Too gross. Too creepy. Too sad...or just too bad. Sometimes a film dishes out more than we can handle. Whether it's crazy camera work or unbearable scenes, there are plenty of reasons that audiences prematurely head to the exits. Here are a few films that were just too hard to sit through...
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00:00Too gross, too creepy, too sad, or just too bad
00:08Sometimes a film dishes out more than we can handle.
00:11Whether it's crazy camera work or unbearable scenes, there are plenty of reasons that audiences
00:17prematurely head to the exits.
00:19Here are a few films that were just too hard to sit through.
00:24The Walk
00:25Even seasoned film critics and industry insiders felt the dizzying effects of French daredevil
00:30Philippe Petit walking a tightrope between Manhattan's Twin Towers and 2015's The Walk.
00:36The 3D biopic recreates the notorious 1974 stunt in ways that past mediums, including
00:42a memoir and a documentary, could not.
00:45And that included making people leave the theater to vomit.
00:49CBS News even advised people to avoid large meals before attending a screening, reporting
00:54that at least 10 percent of audiences were getting physically ill.
00:58All previous footage of Petit's heart-stopping stroll between the skyscrapers, which he completed
01:03eight times over 45 minutes without a safety net or harness, was captured from the ground
01:08or the buildings.
01:09The thing that neither the book nor the documentary could do was actually put the audience up
01:14on the wire with Philippe, director Robert Zemeckis told Vanity Fair.
01:18We did.
01:19And that is what movies are all about.
01:22And, apparently, barfing.
01:24Freaks
01:25Director Todd Browning's pre-code horror film about a 1932 circus proved so shocking that
01:32the original copies were pulled from theaters and destroyed, along with Browning's career.
01:37In the movie, a gorgeous trapeze artist plans to marry, and then murder, the leader of a
01:41group of sideshow performers to gain his inheritance.
01:45The plot pits the normal members of the circus against the freaks.
01:49Browning made the bold choice of casting real circus folk with abnormalities to play
01:53the sideshow performers.
01:54Viewers were supposed to come away with the message that one's looks do not equate to
01:59one's morality, but things didn't go as planned.
02:02It is impossible for the normal man or woman to sympathize with the aspiring midget, said
02:07a contemporary review in Variety.
02:10The Hollywood Reporter called it an outrageous onslaught upon the feelings, the senses, the
02:15brains, and the stomachs of an audience.
02:17Mass walkouts ensued
02:19The film was banned in the UK, and according to the book horror movie Freak, one woman
02:24threatened to sue MGM, claiming the movie made her miscarry.
02:28Comparatively, it's hard to comprehend that level of loathing among today's audiences.
02:34American Horror Story Freak Show took home five Emmys in 2015.
02:38What a difference a day makes!
02:41127 Hours
02:44In 2003, outdoorsman Aaron Ralston became trapped in a slot canyon in Utah for 127 hours,
02:51his right arm pinned by a boulder.
02:53To escape, he sawed off his own arm with a dull pocketknife.
02:58In 2010, director Danny Boyle released a movie starring James Franco about the true story,
03:03but when viewers arrived at that pivotal scene, many couldn't hack it.
03:07Movieline compiled reports of fainting, vomiting, and seizures at film festivals and screenings
03:12across the country.
03:14Franco told Vulture,
03:15"...it's meant to be an intense, personal, immersive experience, and when he cuts off
03:19his arm, maybe it feels like it's happening to you."
03:22Despite the suffering of moviegoers, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including
03:27Best Picture and Best Actor.
03:29So let's give the film a hand.
03:30It really needs one.
03:33Irreversible
03:34Don't be ashamed if this controversial 2002 French film makes you want to curl up in the
03:39fetal position.
03:40Roger Ebert gave the movie three stars, but also called it,
03:43"...so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable."
03:47He was right, but it wasn't just the brutality that overwhelmed audiences.
03:51There was also a scientific explanation for their abhorrence.
03:55Director Gaspard Noé added low-frequency background noise to the soundtrack of his
03:59revenge thriller.
04:00Though such extreme bass waves are inaudible to humans, the BBC reported that infrasound
04:05can induce anxiety, extreme sorrow, heart palpitations, and shivering.
04:11Naturally occurring infrasound has been associated with areas of supernatural activity, as well
04:15as being produced prior to natural disasters such as storms and earthquakes.
04:19"...our response to certain kinds of noise is something so profound in us that we can't
04:24switch it off," science writer Philip Ball told the BBC.
04:28Film composers know that and use it to shortcut the logical part of our brain and get straight
04:32to the emotional centers.
04:34The Paranormal Activity franchise and other horror movies have allegedly used this tactic
04:39as well, so the next time you're watching a movie between your fingers, don't fault
04:43your courage.
04:44Blame the fear frequency.
04:46Tree of Life
04:47While film scholars called Tree of Life a masterpiece, the man on the street asked for
04:51his money back.
04:53Terrence Malick's experimental drama explores many themes — the creation of the world,
04:58the meaning of life, the conflict between science and religion, and the bond between
05:02family — which is a lot for any movie to handle.
05:05Tree of Life dropped the ball.
05:07Maybe it was just too much for the average date night, because folks left the movie in
05:11droves.
05:12They weren't scared or grossed out, they just didn't like it.
05:15Despite an 85% Metacritic rating, disputes about refunds arose, and theaters scrambled
05:21to make their policies clear.
05:23According to The New York Times, the Avon Theater in Connecticut posted a sign urging
05:27customers to read up on the film before choosing to see it, because it was not issuing refunds.
05:33Other cinemas agreed to reimbursements for those who left within 30 minutes, and Brad
05:37Pitt laughed all the way to the bank.
05:39Cloverfield
05:40If this 2008 found-footage horror film makes you lose your lunch, fear not, you're not
05:46alone.
05:47So many people got sick during screenings that some cinemas began posting warning signs.
05:52In the movie, six Manhattan Millennials are attending a party when a gigantic monster
05:57attacks the city.
05:58Their experience is documented on a personal video camera later recovered by the U.S. Department
06:03of Defense.
06:05The footage is so jerky that bucketfuls of popcorn were regurgitated in cinema seats,
06:10bathrooms, and the expansive floor between the seats in the bathrooms.
06:14Because instances of nausea were so prevalent, WebMD even wrote an article about the specific
06:19motion sickness phenomenon, stating,
06:21"...while watching Cloverfield, viewers were sitting still in their seats, so their inner
06:25ear was telling their body they were motionless, but the bumpy camera movements — and their
06:30eyes — misled them into thinking they were moving erratically."
06:34Similar side effects occurred during screenings of The Blair Witch Project in 1998.
06:39Fortunately, Cloverfield's first quasi-spinoff, the 2016 hit 10 Cloverfield Lane, dispensed
06:45with the jiggly camera work, opting for good old-fashioned jiggly John Goodman instead.