Mindfuck Movies

Mindfuck Movies
published: (updated: )
by Harshvardhan J. Pandit
blog movies

What is a mindfuck movie?

Sometimes some movies leave you baffled, thinking, consumed, and confused to the point of feeling silly or cursing the movie. These are called mindfuck movies as a very figurative interpretation of movies that fuck with our heads. Some film makers are famous for exclusively making only such films. Case in point – David Lynch, the only way to even describe his movies is that they are Lynchian, made by this guy. Some famous directors of today, like Christopher Nolan and David Fincher are famous because of this very aspect of their films. Their movies are incredibly clever, with a lot of details and subplots being subtle and hidden in plain view. The audience is expected to be smart and think about the film to get these hidden gems. It is like an exemplary book that introduces a new narrative style that leaves the reader baffled, but manages to throughly entertain the reader by its end.

Mindfuck movies are not necessarily movies with sudden twists (like Sixth Sense), or stereotypically being surreal. The basic premise of a mindfuck movie is its narrative, its story and its hidden layers of plot that ebb the viewer on towards being obsessed with the movie’s meaning, the happenings or its conclusion.

 

Selecting mindfuck movies

Like selecting any other type of movie to watch, a mindfuck movie must have at least two of the following-

  • a good review from critics (not necessarily from the audience)
  • a cult following (people are raving about it for the right reasons)
  • a recommendation from a friend (who says its a good mindfuck movie)

 

My list of mindfuck movies

I’ll be updating this list (hopefully for the rest of my life!)

✔︎ I've watched this movie
✰ This is a favorite

 

#

✔︎✰ 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A

Adaptation (2002)
After Hours (1985)
✔︎ Altered States (1980)
✔︎✰ American Psycho (2000)
✔︎ Angel Heart (1987)
Audition (1999)

B

Barton Fink (1991)
Begotten (1991)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Big Empty, The (2003)
✔︎✰ Birdman or The unexpected virtue of ignorance (2014)
✔︎✰ Black Swan (2010)
✔︎✰ Blade Runner (1982)
✔︎✰ Blue Velvet (1986)
✔︎✰ Brazil (1985)
✔︎✰ Butterfly Effect, The (2004)

C

✔︎ Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (1920)
Cartoon Noir (2000)
✔︎✰ Chinatown (1974)
City of Lost Children, The (1995)
Clean, Shaven (1993)
Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
✔︎✰ Cloud Atlas (2012)
Coraline (2002)
Crash (1996)
✔︎ Cube (1997)
✔︎ Cube 2: Hypercube (2002)
Cup of My Blood (2005)
✔︎ Cypher (2002)

D

✔︎✰ Dark City (1998)
Dark Hours, The (2005)
Dead Man’s Shoes (2004)
✔︎ Dead Man (1995)
Delicatessen (1991)
✔︎✰ Donnie Darko (2001)
✔︎ Devil’s Advocate, The (1997)

E

✔︎✰ Elephant Man (1980)
El Topo (The Mole) (1970)
✔︎✰ Enemy (2013)
✔︎ Enter the Void (2009)
✔︎✰ Eraserhead (1977)
✔︎✰ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Europa (1991)
✔︎ Exam (2009)
✔︎✰ eXistenZ (1999)

F

Fall, The (2006)
Fear and Loathing in Vegas (1998)
✔︎✰ Fight Club (1999)
✔︎ Final Destination (2000)
Fisher King, The (1991)
✔︎ Following (1998)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
✔︎✰ Fountain, The (2006)
✔︎ Frame, The (2014)

G

✔︎✰ Game, The (1997)
✔︎ Gattaca (1997)
✔︎✰ Ghost in the Shell (1995)
✔︎✰ Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
✔︎✰ Gone Girl (2014)
Gummo (1997)

H

Holy Mountain, The (Montaña sagrada, La) (1973)

I

Identity (2003)
I Inside, The (2003)
✔︎✰ Inception (2010)
✔︎✰ Ink (2009)
✔︎✰ Inland Empire (2006)
Irreversible (2002)
I saw the devil (2003)

J

Jacket, The (2005)
✔︎✰ Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
Jetée, La (The Pier) (2011)

K

L

Layer Cake (2004)
✔︎ Liquid Sky (1982)
✔︎✰ Lola rennt (Run Lola Run) (1998)
✔︎✰ Lost Highway (1997)

M

✔︎✰ Machinist, The (2004)
Magnolia (1999)
Man bites dog (1992)
✔︎✰ Man from Earth, The (2007)
Man on the moon (1999)
✔︎✰ Martyrs (2008)
✔︎✰ Matrix, The (1999)
✔︎✰ Memento (2000)
Memories of murder (2003)
MirrorMask (2005)
✔︎✰ Mr. Nobody (2009)
✔︎✰ Mulholland Drive (2001)
✔︎ Mysterious Skin (2004)

N

✔︎ Naked Lunch (1991)
✔︎ Natural born killers (1994)
✔︎ Ninth Gate, The (1999)
✔︎✰ No Smoking (2007)
November (2004)
No way out (1987)
Number 23, The (2007)

O

Oldboy (2003)
✔︎ One Hour Photo (2002)
One Point O (Paranoia 1.0) (2004)
Open your eyes (1997)
✔︎ Others, The (2001)

P

Paprika (2006)
Perfect Blue (1997)
✔︎✰ Perfume: The story of a murderer (2006)
Persona (1966)
✔︎✰ Pi (1998)
Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
✔︎ Predestination (2014)
✔︎✰ Prestige, The (2006)
✔︎✰ Primer (2004)
✔︎ Prometheus (2012)

Q

Quiet Earth, The (1985)

R

✔︎ Rashomon (1950)
✔︎ Repulsion (1965)
✔︎✰ Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Revolver (2005)
✔︎✰ Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

S

✔︎ Saw (2004)
Scanner Darkly, A (2006)
Schizopolis (1996)
✔︎✰ Se7en (1995)
✔︎ Session 9 (2001)
✔︎ Shining, The (1980)
✔︎✰ Shutter Island (2010)
✔︎ Side Effects (2013)
✔︎✰ Sixth Sense, The (1999)
Solyaris (1972)
✔︎ Solaris (2002)
✔︎ Source Code (2011)
✔︎ Spider (2002)
Stalker (1979)
✔︎ Sucker Punch (2011)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)

T

Tale of Two Sisters, A (2003)
Tetsuo, the iron man (1988)
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
✔︎ They Live (1988)
✔︎ Thirteenth Floor, The (1999)
✔︎ THX 1138 (1971)
✔︎ Time Bandits (1981)
✔︎✰ Timecrimes (2007)
✔︎ Total Recall (1990)
✔︎ Trance (2013)
✔︎ Triangle (2009)
✔︎✰ Truman Show, The (1998)
✔︎✰ Twelve Monkeys (1995)

U

Underground (1995)
✔︎✰ Upstream Color (2013)
✔︎✰ Usual Suspects, The (1995)
Uzumaki (Spiral) (2000)

V

Valhalla Rising (2009)
Vanilla Sky (2001)
✔︎✰ Vertigo (1958)
Videodrome (1983)

W

Waking Life (2001)
Wild at Heart (1990)

X

Y

Z

✔︎✰ Zero Theorem, The (2013)

 

Other notable mindfuck movie lists available on the internet