Watch with soap: 10 movies that make you feel unclean
There may be no better feeling in the world than coming home from work, eating a quick slap-up meal before taking a bath, and allowing the soapy suds to wash away all your worries about spreadsheets and quarterly earnings. Then, when you’re all dried off and as puckered as the cherry tomato that slipped down the side of your bin, you stick on the TV and plug into a quality piece of cinema.
But, sometimes choosing a film isn’t all that easy. You might stick on The Human Centipede, thinking it’s an animated movie about a man who gets shrunk down to the size of an insect to help them revolt against the toads, or try out Pink Flamingos, thinking that it’s merely a documentary about our feathered friends. Instead, in both instances, you’ll likely wish you hadn’t let all the bath water out, as you’d quite like to get back in for a re-clean and a re-pucker.
Not all movies are as nicey-nice as Hollywood would have you think, with some films even having the capabilities to make you physically revolt or even vomit all over your neatly arranged Funko Pop collection. So, let’s explore this weird world of cinema and dive fist-first into the grotty underworld of movies that make you feel dirty both inside and out.
Take a look at our list below, which includes movies from the likes of William Friedkin, Lars von Trier and Harmony Korine. We recommend having a bar of soap ready to clean your orifices as and when appropriate.
10 movies that make you feel unclean
Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009)
We begin with Lars von Trier’s art-horror film Antichrist. While there are certainly moments within most of the Danish filmmaker’s back catalogue that will leave you longing for a long hot shower, it’s his utterly excessive work of 2009 starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg that feels the most grimy.
The acting duo play a married couple who take a retreat into the woods after their infant son dies in an accident. Dafoe’s character starts experiencing strange visions, while Gainsbourg’s details increasingly violent and sadomasochistic sexual behaviour. Cue barbarous scenes of genital mutilation and a cock ejaculating blood and the subsequent desperate need to wash it all away in isolation. Lars von Trier, we regrettably doff our caps.
Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)
If there’s one filmmaker you can guarantee will make you squirm, it’s the Japanese director Takashi Miike. Director of such beloved gore-fests as 2001’s Ichi the Killer and 2003’s Gozu, Miike’s undisputed classic may well be 1999’s Audition, a peculiar drama that lulls you into a false sense of security before pulling the rug from beneath your feet and plunging you into a nightmare that takes you by the scruff of your neck.
The third act of the movie, which largely takes place in a dark apartment building, is one of the most disturbing pieces of cinema ever put to celluloid, with Quentin Tarantino being a less-than-surprising fan, calling it a “true masterpiece”.
Begotten (E. Elias Merhige, 1990)
When it comes to horror, nothing can get you feeling dirtier than a piece of weird experimentation. Such is where E. Elias Merhige’s 1990 flick Begotten steps up to the plate, with the creepy black-and-white film feeling like it was directed by Pazuzu himself. A weird piece of occultist cinema, Begotten tells the story of religion and how humankind has ravaged the earth and destroyed its resources.
Being mental and gothic, it should come as no surprise that Nicolas Cage loves the movie, stating: “What always fascinated me was that when the camera fixes its gaze on its subject, it takes flesh and blood away and leaves just the shadow. It doesn’t have a life pulse, merely a shadow. The camera drinks your essence away from you but leaves this eternal shade”.
Bug (William Friedkin, 2006)
Everyone already knows that if you want to ruin any kid’s party, you stick on William Friedkin’s 1973 horror classic The Exorcist, but comparatively few know that you can spoil your own evening by watching his underrated 2006 film Bug. A genuinely brilliant and anxiety-grating movie, Bug tells the story of a war veteran who steadily goes increasingly insane, believing that his body is infested with mites, with the film being one of the best examples of modern body horror.
Although the premise is ghastly, it’s how the film is shot that will really have you reaching for your bucket of soap and water, with Friedkin setting most of the film in a small room lit with the blue hue of UV, making everything look hideously grotty.
