10 Hardest-To-Watch Movie Scenes

4. Hard Candy - Castration

The premise of the film lies in Ellen Page pretending to be a vulnerable teenager to lure a sexual predator to his demise. From that alone, you know it's going to be a bizarre, gritty watch, one that grapples with paedophilia and its punishment and locks it in an unblinking stare.

In the most uncomfortable part of the film's climax, we see an unconscious Patrick Wilson strapped to a table, waking up to discover Page is about to perform a medical procedure on him. Not just any procedure however - but a castration. He begs and pleads for her to change her mind, but the stoic and downright chilling Page has no such intention. She then cuts his testicles off and throws them in the garbage disposal.

We later learn that the whole thing is a set up concocted by Page to punish Wilson mentally rather than physically, playing an educational video of a castration on a TV screen to convince him he'd been operated upon and remains, in fact, "all there". It's all kinds of f*cked up, and really asks how exactly criminals of this nature should be punished.

Contributor
Contributor

Horror film junkie, burrito connoisseur, and serial cat stroker. WhatCulture's least favourite ginger.