Howdy, everyone. I like weird / mind-fuck movies. If you like weird movies, or if you'd like some general movie recommendations that are out of the mainstream, I made a big 'ol list of my favorites, and I thought some of you might enjoy it.
Director: Terry Gilliam
Watch all of Terry Gilliam's films. For real. Just... do it for yourself.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Fisher King, while not really that 'mind-fucky', is one of the best movies ever made. Just sayin'.
Director: David Lynch
You can pretty much chuck a rock at everything Lynch has done and find a good mindfuck movie. I'm still trying to get my hands on a copy of his short films.
Twin Peaks -- I'm gonna list some TV Shows in this list, too. Because anarchy.
He also had a hand in an album titled Dark Night of the Soul alongside Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse. It's fantastic.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
This dude's got a knack for surreal / strange imagery that makes you feel absolutely terrible. He's made a LOT of phenomenal flicks.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
I looooooove Tarkovsky's style. I've only seen a couple, but good grief everything I've seen was masterfully done. Kinda slow, but gorgeous storytelling.
More, and in no particular order...
| Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Paprika | Satoshi Kon | Gorgeous animation, and a wild story. Not to mention an excellent soundtrack. Kon's Tokyo Godfathers is also phenomenal. |
| The Mighty Boosh | Noel Fielding / Julian Barratt | Surreal British comedy. It's 'mindfuck' in the sense that it's just weird. Love it. |
| May | Lucky McKee | Some good 'ol fashion psychological horror. |
| Tetsuo, the Iron Man | Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Easily the most fucked-up thing I've ever seen. It's gory, surreal, low-budget horror. |
| Mirrormask | Dave McKean | One of my favorite artists. Whole movie is gorgeous and weird. |
| Vertigo | Alfred Hitchcock | If you haven't seen it: You must. |
| Bunny and the Bull | Paul King | If "The Mighty Boosh" were a movie & had a coherent plot, this might be the result. |
| The Presige | Christopher Nolan | I'd consider this a very mild mindfuck movie. If you're new, this would be a good flick to get your feet wet. |
| Unbreakable | M. Night Shyamalan | Another mild one, but thrown on here 'cause it's one of maybe two Shyamalan flicks that're tolerable. |
| Fantastic Planet | Rene Laloux | The animation is incredible, and it's a wonderfully surreal film. |
| Fight Club | David Fincher | I was fortunate enough to see this before I heard any spoilers. If you haven't heard anything about this film I'd recommend shutting off the internet and watching it now. |
| The Usual Suspects | Bryan Singer | Pretty mild, but still an excellent film! |
| Donnie Darko | Richard Kelly | I mean... it's supposed to go on these lists, right? I personally didn't like it, but plenty of people do. |
| A Scanner Darkly & Waking Life | Richard Linklater | Again: Not the biggest fan of either flick, but if you're making a "weird"/"mindfuck" movie list, these should probably be on it. The most compelling thing in these flicks, imo, is the animation style. Super cool. Content is... ehhhh... |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey | Stanley Kubrick | "mindfuck" in the sense of "I don't remember taking acid before I started this movie, but I'm pretty sure I'm tripping." |
| Oldboy | Chan-wook Park | One of my favorite movies. |
| Alice | Jan Svankmajer | This is a stop-motion remake of "Alice in Wonderland" using taxidermy-d animals. |
| Being John Malcovich | Spike Jonze | Have you ever wanted to be John Malcovich for a while? ... no? ... really? ... well, watch it anyway. It's good. |
There are at least a dozen movies that I didn't list that are still on my own "to watch" list. The following flicks I haven't seen, but have been told they're "mindfucks". I take no resposibility if any of the following are terrible.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Black Swan I know, I know. It's at the top of my "watchlist" so I'll get there eventually...
No list is perfect, no matter how agonizingly long it is. Other recommendations are welcome, and feel free to ask questions about the movies listed.