Most romance movies present an idealized vision of relationships, but some of them are actually quite creepy when examined closely. Societal attitudes toward relationships are changing all the time, which means that some old classic romance movies are being reevaluated. Things which seemed fine years ago may now appear to be a little disturbing, especially if there are uneven power dynamics in a relationship.
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Another thing which can contribute to romance movies seeming creepy is the tone. A playful, humorous movie can often conceal a story that’s actually rather dark when it’s taken at face value. It’s easy to get swept away when a movie tells its story with charm and confidence, but sometimes there’s just no ignoring the uncomfortable moments. If these movies had a slightly different approach, they could just as easily be horror movies about creepy behavior.
Related 10 Romance Movies With Deep, Complex, Relationship Stories
Romantic stories include some of the most powerful narratives ever depicted, as the complexities of love and heartache connect deeply with viewers.
10 Big (1988)
Josh And Susan’s Relationship Is A Lot Weirder In Hindsight
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Big
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*Availability in US Director Penny Marshall Release Date June 3, 1988 Cast Tom Hanks , Elizabeth Perkins , Robert Loggia , John Heard , Jared Rushton , David Moscow , Jon Lovitz , Mercedes Ruehl
In the earlier years of his career, Tom Hanks did his best work in comedy movies. He has since shown that he’s just as compelling as a dramatic performer, but it’s tough to beat the charm of movies like Big, Sleepless in Seattle and A League Of Their Own . Big follows a young boy who magically transforms into a fully-grown adult after making a wish with a mysterious arcade machine. While he spends his time as an adult, he starts a relationship with an adult woman.
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Big is one of many movies with an unnecessary romantic subplot, but it’s especially bad because the subplot detracts from the movie’s good qualities, rather than just being a pointless distraction. Although the two characters may look the same age, Josh has the mind of a 12-year-old. With this context in mind, it’s a little weird that Susan is still interested in him. Even when she discovers the truth, her reaction is one of disappointment, not disgust.
9 Groundhog Day (1993)
Phil Uses His Time Loop To Learn All About Rita
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9/10 9/10 Groundhog Day
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*Availability in US Director Harold Ramis Release Date February 11, 1993 Cast Bill Murray , Andie MacDowell , Chris Elliott , Stephen Tobolowsky , Brian Doyle-Murray , Marita Geraghty
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Groundhog Day is one of Bill Murray’s best movies, and it lets the comedian do what he does best. Murray plays Phil, a meteorologist who is somehow cursed to live the same day over and over again. Although the movie explores its time loop premise in many fun and interesting ways, the romantic arc is one element that can come across as a little creepy. Andie MacDowell plays Rita, Phil’s coworker and love interest.
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Phil goes through periods of severe depression and loneliness, but he also has some fun with his strange situation. By witnessing the events that unfold around him, he knows exactly when and where to be to save a child falling from a tree or to steal a bag full of cash. He also uses his powers to have the perfect date with Rita by trial and error. Each day, he learns something new about her that he uses the next day. This is an unusual power imbalance, and it feels disingenuous and deceitful.
8 Beauty & The Beast (1991)
The Disney Classic Uses Its Charms To Conceal Its Darkness
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10/10 Beauty and the Beast
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*Availability in US Director Gary Trousdale , Kirk Wise Release Date November 21, 1991 Cast Paige O’Hara , Robby Benson , Angela Lansbury , Jerry Orbach , David Ogden Stiers , Bradley Pierce , Jesse Corti , Richard White
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One of the best movies from the 1990s Disney renaissance, Beauty and the Beast infuses the classic fairy tale with a touch of magic. The gorgeous animation, heartwarming characters and pleasant music all make the tale seem much brighter than it really is. When these elements are stripped away, the relationship in Beauty and the Beast is much darker and more disturbing than it first seems.
Beauty and the Beast begins with Belle as the prisoner of the Beast, having taken the place of her father. Although she and the Beast do form a connection, it’s founded on the basis that she is unable to leave, and he has all the power in their dynamic. Beauty and the Beast could just as easily provide the framework for a horror movie, not because of the Beast’s appearance, but because of the way he traps Belle, and she develops a severe case of Stockholm syndrome.
