10 Intense Movies That Dared You To Sit Through Them

The majority of movies, no matter whether they're horrors or comedies, work to provide us with escapism.

They want us to turn them on, engage with the story and characters and ultimately lose ourselves in what we're seeing. They might not always be happy, they might not always be nice, but you're supposed to come away pleased you sat through them.

However, not all movies are built this way. In fact, some seem like nothing more than elaborate pranks on the part of the directors to see just how much pain audiences can put up with before they tap out.

These flicks are intentionally intense and designed to provoke the viewer. Whether that's through horrifically violent scenes, uncompromising dives into dense, serious subject matter, or simply through sheer, stamina-draining tedium, the following movies have been crafted as much to be tests of might than conventionally enjoyable stories.

So, how many of the following could you sit through? From challenging cult classics to some of the most explicit erotic thrillers you're likely to lay eyes on, none are for the faint hearted.

Kicking off with one of the more well known films on this list, Requiem For A Dream has become known as one of the most depressing films of all time.

Darren Aronofsky's stunning debut follows the downfall of four connected characters, as each one becomes destroyed by their respective drug addictions. The likeable main cast is made up of Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans, and each of them go from bad to worse losing limbs, minds and freedoms by the time the credits roll.

It's Burstyn's character who gets it the worst though. Hooked on amphetamines, she slips into a world of her own: one where her own fridge is sprouting teeth and terrorising her. She ends the film a shell of her former self, lobotomised after being admitted to hospital. Her body and mind have both been wrecked, and the audience is powerless to do anything other than watch.

The filmmaking is inventive and the story is powerful, but Aronofsky never lets up even for a second.