The Most Surreal Films I've Ever Seen
This is a list compiled of films that managed to leave me in complete shock as to what I was witnessing. These are all films I recommend you watching.
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- DirectorDavid LynchStarsKarolina GruszkaKrzysztof MajchrzakGrace ZabriskieAs an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.Inland Empire is the most surreal film I've ever seen, this film plummets you into a literal nightmare and leaves you there for 2 hours and 50 minutes. After watching the film you can't distinguish which reality you're in.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTomorô TaguchiKei FujiwaraNobu KanaokaA businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.Probably the most surreal movie ever made, Testuo the Iron Man is so unpredictable and unexpected that it leaves your eyes and mouth wide open in shock. Some of the things in the movie are so surreal that at times the movie is literally unexplainable.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsReina TriendlMariko ShinodaErina ManoA girl's life cascades into chaos as everyone around her suffers a gruesome fate while she becomes less certain of who she is and her once-once normal life.
- DirectorSatoshi KonStarsMegumi HayashibaraTôru EmoriKatsunosuke HoriWhen a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsIvana KarbanováJitka CerhováMarie CeskováAfter realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves. They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?Daisies is an absolutely unique film, no other film will match this films' style, nor will one film be like this in today's age of cinema. What makes this film surreal is its trance inducing optical effects, and its absolutely bizarre scenes that come out of nowhere and astound you in how much they defy your expectations.
It's a film that you need to see. - 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.Eraserhead is one of my favourite films of all time, and there's a good reason why. The film is open-ended, atmospheric and investing to the point that the film is vital for every movie-goer. Please seek this film out, not as a surreal film, although as an experience from another world.
The film is everything I've noted for the previous films on the list. The film is funny, weird, and scary. Every aspect I want from a surreal film, and common interpretations you can gather from this film are genius.
What can I say other than I love this film. - DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.While extremely shocking and disturbing to some, and ludicrously hilarious to others. One can't deny that this film is deranged.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsSean ConneryCharlotte RamplingSara KestelmanIn the late 23rd century, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.This film exists in its own logic, and its logic is ludicrous when compared to ours. As a film this is a boring mess, however a very enjoyable boring mess. With some of the most ludicrous scenes and logic ever put to film, even if you are high this film won't make sense.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsKimiko IkegamiMiki JinboKumiko ÔbaA schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.Not a film that's scary or shocking, it's rather a movie that makes you laugh your ass off by how psychedelic and crazy the film is, the whole movie is a child's nightmare, with so many unexpected mood shifts.
- DirectorQuentin DupieuxStarsStephen SpinellaRoxane MesquidaWings HauserA homicidal car tire, discovering it has destructive psionic power, sets its sights on a desert town once a mysterious woman becomes its obsession.Rubber is potentially the greatest film ever made - unironically. The film makes some of the best fourth wall breaking comments I've ever witnessed in a film.
An absurdist comedy that is unlike anything else you've seen. - DirectorEric FournierStarsEric FournierEloid RuizA bizarre mix of early Tod Hayne's and Phyllis Diller!The most obscure film on this list isn't a film, instead this is a compilation of psychedelic, repetitive, funny, obnoxious, and mind twisting short films.
- DirectorBrian YuznaStarsBilly WarlockConcetta D'AgneseBen SlackAn ordinary teenage boy discovers his family is part of a gruesome orgy cult for the social elite.Society is a film that only builds up the third act. Although when that third act happens, you are greeted with some of the most surreal and grotesque imagery probably ever put on film. It's both disgusting, perverted, funny, and shocking.
To receive the best experience, watch this film blind. - DirectorCharles SwensonStarsHoward KaylanMark VolmanRobert RidgelyMild-mannered insurance-adjuster Willard teams up with a foul-mouthed fowl who takes him on a surreal quest to become less uptight--and possibly get laid.Cheap is the most underrated film I've ever seen, and is also the most unexpectedly trippy film I've ever seen.
You can explicitly tell that the crew were high when they made this film, and that's simply the charm of this film.