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7 Overboard (1987)
Kurt Russell And Goldie Hawn’s Chemistry Barely Distracts From A Disturbing Premise
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Overboard
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*Availability in US Director Garry Marshall Release Date December 16, 1987 Cast Goldie Hawn , Kurt Russell , Edward Herrmann , Katherine Helmond , Mike Hagerty , Roddy McDowall , Jared Rushton , Jeffrey Wiseman
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn had already been in a relationship for a few years by the time they worked on Overboard together. While their on-screen chemistry is evident, the relationship between their characters is much less wholesome than their real-life partnership. In fact, the entire movie hinges on a massive lie that should get Russell’s character thrown in jail, but it’s all played for laughs.
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Hawn plays Joanna, a pampered socialite who gets amnesia when she falls from her luxurious yacht. Russell plays Dean, a carpenter who seizes upon the incident to convince her that they are married. He then takes her home to his children and continues the ruse. Initially, he hatches this plan so that he can get the money that she owes him, but having such commitment to such a disturbing deception is rather sinister. Joanna eventually remembers the truth, but she still decides to stay with a man who essentially kidnapped her.
6 Twilight (2008)
Edward Holds All The Power In His Relationship With Bella
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6/10 7.6/10 Twilight
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*Availability in US Director Catherine Hardwicke Release Date November 21, 2008 Cast Robert Pattinson , Ashley Greene , Peter Facinelli , Rachelle Lefevre , Elizabeth Reaser , Kristen Stewart , Nikki Reed , Jackson Rathbone , Cam Gigandet , Kellan Lutz , Taylor Lautner , Anna Kendrick , Billy Burke
Age gap relationships in movies are always a contentious topic, and Twilight takes things to the next level. Although Edward Cullen has the appearance of a high school student, he is actually over 100 years old at the start of the Twilight saga. The fact that he keeps going to high school is completely bizarre, and his romantic attraction to 17-year-old Bella Swan is even weirder. If Edward looked even half as old as he should, Twilight wouldn’t be such a popular romance.
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Aside from the creepy age gap, and the inherent power imbalance that comes with it, there are several other red flags in Edward’s relationship with Bella. He sometimes abuses his powers as a vampire just to get close to her. At one point, he tells her that he enjoys hiding outside her bedroom window and watching her sleep. This is supposed to come across as romantic, but instead, it’s another example of why Twilight is a twisted portrait of love for its young-adult audience.
5 Love Actually (2003)
Some Of Love Actually’s Plot Lines Have Aged Poorly
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8/10 7.7/10 Love Actually
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*Availability in US Director Richard Curtis Release Date November 14, 2003 Cast Colin Firth , Emma Thompson , Liam Neeson , Keira Knightley , Chiwetel Ejiofor , Laura Linney , Alan Rickman , Hugh Grant , Bill Nighy , Andrew Lincoln
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Love Actually has become a holiday staple over the years, but some of the romances it depicts are a little uncomfortable to watch. Love Actually follows several loosely connected love stories in London during the Christmas period, and Richard Curtis wanted to capture all different kinds of love. There are romantic relationships as well as love between families or friends. However, representing so many different kinds of love also means that Curtis inadvertently captures the darker side of relationships too.
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Love Actually has been reappraised in recent years, with fans taking issue with several different storylines. One story that hasn’t aged particularly well is the relationship between Hugh Grant’s David and Martine McCutcheon’s Natalie, as the power imbalance and David’s handling of the workplace harassment incident with the US President makes for a tough watch. Love Actually‘s most iconic moment is also a little creepy in hindsight, as David goes behind his best friend’s back to declare his love for his wife.
4 Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
Robbie’s Suplot Is Disturbing In Many Ways
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Crazy, Stupid, Love
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*Availability in US Director Glenn Ficarra , John Requa Release Date June 19, 2011 Cast Steve Carell , Ryan Gosling , Julianne Moore , Emma Stone , Analeigh Tipton , Jonah Bobo
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Crazy, Stupid, Love ties several different romantic narratives together, and the dense knot is all part of the fun. However, there’s one plot that puts a damper on things, and it threatens to distract from the movie’s strengths. Robbie is the 13-year-old son of Steve Carell’s character, and he spends most of the movie pining after his babysitter, the 17-year-old Jessica, who repeatedly rebuffs his advances. His crude overtures to her only make her more uncomfortable.
