10 More Horror Movies So Sad You Can Only Watch Them Once
3. May
Lucky McKee's unforgettable directorial debut May is one of the genre's best depictions of loneliness, revolving as it does around the titular lonesome young woman (Angela Bettis) who struggles to find connection both socially and romantically.
McKee pulls off the tricky tonal tightrope walk of slowly massaging this downcast drama into a card-carrying slasher flick, as May's failed attempts to find love and friendship transpire into death and further derangement.
It's powerful stuff, taking a potentially campy premise and mining the heartbreak out of it, of how good intentions can be destroyed by mental illness and a traumatic upbringing with disastrous consequences for all involved.
It's a huge credit to the brilliant Angela Bettis that she manages to sidestep the most prominent crazy-lady tropes and make the audience sympathise with May's desperately harsh predicament, no matter the wrongdoing she commits - against both others and herself.
For all of its terrific craft, though, it's an aggressively feel-bad experience, and one most won't put themselves through repeatedly.