‘Verging on unwatchable’: Guardian writers on their most stressful movies

<p>With the US release of Rose Byrne’s anxiety-inducing motherhood spiral <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/24/if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you-review-rose-byrne">If I Had Legs I’d Kick You</a>, writers relive their most uncomfortable movie watches</p><p>The only movie I have literally had to take breaks from in order to give my sympathetic nervous system time to downshift out of flight or flight mode, Scott Mann’s 2022 psychological thriller <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/10/fall-review-wildly-effective-survival-thriller-delivers-seat-edge-suspense">Fall</a> is brilliant in its simplicity. Thrill-seeking climbing influencer Hunter convinces her bestie Becky to do a little immersion therapy after her husband Dan’s sudden death during a climb leaves her fearful, depressed and suicidal. The goal: to climb a decommissioned TV transmission tower deep in the California desert that’s roughly twice the height of the Eiffel Tower. When the rickety ladder that gets them to a tiny platform at the structure’s top falls to smithereens, the women suddenly discover new meanings of SOL. The film is nothing if not an excuse to gloriously parade a series of show-stopping, sweaty-palm scenes, yet it becomes a deeply psychological, intricate twin character study as Mann gradually peels back the layers of Hunter and Becky’s up-and-down friendship, and the latter’s gradual rediscovery of her courage. With word that Fall is being made into a franchise, I am eagerly awaiting the next opportunity to send my adrenal glands into overdrive. <em>Veronica Esposito</em></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oct/11/most-stressful-movies">Continue reading...</a>