Film

Violation

Name: Violation
Genre: Horror, Drama
Released: 2020
Cast: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili, Jasmin Geljo

Family drama
Very dark

Violation is a brutal, formally audacious revenge film that treats its trauma as physical and spiritual devastation rather than plot momentum. Shot in fragmented time and fractured space, it's uncompromising in its refusal to aestheticize violence. For viewers who've found mainstream revenge narratives glib: this is the film that takes the cost seriously.

TMDb rating

2.7

If you liked this

Revenge2017

A French-Mexican film that treats rape and revenge with visceral directness and darkly poetic cinematography. Like Violation, it refuses catharsis and presents violence as ugly, necessary, and traumatic.

But Extremely graphic and punishing to watch. If you're seeking a satisfying power fantasy, this will disappoint you deliberately.

The Nightingale2018

An Australian period film that plunges into trauma and vengeance across a sprawling landscape. Both films fracture narrative to mirror psychological fracture, and both trust their audience with difficult material.

But Nearly three hours of unrelenting darkness and sexual violence. The pacing is deliberately slow and cumulative rather than propulsive.

Raw2017

A French horror-drama about appetite, transgression, and a young woman discovering her own power and hunger. Shares Violation's willingness to make the body grotesque and the personal monstrous.

But Combines body horror with sexual content in ways some find gratuitous rather than meaningful. It's also very strange, which isn't everyone's preference.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Violation

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Under the Skin2014

Both use fractured form and sustained formal ambition to explore female vulnerability and predation. Both trust silence and image over exposition.

Jonathan Glazer's film about an alien woman moving through Scotland in the body of a beautiful woman. It shares Violation's fractured editing, its focus on female interiority expressed through form rather than dialogue, and its refusal to explain or resolve its protagonist's inner life. Both are about what it means to be a woman in a body that marks you as a target.

But Almost no conventional narrative or dialogue. Long, hypnotic sequences with minimal plot. Many viewers find it boring; if you need character development and explanations, this will frustrate you profoundly.

Possum2018

A psychological horror about a man returning home haunted by his past. Like Violation, it uses fractured editing and domestic spaces to express internal collapse; both are formally inventive about trauma.

But Deliberately obscure and abstract. If you need plot clarity and forward momentum, you'll find this frustrating.

The Machinist2004

Christian Bale plays a man consumed by guilt and obsession in a bleak, desaturated world. Both films treat psychological torment as a physical state you can see and feel.

But Older now, and some of its visual style reads dated. The narrative is more linear than Violation's fractured approach, so it may feel less formally inventive.

A Dark Song2016

An Irish film about grief, faith, and a woman's private crusade for spiritual reckoning. Shares Violation's focus on female interiority and its refusal to resolve suffering easily.

But Extremely slow and meditative. There's almost no conventional plot, which makes it challenging for viewers accustomed to narrative momentum.

Headshot2016

An Indonesian action-horror film about a woman reclaiming agency through violence. Shares the visceral commitment to making violence unglamorous and the focus on female rage.

But Genre violence and some plot contrivances sit uneasily with its grittier moments. It's less formally ambitious than Violation, which some might find less satisfying.

Braid2019

Three women in an isolated house, fractured timelines, and a narrative that collapses into subjective reality. Formally inventive in similarly unsettling ways; both play with form to express psychological unraveling.

But Extremely confusing and deliberately obscure about its own plot. It demands multiple viewings and rewards none of them with clarity.

Starry Eyes2014

A woman's transformation through transgression in a nightmarish Hollywood. Both films center female bodies as sites of violation and reclamation, and both are unafraid of the grotesque.

But Cheaper production values and a less rigorous formal approach than Violation. Its body-horror elements can feel more campy than crushing.

Come and See1985

Both use formal inventiveness and refusal to soften violence in service of exploring how trauma reshapes consciousness. Both are explicitly anti-narrative in their commitment to subjective experience.

A Soviet film about a young partisan's initiation into the horror of war, filmed with stunning, nauseating intensity. Like Violation, it uses fragmented editing and physical devastation to express spiritual destruction. Both films refuse to look away from trauma or to offer easy meaning.

But Made in 1985 and genuinely difficult to watch—the central performance by a child actor involves his witnessing atrocities. It's also long, black-and-white, and Russian, which narrows its accessibility considerably.

The Babadook2014

Both use horror and formal fragmentation to express how trauma lives in a woman's body and reshapes her world. Both resist neat closure in favor of complicated survival.

An Australian psychological horror about a widow and her son haunted by a creature that represents unprocessed grief. Like Violation, it uses horror form to explore female interiority; both films suggest that the monster is real and psychological simultaneously, and both end in ambiguous reckoning rather than resolution.

But A more accessible film than Violation, which might make it feel less formally rigorous. Some viewers find its metaphor overstated or its pacing frustratingly slow.