18 Insanely Messed Up Movies You Might Not Be Able To Handle

This 1915 silent film epic about two families during the American Civil War and Reconstruction might seem like a surprising choice for number one, but yes, The Birth of a Nation is epitome of messed-up cinema. Why? Because it's, for certain, the most racist, ideologically repugnant film ever made.

In Birth, African-Americans (mostly played by white men in blackface make-up) are depicted as savage, unintelligent and sexually violent predators who are causing all of America's problems.

Meanwhile, Birth dramatises the Ku Klux Klan's foundation and depicts them as a heroic force; the film's climax revolves around them rescuing some white women from the film's African-American villains and then intimidating African-Americans into not voting. During the rest of the film the subjugation and murder of black people is glorified in an unforgettably horrible manner.

Two good examples of the film's sickening ideology are, firstly, the scene in which a white woman jumps to her death to escape an aggressive black man who wants to marry her and, secondly, this inter-title: "The former enemies of North and South are united again in common defence of their Aryan birthright."

It gets even worse. This movie led to the reformation and growth of the KKK and was used as a recruitment tool, so this probably caused the deaths of thousands of people.

Birth is arguably the hardest-to-watch film ever and while it isn't violent, it still makes Torture Porn horror films look like My Little Pony in comparison.