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1 year ago
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WARNING: Due to the nature of the question being answered in this post, there are descriptions of disturbing events ahead. Please proceed with caution and take care of yourself!
We recently asked members of our BuzzFeed Community, "What's one documentary — whether it's a single movie or series — that disturbed you far more than any horror movie could?" and you better believe they came through with some excellent responses!
So, with that in mind, here are just a few of the most popular scenes shared:
1. Three Identical Strangers (2018)
"It starts out as a lighthearted romp about brothers separated at birth finding each other as adults, but about halfway through it takes a dark turn into medical ethics, the nature/nurture argument, and social experiments on children."
"The coffee industry is messed up. Companies making billions off of poor Ethiopian farmers."
"TBH, this one horrified me because how could parents put their daughter — Brooke Shields — in such terrible positions where she had no power, and was manipulated? Like, her dad clearly did not think much of her acting, but he didn't even say anything? IDK, like, how fucked up is all of that? It made me so sad."
"Holy shit. And that man is out here walking free because 'technically he didn’t commit a crime.'"
5. Catching a Monster: Jared from Subway (2023)
"The things he would say about what he wanted to do with children was horrific, terrifying, and heartbreaking. It turned my stomach and literally made me gasp. That man is pure evil and he needs to stay locked up."
6. Abducted in Plain Sight (2017)
"I love documentaries and have watched so many, but none of them hit me like this one. Even my husband, who despises docs, sat down and watched the whole with me just after hearing the first 10 minutes. Let me just say, if this was a movie or book plot, I would have thought it was the most ludicrous storyline, yet it's a true story. The story is about a pedophile who befriends a family. Very quick overview, he has an affair with the mother, fools around with the dad, and uses that to somehow convince the parents that he needs to sleep in bed with their kids (one daughter in particular). He convinces the daughter that they have to mate for humanity to survive. I don't think I've ever felt that much anger after seeing a doc like I did that one."
"Werner Herzog’s haunting voice describing the unraveling of a man, while strangely endearing him to you. They have the good taste not to include the audio recordings of people being eaten by bears, but it still leaves you with this very raw feeling of vulnerability to the indifference of nature."
"It’s about a church cult that’s based around this woman’s dieting plan that basically consists of praying when you’re hungry. I think it showed how easy it is for people to find themselves in a cult or how helpless you are when you lose a family member or friend to one."
"It’s a bit older, but still resonates. It addresses the complete and utter indoctrination of young people into strident fundamentalism. They’re taught to oppose abortion, to eschew science in favor of 'Jesus made the dinosaurs,' and are homeschooled by brainwashed parents. The last scene always resonates: these kids travel to DC to push anti-abortion propaganda and the people passing by on the streets UTTERLY ignore them. You almost hope this taste of reality helps them break free, and I think I read a follow-up saying a few of the kids actually pulled out of the fundamentalist 'lifestyle.'"
"It shook me to my core. Just when you think the woman has reached maximum evil, they reveal more wild things about her."
11. The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (2022)
"I found this recently on Netflix and it's chilling because I absolutely could have seen myself signing up to go on that excursion, as I've hiked around volcanoes before. Whole families were killed."
12. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (2022)
"I legit vomited while listening to the last few minutes of this doc. They play a voice recording of Warren [Jeffs] doing something absolutely unspeakable — it was horrifying."
13. Girl in the Picture (2022)
"It's about a girl whose real identity no one knew because the man people knew as her father was not actually her father, and abused her. All of her names and identities turned out to be fake names. It was just so sad because everyone interviewed had nothing but good things to say about her, but ultimately, no one really knows her real name or identity because the man posing as her father stole that from her."
14. The Trials of Gabriel Fernández (2020)
"Never have I truly been so [affected] by a case and been so disappointed in the system. The assholes that hurt him deserve everything bad. My heart breaks for any child that may go through something like this."
15. Allen v. Farrow (2021)
"If anyone is still skeptical about whether or not he molested Dylan, this should do away with that skepticism. One 'critique' from Dylan's brother Moses was that Dylan remembered a train set in the attic which 'wasn't actually there.' So the police drew it in the attic for fun, did they? The 'therapists' who 'exonerated' Allen interviewed a young, vulnerable child over and over (and over) trying to get her to say what they wanted, and when she wouldn't change her story, they said she kept repeating the same things, so she was obviously lying. Someone revoke those people's PhDs! The documentary also goes into how the female love interests in most of his movies are teenagers, which once you realize is the case, just makes you sick."
16. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015)
"It's all about an NYC trust fund baby who decided to go off on his own career path after his brother took over the family company. So many twists and turns: including missing bodies, missing body parts that then turned up, and, most importantly, a very deep dive into the psyche of a human being that felt that — since he’d been deprived from what he felt he was due — he could then take justice into his own hands. Until he made a massive error in judgment that ended up deciding his destiny forever."
17. American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)
"This documentary investigated the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her little girls, but only told from the perspective of first-person footage (like police cams, personal videos, and messages). The fact that the information only comes from real raw footage makes you feel like you're really there and experiencing it with them in real-time, as if it is your own life and relationships being shown. It really tore me up and made me question what I thought was real, and what could be going on in secret behind closed doors."
18. Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case (2020)
"An Australian filmmaker began her documentary journey reporting on a Danish inventor and flew to Denmark to shadow him in his ventures. Mid-filming, things became unbelievably sinister when he and a woman were in his submarine alone and she went missing. Just watching him throughout the months of filming and seeing him teasing the viewers knowing what was in store for them (seemingly innocent, until it’s not) it’s absolutely sick. I’ve seen so many docs, but I had chills and goosebumps watching him. Incredible documentary, though. Beautifully done. Heartbreaking. Devastating. Unbelievable raw view of human madness."
"Incredible doc about a murdered nun, but it goes deep into the troubled world of Catholic sexual abuse. It was hard to hear stories firsthand from victims, but so important they were given a chance to tell them."
20. Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (2019)
"It’s pretty widely known now, all about internet sleuths trying to track down an abomination of a human being. It's (somewhat) equal parts horrifying and immensely satisfying."
"This one fucked with my head for a very long time afterward. I’m fairly certain it’s available for free on YouTube. I highly recommend it, if you can stomach the various layers of depravity this documentary details. You say you like a plot twist? This absolutely delivers."
22. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
"It was recommended to me by a co-worker and we watched it at work. It was so well done and drew you in almost immediately. The ending absolutely gutted me. I was a crying mess. I highly recommend it, but I don't know if I will ever be able to watch it again. It's one of the only documentaries (and movies overall) that I still think about frequently."
You've read their responses, but now it's your turn! What's a documentary that disturbed you more than any horror movie?? Share your pick in the comments below!
Some responses were edited for length and/or clarity.
English (US) ·