Watch at Your Own Risk: 5 Most Depressing Movies That Can Turn the Brightest Day Gray

Some movies make you laugh. Others make you cry. But there are also movies that can make you feel the worst, even if your day has been perfect. These five are prime examples.

The Day After (1983, 7.0 on IMDb)

Partly styled as a news report, this ABC television movie follows a nuclear exchange between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces after conflict breaks out in Germany, still divided after WWII. The film focuses on the lives of ordinary Americans from Kansas and Missouri, the farmers whose land houses the US missile silos, and the soldiers involved in the war. Most depressingly, it shows the devastating aftermath of the surprisingly quick conflict.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995, 7.5 on IMDb)

Available on: Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime

Based on John O'Brien's novel of the same name, Mike Figgis' drama stars Nicolas Cage as Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood writer whose addiction has cost him his job, family and friends. With a hefty settlement check in his pocket, Ben heads to Las Vegas to end his life in style. There he meets Sera, a prostitute with whom he develops a relationship and who becomes his confidante before his impending death.

Dancer in the Dark (2000, 7.9 on IMDb)

Available on: Amazon Prime

Set in Washington State in 1964, Lars von Trier's musical-psychological tragedy tells the story of Selma Ježková, a Czech immigrant single mother who works in a factory to support her twelve-year-old son, Gene. Selma has a degenerative eye disease that is causing her to lose her sight. She hides the fact from her employer in order to save enough money for her son's surgery, which would prevent him from sharing her fate. And only her friend Kathy knows about Selma's blindness and helps her enjoy musicals when the two of them go to the movies.

Threads (1984, 8.0 on IMDb)

Available on: Tubi TV, Amazon Prime

Another film about a nuclear war between the US and the USSR, this apocalyptic war drama revolves around two ordinary English families caught in the middle of a nuclear exchange between the two superpowers following a conflict in the Middle East. Set primarily in Sheffield, Threads portrays the devastating consequences of war for humanity as medical, social, economic and environmental crises erupt.

Requiem for a Dream (2000, 8.3 on IMDb)

Available on: Tubi TV, Amazon Prime

Adapted from Hubert Selby Jr.'s novel of the same name, this depressing psychological drama centers on four people, Sara, Harry, Marion and Tyrone, who have very big but very different dreams. Sara wants to be a part of a famous TV show. Harry and Tyrone dream of becoming rich. And Marion wants to have a clothing store to sell her designs. But their dreams fade in the face of a drug addiction they all share.