Movies that evoke strong emotions aren’t for everyone, or might, more accurately, be best appreciated when one is in a certain mood. Sad movies aren’t always the best thing to watch, some people write off the horror genre entirely because feeling dread just isn’t what they’re after and, similarly, there’s a time and a place for super intense films, especially since they’re probably the last thing you’d want after a particularly stressful day… or week… or month.
But if you’re after on-screen intensity, these movies have your back. Some are dramas, some thrillers, some war films, and there’s even some horror here, because any kind of movie can be stressful if the filmmakers so desire to provoke such a feeling. They’re ranked below not in terms of quality, but more by intensity, starting with the nerve-wracking and ending with the most anxiety-provoking.
10
‘Boiling Point’ (2021)
Directed by Philip Barantini
One year before The Bear’s first season debuted, there was Boiling Point, which makes a good many episodes of that infamously stressful show look like a peaceful stroll through a decidedly bear-free (national) park. Like that show, Boiling Point is all about the stress of working in a kitchen, and it’s a movie that succeeds unnervingly well at putting you in the midst of the heat, chaos, and emotional turmoil that entails.
Boiling Point’s greatest strength is the fact that it plays out in real-time and is either one continuous take, or a very seamlessly shot series of long takes strung together to look like one take. Because of this, it’s a film that seldom slows down or offers any relief, with just about everything that could go wrong on one eventful night going wrong, and is engrossing enough to the point where you might well forget you’re not actually watching real-life footage.
9
‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Saving Private Ryan is a World War II film that, at this point, hardly needs much by way of an introduction. It’s one of the best movies Steven Spielberg has ever directed, and contains some of the most harrowing wartime scenes ever put to film; namely, the famous opening scene depicting the Normandy landings, and the similarly intense climactic battle of Ramelle (a fictional town/battle, but that doesn’t hurt how authentic it feels).
Perhaps unlike some other intense movies soon to be mentioned, Saving Private Ryan isn’t always nail-biting, and proves unafraid to slow things down pacing-wise at some points between its opening sequence and its final battle. But there is always, at the very least, a mild sense of danger throughout, and the full-on nature of the set pieces goes a long way to making the film feel like an overall tense one.
8
‘Christiane F.’ (1981)
Directed by Uli Edel
Most movies that deal with a topic as serious as addiction ought to be, at a bare minimum, a little grim, but few wade into grim (and grimy) territory as deeply as Christiane F. does. This is inspired by a true life story, which makes it all the more nightmarish, revolving around a young girl living in Berlin during the 1970s as her life spirals out of control due to her using increasingly strong drugs.
Some movies broadly definable as “anti-drug” in nature come across as preachy, or even a bit manipulative, but Christiane F. keeps its eye on being authentic throughout, likely to the point where it’ll be too much for some to handle. It says something that a movie more than 40 years old still feels just as impactful now as it would’ve been upon release, but this is no ordinary movie, that much is clear.
7
‘Come and See’ (1985)
Directed by Elem Klimov
By design, Come and See is the sort of nightmarish film that feels rather hard to finish. The runtime contributes a little to this, considering 142 minutes is a pretty beefy duration for a war film that’s relatively personal/small in scope, but it’s what happens – or, sometimes, what doesn’t happen, at least directly on screen – during those minutes that makes Come and See so difficult.
Calling it an anti-war movie feels like an understatement, because Come and See also feels like a fever dream, gradually moving from quietly unsettling/surreal to depicting an all-out hellscape by the time its final act comes around. Also, much like Christiane F., the already shocking story here is made all the more harrowing because the central character is so young; his life is torn apart by war in much the same way that the titular character of that aforementioned 1981 film has her life thrown off balance by drugs.
6
‘Gravity’ (2013)
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Gravity is one of the most effective “space is actually very scary” movies ever made, and things kick into high gear almost straight away. It opens with a sequence that appears like one unbroken take, quickly establishing a small number of characters who are then thrown into an awful situation thanks to some debris that destroys their Space Shuttle. One perishes, and the two surviving astronauts become separated.
