10 Most Anxiety-Inducing Horror Movies EVER
4. Martyrs
Released in 2008 (and inexplicably remade less than a decade later), New French Extremity hit Martyrs is a film infamous for its intensity in both horror nerd and cinephile circles.
It's a rare hit which combines the trashy horror film structure of Alexandre Aja with the high-minded (arguably, in Martyr's case, even pretentious) philosophy of Claire Denis' oeuvre. But it's the film's seamless moving between horror sub genres that makes this twisted story so effective.
Early on, the film is an extremely bloody and explicit home invasion horror that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the sub genre's scariest releases. Then the audience learns why this home invasion is taking place, the villain becomes a tragic anti-hero, and our remaining heroine is haunted by visions of a monstrous demonic figure.
Just as the viewer is becoming acclimated to this supernatural horror aesthetic, the film starts pushing the boundaries of onscreen gore with a swerve into intense, unbelievably explicit, and painfully realistic torture porn territory. Director Pascal Laugier keeps tension at a constant high throughout this intense film with this constant genre-switching approach, leaving audiences constantly unsure what's coming next.