Endurance horror.
It’s a term that’s finding itself arriving in ever-increasing frequency to the table of horror discourse, and one that – given it’s often overused and under-explained as it relates to genre films – is worth unpacking in greater detail.
So, what is endurance horror? Let's take a look, before we dive into Talking Terror's top 12 endurance horror picks for 2025 audiences.
What is Endurance Horror?
Endurance horror refers, quite simply, to films that are an ordeal to watch. Typically, these movies put their viewers through the absolute ringer: exposing their audience to prolonged sequences of torture, brutality, and bloody bodily dismemberment to shock, entertain, and – ultimately – test the limits of those masochistic moviegoers’ ability to endure.
In endurance horror, the focus is often on a characters' ability to survive an extreme, prolonged, and often physically and mentally taxing situation. Often, characters are put through an unrelenting series of harrowing experiences—whether it's fighting for survival in isolation, facing an unending supernatural threat, or withstanding ceaseless psychological and physical torment.
The ‘endurance’ in endurance horror, then, refers to the ordeal in store not only for the characters, but for the viewers, too. That means it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted, or the horror newbies. (I was shocked, for instance, when a colleague of mine – who’s absolutely not into horror – casually dropped into conversation that she’d been unable to get into scary films after watching “some French film” a few years back. That film turned out to be Martyrs (2008).)
Still, if you’ve been enjoying your journey so far and are looking to plunge deeper into the depraved, you can’t get more sick and twisted than my top 12 endurance film selections.
En…joy…I guess?
The Top 12 Endurance Horrors for the Hardcore
My top 12 endurance horrors – in descending order, from least to most shockingly, sickeningly vile – are as follows:
12. Hostel (2005)
11. The Devil's Rejects (2005)
10. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
9. The House That Jack Built (2018)
8. I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
7. The Girl Next Door (2007)
6. Terrifier 2 (2022)
5. Audition (1999)
4. Martyrs (2008)
3. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
2. A Serbian Film (2010)
1. Salò, or 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
12. Hostel (2005)
There’s something about Eli Roth’s Hostel that’s always stuck with me. Perhaps it’s because I saw it at an impressionable age (I was about 13); perhaps it’s the unabated violence, which saw the film banned in Norway and become the subject of intense scrutiny (and in the US, protests) in countries like UK and Australia, where some scenes had to be cut for their graphic content. But I actually give Hostel a bit more credit than the “torture porn” (or, as I prefer, “gorenography”) brush it so often gets tarred with.
From the get-go, this film – which follows a group of American friends backpacking across Europe who fall into the clutches of a sinister torture-for-sale ring – moves at a great clip, drawing you in and getting you feeling for the doomed characters. The second half of the movie – which devolves into an extended cat-and-mouse chase scene – is expertly done, too. Sure, we get plenty of gore and torture along the way (in one scene, a character’s eyeball is literally liquified by a blowtorch), but it wouldn’t be endurance horror otherwise, would it?
11. The Devil's Rejects (2005)
A follow-up to 2003’s House of 1,000 Corpses and the second film in Rob Zombie’s Firefly Family saga, The Devil’s Rejects ups the ante of its predecessor: following the gang (Otis Driftwood, Baby Firefly, and Captain Spaulding) as it takes its sadistic reign of terror to an even darker, more relentless level. Gritty and disturbing, The Devil’s Rejects revels in the depravity of its characters and the suffering they cause. Worse still, its final act offers no redemption – leaving audiences with no hope or optimism to trade in for the vile depravity they’ve just witnessed. Instead, we’re left with the sour taste of themes such as revenge, justice, and moral ambiguity on the palate (not to mention the icky aftertaste of extended torture and murder sequences). Naturally, this one’s not for everyone.
10. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
One of the most infamous, grotesque entries into global cinema – ever – The Human Centipede centres on a deranged German doctor who kidnaps three people and surgically joins them together, mouth to anus (sorry), in a sickening experiment, thus creating the eponymous centipede. Simply contemplating the title and premise of The Human Centipede is somewhat of an endurance test – needless to say, you can imagine what actually watching this thing is like!
9. The House That Jack Built (2018)
While more psychological than the others, Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built is an endurance horror film that takes the audience through the mind of a serial killer, Jack, as he recounts his 12 years of brutal killings. Crucially, the film isn't just about the murders themselves, but instead features Antichrist's von Trier homing in on Jack’s cold, analytical, and nihilistic approach to violence. Still, it must be said that the violence is explicit and grotesque – and the film's philosophical musings on the nature of art, suffering, and evil all add up to make The House That Jack Built all the more of an excruciating experience.
