Movies I'm glad I saw, but I won't rewatch

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Movies I'm glad I saw, but I won't rewatch

by Jen Davies, nerd

June 17, 2026

Last week I wrote about films I've seen a LOT. This week, here are films I've seen only once (and I'm glad I did even though I never want to see them again).

I don't think I'm the only one who has only so-much tolerance for films with particular kinds of content. For me, I don't do high levels of violence well (especially not horror movie-type gore - like, the whole Saw series seems like just an ongoing repetition and I don't understand why there is more than one). I can tolerate some sex in a movie (brief scenes that have a story purpose). I don't care either way if there is a romantic plot, and I actively avoid romcoms.

And yet I try to avoid spoilers before seeing movies that I know I'm interested in, so certainly I'm exposed to all of those things regularly.

Here are a few films that I saw, which I'm glad I saw and I highly recommend them - but I will never watch them again, because there's too much of the content above that I just don't like.

A History of Violence

This one is the top of the list. I recommend it all the time, but I only saw it once and I will never see it again because there's just so much violence in it. The title is appropriate! It's well written and brilliantly acted by Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris. 

To give you a sense for how impactful it was, my spouse and I still quote it at each other. William Hurt played an understated (and terrifying) crime lord, and his iconic like, "How do you f--- that up?" is in the air often at my home. And we have rewatched just the 2 minutes associated with that line, but it lacks the emotional punch that made it so memorable for us - don't bother. If you want to know why that line is just so good, you have to see the whole movie.

The John Wick films

I actually went to see each of these in the movie theatre when each one opened, and I knew what I was getting into. I actually would consider maybe rewatching one of these, but only because Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane bring some 'softness' to their otherwise ruthless characters.

They are fantastic movies and I highly recommend them. If there's a new one I will see it. But I don't need to see them again.

Alien films

This franchise is a scary science fiction franchise, in my book, not horror. Even the Fede Alvarez prequel that came out, I went to the theatre to see it and it still looked like scifi to me (even though he's famous for horror) - and I recommend seeing it. I love the concepts in this franchise, and the esthetic of the aliens - but that doesn't mean I want to steep my brain in it. 

This one is a bit of a fib because I have seen both Alien and Aliens twice, but only because the people I was with wanted to see them with me. I wouldn't have picked them, and I can't think of any reason I would watch them ever again. I saw Prometheus a second time by choice, that's probably the first one I chose to rewatch and only because I knew there were details I missed, but I won't see it a third time.

Spielberg's The War of the Worlds

This is a fantastic film - if you haven't seen it, do. It's got all the Spielberg visualizations that we love, but instead of making us feel empathy for the aliens like he always does, he scares the HECK out of us. Wow! 

This one might have more personal reasons for not wanting to see it again: I grew up in an isolated community really only accessible by train (yes, in the far north there are such places), and so to me the sounds of trains like the whistles/honks and the ding-dings of a train crossing have always represented civilization. There is a scene in this movie where trains very much represent the fall of civilization, and when I saw this movie thankfully it was at home and I had to pause it to breathe at that point! I have never paused any other movie before or since to catch my breath.

Great movie. Won't rewatch. Recommend seeing it once.