14 Cringe-Worthy Movie Scenes You Never Want To See Again

What the fast-forward button was made for.

Alien Covenant
Fox

Every so often you'll be watching a movie and come across as scene so overpoweringly discomforting that you actually feel a desperate desire to turn the movie off entirely, and maybe even some lingering sickness from the mere thought of it hours later.

Never underestimate the power of cringe, and what an embarrassing, disgusting, or straight-up disturbing film scene can do to a viewer, such as have them avoid watching said film ever again (or at least just skipping past the scene in question).

These 14 movies, many of them widely-acclaimed hits, are nevertheless infamous for their awkward and uncomfortable line readings, death scenes and tonal misjudgements. The films wouldn't be the same without them, but sitting through these scenes can be, well, pretty damn rough.

Each is sure to leave you squirming in abject shame and disgust, wondering quite what the hell you're doing with your precious time on this planet...

14. Toad Struck By Lightning - X-Men

X Men Storm
Fox

Arguably the most infamous scene in the entire X-Men franchise sees Storm (Halle Berry) battling Toad (Ray Park) at the end of the original movie, at which point she asks the mutant, "You know what happens when a toad gets struck by lightning?", and after a beat follows up with, "The same thing that happens to everything else", before blasting Toad with said lightning.

It's an almost unbearably cheeseball line that was actually written by Joss Whedon of all people, and though he's blamed Halle Berry's overly-serious delivery for it playing so awkwardly, it's hard to imagine any actors being able to pull it off without making audiences wince.

Berry's entire performance in the first X-Men movie, accent and all, is pretty off, but nothing's worse than this creaky one-liner.

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.