I wish when I was younger someone had told me to be cautious about what I put up in my head, because it'll be there forever. In honor of that, here's a list of movies I wish I'd never watched.
Sybil - I stumbled into the TV room in my dorm one weekday afternoon to find a bunch of the gals watching this. It had just started, so I sat down. Watched the whole damn thing. I couldn't look away. And I've been totally squeebed out about it for 20+ years.
Hellraiser & Hellraiser 2 - I did not do this to myself - other than remaining in front of the movie after the guy I was with convinced me to start watching it. Okay, so I knew going into the sequel how much it would freak me out. But all my friends were watching it. Peer pressure is an evil thing.
Leaving Las Vegas - I didn't know going in that this sucker would be so damn depressing and fill me with a hopelessness it took weeks to get over.
Pay it Forward - This one was a total sucker punch. I honestly thought it was going to be a feel-good movie. And it was, right up until the end. Bastards didn't have to kill the little boy - unless they were trying to make the point that life is senseless and no matter how hard you try, you're still going to be murdered. I should've known better, though. I hate Kevin Spacey in just about everything except Outbreak, and he dies horribly in that one.
The Fly - I blame my siblings for this. To this day, I still can't hear someone whisper 'Help me' in a high-pitched, squeaky voice without having a little panic attack.
Ferngully - Way to take innocent minds and warp them into thinking mankind and machinery are inherently bad. Took me years to convince my daughter that bulldozers weren't evil.
I'm Gonna Get You Sucka - because I will never get those two hours of my life back.
And yes, I guess I was a little crabby this morning. Since venting this negativity out, though, I'm much better.
What movies have you watched that you wish you hadn't?
*ETA:
Event Horizon - I'd repressed this one until it was mentioned in the comments here. Ugh. Now I have to go back to repressing it again, so I can scrub that skinless guy out of my head for another 20 years.
Oh, and I just remembered another one... SE7EN. OMG, what a horrible movie. Still gives me nightmares. And I just realized, Spacey's in this one, too. Figures.
What! Ferngully is a classic! I do agree about Pay It Forward. That movie just kills me. Another one that gets me is Simon Birch. Talk about sob fest.
ReplyDeleteWhat Lies Beneath--I was WAY too young but we won tickets to the opening of a movie theatre and that was the movie playing. The rest of it was fun--all of the food was free, and it was a very fancy event.
The Ring-- WTF was I thinking? Peer pressure.
All of the Saw movies-- Again, WTF was I thinking? My husband got me to watch these. Never. Again.
:shrug: I know it was a classic, Nat, but I hate it. Never saw Simon Birch, but mainly because my sister said it was really sad. I haven't seen those others (except for like a minute of one of the Saw movies). Like I said, peer pressure is evil.
DeleteI've watched Ferngully but I don't actually remember what it was all about. I don't think I've watched any of the rest. The one movie that comes to mind is The American with George Clooney. So. Boring. So. Tragic. So wished I'd never watched it.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I can't stand George Clooney, Karyn, so I'm not in danger of that one. Thanks for the heads-up, though. And I'm so glad you haven't seen the yuck movies on my list.
DeleteI caught a small part of Hellraiser one night while sitting at a bar. It was on the screen behind the bar, and the sound was turned down. Even that was too much.
ReplyDeleteMy list:
Angel Heart
Cape Fear (the remake) -- I would have walked out of this one at the rape scene, but I was there with friends. Horrible, horrible stuff.
Star 80
Event Horizon
Taxi Driver -- I only watched this one so that I could say that I've watched it, and now I wish I could still say that I haven't.
I'm sure I could come up with more if I sat here and thought about it, but I've tried to repress the memories of those movies and there's no point in dredging them up if the don't come readily.
The only one of your yuck movies I've seen, Ardsgaine, was Event Horizon. Totally forgot about that and I'm adding it. It was a horrible, awful, total yuck fest.
DeletePay It Forward had such a good message - but bawled like a baby at the end! The Fly *shiver* - can never look at a fly on my food without thinking of the ooze they produce to 'eat' - *gag*
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of movies we watch and at the end, turn to each other and go WTF? Of course, I can't remember them now, but there are a lot. I will tell you that Death Wish (years later and I can not scrub that rape scene out of my head).
Yuck, now I'm all freaked out. Going to pick out a musical to watch tonight - something fun and entertaining and joyful!!
Ack. Sorry, Janet! I didn't mean to make you all freaked out. Go, watch Brigadoon and restore your faith in the world.
DeleteYou didn't like SE7EN? Oh my goodness, I thought the script was brilliant--artistic, dark, COMPLETELY unexpected. I loved how it twisted on you.
ReplyDeleteDumb and Dumber. Please erase that from my memory. In fact, please erase that entire subspecies of movie out of existence. Please?
Nope, Crystal, hated it. Total nightmare city. And yeah on the Dumb and Dumber. I only watched a little and I want those minutes of my life back.
DeleteLOL, Se7en is one of my favorite movies...though that may have more to do with my dislike of Paltrow....
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd never seen AND THEN THERE WERE NONE when I was a kid...it gave me nightmares forever
I once went to a screening of ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL'S and thought it was the worst thing I'd EVER seen....I wish I had those couple of hours back...
Yeah, I love suspense, so you'd think I'd have loved Se7en. Heh, I forgot about Paltrow. She really does need to die in more movies.
DeleteOh man, I can't imagine seeing ATTWN as a kid. Love it as an adult, though.
Never heard of the McCool's thing. I'll steer clear if it ever comes on TV.
I know I should have some to add to the list but I haven't seen 3/4's of the movies listed. Knew going in I wouldn't waste my time. And yeah, PAY IT FORWARD was a sucker punch. Wow...now I'm racking my brain (what little is left between deadlines and NaNoWriMo) for titles. And after procrastinating for about 30 minutes and Googling? I've come to the conclusion that I neither succomb to peer pressure or I get up and walk away. LOL Sorry. I'm obviously no fun today. ;)
ReplyDeleteOkay, first you're spot on about The Fly if you're talking about the Jeff Goldblum version. Worse, I saw it on my birthday, when I told everyone "No, I hate Jeff Goldblum and I don't want to see The Fly." But I was odd woman out, so we went despite my birthday objections. In the end, I was vindicated by my original opinion, and was able to tel everyone "I told you so." But that really doesn't offset having to sit there and watch the monstrosity.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I didn't hate Ferngully, and the Jimmy Buffett song "If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody It Might As Well Be You" still gets stuck in my head some days.
But the movie I still regret the most is one we saw at a drive-in one summer called Gorp. Not Garp--the name was Gorp. It took place at a summer camp and had the cute guy who married Valerie Bertinelli's character in One Day at a Time, and we liked him, so we went. But we should have left before we even got there (I know that doesn't make sense in any kind of reality, but it was THAT BAD). Funnily enough, I floored my family recently when Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! had a question about Fran Dresher's first role, and I knew that very obscure (read unwatchable) file was Gorp! No one else knew it--even the person getting asked the question on the radio--but that still didn't make me feel better for those couple of hours I'd never get back as a dumb teenager who kept agreeing with her friends that the movie had to get better (it didn't).