From there, Gravity is all about surviving against all odds and trying to return to Earth in one piece, all the while the debris continues to orbit and, every so often, destroy just about everything in its path. There are very few moments in Gravity that allow you to catch your breath, meaning the level of stress is pretty much always high, remaining so even upon rewatches when you might already know the outcome.
5
‘Angst’ (1983)
Directed by Gerald Kargl
Most cult classics are fun, and some are campy, but Angst isn’t really either of those things while also, in some ways, feeling a bit like a cult horror movie. It’s also a crime/thriller film about a serial killer, though the approach it takes to following this character makes it an uncompromising horror flick, too, being bleak and very blunt with depicting a series of grisly murders.
The story is simple, but the filmmaking of Angst is complex and bold, with the straightforward premise, shocking violence, and queasy camerawork all adding up to make the film unbearably tense and unnerving. Even those who don’t think they’re particularly faint of heart might well struggle with the overall atmosphere and grueling nature of a film like Angst; it’s arguably a little too effective, in terms of the emotions it wants to evoke.
4
‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
To date, Quentin Tarantino has only made one war movie – Inglourious Basterds – but it’s an undeniable all-timer. It takes place during the Second World War and breaks from real life in some rather bold ways, but never holds back on portraying a certain kind of paranoia and tension that comes from living somewhere torn apart by war (here, the setting is Nazi-occupied France).
Just about every major sequence in Inglourious Basterds contains suspense in some form or another, including the famed opening scene, the extended sequence set in a tavern, and the explosive climax. It’s an extremely well-paced movie that is quietly tense when it’s not being violent, and feels happy to unleash sheer hell when it needs to. Tarantino feels as though he’s in absolute control the whole time, making Inglourious Basterds equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking.
3
‘The Wages of Fear’ (1953)
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
A film that’s heavy with death, misery, and near-constant tension, The Wages of Fear has one of the most appropriate titles in cinema history. It follows several men, all desperate for money, who agree to transport explosive material across some very rough terrain, knowing full well that the chances of surviving such an endeavor are unlikely (any kind of bump or collision could result in their vehicles going up in flames).
It’s about as straightforward a premise as a thriller of this sort can possibly be, but it’s executed so well that The Wages of Fear also stands as one of the best international movies ever made. It got a very good remake in the form of Sorcerer, directed by William Friedkin, but the original has a timeless sort of anxiety that proved hard to top, or even just equal in sheer suspense.
2
‘Whiplash’ (2014)
Directed by Damien Chazelle
Whiplash might not sound all that relentless on paper, but it doesn’t take long into the runtime of actually watching it before you realize that it really is one of the most relentless films ever made. It’s focused pretty directly on two people who have about as toxic a dynamic as one could imagine. The younger of the two is an aspiring drummer, while the older is a tyrannical instructor who tries to get perfection out of his students by more or less bullying them.
Taking something simple narratively and working it into an instant classic, Whiplash goes to places dramatically and psychologically that feel simultaneously surprising and inevitable (the latter in a sort of tragic way). Still, it’s hard to look away, even when the film gets borderline overwhelming. If you don’t break a sweat while watching the final 10 minutes, you probably have the kind of steel nerves Chuck Norris could only dream of.
1
‘Uncut Gems’ (2019)
Directed by Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
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The Safdie brothers are well known for directing a handful of feature-length panic attacks, with Uncut Gems being their arguable best, not to mention their most uncompromising. It’s about a man who’s continually chasing the highs that come with gambling, risking just about everything on a series of wild schemes. In turn, his actions ensure he never really stops making enemies, and the film is essentially just watching everything crash down around him.
It’s a bleak watch, but Uncut Gems is also oddly funny at times, and it gave Adam Sandler what’s probably his best role to date. Some might feel nauseated by the whole experience of watching a film this loud, chaotic, profane, and relentless, but the sheer immensity of it all – paired with the intensity, of course – pretty much makes this the holy grail of intense movies.
