One Instagram user who watches thousands of documentaries each year has shared the two she refuses to watch as they’re just “too horrific”. Christie Boschman, who goes by the username thatdocumentarygirl, revealed the two films she’s never quite been able to finish – and one so horrific it almost made her “throw up”.
In a recent Instagram Reel, she explained: “These are the documentaries I refuse to watch or have seen and will never watch again. I watch over 1000 documentaries every year and there’s very few that I refuse to watch, but I always get asked this question so here they are. The first one is Zoo. I will not watch this documentary. It’s about a man who has an intimate relationship with a horse and dies because of it. I just think it’s foul and it’s not a story that you need to hear.”
Released in 2007, Zoo tells the story of Kenneth Pinyan, from Washington State, who died from peritonitis due to perforation of the colon from his sexual acts with a horse. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, the filmmakers wanted to “humanise” the story of Pinyan – AKA Mr Hands – who died in 2005.
The film deals with zoophilia – humans who are sexually interested in animals – and interviews three such people who only go by their online usernames.
Boschman does, however, admit she’s watched another short film in the same genre, explaining: “In that same category I have seen [Dolphin Lover] which is a short film on YouTube. Once was enough. It was insane – I don’t need to ever see anything like that again.”
She refuses to watch Faces of Death, telling fans: “People always talk about [Faces of Death] as one of the most horrific things they’ve ever seen. It’s not really a documentary but it’s a mix between a horror movie and then real footage of people dying, and I just don’t need to see that.”
Released in 1978, Faces of Death is a horror film presented as a real documentary which includes pre-existing video footage of real deaths and their aftermaths. It even gained several sequels and a cult following, grossing more than $35million at the box office worldwide. One such death included is a man being savaged by an alligator.
Boschman summed up: “Another one I have seen once and everybody should see once is Earthlings but I almost threw up watching this because I have a really hard time watching horrible things be done to animals and pets and that’s basically the whole documentary, and it scarred me for life.”
Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, 2005 release Earthlings focuses on humanity’s use of animals for pets, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research – covering everything from factory farms to puppy mills.