10 Movies That Used Your Imagination Against You

Joel Schumacher is a name that means many things to many people, and few of them would cite the word “subtlety” among them. The Batman Vs Robin helmer may never live down being the man who added nipples to the Batsuit, so it’s understandable if it’s a surprise to see his name on this list.

However, only a year after his ignominious bow as the franchise’s director, Schumacher put together a grimy, dark thriller starring an impressive ensemble cast including Nicholas Cage, Peter Stormare, and future Joker Joaquin Phoenix. Following the gritty, gruesome trail of an embittered private investigator as he searches for the doomed star of a possible snuff film, the film is unflinching its portrayal of a criminal underworld.

Well, almost unflinching. The film does cut to Cage for a horrified reaction, rather than depicting the death of a woman starring in a snuff film uncovered from a vault. The result is a scene far more disturbing and more likely to linger in the minds of viewers long after the rest of the film’s more violent onscreen acts of vengeance fade, and the trick was so effective that Marvel exile Scott Derickson nicked it for Ethan Hawke’s snuff film screening in Sinister.