8. I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
Also released as Day of the Woman, Meir Zarchi’s film is a brutal revenge thriller that starts with the horrific rape and assault of the protagonist, Jennifer Hills, before she takes matters into her own hands in seeking revenge on the men who wronged her. Infamous for its depiction of sexual violence and the resulting pursuit of ensuing, climactic retribution, I Spit on Your Grave is in turns unrelenting, cathartic, and deeply, deeply unsettling.
7. The Girl Next Door (2007)
Based on the real-life horrors described in Jack Ketchum's novel, Gregory Wilson’s film tells the chilling story of two sisters who are abused and tortured by the sadistic aunt who takes them in after their parents die. The film's depiction of relentless and cruel torment – including forced nudity, physical violence, and sexual degradation – is, unsurprisingly, deeply unsettling. Grim, merciless, and offering no real sense of justice or escape, The Girl Next Door is a warped, wicked film you’d be best off avoiding altogether.
6. Terrifier 2 (2022)
Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 picks up the bloody trail of David Howard Thornton’s Art the Clown: a sadistic, silent killer with a penchant for gruesome murders and grotesque, elaborate mutilations. This time, Art seems to have an even more supernatural and unstoppable presence, as he begins stalking new victims, including a teenage girl named Sienna and her brother, who are drawn into his horrific world. There are few films as worthy of the endurance horror moniker as Terrifier 2 – and, indeed, few so emblematic of this evolving subgenre – and to go into any detail at all about some of the extended kill scenes here (and there are many) would be to spoil the fun.
But someone does have their face ripped off.
5. Audition (1999)
What starts as a slow-burn Japanese drama about a widowed man searching for a new wife spirals –natch – into something altogether different in Takashi Miike’s cult classic.
We follow the love-seeking singleton as he holds auditions to find a potential partner, only to meet a woman who seems perfect…until the disturbing truth about her past and her intentions are revealed. What transpires are scenes of sadistic torture, psychological manipulation, and extreme body horror, culminating in one of the most infamous scenes in horror cinema. Must be seen to be believed.
If you haven't put yourself through that scene, are you really a horror fan?
4. Martyrs (2008)
Notorious for its extreme violence (even among non-horror-loving co-workers), few characters committed to film have had to withstand the torment Pascal Laugier puts his through in Martyrs. That French film follows two women who were subjected to horrific abuse as children and are now seeking revenge against those responsible. As the narrative unfolds, it veers into mind-bending, deeply disturbing territory as it dusts down themes of suffering, transcendence, and human depravity. The movie culminates in one of the most haunting, visceral scenes in horror history, as one of the characters endures a gruesome ordeal in an effort to reach a higher state of understanding. That existential, nihilistic conclusion alone is worth the price of admission – if, that is, you’ve got the stones for it!
3. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
No list of the most prominent endurance horror films would be complete without the most notorious exploitation film in history: Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust.
The film – re-imagined, incidentally, by Hostel’s Eli Roth in 2013 as The Green Inferno – follows a documentary crew who venture into the Amazon to make a documentary about indigenous tribes, only to be caught and tortured by the very people they were filming. Cannibal Holocaust’s combination of (real!) animal cruelty, disturbing violence, and psychological degradation makes it a sickening, unrelenting, obscene experience for the audience, with zero redeeming social merit. Infamous for its graphic content and disturbing depictions of human suffering, Cannibal Holocaust the lines between fiction and reality in a way that would later pave the way for the first found footage horror films.
Almost half a century later, this one is still the worst.
2. A Serbian Film (2010)
Describe Srdjan Spasojević’s A Serbian Film in a word? Unwatchable would be close.
Certainly, this one pushes the boundaries of shock value to unconscionable, almost unnecessary extremes – and it’s certainly not one I’m recommending. (Well, at least not at Christmas time.) The film follows a retired porn star who is lured into a new film project, only to find himself entangled in a horrific and grotesque conspiracy involving child abuse, snuff films (which this film comes dangerously close to emulating itself) and unspeakable violence. A Serbian Film is notorious for its graphic depictions of sexual violence, exploitation, and psychological horror and, if any film seems to have been designed to test the limits of its audience, it’s this one.
1. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Things just hit different in the 1970s, and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom is living proof. Based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade – don’t look him up – this one’s set in the final days of Mussolini’s Italy during World War II. We’re thrust into the story of four wealthy, dissolute young people – two fascist libertines and two women – who kidnap a group of young men and women and proceed to subject them to extreme sexual, physical, and psychological torture: forcing them to withstand a cornucopia of unimaginable abuses over the course of 120 days. Each day, the horrors escalate, culminating in a final sequence of unimaginable cruelty and degradation.
Just…don’t watch this one. Please.
There’s no real endurance horrors coming out this year, but how about checking out my guide to the best horror movies of 2025 anyway? And, if that doesn't float your boat, this opinion piece on why 2025's horror lineup might (or might not) have an IP problem will!
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