9th: The Dentist
This is probably one of the most dangerous movies to watch from this list because it will haunt you constantly with every little occasion it will get. We all dread the visits to the dentist and avoid them to the point where you`d rather pull something out yourself than go visit a professional.
While it`s better to seek for qualified help, this movie won`t make you trust dentists too much. This movie exerts a morbid attraction to all its viewers and there`s nothing more true than the fact that no matter how much something creeps us out, we always want to see just where the limits stands.
To Trust or Not to Trust
Before you totally decide against dentists, remember they`re also human. However this might not be entirely reassuring. This movie presents us the practice of Alan Feinstone, a dentist whose patients are totally comfortable with him.
However, when he sees his wife cheat on him, he kind of loses it and it`s his unsuspicious visitors that have to suffer. Even if he`s clearly not 100% there, he continues working. At first everything seems normal just so that, half way though, he would get the impression that even the cleanest teeth hide dirty underneath.
What follows is definitely within the horror sphere. The Dentist owns most of its success to Corbin Bernsen and his impressive performance as the sadistic, deranged, hygiene obsessed dentist that makes us feel both sympathy and hate at the same time.
We remember Bernsen as a mostly comedy or drama enthusiast but he proves us that he can credibly handle even a psychotic character. There`s something in the way he recites his line that takes your breath away. If you`re having problems with your dentist, this isn`t a movie you should watch.
Can You Handle More?
It`s hard for a second movie to compete with the first of the series. If you know the quote “truth or tooth” then you know what is coming next.
Following the first movie, The Dentist 2 is a surprisingly enjoyable that brings our controversial dentist back into business after escaping the hospital he was confined into. Compared to the first part, this one is more focused on the psychological standpoints of Caine`s madness and sets aside the fun elements.
8th: Buried
Buried is a movie that will leave you feeling uneasy. We all judge a film after its ability to make us feel as part of the action itself. This is one of those cases where you really are dragged into the middle of the plot, but for once, I don`t think you`ll be grateful.
The movie is so capable to keep you suspended between reality and imagination, that this could very well be the closest replica of what being buried alive feels like. Not a very pleasant position to be into and even the least claustrophobic persons won`t be entirely comfortable watching it.
Story
We step into Paul`s shoes, a truck driver working in Iraq that is confused for an American soldier and kidnapped. When he comes to his senses, he finds himself confined inside a coffin with nothing else but a lighter and a cell phone.
As he grows more and more anxious he contacts his family, boss and the leader of the rescue team in a desperate attempt to save himself. In addition, the man behind all this keeps pressing him in order to receive the ransom money.
Ryan Reynolds
It`s very hard to make a successful movie only focused around one single person but when director Rodrigo Cortes won the big jackpot when he decided to gamble his “money” on Ryan Reynolds. To say that he was fantastic is a gross understatement.
Being the sole actor you can imagine the kind of pressure he was under, even more so since he was buried alive, but Ryan managed to gives us a most dramatic performance. He screams and cries, making you bite your nails in anticipation and feel just as helpless as his character.
7th: The Experiment
If someone offered you money to take part in an experiment, would you do it? Today`s world revolves only around money so probably we`d be tempted to say “yes”. We like to think that we know ourselves and that we can`t be affected by anything someone intentionally throws at us, but most of the time we`re more vulnerable than we think.
It`s hard to ignore how brilliant the concept of this film is, even if it has some sides that would upset a more light-hearted person. The Experiment if a movie just bursting with violence and disturbing moments as well as funny moments. It makes it hard for you to guess what will happen next and the only thing you can do is watch helplessly how people are changed by the position they find themselves in.
In a Cage
The majority of people consider that prisons are only dangerous for the convicts, but the guards are just as trapped as the rest. The movie resembles an experiment carried out in 1971 in Stanford. Volunteers sign in to take part in a psychological study led by a Doctor Archaleta.
What he does is take 26 men and divide them into 20 prisoners and 6 guards. Regardless of their status, they have to live their lives as if they served real jail time for only two weeks, at the end of which they`ll receive $14,000 each.
We`re lucky to be able to watch this from a neutral position. It sounds almost harmless when you consider that this is all an experiment and that they are probably all in for the money so none of them will take it seriously. However what we`ll notice is that people put in a situation of power will be corrupted by it.
This is a truth known by everyone but we don`t know just how dark it is until we`ve seen how it really behaves in a real situation. At first they were all equals but after the people assigned to be guards were raised above the prisoners who were deprived of most of their freedom, they tend to forget that this is only a set up. The prisoners being unfairly treated will rise against the guards until we have a full scale open war between the two factions.
A
fter you watch this movie you can`t help but ask yourself, who are the real victims of this system? The freedom deprived convicts or the guards who are slowly corrupted by their environment?
Old Versus New
You can find this movie in two versions, the 2001 version directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and the remake of this movie under Paul T. Scheuring. You`ll probably hear many bad reviews about the latter for the sole reason that it`s a remake, but to blindly give ear to these opinions will be your loss.
It`s true that the original movie strikes you as more realistic, but the American version is just as enjoyable. Adrien Brody gives a firsthand performance that must not be missed.