Robbie’s pursuit of Jessica is sad at the very least, if not creepy. Crazy, Stupid, Love plays it for laughs, as if his youthful innocence should allow him to get away with repeatedly ignoring Jessica’s boundaries. To make matters worse, Crazy, Stupid, Love ends with Jessica giving Robbie an envelope containing her nude photographs as a pick-me-up. This seems to validate Robbie’s creepy behavior, and it makes Jessica seem just as disturbing too.
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3 There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Ted Doesn’t Deserve His Happy Ending With Mary
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8.5/10 There’s Something About Mary
Director Peter Farrelly , Bobby Farrelly Release Date July 15, 1998 Cast Cameron Diaz , Matt Dillon , Ben Stiller , Lee Evans , Chris Elliott
There’s Something About Mary often pokes fun at other romcoms. Cameron Diaz plays a woman who seems to attract admirers wherever she goes, although these admirers often go to disturbing lengths to win her affection. Ted hires a private investigator to gather information about her, Pat spies on her to figure out what she likes, Norm fakes a disability to get close to her, and Dom violates a restraining order to follow her across the action.
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There’s Something About Mary makes fun of the idealized version of romance which often appears in the movies, suggesting that this twisted vision is more in line with what men are like. However, the movie still resorts to a “happy” ending for Mary and one of her many suitors. Mary decides that she wants to be with Ted, despite the fact that she knows he has been stalking her. This seems to undercut the rest of the story, since Ted is just as bad as the other men in Mary’s life. A sad ending would have been more apt, but probably more divisive.
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2 Passengers (2016)
Jim Destroys Aurora’s Life For Selfish Reasons
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4/10 1/10 Passengers
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*Availability in US Director Morten Tyldum Release Date December 21, 2016 Cast Laurence Fishburne , Aurora Perrineau , Chris Pratt2 , Jamie Soricelli , Jennifer Lawrence , Kimberly Battista , Andy Garcia , Michael Sheen
In some ways, Passengers is as disturbing as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien or any other horror movie set on a spaceship. Chris Pratt stars as a traveler on a spaceship who wakes up from his cryogenic sleep decades too early due to a mechanical malfunction. After wandering the vast, empty ship on his own for a while, he chooses to wake up a female passenger to keep him company during the journey.
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Jim knows that by waking up Aurora, he is precluding her from the life that she is meant to live. She is supposed to wake up when the ship reaches its destination, so that she can live the rest of her life on a new planet with other people. Instead, she is forced to spend her life with Jim and Jim alone. When she discovers the reason why she has been woken up, she is rightly horrified. It seems unnatural when she later forgives him.
1 Grease (1978)
One Notorious Scene Shows That Danny Isn’t Such A Good Guy
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9/10 7.3/10 Grease
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*Availability in US Director Randal Kleiser Release Date July 7, 1978 Cast John Travolta , Olivia Newton-John , Stockard Channing , Jeff Conaway , Barry Pearl , Michael Tucci
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Grease provides proof that a catchy soundtrack can distract plenty of people from a questionable narrative. Sandy and Danny’s relationship isn’t the innocent teen romance that it first appears to be. Grease sets the tone in “Summer Nights” when Danny brushes off a problematic joke from one of his friends. Later, his actions with Sandy at the drive-in theater show that he’s just as bad, if not much worse. Sandy repeatedly pleads with him to leave her alone, but he only gets the message when Sandy physically fights back.
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The ending of Grease is the other part which is notoriously off-putting. Even after Danny’s actions at the drive-in, Sandy changes her style so that she can appeal to him. Changing so radically to be with someone else is already a bad sign, but doing so after Danny disrespected her boundaries is an even bigger red flag. Then again, the ending also shows the car flying off into the sky, so it’s fair to say that Grease abandons logic at this point.