8 Horror Movies You Won’t Watch Once You Know The Truth

4. The Abyss

The Abyss Ed Harris
Fox

That right there? That's the face of true anguish and suffering. No, not the character of Bud Brigman - it's actor Ed Harris who's genuinely tormented and terrified here.

James Cameron is famously a director who likes to push his cast and crew, but the antics of his 1989 movie The Abyss are extreme even for Cameron. A tough shoot doesn't even come close to cutting it for The Abyss, with the cast and crew spending long days submerged up to 50 ft underwater.

That shoot consisted of six months' worth of six-day, 70-hour weeks, with Cameron even getting to the point where comfort breaks were discouraged - Jim encouraging his cast and crew to relieve themselves in their wetsuits.

Throw in lightning storms, frequent technical difficulties - many of which resulted in complete pitch black at the depths of 50ft for those involved - and the mental and physical trauma on the body and mind, and it's no wonder that so many of The Abyss' key players have outright refused to ever talk about the film since they finished shooting.

To this day, stars Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio won't respond to questions about the picture due to the extreme toll it took on them.

While The Abyss is a stunning movie in a visual sense, it's a movie that's full of negativity and pain for so many of those involved.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.