10 Beyond Disturbing Horror Movies That Have Made People Faint

The French film Raw spins a gruesome tale about a vegetarian student who turns to cannibalism. Its scenes of flesh chowing are so intense and visceral that there were several reports of people fainting and being treated by the paramedics during a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

One of the most revered horror films in Western cinema, The Exorcist is a chilling tale about demonic possession. When it first came out in 1973, people reacted so fearfully that cinemas ushers even handed out smelling salts for those who fainted.

Saw III is the third installation in the now-classic series that centres around Jigsaw, a psychopath who tortures his victims psychologically and physically. The film was so gruesome that staff at a UK cinema had to call emergency services three times in a night because viewers kept passing out.

In Bite, a bug take a chunk out of a bride-to-be, who, instead of gaining superpowers, transforms into a bug with pus-filled scabs. Apparently, the film was grisly enough to warrant complimentary barf bags. Things got so out of hand at the Fantasia International Film Fest that two people fainted, one girl puked, and another person even hit his head on stairs!

In V/H/S, a mysterious third party hires a group of criminals to break into an abandoned house to retrieve a VHS tape. The criminals pursue this mission and in their breaking and entering, come across a series of horrific tapes in the house. At the Sundance screening, one person fainted after the first gruesome scene and only left after his girlfriend insisted. Just 20 minutes later, the film caused another person to faint.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho revolves around a gruesome murder and a dark family secret that unfolds at the eerie Bates Motel. In some of the earliest showings of the film, people fainted and puked. Things escalated so quickly that a New York cinemas had to call the police and people even called for censorship.

The Austrian horror flick Goodnight Mommy is about identical twin boys who either have Capgras Syndrome, a condition in which the afflicted believes that a person in their life has been replaced with an identical impostor, or the woman who returned home after facial surgery is not their real mother. They begin to take dark and violent actions against her, actions so gruesome, in fact, that according to the director, at least two audience members passed out.

Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face) is a 1959 French-Italian horror film about a doctor who performs heterograph facial surgeries. The doctor undertakes horrific means to restore the face of his daughter, Christiane. It's reported that at preview screenings in France and Scotland, several audience members required emergency services after fainting during the movie, causing a scandal in the British press.

Box office hit The Blair Witch Project is a documentary-style horror movie that follows three film students who go to the woods to do a film project about the Blair Witch incidents. The premise of the story is that these students are never found again, and that the film is their recovered footage. With grainy and out-of-focus effects, the film fosters a chillingly realistic feel which is compounded by its fast pace and scary themes. Viewers have experienced motion sickness, enough to warrant warnings at screenings. A representative at Loews Cineplex Entertainment has even reported that an average of one person per show at the Cineplex Odeon Outer Circle demanded a refund because they felt physically ill watching the movie.