10 Amazing Revenge Films That Are Really Bleak

Revenge thrillers are an engaging genre of film; whether they are set in the Old West, a high-rise city, a rural forgotten frontier or a post-apocalyptic wasteland, they're easy to empathize with because the motivation of the film is such a human and emotional one.

Films like John Wick, Gladiator and even Kill Bill tend to show justice being served to the villain in a heroic fashion complete with a fist-pump from the audience. Bloodshed, retribution and justice are served in 90-minute increments and because we've connected with the hero, we support the actions they take regardless of who or what they slay along the way.

But for every Gladiator, there is an Unforgiven.

Sometimes violence begets violence, and sometimes even after the villain has been taken out, it's not always a happy ending. Whether the hero was right to begin with, or that we empathized with them on their journey, we would only ever recommend the films to those with a strong stomach.

For this list, let's look at ten films that carry a revenge-themed narrative, but once the credits started rolling we didn't exactly feel great about what we just watched.

Steven Spielberg's incredible thriller about the real-life 1972 Munich Massacre, is an unflinching story that shows audiences not just the horrors the Olympic hostages suffered, but the strain of the Mossad agents involved in the retaliation against the perpetrators.

While Avner (Eric Bana) and his team of assassins charged with eliminating Black September are charming on screen, what sends cold shivers down our backs is the looming realization among them that they are not only being hunted themselves, but the emotional guilt is weighing on several members.

The film ends with Avner relocating to New York and suffering PTSD and paranoia at the thought of retaliation from Black September sympathizers, or his own people at Mossad.

Munich doesn't fill us with a sense of justice as much as we originally thought when the film began; as it unravels the stresses and mental turmoil that comes with being sent out to exclusively kill the enemy.

But that's kind of the point; the revenge mission wasn't all glory and in service of peace and justice. Sometimes an eye-for-an-eye isn't as simple as it sounds, despite how necessary those who aren't carrying out the executions believe it to be.