Whether it’s a horror movie or a psychological thriller, the level of disturbing, unsettling, or completely bonkers that a film can reach is all over the place. While some people can handle watching films such as Hereditary or Midsommar all the way through, others find themselves tapping out long before the credits roll. These kinds of movies aren’t for the faint of heart, and sometimes, you find out whether you’re a part of the first or the second group the hard way: paying for a ticket only to make it through the first half hour before fleeing the theater.
© A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
Well, we recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to share the absolutely wild movies that they walked out of. From classic scary movies to unexpectedly creepy kids’ films, here’s what they had to say:
Note: Some submissions are from this Reddit thread.
1. “THE ABSOLUTE WORST, frightening movie is A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. I was so traumatized, I left quickly. The most violent, unhinged movie I ever tried to watch. I was younger then, so I thought I was being dramatic. I tried to watch it now, same reaction! What kind of mind thinks this stuff up?”
Courtesy Everett Collection
2. “Walked out of Hostel. Not a horror fan, not sure why I went. Got to the part with the chick’s eye and the dude with the chainsaw, and I noped out of there. I was 19 or so at the time.”
©Screen Gems/Courtesy Everett Collection
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3. “Mine was Saw III. If I recall correctly, it was the opening game and the guy had to pull the rings out of his body. I let out a ‘**** this’ when he got to his Achilles tendons and walked out to the screams.”
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4. “Cape Fear. Good gosh, that face biting scene did it for me.”
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5. “Midsommar. Had to walk out after THAT scene…I later watched it at home, though. Great movie, top-notch acting, and it’s still haunting me, LOL.”
© A24 / courtesy Everett Collection
6. “When I was 12 years old, I walked out of The Blair Witch Project at the scene where they found the tongue inside the balled up map. After I stopped hyperventilating, I walked back in there like a gangsta.”
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7. “I walked out of Mother! when that came out a couple of years ago because I ended up having a panic attack in the final third part of the movie. I did eventually go back in to finish the movie, but that party scene was so similar to nightmares I’ve had that I couldn’t tell whether or not I was actually awake.”
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8. “I was 5 years old when Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out. My dad took me to see it in the theaters, then had to walk me out of the theater because I was crying and screaming near the end when the Nazi ‘chose poorly.’ Still one of the greatest scares ever for me.”
©Paramount Pictures
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9. “Well, I ran out of the original Creepshow. I was 10–12 on a military base in Germany, in a small theater. Shouldn’t have been there anyway, but that thing they kept in the box under the stairs in the movie gave me nightmares for weeks. I ran out crying, LOL.”
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10. “I was around 6 years old when I ran out of the cinema in tears thanks to that picnic scene in Antz. Thank god I didn’t stay later for Stallone’s decapitated head talking. How that movie was for kids is beyond me.”
©DreamWorks Pictures
11. “I was super into horror as a kid (still am), and The Ring was always one of the most talked-about horror movies. Finally saw they were showing it on TV one day. I was beyond excited! Couldn’t even get past the opening scene with the girl in the closet.”
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12. “Pulp Fiction. Bad vibes all around, but especially the surprise SA scene. Disgusting movie TBH.”
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13. “I couldn’t watch The Exorcist rerelease in theaters. It freaked me out too much, and I kept cussing and jumping up. After the fourth time, I just left ’cause I was ******* up the movie for other people.”
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
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14. “Actually ran out of Audition at the university film society screening. The first half of that film is a borderline romantic comedy. The final third is horrifying and very intense. ‘You can’t go anywhere without feet, can you?'”
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15. “When I was young (around 7, I think?), my grandparents took me to see Nanny McPhee. Now, yes, this is a kids’ film. But that scene where the baby is found in a cooking dish truly disturbed me. Haven’t watched it again to this day.”
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16. “I came back, but I had to step out of Pan’s Labyrinth during this scene: 🖐🏻👁👁🖐🏻.”
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17. “After 10 minutes of One Battle After Another, I was done. It was gross and ridiculous.”
© Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
18. “The Devils (1971). I loved Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, so I thought, What could go wrong? Yuck! The most disturbing violence I’d ever seen and one of about three movies I ever walked out of.”
Courtesy Everett Collection
19. “The only movie I’ve ever walked out on was Borat. I can’t get behind ‘comedy’ that’s built around putting non-consenting people in wildly uncomfortable situations where they’re set up to be humiliated, even if those people have some serious issues. It just seems fundamentally unethical to me.”
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20. “Return to Oz. The Wheelers scared the absolute bejeesus out of me.”
©Walt Disney Pictures
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21. “The Hills Have Eyes. Absolutely horrible, and I love scary movies. When the rape scene started, I about threw up, and we walked out.”
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22. “The Lobster. It had so many disgusting scenes. I know it was supposed to be satirical, but it was so gross that I didn’t see any humor or irony in it.”
© A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
23. “Pink Flamingos. So disgusting.”
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24. And finally, “Argylle! It was like two different movies. Halfway through there’s that moment where they reveal the twist, and my husband and I looked at each other and went ‘Well…that’s unfortunate,’ and left.”
© Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Have you ever walked right out of a movie theater because the film you were watching was just too wild? Tell us about it in the comments, or you can submit anonymously using the form below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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