly in-your-face are the party scenes, which feature all sorts of depraved and often filthy antics on-screen. With its content and its length, it's a lot to handle, and is memorable for how gross and uncompromising it is.

7 'Tokyo Gore Police' (2008)

Tokyo Gore Police - 2008
Image via Nikkatsu

If someone sits down to watch a movie called Tokyo Gore Police and gets offended at the amount of blood and guts on-screen, that's probably on them. After all, the movie is literally called Tokyo Gore Police. The name of the movie itself is essentially a better warning than any ratings board could ever provide.

It's a dystopian horror/action movie that sort of feels like a more extreme and even more violent spin on RoboCop. It's about a young woman in a privatized police force battling mutants while looking for the people who murdered her father, all complete with some of the most ridiculously gory special effects in cinema history. If there's a world record for the most fake blood spilled in a single movie, Tokyo Gore Police might well hold it.

6 'Mad Max: Fury Road' (2015)

Big explosion in Mad Max Fury Road - 2015

It's hard to imagine modern action movies getting much better than Mad Max: Fury Road. It's almost one feature-length chase scene, throwing the titular character into the craziest adventure he's ever been in, pairing up with the mysterious Furiosa as she battles against a cult leader and his small army of followers.

It's not as violent or disturbing as other movies that may make viewers feel the urge to take a shower, but due to how much gasoline, sand, fire, and sweat the movie features, it can make you feel dirty as a result. It's a visceral movie that makes you feel what the characters are feeling, and the fact it's such an intense adrenaline rush of a movie could also provoke sweatiness and/or exasperation in its audience.

5 'Revenge' (2017)

Matilda Lutz holding a rifle in the desert in Revenge
Image via Rezo Films

Surprising no one, Revenge is a movie about revenge. It follows one young woman who's attacked and left for dead in the middle of a desert by a group of men. Unbeknownst to them, she's not dead, and immediately sets about her deadly quest for revenge, stopping at nothing to ensure they all pay for what they've done.

Like Fury Road, this movie largely takes place in a desert, leading to a good deal of heat, sweat, and grime radiating off the screen. It's also very gruesome in parts, with both the heroine and the villains getting injured in various ways throughout. It's not for the squeamish, and even hardened action/horror fans may find themselves craving a cleansing shower after the end credits roll.

4 'Hard to Be a God' (2013)

Hard to be a God - 2013

For almost three hours, Hard to Be a God throws viewers into a world of constant filth, suffering, misery, and cruelty. It takes place on an Earth-like planet whose population is stuck in their equivalent of the Middle Ages, leading to several Earth scientists living there under the pretense that they're to guide the people on the planet towards bettering their society.

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Unfortunately, the scientists seem keener to abuse their power and knowledge, leading to very little good happening on the desolate planet that Hard to Be a God depicts. Everything in the film is covered with dirt, mud, or various other disgusting liquids, and this goes for the characters, too. Few movies are as confronting and gross as Hard to Be a God is, and for such a long duration too.

3 'The Northman' (2022)

The Northman

The Northman is a revenge epic about a man who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty if it means avenging his murdered father. Similarly, the movie is unafraid to get its hands dirty when it comes to depicting his bloodlust, with The Northman getting astoundingly dirty and gory in parts.

Beyond the violence, it's also a viscerally dirty movie, taking place at a time in history when people weren't too concerned about cleanliness or personal hygiene. It's a mud and blood-coated film from start to finish, and certainly one of the filthiest-looking mainstream films in recent memory.

2 'Taxidermia' (2006)

taxidermia

Taking its place as one of the most disturbing dark comedies of all time, Taxidermia is uncompromisingly gross and confronting for the entirety of its runtime. It's three disturbing stories in one, following three generations of strange men: one's a perverted soldier, the second's a speed eater, and the third's an embalmer.

Each section of the movie offers its own confronting sights and sounds, making for an intentionally shocking movie that never runs out of ways to turn viewers' stomachs. It's not an easy movie to watch, but it is a fascinating one, and it's also a film with a surprising amount to say about Hungarian history and generational trauma.

1 'The Lighthouse' (2019)

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in 'The Lighthouse'
Image via A24

Three years before the release of The Northman, Robert Eggers delivered another muddy and oftentimes gross-looking film with The Lighthouse. It takes place on a tiny island that contains a single lighthouse and not much else, and follows two lighthouse keepers slowly going mad from the isolation that comes with living in such a place.

There are some disgusting and violent sights on display - particularly in the film's second half - with the claustrophobic setting and aspect ratio also helping to make The Lighthouse disturbing and visceral. It's an entertaining and sometimes even funny movie, but it's also confronting and alarming in parts because of what it shows, making a post-Lighthouse shower a borderline necessity.

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