The Most Stressful Movies You'll Still Want To Watch

Sometimes it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about a movie that stresses you out. In the case of Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, it's a lot easier to figure out, because the answer is quite literally everything. The film's photography, music, acting, sound design, and editing all seem specifically designed with the single goal of keeping viewers on edge for the entirety of the film, and that's exactly what they do. The result is a challenging, deeply disturbing movie that you don't really watch as much as you experience.

Yes, it's often quite a stressful experience (the beach scene at Under the Skin's halfway point is so emotionally punishing it's almost physically painful to sit through), but it's also a profoundly engaging one. Under the Skin is so meticulous in its structural artifice, tonal shifts, and narrative ambition that the film virtually hypnotizes viewers into entering its oblique darkness as it examines complex topics of identity, extraterrestrial morality, and what it means to be human.

At the center of that exploration is the single weirdest (and possibly strongest) performance of Scarlett Johansson's career. The less said about that performance the better. Just know that, like Under the Skin itself, it works best if you know as little as possible going in. Know as well that if you're stressed out while experiencing Under The Skin, that just means it's working.