10 Shocking Movie Moments That Made People Leave The Cinema

A moment on the eyes, a lifetime on the therapist's chaise; movies that left audiences screaming.

Reservoir Dogs Michael Madsen.jpg
Miramax

Have you ever fainted in the auditorium? Lost your lunch in the back row? Stormed out of the building in a seething fit of rage, throwing fellow patrons out of the way and going off on one at the manager for allowing you to witness such abhorrent transgressions immortalised on film?

Never fear, you are amongst friends, as it turns out the act of fleeing the cinema before the credits roll (which, for Gaspar Noé, is often the beginning of the film) is a time-honoured global tradition.

Some movie moments stay with us for a lifetime, but not always for the right reason - or really anything resembling a good reason - and this collection of sights for sore eyes features some of the worst offenders when it comes to stoking up fear, hatred and disgust in their audiences. Spanning all genres, each of these films have one particular scene that tipped the scales and drove audiences physically out of the cinema - though rarely for good.

As forewarning: some of the clips and descriptions herein reference and depict extreme and sexual violence.

10. Raw (2016)

In 2016, Julia Ducournau brought us the French-language, feminist, veterinarian university-set, cannibal film we didn't know we had been foaming at the mouth for.

Justine (Garance Marillier) arrives at vet school and undergoes a ritualistic process of hazing and initiations as she comes to terms with a new hunger, sense of sexuality and change happening inside herself. Guided by her sister, she faces her family's deepest, darkest secret, pitting her cannibalistic urges off against a desire to be good, or at least normal.

But, for some, this body horror was a bite too far. Ambulances arrived during Raw's screening at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival to tend to those in attendance who collapsed during the screening and had to be taken and treated outside, overwhelmed by the protagonist's growing taste for human flesh.

In a grim, stomach-churning and apparently faint-inducing one-two punch, Justine accidentally helps sever her sister's finger, before quite intentionally chowing down on it, stripping bloody flesh from the bone as if it were KFC.

Finger-lickin' good.

In this post: 
Irreversible
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Writer, editor and lifelong critic of test screenings, money men and films-by-committee.