Warning: This article discusses rape and violence and may be triggering for some people.
A Sydney Film Festival screening of horror film The Nightingale had audiences screaming and fleeing the cinema after graphic rape scenes and violence against children.
- 'Eurgh!': Critics stage mass walk out of 'garbage' Cannes film after 13-minute sex scene
- Movie theatre accidentally plays horror film instead of Detective Pikachu
The Australian film played for more than 1000 punters at The Ritz cinema in Sydney - but according to the Daily Mail, a large majority of viewers walked out 20 minutes in.
The "brutal" period drama, which follows the story of a young Irish woman out for revenge, shows the main character being gang-raped early in the piece.
It was one of many explicit scenes that eventually prompted one audience member to scream out: "She's already been raped, we don't need to see it again".
Some movie-goers stuck it out only to leave later after being subjected to close-up footage of brutal stabbings and torture that featured babies and children.
New York Post movie critic Johnny Oleksinski wrote of the film's opening sequence: "It is one of my most unpleasant watches in recent memory, and one that I won't be repeating."
"[The Nightingale] will make you nauseous," he continued.
"Constantly having to shield your eyes from horrible imagery - as the audience was - would seem to defy the whole point of watching a movie.
Another critic, Chris Shortt dubbed the film, directed by Jennifer Kent, a "gruelling and grossly offensive misfire".
Kent reportedly sat in the audience after introducing the film, telling the audience making it was the toughest thing she ever had to do.
During a Q&A session following the screening, the director said she "totally understands" why some viewers could not sit through the on-screen violence.
Newshub.
