The Saddest Movies Ever
by SusieSalmonLikeTheFish | created - 16 Apr 2017 | updated - 03 May 2021 | PublicNote that this list is entirely opinion based and in no particular order. KEEP IN MIND THAT SOME FILMS ON THIS LIST ARE EXTREMELY UPSETTING AND VIOLENT AND MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR YOUNGER VIEWERS. Some of these are also made for TV rather than feature films, and a couple were released as 2-parters.
There is more than one page of films making up this list, so if a title you're looking for appears to be missing, check the 2nd page ahead for it.
*UPDATES:
Wow, this list is getting popular? Who'd have thought?
Here is a separate list for sad ANIMATED FILMS (it's a work in progress, that one): https://www.imdb.com/list/ls091677836/
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1. My Life Without Me (2003)
R | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman conceals the fact of her terminal cancer to live her life with a passion she never had before.
Director: Isabel Coixet | Stars: Sarah Polley, Scott Speedman, Mark Ruffalo, Leonor Watling
Votes: 25,829 | Gross: $0.40M
2. Still Alice (2014)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama
A linguistics professor and her family find their bonds tested when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
Directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland | Stars: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth
Votes: 143,362 | Gross: $18.75M
3. Business Ethics (2019)
95 min | Comedy
A young, ambitious businessman gradually loses his friends - and his soul - as he tries to keep his elaborate Ponzi scheme afloat with acts of fraud, deception and even murder.
Director: Nick Wernham | Stars: Larenz Tate, Sarah Carter, Julian De Zotti, Lance Reddick
Votes: 218
4. Christine (2016)
R | 119 min | Biography, Drama
The story of Christine Chubbuck, a 1970s TV reporter struggling with depression and professional frustrations as she tries to advance her career.
Director: Antonio Campos | Stars: Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, Maria Dizzia
Votes: 16,886 | Gross: $0.30M
5. The Towering Inferno (1974)
PG | 165 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
At the opening party of a colossal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway
Votes: 48,187 | Gross: $116.00M
6. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,448,589 | Gross: $96.90M
7. The Lovely Bones (2009)
PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan, Susan Sarandon
Votes: 179,789 | Gross: $43.82M
8. King of the Hill (1993)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama, History
A young boy struggles on his own in a run-down hotel after his parents and younger brother are separated from him in 1930s Depression-era Midwest.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Jesse Bradford, Jeroen Krabbé, Lisa Eichhorn, Karen Allen
Votes: 8,817 | Gross: $1.30M
9. The Green Mile (1999)
R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Votes: 1,405,168 | Gross: $136.80M
10. The Book Thief (2013)
PG-13 | 131 min | Drama, War
While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
Director: Brian Percival | Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Ben Schnetzer
Votes: 142,213 | Gross: $21.49M
11. Holly (2006)
R | 114 min | Drama
In Cambodia, Holly, a 12 year old Vietnamese girl, encounters Patrick, an American stolen artifacts dealer. The story follows their strong connection and her unrelenting efforts to escape her fate.
Director: Guy Moshe | Stars: Ron Livingston, Chris Penn, Udo Kier, Virginie Ledoyen
Votes: 923 | Gross: $0.18M
12. Silkwood (1983)
R | 131 min | Biography, Drama, History
A worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher, Craig T. Nelson
Votes: 22,173 | Gross: $35.62M
13. My Girl (1991)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Vada is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. When Vada's father hires Shelly, a makeup expert, and begins to fall in love, Vada is outraged and does everything in her power to split them up.
Director: Howard Zieff | Stars: Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis
Votes: 88,763 | Gross: $59.85M
14. The Ice Storm (1997)
R | 112 min | Drama
In suburban New Canaan, Connecticut, 1973, middle-class families experimenting with casual sex and substance abuse find their lives beyond their control.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Henry Czerny
Votes: 59,924 | Gross: $7.84M
15. Mask (1985)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama
A teenager with a massive facial skull deformity and biker gang mother attempt to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Cher, Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliott, Estelle Getty
Votes: 32,496 | Gross: $48.23M
16. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
The solitary life of an artificial man - who was incompletely constructed and has scissors for hands - is upended when he is taken in by a suburban family.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall
Votes: 523,332 | Gross: $56.36M
17. Testament (1983)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
The life of a suburban American family is scarred after a nuclear attack.
Director: Lynne Littman | Stars: Jane Alexander, William Devane, Rossie Harris, Roxana Zal
Votes: 7,206 | Gross: $2.04M
18. 1408 (2007)
PG-13 | 104 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A man who specialises in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.
Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub
Votes: 293,758 | Gross: $71.99M
19. A Time to Kill (1996)
R | 149 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In Canton, Mississippi, a fearless young lawyer and his assistant defend a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Ku Klux Klan.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey
Votes: 181,401 | Gross: $108.77M
20. What Maisie Knew (2012)
R | 99 min | Drama
In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.
Directors: Scott McGehee, David Siegel | Stars: Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Steve Coogan, Joanna Vanderham
Votes: 28,599 | Gross: $1.07M
21. World Trade Center (2006)
PG-13 | 129 min | Drama, History, Thriller
Two Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Michael Peña, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Votes: 87,836 | Gross: $70.28M
22. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien
Votes: 245,974 | Gross: $9.03M
23. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
R | 102 min | Drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
Votes: 897,516 | Gross: $3.64M
24. I Can Make You Love Me (1993 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A young beautiful computer technician starting off her career in Silicon Valley during the 1980s is stalked and harassed by a deranged colleague with a twisted obsession.
Director: Michael Switzer | Stars: Richard Thomas, Brooke Shields, Viveka Davis, William Allen Young
Votes: 1,838
25. The Normal Heart (2014 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 132 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the early 1980s, the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York led to an emergence of homosexual activists. With support from the medical community, they try to raise awareness about the disease.
Director: Ryan Murphy | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Jonathan Groff, Frank De Julio, William DeMeritt
Votes: 37,757
26. Pay It Forward (2000)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance.
Director: Mimi Leder | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt, Jay Mohr
Votes: 123,819 | Gross: $33.52M
27. Milk (I) (2008)
R | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of American gay activist Harvey Milk, who fought for gay rights and was elected as California's first openly gay official.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna
Votes: 179,757 | Gross: $31.84M
28. Paperhouse (1988)
PG-13 | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Charlotte Burke, Jane Bertish, Samantha Cahill, Glenne Headly
Votes: 6,275 | Gross: $0.24M
29. American History X (1998)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama
Living a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.
Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien
Votes: 1,184,976 | Gross: $6.72M
30. Moonlight (I) (2016)
R | 111 min | Drama
A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
Director: Barry Jenkins | Stars: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes, Alex R. Hibbert
Votes: 331,376 | Gross: $27.85M
31. Philadelphia (1993)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama
When a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Roberta Maxwell, Buzz Kilman
Votes: 257,810 | Gross: $77.32M
32. A Monster Calls (2016)
PG-13 | 108 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Conor, a twelve-year-old boy, encounters an ancient tree monster who proceeds to help him cope with his mother's terminal illness and being bullied in school.
Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Lewis MacDougall, Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell
Votes: 93,755 | Gross: $3.74M
33. One Hour Photo (2002)
R | 96 min | Drama, Thriller
A mentally unstable photo developer targets an upper middle-class family after his obsession with them becomes more sick and disturbing than any of them could imagine.
Director: Mark Romanek | Stars: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Dylan Smith
Votes: 131,622 | Gross: $31.60M
34. The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Hazel and Gus are teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. They both share the same acerbic wit and a love of books, especially "An Imperial Affliction", so they embark on a journey to visit an author in Amsterdam.
Director: Josh Boone | Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern
Votes: 400,792 | Gross: $124.87M
35. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)
G | 93 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
The young apprentice of a magical, eccentric toy store owner learns to believe in herself, and in her friends, upon learning some grave news about the future.
Director: Zach Helm | Stars: Natalie Portman, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Bateman, Ted Ludzik
Votes: 47,660 | Gross: $32.06M
36. Super 8 (2011)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
During the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and investigate subsequent unexplained events in their small town.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Elle Fanning, AJ Michalka, Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney
Votes: 367,302 | Gross: $127.00M
37. The Invisible (2007)
PG-13 | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A teenager is left invisible to the living after an attack.
Director: David S. Goyer | Stars: Justin Chatwin, Margarita Levieva, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher Rodriguez Marquette
Votes: 36,539 | Gross: $20.57M
38. Restless (I) (2011)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama, Romance
The story of a terminally ill teenage girl who falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals and their encounters with the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Ryô Kase, Schuyler Fisk
Votes: 18,398 | Gross: $0.16M
39. Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
PG | 96 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
A preteen's life turns upside down when he befriends the new girl in school and they imagine a whole new fantasy world to escape reality.
Director: Gabor Csupo | Stars: Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Zooey Deschanel, Robert Patrick
Votes: 173,060 | Gross: $82.27M
40. Stand by Me (1986)
R | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell
Votes: 441,009 | Gross: $52.29M
41. The Cure (1995)
PG-13 | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.
Director: Peter Horton | Stars: Joseph Mazzello, Brad Renfro, Aeryk Egan, Delphine French
Votes: 10,658 | Gross: $2.57M
42. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance