I Need A Good Psychological Film

[KindOfnElf]

Gattaca

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/

My personal favourite thought provoking movie that no1 has heard about.

A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.

Its mindfuck of how much of your own identity you can decide for yourself and how much is decided from birth.

You stand corrected, I've heard about it and seen it It's a very good movie, nice recommendation.

 

[Hardcore31]

As for pure psychological stuff:
Blue Velvet
Bad Leiutenant (sp?)(the 1992 one)
The Shinning
As for mind f*ckery:
Fear and Loathing and Las Vegas. That movie is schizophrenia-inducing.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

Exam
Watched it the other day and thought it was a pretty good one.
A bunch of people who are taking the exam get put in an isolated room for 80 minutes with the goal of answering a single question. There are only a few rules; they need to answer the question in the time frame, they must not talk to the guard or the invigilator and they must not damage or otherwise defile their exam paper. If any of this happens they get disqualified, they are otherwise in a room where anything goes.

Repo! The Genetic Opera
It?s a rather fun rock opera full of sometimes silly dark humour and a fair bit of gore. It has a really nice look to it and, so long as you like the bulk of the music in it, the whole things really a blast. It was originally a stage play until the finally managed to turn it into a movie.

 

[Phuctifyno]

If you liked Cube, check out a movie called Nothing (written and directed by the same guy... who also did the recent Splice).

Adaptation may have already been mentioned, but I'd repeat it anyway.

Any of Chan Wook Park's films (Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Thirst, etc...). I don't know if they quite classify as "mindfuck", but they are unusual, psychological, and damn good.

Judging from your list, you've probably already seen Dark City. If not, do so.

And anything Cronenberg FTFW.

 

[Continuity]

Its been suggested 3 times already but this is another vote for waking life, a very good film in many respects.

 

[Enigma6667]

Have you ever seen Session 9? It's a psychological horror film. It's probably one of the only film that managed to scare me.

I love that movie! Can't believe I forgot to include that one. An edit is needed.

If you liked Cube then chances are good that you will enjoy Exam.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258197/

Sounds like my kind of movie...

Moon with Sam Rockwell. It's a movie about a solitary worker living on the moon, his 3 year contract is almost up but the loneliness is getting to him. Another person has mysteriously appeared in his habitat. It takes a twist into hard science fiction.

Pandorum, some made-for-Starz movie made with Dennis Quaid. While not nearly as psychological as some you mentioned it does have it's moments. It's a science fiction-psychological-adventure-horror-action, it actually wasnt too bad for a direct to dvd type movie.

Primer was great considering it was filmed for $7000. Confusing even after reading spoilers.

I loved Moon, thought Pandorum sucked, and my opinion on Primer still stands.

There's some movie in the cinemas at the moment that's kind of indie and cult, but it has a big following. It's called Inception or something. I hear it's a bit mindfucky .

Which in turns brings me to another Christopher Nolan movie, one much underrated and unseen, The Prestige. Check it out.

Or, play Heavy Rain.

I still haven't seen Prestige yet. Heard it was good, and if it's from Nolan then I'm sure I'll like it. And also, I don't have a PS3 so no Heavy Rain for me.

A Tale of Two Sisters directed by Kim Ji-woon is a wonderful psychological thriller.

Reincarnation directed by Takashi Shimizu would also be a great choice.

Audition directed by Takashi Miike is an amazing film, and will probably make you cringe.

Whilst not exactly a film the original Twilight Zone series all have twists which are often unpredictable and have been massively influential. I couldn't recommend a single episode, almost all are gems, plus there's the bonus of seeing William Shatner being a serious actor in two of them.

Holy fuck! A Tale of Two Sisters and Audition fucked me up. I also love the Twilight Zone. I guess I'm gonna have to see Reincarnation then...

Those that have been suggested, but I must reinforce:
-One Hour Photo
-A Scanner Darkly

That which has not been suggested:
-Adaptation.

Watch this movie. WATCH IT. It doesn't matter if you don't like Nicolas Cage (which I do, very much), your brain will make an exception for this movie. Frigging watch it.

Lots of picks for One Hour Photo and A Scanner Darkly. Gonna have to see those.

And I already said, anything written by Charlie Kaufman, so Adaptation is already in there. LOOOOVE that movie.

I suppose that we are to recommend films that contain a level of depth to them that makes you think.

In that case, I'd certainly recommend seeing The Mist done a few years ago. A great atmosphere of hopelessness binds you throughout the whole experience. And let -no one- spoil the ending for you! It just ruins the whole feel.

