The vast majority of disturbing movies aim to creep audiences out, but occasionally, well-intentioned stories accidentally turn out to be deeply unsettling. Horror and thriller films are the most common sources of terror and discomfort, while children’s flicks and romances most often seek to enchant and delight viewers. Films like Coraline and Return to Oz expertly disturb younger audiences, while uncomfortable titles such as Nosferatu and Crimson Peak skillfully transform romance into nightmares. In some cases, though, attempts at kid-friendly narratives and heartfelt love stories go horribly wrong. Movies that unintentionally disturb viewers can be difficult to enjoy due to their significant oversights. Still, many viewers have engaged in discussions surrounding their faults.
Videos by ComicBook.com
These three movies tell extremely unnerving stories, but not everyone realizes it.
3) The Polar Express
The Polar Express is meant to be a heartwarming story about Christmas magic and the power of belief, but it’s more likely to give kids (and even adults) nightmares. Some scenes, such as the terrifying train car full of puppets and the ghost on the train’s roof, are intentionally creepy. Even so, the film’s overarching plot is pretty disturbing. On Christmas Eve, a mysterious train takes children to the North Pole in the middle of the night while their parents are asleep. The journey repeatedly endangers the main character, who spends much of the trip fighting for his life on the train’s exterior and nearly falls off as it skids across a frozen lake.
Seemingly entangled in a death trap rather than a joyful Christmas adventure, the children arrive at the North Pole to even more peril. The boy and his new friends get thrown into Santa’s sack of gifts, and later, the giant Christmas tree star falls and almost massacres the elves. Making The Polar Express even more spine-chilling, the North Pole’s uncanny atmosphere and appearance resemble a ghastly fever dream, and the enormous crowd of singing elves is pure nightmare fuel. Moreover, some audiences were spooked by the uncanny valley effect produced by the movie’s realistic animation style. All in all, the holiday spirit of The Polar Express is supposed to outweigh the film’s scary moments, but in reality, there’s hardly any room for Christmas cheer in a story this off-putting.
2) Labor Day
Those in search of the most absurd premise for a love story should look no further than Labor Day. Adele (Kate Winslet), a severely depressed single mother, and her teenage son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) find themselves held hostage in their own home by Frank (Josh Brolin), a convicted murderer who recently escaped from prison. Over the course of five days, Frank grows close to Henry and begins a romantic relationship with Adele. The three plan to flee to Canada, but Frank gets caught by the police and is returned to prison. Frank and Adele reunite years later when he’s released and live together happily.
Labor Day‘s attempt at a moving love story completely falls flat. Adele’s loneliness and history of miscarriages render her vulnerable, enabling Frank to take advantage of her. It’s ridiculous to suggest that a man was all Adele needed and that the right one for her happened to kill his own wife and child. This doesn’t mean that Labor Day‘s characters don’t deserve love, but such a scenario is preposterous and impossible to take seriously. Even when considering Adele’s fragile emotional state, it’s hard to believe she would fall in love with a violent fugitive who forcibly entered her home. Yet, Labor Day nonsensically tries to pass Frank and Adele’s affair off as something to root for. Watching Frank threaten Adele and Henry’s safety is a frightening experience made even more disturbing by Labor Day‘s framing of a hostage situation as romantic.
1) Passengers
Another horrifying scenario ineptly presented as a touching romance, Passengers is the most harrowing movie on this list. In the film, Jim (Chris Pratt) wakes up from hibernation 90 years too early while traveling to a distant world on a spaceship carrying 5,000 colonists. After leading a lonely life by himself for a year, Jim decides to wake Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), a fellow passenger whom he finds attractive. Initially furious at Jim for ending her hibernation, Aurora eventually falls in love with him and gladly lives the rest of her days with him on the ship before everyone else wakes up.
Apparently, nobody involved in Passengers realized how sickening the plot is. Jim robs Aurora of her hopes and dreams for the life she intended to live in a new world, trapping her in a scary and unsafe position beyond her control. The idea of Aurora, a victim of Jim’s creepy obsession, gradually warming up to him is woefully misguided. Passengers treats Jim’s selfishness as only a minor conflict, but many viewers find it impossible to look past his misdeed when knowing it was both intentional and irreversible. No one in Aurora’s shoes would forgive and fall for a man who hijacked their entire life to serve his own needs.
Passengers is an astonishingly tone-deaf film that appears unaware of the dreadful fate it inflicts on Lawrence’s character. Jim’s actions are more predatory than romantic; thus, it’s puzzling that Passengers believes a genuine love story can result from such a horrific scenario. The concept of Passengers would have worked much better as a horror movie told from Aurora’s perspective, and it’s a shame the writers couldn’t see that.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Courtesy of Crunchyroll -
Image Courtesy of Capcom
