We all hate spoilers; they ruin the fun and thrill of learning a story's end as it happens. Thanks to reading ahead in the strategy guide, I learned before it happened that in Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth killed Arieth, ruining by far one of the most tragic events in video game history. Another example is that I hadn't yet read the Lord of the Rings books so I was anxious to know what happened when Frodo made it to Mt. Doom, but a friend informed me before seeing it that Gollum nabbed the ring and fell to his death.

See, spoilers can truly ruin the fun for us. However, sometimes it's better to know what you're getting into. Some films can be so dark, so graphic and so depressing that knowing the full story and what you're about to view can be a blessing. There are films so extreme that you would be better off reading up on it and deciding if this is truly what you want to witness, especially since you're most likely never going to forget what you see.

I will say that despite learning what happens in the full film and the shocking events, there are still films I'm open to watch regardless. Someday, I'd like to witness the Human Centipede. From what I gather it's actually kind of overrated for the hype it has. I wouldn't mind watching I Spit on Your Grave, the original and not the remake of course. I hope to someday watch Caligula, I kind of have to with the hype. Hell, I'll even give Salo a try.

So yeah, I've read and watched spoilers for these films but none the less, but I still am open to watch them. Likewise, there have been films that I'm glad I saw the spoilers on because they've truly made me think hard on whether I wanted to view them. I won't go so far as to say "I vow to never view these films as long as I live" because I someday might, but I won't rush to see them or even casually see them, I'd have to think strongly on it.

So here are the films, for me at least, when spoilers have done me some favors.

I wouldn't have ever known this film exists if not for BthroughZ, as it was reviewed on the site a couple of years ago. This film is kind of an ugly duckling film as it was made and distributed by Troma films and most of Troma's films are corny, stupid and most of the time funny in some way. This film is none of these, and people expecting the usual from Troma found themselves gutted and torn. The reason why I'm hesitant about this film is that is shows two of the worst conditions a person can be under, caught in the pinch of hard economic times and adjusting to life after war, and it doesn't back down, it's said to be just depressive from beginning to end. It's not like I'm against sad or downer endings, some of the best films have had far from upbeat endings (Pan's Labyrinth, the early Saw films), but when the whole thing is just a trip through hell and leaves you in the 9th circle, is it really worth it at all?

Out of all the people who have written for this site, I give the most respect to Patrick and that's because he did his Sick Fucking Films series. I read his reviews of each film as they came every month and the reason I respect him is that I know he willingly endured each and every one of these films one at a time. And while I will admit there are films he didn't get too (I would have been very interested on his views on a film later on), I can understand why he wanted to end the column, there's only so much of this shit you can take. If not for Patrick and Sick Fucking Films, this series wouldn't have been on the list. The man reviewed Men Behind the Sun, Salo, Blood Sucking Freaks and other films that would make the Baby Jesus cry, and yet at the end of the series he announced the first Guinea Pig film was the sickest film ever. For someone to say this film is worse than the films mentioned, that says a lot.

In a way, I have already seen this film. For those of you not familiar with it, Johnny Got His Gun inspired mega-metalers Metallica to write one of their biggest hits, the song One. Likewise, they released a video for it and it featured clips from the film in order to tell the story as it happened. Watch the full video and you've pretty much seen the basic film from beginning to end. Watch it and you'll understand why this film makes the list. If there was ever a film to show the horrors of war, more so then Combat Shock or any other, it's this one. A poor soul who willingly accepts the call to arms suffers from an explosion that takes his four limbs, his eyes, ears, and senses of smell and taste away is kept alive, even though he's trapped eternally in his mind. He eventually uses Morse code to signal out "SOS Kill Me" but the brass, believing that human life is too valuable, makes him live. The seven minute music video from Metallica was disturbing enough; I can't imagine a full hour and a half of this.

This often is the butt of a lot of jokes, with the tentacle raping and alien superhero girls in small dresses. Joke all you want, but if you actually look at this shit and you'll be shocked at what you see. For some reason Japan seems to be cool with sexual abuse and disgrace as legit fantasy. Oddly enough, while we all talk about the tentacles and shit, I've often found the stuff related more to real life to be more disturbing. How do I know this? I caught wind of a Hentai called Night Shift Nurses, a story about a gynecologist who sexually and mentally abuses the nurses who work for him. While searching for reviews (some people gave this a good review), I came across a clip, and curiosity had me watch it nearly all the way through. What I witnessed was a sick bastard and a nurse in a patient's room and to avoid finer details, here's a few things: her asshole, honey, blood and a family member. I can't unsee what I saw, much to my own horror. I put extreme in the heading because I'm willing to bet there's Hentai that focuses on consensual sex, but I'd advise careful ventures looking for it.

As the years go by and the bar for horror and depravity is raised, we wonder who can set the bar any higher. This film has not only set the bar high, but it's gone so far that I wonder if it can ever truly be topped. There is a line in the sand for this film and I don't see any middle ground with it, either you love it or you're mortified by it. The irony is that while just about every other movie on this list has stuff shown throughout the film(s), this one has just one scene that is the deciding factor. It has a scene where a man rapes a child right from the mother's womb, or as put in the film, New Born Porn. I've heard the cock and baby are fake, but whereas Combat Shock didn't go too far by having the baby in it look fake, this movie had the best SFX you could have, so it was as real as it gets. Even some of the most diehard exploitation fans who live for films about rape, torture and violence have admitted that this film was over the line. Out of the films I've mentioned, this is the one I'm most tempted and most scared to watch. Due to the infamous hype it's gotten, the temptation is almost too tempting, but when Brad Jones, a man who thought the Human Centipede was funny, declares that this is the most disturbing film he's seen, that's saying something. To put it simply, this is the apple; will I listen to the snake?