Horror Movie Fans Reveal the Movies That Made Them Physically Sick

Horror movie fans are often considered thick-skinned and gluttons for punishment, but even they find themselves overwhelmed at times. A discussion about the movies that caught fans off-guard picked up a lot of steam this week on the horror subreddit, starting with the 2005 remake of Hostel and other, similar “torture porn” titles. User u/anthonyledger asked which movies “made you feel physically sick,” and commenters had some surprising responses. In a way, it was a great illustration of the strengths of the horror genre — it elicits different responses from different people for a wide range of reasons, and it’s hard to predict.

Unsurprisingly, the list of horror movies that gave viewers a physical response featured a lot of body horror, gore and torture. A few of the titles in top comments included Hellraiser 2, The Fly, and Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. Some viewers also contextualized their experiences, noting that they were especially traumatized by movies they saw as children. For example, u/Almost_Victorian wrote that “the cherry-vomit sequence in The Witches of Eastwick” made them feel sick when they were a child.

Anyone looking for obscure recommendations from this list can find them easily as well. The top comment mentioned Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive — specifically the scene featuring “porridge or whatever” — as well as the 2013 German horror film Nothing Bad Can Happen.

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Recency bias played a part here as well, as many comments mentioned The Substance 2024 starring Demi Moore. The movie is nominated for best picture at this year’s Oscars, which is helping to give it more buzz but is also forcing many viewers who are not used to body horror to give it a watch. At the same time, some of the recent movies in the comments were among the most surprising for the list — a few commenters said that they felt sick while watching the hallucination sequence in Midsommar, which is tame by the standards set in the rest of the thread.

Horror fans in the comments seemed to wear their nausea like a badge of honor, though squeamish movie-goers often question why they subject themselves to these kinds of sights. Psychologists have actually studied this question pretty extensively, finding that many fans are drawn to horror simply because it brings out the most drastic emotional response possible. Some also find it cathartic to face their fears on the screen, bringing the subconscious to the forefront so they can confront it more easily.