Another would be John Carpenter's The Thing. Great acting and fear that's sure to make any light-hearted person paranoid. It did such on me atleast.

One of my favourites is also Watchmen. A super-hero movie with depth in it. It sounds doubtful I'm sure, but it's there. Puts the concept of heroics into extensive pondering.

I think people are confused about what a "psychological" movie is. A movie that fucks with your mind Silent Hill 2 style. Doesn't mean a "smart" movie. I still love The Mist and Watchmen though, and I already saw The Thing, which is amazing.

You and I like the same kind of films my friend.

Watch Requiem for a Dream, a beautiful film by the guy who did the Fountain and Pi. Also watch Mulholland Drive by David Lynch.

Thanks for that list, I'll be using it in the future.

Already saw Requiem. Didn't think that this many people would consider it a "psychological" movie but okay then.

Lots of Mulholland Drive picks, so I'm gonna have to go with that.

Sunshine was about reigniting our dying sun, the only thing similar was they were in space and there was two ships. There was an "Event Horizon" subplot that was a bit silly, but I still maintain they were two different movies. Sunshine I would just classify as straight Science Fiction and Event Horizon as Horror set on a spaceship. I like both movies for what they are.

Fair enough!
I personally still see many similarities in both plots, yet i agree on the "Event Horizon" = Horror/Sci-Fi and "Sunshine" = Thriller/Sci-Fi. And yeah, i do like both movies aswell, altho my personal choice will always be Event Horizon as i've seen that one about 25 times more often then Sunshine, ghehe.

I fucking loved Sunshine. Event Horizon was pretty good too. Loved the idea of hell in space.

The Number 23

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!......AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!....sorry I could NOT take that movie seriously. It's basically Pi, but unintentionally funny.

Anything David Lynch did before the 2000's. The first Nightmare on Elm Street can be considered psychological, depending on how you look at it. You could also try out 3 Extremes, two of the three films in it are psychological horror films that are actually pretty creepy. Same can be said for 3 Extremes 2, though I only saw the first film in it.

Wow, I can't believe I just met someone who also saw 3 Extremes. Didn't know they had a sequel though...

(1) Read a book. They're far better at creating the kind of experience you want.
(2) Cube was a poorly acted piece of shit with a vaguely interesting premise.
(3) Primer is awesome. (If you can explain all the timelines to me and still say it's shit, I'll retract number 3.)
(4) From your list I would suugest you might like Waking Life. (Not saying it's good though).
(5) There's a reason The Fountain is 'underrated' (see number 2).
(6) Don't take offence at number 2 or 5, I didn't when you said Primer sucked. (Actually I'm lying, but I heard you like people messing with you.) And so -
(7)

1) I read plenty of books thank you very much.
2) The acting was "that" bad. It wasn't really enough to make me hate it.
3)

I honestly don't care how mind-fuck-y it was, it bored the ever living shit out of me. And how can you say that Cube and The Fountain have bad acting, when Primer's acting was just horrendous.
4) Thanks for the suggestion.
5) Meh, I know tons of people who hate that movie. Still one of my all time favorites.
6) Wait...what? But..er....um....NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!!!!
7) Totally agree.

--

Thanks to all you folks who suggested.

 

[lacktheknack]

Jacob's Ladder. It influenced and inspired Silent Hill, for crying out loud!

 

[wolf92]

American Psycho was phenominal

 

[captain awesome 12]

Moon. Without a doubt. If no one else has mentioned it yet.

 

[fullbleed]

Moon with Sam Rockwell. It's a movie about a solitary worker living on the moon, his 3 year contract is almost up but the loneliness is getting to him. Another person has mysteriously appeared in his habitat. It takes a twist into hard science fiction.

This... am I alowed to just say 'this' or will I get beaten by moderators?

Pandora was surprisingly good as well, though you should really just go to the source and watch Event Horizon.

 

[kilibot57]

Being John Malkovich

It's weird, funny and completely awesome!

"Malkovich,Malkovich Malkovich?"
"MALKOVICH!"

Also, some David Cronenberg movies have a good dosing of mindfuck, such as existenz.

He said "anything written by Charlie Kaufman"

 

[rabidmidget]

Being John Malkovich

It's weird, funny and completely awesome!

"Malkovich,Malkovich Malkovich?"
"MALKOVICH!"

Also, some David Cronenberg movies have a good dosing of mindfuck, such as existenz.

He said "anything written by Charlie Kaufman"

Fair enough, I didn't realize it was written by him, but what I said about Cronenberg still stands.

 

[chef-boyR-D]

I quite enjoyed Law Abiding citizen.