Surreal/disturbing/unconventional/violent/unique movies for the open minded
Some of these films are bizarre. Some are very violent. Some of them are plain weird. They all push the envelope in one way or another - they either push the envelope in terms of violence, surrealism or flat out rejection of conventional storytelling. It is hard to define the common thread that runs through all of these movies, but it is my list, and it is a list of films that in some way represent a rejection of the conventions that mainstream movie-goers expect from their cinema. I will come back and add more titles as and when I can be bothered. In no particular order...
List activity
2.4K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
13 titles
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.Why not start early on? Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel's surreal nightmare showed us all that random ideas thrown together can create an atmosphere of unsettling dread, allowing us to use our own experiences and nightmares to project our own meaning, forcing us to look inside ourselves to find our own interpretation of the images on display.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiFive sequences : 1) A piece of driftwood on the seashore, carried about by the waves 2) People walking on the seashore. The oldest ones stop by, look at the sea, then go away 3) Blurry shapes on a winter beach. A herd of dogs. A love story 4) A group of loud ducks cross the image, in one direction then the other 5) A pond, at night. Frogs improvising a concert. A storm, then the sunrise.Five long shots. No story. No narrative. No dialogue. An exploration of the relationship between the director and the projected image.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsNick SuttonJacob SewellLara ToshLonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.Harmony Korine's stream of consciousness portrayal of a town devastated by a tornado. Korine ditches plot and narrative to bring us a loosely connected series of vignettes portraying life on the very fringes of existance. Or something...
- DirectorFred VogelStarsKyle DealmanCasey EganeyDan FriedmanTwo serial killers go on a murdering rampage as one films the outcome from behind a video camera.View the whole trilogy (AU, AU's Mordum and AU's Penance) to unlock a stark, brutal and honest portrayal of the mindset of real serial killers. Many have rejected this series after seeing one episode, but delve deeper and one of the most shocking and brutally honest pictures of serial killers, their motivation and subsequent downfall emerges.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.Director David Lynch has gone on record saying that since this film's release, many people have shared their interpretations of this dark and surreal tale, but nobody has come close to the intention behind it. So the ultimate question is, what does this film mean to you?
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsDerek JarmanTilda SwintonJohn QuentinIn his final - and most daring - cinematic statement, Jarman the romantic meets Jarman the iconoclast in a lush soundscape pulsing against a purely blue screen, laying bare his physical and spiritual state.Derek Jarman's final film is a blue screen from start to finish, soundtracked by stories and poems relating to his experiences whilst dying from AIDS. Jarman went blind prior to his death, the only thing he could see was a vista of blueness. Dark and disturbing, illuminating and beautiful.
- DirectorLucifer ValentineStarsAmeara LaveyPig LizzyMaja LeeThe gruesome tapestry of psychological manifestations of a nineteen year old bulimic runaway stripper-turned prostitute as she descends into a hellish pit of satanic nightmares and hallucinations.First in a trilogy of films in a new genre, namely "Vomit Gore". Incompehensible on first viewing, illuminating on watching with director's commentary, these films are only for those with a very strong stomach. Interesting in that the director of these films becomes a character in the story, blurring the lines of fantasy and experience.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsPaolo BonacelliGiorgio CataldiUberto Paolo QuintavalleIn World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental, and sexual torture.Pier Paolo Pasolini, director of Salo, was murdered shortly after the release of this sick masterpiece. An allegory of fascism and it's relation to consumerism. To avoid throwing up, keep repeating, "It's only chocolate, only chocolate, only chocolate..."
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsCasey AffleckMatt DamonA friendship between two young men is tested when they go for a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them.Reviled by many for being "too slow" and for the fact that "nothing happens", Gus van Sant's existential nightmare nevertheless manages to draw the viewer into the experience of being hopelessly lost. Do you have the patience required to appreciate what a truly unique, visionary and groundbreaking masterpiece that this truly is?
- DirectorE. Elias MerhigeStarsBrian SalzbergDonna DempseyStephen Charles BarryPresented in a surreal, gory and entirely visual manner, Begotten tells of the death of religion, the abuse of nature by Man and a nihilistic outlook on what life ultimately is.Ok, still don't really understand what this one is truly about. Watch with sunn 0))) playing in the background for full effect.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsMonica BellucciVincent CasselAlbert DupontelEvents over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.One of the most important movies ever made. The backwards structure used here reminds us of the way that the good fabric of things has a way of unravelling with shocking suddeness. Two of the most unbelieveably shocking sequences are on display here, undiluted in their impact by knowing in advance what is in store. One of the few films out there with the ability to change the way we look at the world and our own fate and destiny.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsRachel KorineBrian KotzurTravis NicholsonFollows the lives of a small group of sociopathic elderly people in Nashville, Tennessee.Ok, thumbs up to you if you have figured out the fact that I don't really know where I'm going with this list. It's just another drunken night in playing about on the internet. There's no rhyme or reason to what I am doing, much like the characters in this film. But hey, this is a free world and we can do what we want. Again, much like the characters in this film. Make it, make it, don't fake it, make it, make it, don't fake it.
- DirectorJoachim TrierStarsEili HarboeKaya WilkinsHenrik RafaelsenA confused religious girl tries to deny her feelings for a female friend who's in love with her. This causes her suppressed subconsciously-controlled psychokinetic powers to reemerge with devastating results.