That's a fair question. I mean I've seen thousands of films, including a lot of "challenging" cinema even most big film buffs wouldn't be able to handle. And I felt because of a number of reasons(cinematography/acting/sound design/tone/etc)
Snowtown is one of the more jarring films Ive seen. There's only one particularly brutal scene that's rather horrific to watch(the tub scene), and then there's a scene where they hack up kangaroos. But it's not so much the couple of gory/violent scenes, but the menacing feel certain scenes imply. Like when they visit this mentally challenged guy's house, there's just this really nasty feeling you get even though it doesn't show anything. There's a lot of restraint in this film, as Im not sure I could have handled any more violence or gore in it
A film like Drive is particularly brutal for an American hollywood film, but its so stylized that its hard to be too effected by it. By contrast the few jarring scenes in Irreversible are to me much more horrific due to the out of nowhere matter of fact way it's presented. Even some of the most controversial films with rather brutal scenes get too caught up in stylization to be truly effecting(Serbian Film comes to mind) Natural Born Killers is rather violent, especially the uncut version...but again its so cartoony and over the top its not very disturbing.
So aside from the kangaroo and tub scene, it's really just an overall sense of menacing dread that's the most disturbing aspect in my view.
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