Piercing(2019)
2019 · Nicolas Pesce · 82 min
After kissing his wife and baby goodbye for a seemingly normal business trip, Reed checks himself into a hotel room to accomplish something he’s always dreamed of: the perfect murder. As his sinister plans unfold, he soon realizes he might be in over his head with a mysteriously unhinged call girl named Jackie.
Horror · Thriller
5.7260 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
3/5
Gore
3/5
Stays with you
How Piercing scares
There's a strange, off-kilter tension to this one, like watching two damaged people circle each other in a small room, never sure who's really in control. The pace is deliberate and stylish, with dreamlike detours into memory and imagination that blur what's real, rather than any jump scares. Its violence is sudden and sharp when it comes, but the movie is more interested in mood, color, and psychology than in shock value. It plays like a twisted noir more than a straight horror movie, good for viewers who like their dread stylish and a little darkly funny rather than pure terror.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Piercing rates psychological 4/5, visceral 3/5, gore 3/5, lingering effect 3/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 4 of 5
- Visceral: 3 of 5
- Gore: 3 of 5
- Lingering: 3 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 15 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 88 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 55 of 100 — balanced
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A tense, darkly playful game of cat-and-mouse that keeps twisting between calm control and sudden jolts rather than building to one big finish.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2.
How scary is Piercing?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Piercing rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. It works on both fronts, unsettling the mind while going for the body. Expect it to be moderately gory and scary but not punishing. Some of it will follow you to bed, but it lets go within a day or so.
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