10 EXACT Moments That Derailed Huge Movies

If you've ever watched The Killer Inside Me, you probably wish you hadn't. 

Based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me tells the story of Lou Ford (Casey Affleck), a Texas deputy who's secretly a sociopathic killer. The movie is well-shot and reasonably well-performed so it did have potential, but the movie as a whole is just too vile to look on with any positivity. 

It sets the tone with this early scene, in which Lou graphically beats his lover Joyce (Jessica Alba) to within an inch of her life. It's sickening, it's beyond gratuitous, and the many people who walked out during showings cannot be blamed. To be fair, this scene is in the book, but it didn't need to be this graphic. 

To give a counter-example, there's a harrowing scene in HBO's The Sopranos where a gangster beats his pregnant lover to death. The beating is largely off-screen, and so while it's still disturbing as hell, it doesn't feel exploitative. The Killer Inside Me could've taken notes from that. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is equally unpleasant, especially as the most sadistic violence is reserved for women while Lou's male victims get quick or even off-screen deaths. It's a picture that serves up hellish sequences of violence while also being too distant from its characters, making this a cruel movie that doesn't reward audiences in any way. Therefore, it's better not to watch it. After all, who wants Joyce's beating in their memory?