Watching a movie is a great way to relax, for sure. After a hard day's work, it can be nice to put on something enjoyable and entertaining. If it's a movie you've seen a million times before, all the better, as you can slip right in and feel comforted by its charm, humor, characters, or sense of fun.
On the flip side, however, some films do anything but comfort their viewers, and really, they're just as great. They may not give audiences a "positive" emotional experience as such, but the fact they can make someone feel discomfort, nervousness, or even terror is worth celebrating. Here are 10 movies that expertly convey feelings of panic, tension, stress, and anxiety. As a warning, they may not be for the faint of heart, and they're definitely not recommended for any viewers who are in the mood to watch something relaxing.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Featuring an incredible performance from Adam Sandler, and expert writing and direction from The Safdie Brothers, Uncut Gems is a fast-paced and nail-biting crime-thriller about the downward spiral of a risk-taking gambler who doesn't know when (or how) to quit.
Part of what makes Uncut Gems so thrilling is how persistent Sandler's character is, despite almost every scene getting him in more and more trouble. At times, it's darkly funny, but the destruction a gambling addiction can cause to an individual and their family isn't shied away from, and it makes watching the film an immensely stomach-churning experience.
After Hours (1985)
After Hours is one of Martin Scorsese's most underrated movies. It may be overlooked because Scorsese has so many great movies (Raging Bull was released five years before After Hours and Goodfellas five years after, for example), but deserves appreciation for how expertly it balances tension with pitch-black comedy.
It depicts one hellish night in the life of a young man who just wanted to have a nice date, but ends up having a trippy and twisted night in New York City, stumbling from one awkward or terrifying situation to the next. The plot may not be complex, but the experience of watching things get worse and worse for the film's hapless protagonist makes for a compelling watch. The film deserves props for being about to make viewers laugh whilst also raising their heart rate.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Surely up there as one of the most iconic "watch once and never again" movies, Requiem for a Dream follows four individuals who each deal with intense drug addictions. While the highs - figuratively and literally - are shown in the film's first third, the last hour or so is dedicated to showing the dramatic lows that can come with a dependency on drugs.
It's the visceral impact of those lows that makes Requiem for a Dream such a stressful viewing experience. There's a fantastic build-up of things getting inevitably worse and worse, with the speed of the editing and the dramatic music getting faster, more distorted, and more terrifying. By the end, viewers may be reduced to a sad and/or nervous wreck, but for better or worse, the memory of watching Requiem for a Dream is near impossible to shake.
Whiplash (2014)
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Whiplash follows a young, ambitious musician who wants nothing more than to become one of the best drummers of all time. During his studies, he meets infamous bandleader Terence Fletcher, who's notorious for pushing students to their breaking point and then some, in order for the ensembles he conducts to obtain perfection.
Fletcher is the main reason why Whiplash is such a stressful experience. He's arguably one of the most compelling and menacing film antagonists in recent memory, and J.K. Simmons' performance as the character is superb. The film is an honest and relentless look at what can happen to a person when they become obsessed with their goals, and the believability of the acting and the dialogue makes it feel so intensely personal and genuine.
The Wages of Fear (1953)
The Wages of Fear is one of the rare movies where the remake might be more well-known. William Friedkin used the same premise of four men driving two trucks filled with explosives through dangerous, unstable terrain in his 1977 film Sorcerer, and as good as that one is, the original is better.
While many old films are quite tame and sometimes slow by today's standards, time has been kind to The Wages of Fear. It's still a very suspenseful and gripping watch, even with such a delightfully straightforward premise, and has been keeping its viewers glued to their seats for close to 70 years now.
Climax (2018)
Director Gaspar Noé is no stranger to making films that are intense and disturbing. One of his best-known films is the shocking and graphic Irreversible, which remains just as confronting today as it was in 2002. Climax is just as tense, and maybe even more so, seeing as it milks its tense premise for just about the whole runtime.
Taking place in one claustrophobic location, Climax shows a dance troupe's party turn horrifying and out of control when a bowl of sangria is spiked with a hallucinogenic drug. Everything gets dark, surreal, and disturbing very quickly, and really doesn't let up until the movie's over, making for an unpredictable and tense ride.
Heat (1995)
Michael Mann knows as how to do a good crime-thriller, as well as stage a good shootout. Nowhere are those skills more evident than in his nearly three-hour crime epic, Heat, which pits a hot-headed policeman and a cool-headed thief against each other in a tense and entertaining game of cat and mouse.
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro lead a huge cast, and part of what makes Heat so tense is that viewers will probably come to like both characters during the film, yet it becomes clear that one has to come out on top by the end of it all. Its white-knuckle action scenes are also thrilling, most notably the extended bank robbery and shootout scene, which might well be one of the best action sequences ever put to film.
Shiva Baby (2020)
Shiva Baby is a charming and often awkward coming-of-age movie about growing up, struggling to balance friends and family, and the difficulty of surviving family events that never seem to end. It seems, at first glance, like a low-key comedy-drama, which makes the film's tension all the more surprising.
Thanks to its confined setting and willingness to throw protagonist Danielle through a wide variety of uncomfortable encounters, Shiva Baby almost functions as a good thriller, at least in how tense it can be. At least the short runtime can help any viewers who aren't so good with cringe-comedy, because the film does have quite a lot of it.
Parasite (2019)
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From its opening scenes to its devastating and powerful ending, Parasite is a wild and nerve-wracking ride. It blends comedy, drama, thriller, and tragedy to perfection, and masterfully balances its tones while telling its story of class conflict in a way to deliver the maximum emotional response to its audience that it can.
The performances from every single cast member, the unique premise, the skilled and precise direction of Bong Joon-ho... it's no surprise why Parasite has garnered the amount of praise it has, because it really is that good. While it might not be the easiest watch due to how tense it gets (especially in the second half), it still remains just about the textbook definition of a must-watch movie.
Das Boot (1981)
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Das Boot is one of the best WW2 films of all time, and is notable for taking place almost entirely inside a confined submarine. It's one of the most claustrophobic films of all time, and effectively shows the tedium and horrors of war through its limited location and infrequent bursts of action.
When the crew of the film's submarine themselves in a battle, it's usually far more tense than exciting. It's far from fun, as war movies should be, but it is a gripping watch, with expert direction and great acting. Definitely not recommended for viewers who dislike tight, closed-in settings, though.