1.
Top 10 Disturbing Documentaries

2.
10. Faces Of Death (1978)
Directed by: Conan LeCilaire

3.
10. Faces Of Death (1978)
● Before you rush down to the comments, let me
explain my reasoning for including Conan
LeCilaire’s infamous Faces of Death on this list.
The film, a compilation of found footage of
people dying in particularly gruesome ways,
does indeed feature material that was created
by the filmmakers. However, approximately
60% of the footage in the film is authentic.
Perhaps the most famous authentic scene of
the film is footage of when a cyclist is run over
by a semi-tractor trailer, spilling his guts all over
the street

4.
9.Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984)
Directed by Werner Herzog and
Denis Reichle

5.
9. The Ballad Of The Little Soldier
● In addition to being one of the most successful
and influential German filmmakers of all time,
Werner Herzog also has a distinguished career
as a documentarian. In fact, he has done so
many documentaries on so many different
subjects that picking just one of his films for this
list was almost impossible. But I finally settled
on his 1984 documentary on child soldiers in
Nicaragua entitled Ballad of the Little Soldier.
Only clocking in at 45 minutes, Ballad of the
Little Soldier (co-directed by Herzog’s friend
Denis Reichle, who served as a child soldier
during World War II in the Volkssturm) contains
interviews with actual child soldiers.

6.
8) Shoah (1985)
Directed by Claude Lanzmann

7.
8.Shoah
● Exhaustive in scope and devastating in detail,
Claude Lanzmann’s nine and a half hour
examination of the Holocaust is one of the most
intense, harrowing, and disturbing
documentaries ever made. Comprised mostly
of interviews with concentration camp survivors,
witnesses of the genocide, and actual German
participants of the slaughter, Shoah is perhaps
the definitive film on the Holocaust.

8.
7) Earthlings (2005)
Directed by Shaun Monson

9.
7.Earthlings
● While many might balk at the film’s ideas
concerning speciesism, Shaun Monson’s
Earthlings is one of the most intense
documentaries about animal rights ever made.
A collaboration made with the aid of several
notable vegans, including Joaquin Phoenix,
Moby, and Maggie Q, the film contains
extremely graphic footage of animals being
abused, killed, and exploited in industries and
cultures all over the world. Much of the footage
was only obtained thanks to the use of hidden
cameras

10.
6) The Bridge (2006) Directed by
Eric Steel

11.
6.The Bridge
● Much like the aforementioned Faces of Death,
Eric’s Steel’s The Bridge contains authentic
footage of people dying. But this time around,
instead of featuring accidental footage, The
Bridge contains scenes of people committing
suicide by jumping off the San Francisco
Golden Gate Bridge. Working every day for one
year, the film’s crew managed to capture
several people jumping to their deaths. To the
film crew’s credit, they did try to stop the
jumpers whenever they could. However, as
they quickly discovered, most jumpers gave
little to no warning before taking the fatal

12.
5) Jesus Camp (September 15,
2006) Directed by Heidi Ewing and
Rachel Grady

13.
5) Jesus Camp
● As a Christian myself, I was horrified and repulsed by
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Jesus Camp, an
examination of the charismatic Christian summer camp
“Kids On Fire School of Ministry.” Located in Devils Lake,
North Dakota, the summer camp trains young children to
be soldiers of the “army of God” against what they believe
to be a secular and corrupt society. It is impossible to
watch Jesus Camp without cringing at certain scenes:
when the children are made to pray at a cardboard idol of
president George W. Bush, when they are reduced to tears
and screams during a religious service, and even a scene
where they meet with (pre-scandal) Ted Haggard in order
to receive advice about ministry and evangelism.

14.
4) The Cove (2009)
Directed by Louie Psihoyos

15.
4.The Cove
● Louie Psihoyos’ The Cove is an Academy
Award winning documentary about Japanese
dolphin drive hunting, a brutal process whereby
migrating dolphins are driven into coves and
mercilessly stabbed, gutted, and chopped to
death by fishermen. Not only is the process
inhumane and cruel, but it is allowed to survive
thanks to shady business dealing with
politicians who are willing to look the other way
for a price. The film is incredibly controversial
for both its graphic content and the methods by
which the filmmakers attained it

16.
3.Cropsey (June 4, 2009) Directed
by Joshua Zeman and Barbara
Brancaccio

17.
3.Cropsey
● Cropsey is a documentary on a fascinating and
equally disturbing concept: what if one of the many
American urban legends about sinister child snatchers
turned out to be true? In this case, the boogeyman is
the eponymous Cropsey, an escaped mental patient
who supposedly kidnaps and kills kids in New York.
The documentary begins by exploring this urban
legend before moving its focus onto the true-life story
of Andre Rand, a Staten Island maniac accused of
murdering 5 children in the 70’s and 80’s. These two
figures, Cropsey and Rand, are used as a gateway for
delving into the darker parts of small-town America. A
word of warning: don’t watch this documentary in the
dark.

18.
1) Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
(2011) Produced for Vice.com

19.
2) The Hammer Maniacs (2010)
Produced for Aquí en Vivo

20.
2.The Hammer Maniacs
● Have you ever looked into the face of pure evil? In this
Chilean documentary, we come face-to-face with three
of the most twisted, sadistic, and horrifying serial
killers in history: the Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs, three
Ukrainian teenagers charged with 21 murders, some
of which they filmed. Not only were several of these
murders captured on film, one of them, the brutal
slaying of 48 year old Sergei Yatzenko, was leaked
onto the internet and became a minor viral hit under
the title “3Guys1Hammer,” referring to the weapon that
they used to kill him. This documentary explores these
crimes and features actual footage from the murder
videos. Be warned: this documentary is not for the
faint of heart.

21.
1. Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
● This online documentary examines one of the most
heinous cultural abuses towards women still in existence
today: Kyrgyzstan bride kidnapping. Ever since the fall of
the Soviet Union, the practice of kidnapping young women
and coercing them into marriages against their will has
spiked significantly. While any film about such a terrible
thing would be disturbing in its own right, this documentary
pushes the boundaries of good taste by having a camera
crew accompany a group of men during an actual
kidnapping. Yes, you read that right: the film crew solicited
their services as wedding photographers to a family,
participated in a kidnapping, documented the wedding,
and did nothing to help. The film crew claims that they
didn’t interfere with the kidnapping because the woman
was already planning on marrying one of her abductors,
but that doesn’t excuse the fact that they participated in an
act that is illegal under Kyrgyzstan law and condemned by
the rest of the world.

22.
Thanks For Watching