Gummo (Harmony Korine, 1997)
Following the success of Larry Clark’s Kids, Harmony Korine made his directorial debut with the experimental drama Gummo in 1997. A loose narrative focusing on the inhabitants of a tornado-ravaged Midwest American town starring Linda Manz, Max Perlich and Chloe Sevigny, Gummo explores its characters’ desire to fill their days in peculiarity and destruction.
Korine’s debut is an unsettling watch, to say the least, mostly due to its cast of oddball characters. One young boy hunts and sells cats while a pair of sisters spend their time wrestling in a pool filled with spaghetti. Korine explores the meaning under desolation and squalor, but still, Gummo is a film that leaves you feeling oddly used and dirty to the bone.
Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998)
The films of Todd Solondz are known for their biting satirical wit and black comedy of the darkest kind. In his 1998 film Happiness, the director dove into the deepest meaning of what it means to live a life of contentment, but in doing so, he exposed the ugly truths that lie beneath suburban, domesticated bliss.
One of three sisters who occupy Happiness’ protagonist roles is unknowingly married to a paedophile, which highlights the film’s confrontation of taboo subjects, but Solondz also explores the nature of sexual assault and infidelity. Happiness is a thematically important film, but it arrives in such a manner as to make its audience feel sick to their stomachs at its ugly truths.
Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
Another film that explores the eternal human search for happiness is Requiem for a Dream by Darren Aronofsky. Based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Hubert Selby Jr, the film focuses on four characters in the throes of serious drug addiction, leading to several memorable scenes in which their personal tragedies are unflinchingly laid out to bear for all to see.
Heroin use is widespread in the film with all its broken blood vessels, withdrawal symptoms and acts of depravity in which addicts will go to any lengths to secure their next hit. Requiem for a Dream is simply a maddening film, itself akin to a drug high, and by the time the credits roll, a lengthy soak in the bath is required.
Slither (James Gunn, 2006)
At one point in time, before he began obsessing over the Marvel and DC universes, James Gunn was actually quite an interesting filmmaker, with his 2006 movie Slither being the best of his filmography to date. A love letter to the body horror works of David Cronenberg and beyond, the film tells the story of a remote town that becomes infested by cosmic worms who infiltrate their prey through any available orifice.
A hilarious and wonderfully creative piece of horror cinema, Slither culminates in a final act that can only be described as a slop-fest, where limbs are reduced to pusy mush, and the antagonist becomes a mass of wet flesh. It’s really disgusting.
Taxidermia (György Pálfi, 2006)
Some people consider taxidermy in and of itself to be a gross eyebrow-raising hobby, so a film named after the practice is almost bound to disgust any critic. Helmed by the Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi, 2006’s Taxidermia follows three generations of men who each modify their bodies for perverse personal gain, with several vignettes from the movie being utterly repulsive.
Maybe the worst of the bunch is the story of a humongous speed eater who slurps indecipherable slop while consistently winning prizes for his efforts. Yet, reflecting on his work in the future, he is devoured by hungry cats in a sickening sequence. Lovely.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1990)
Undoubtedly influenced by the body horror works of David Cronenberg and David Lynch, Shinya Tsukamoto’s 1989 film Tetsuo: The Iron Man is Japan’s answer to cinema of the most surreal kind. It focuses on a salaryman who finds pieces of metal growing from his body and quickly becomes overcome with visions of metallic sexual fantasy.
Tetsuo is a piece of cinema that undoubtedly makes you squirm and whimper as its protagonist slowly becomes a half-man, half-machine hybrid. While inspired by the great horror directors that came before, Tsukamoto’s film delivers its overwhelming unclean feeling through its unique visual aesthetic. Quick cuts and a black-and-white grain can almost lead to a sense of paranoia in its audience and the thought that they, too, are suddenly sprouting shards of sharp metal. Surely, only a thorough wash can cure this unsightly illness.