Mindscrew Movies

[LnGrrrR]

What are some movies with mindscrew moments you enjoy?

For my contribution, I'll throw Identity out there. Not the best of movies but it kept me interested for a few hours, and it's a worthwhile movie to pop in when October rolls around.

[redzero]

Mulholland Drive, although I didn't really enjoy it (except for the diner scene).

[cantthinkofanything]

Usual Suspects

also, The Mist

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Jacob's Ladder

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Memento

[CubanSucks]

Not really sure what mindscrew means exactly but I'll guess

2001: A Space Odyssey. That one's obvs

Apocalypse Now probably second most mindfuck for me

Donnie Darko is pretty trippy and mindfucky, maybe tied for second for me

Requiem for a Dream, except it's super depressing

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, so trippy it nearly bummed me out at how distant from reality the characters get

Trainspotting has some mindfuck moments and it's an all around great movie with an uplifting ending

[Trill Clinton]

cosign the mist and also se7en, the sixth sense and fight club had me like

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq129/stuy119/weebay.gif

[leemajors]

Umm, Altered States. Seconds.

[cantthinkofanything]

also Primal Fear

and No Way Out

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Cubansucks raises a good point. Depending on exactly what kind of mind screwing you're into you might what to check out Sara Bellum's Full Frontal Lobes for some real hot mind on mind action.

[CubanSucks]

cosign the mist and also se7en, the sixth sense and fight club had me like

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq129/stuy119/weebay.gif

because you didn't understand it?

[DPG21920]

For me it was easily the first time I saw The Matrix. The writing and story plus the way the film was shot was pretty damn wow to me.

[cantthinkofanything]

For me it was easily the first time I saw The Matrix. The writing and story plus the way the film was shot was pretty damn wow to me.

and then of course when the director turned out to be a woman

[Darth_Pelican]

Bug

[Trill Clinton]

because you didn't understand it?

yea that's why

[leemajors]

Bug

Pretty entertaining till the foil.

[Mister Sinister]

Usual Suspects

also, The Mist

:tu Beat me to it on both counts.

[xellos88330]

The Game

That movie was the first one that I couldn't figure out the ending until I saw it. It was friggin awesome. I think there was an earlier version, but the one I love was the 1997 one with Michael Douglas.

[Blake]

Jacobs Ladder
Altered States

Pretty much all of Stanley Kubrick's movies

[CuckingFunt]

No point mentioning the obvious ones that will be mentioned throughout the thread, but a couple of the more memorable mindscrews for me were Frailty and Signs. And they were both memorable for being shitty twists.

EDIT: Be careful below, as I'm spoiling a couple of ten-year-old movies...




When I first saw Signs, my initial thought was that Gibson was a complete nutter who was paranoid for no reason, making the fact the aliens were real the big twist. The former was an interesting concept. The latter was a boring cliche with shit rubber costumes and the impossible lameness of aliens who can be killed by water landing on Earth.

Similarly, Frailty (an admittedly not so great movie) hooked me from the start on the story of a religious fundamentalist imagining demons as a justification to kill and passing that crazy down to his son. There's something dark, there, and a bit subversive, that I found genuinely engaging. But then the end comes, with more than its share of twists, including one that basically points out that they can actually see demons and that they are actually killing people in service to God, and... all the dark and subversive that made the movie kind of cool is completely ruined.

[redzero]

No point mentioning the obvious ones that will be mentioned throughout the thread, but a couple of the more memorable mindscrews for me were Frailty and Signs. And they were both memorable for being shitty twists.

EDIT: Be careful below, as I'm spoiling a couple of ten-year-old movies...




When I first saw Signs, my initial thought was that Gibson was a complete nutter who was paranoid for no reason, making the fact the aliens were real the big twist. The former was an interesting concept. The latter was a boring cliche with shit rubber costumes and the impossible lameness of aliens who can be killed by water landing on Earth.

Similarly, Frailty (an admittedly not so great movie) hooked me from the start on the story of a religious fundamentalist imagining demons as a justification to kill and passing that crazy down to his son. There's something dark, there, and a bit subversive, that I found genuinely engaging. But then the end comes, with more than its share of twists, including one that basically points out that they can actually see demons and that they are actually killing people in service to God, and... all the dark and subversive that made the movie kind of cool is completely ruined.

Another movie in that same vein would be The Last Exorcism. It could have been good if there was no demonic possession, but nope.

[LnGrrrR]

Hm a few mentions for Altered States, and I've never even heard of the movie. Interesting.

And I can't stand Signs at all. Aliens that get hurt by water... really? REALLY? They can travel through space but they don't realize that water hurts them? (rage)


Frailty sounds interesting as well.

Another one I'm a big fan of is Brazil... though that only has one true mindscrew, it makes the movie worth it.

On a lesser scale (not quite a mindscrew, maybe a mindtwist?), I love the moment watching Training Day when you realize that Denzel is just an evil mofo.

[Reck]

Saw 1
Fight Club
The Book of Eli
Shutter Island
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[The Gemini Method]

Pretty much the ones I'd say are already mentioned...

I'll add Brick

[AussieFanKurt]

Nice thread!

Memento, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lost Highway (actually anything by Lynch), Fear and Loathing, Oldboy. The list could go on and on

[silverblk mystix]

Almost anything and everything by Almodovar...

The original Vanilla Sky (Abre los Ojos)

Donnie Darko

In the Company of Men

[Southwest Texas Fan]

El Orfanato 2007 and damn that scene Spoiler Alert!!!! where the lady gets hit by the bus and you see her jaw, Yikes.

[AussieFanKurt]

The Holy Mountain and El Topo.

[Capt Bringdown]

The Lathe of Heaven (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081036/) (1980)
George Orr, a man whose dreams can change waking reality, tries to suppress this unpredictable gift with drugs.

Haven't seen the 2002 remake, but for sure the 1980 version is the real deal if you like trippy sci-fi.

[leemajors]

The Lathe of Heaven (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081036/) (1980)
George Orr, a man whose dreams can change waking reality, tries to suppress this unpredictable gift with drugs.

Haven't seen the 2002 remake, but for sure the 1980 version is the real deal if you like trippy sci-fi.

That is one of Ursula K Le Guin's best books imo. In the book his psychiatrist manipulated his dreams, is it not the same in the movie?

[Avante]

Eraserhead

[cantthinkofanything]

I remember watching some of the great westerns back in the day. My Darling Clementine, Winchester 73, Stagecoach...yep...seen all of the classics.
Here's the thing...they were great movies on their own...no need for any twists or tricks or mind scrows. Yep...sit back and enjoy the movie with a pretty lass on on arm and a cold Coca Cola in the other hand.

[cantthinkofanything]

Original Planet of the Apes

[DeadlyDynasty]

Mulholland Drive, although I didn't really enjoy it (except for the diner scene).
I can think of another scene I certainly enjoyed...


I guess this is largely a subjective category, but as for other films (both decent, bad, and obvious):

Blue Velvet
Dead Again (more suspenseful than a mindscrew, but underrated nonetheless)
Pi
The original Psycho
The Wall
Moon
Outland

Angels in America (really strange story about AIDS epidemic, with some factual elements).


Can't remember shit right now...

[DeadlyDynasty]

Jacob's Ladder
Really good call on this one, btw...very disturbing. That one scene where his wife/gf's face looks like a rat was pretty fucked up

[DMC]

Jacob's Ladder
This. Every movie since then has me looking for that concept. That's why Sixth Sense didn't do much for me and why "The Jacket" was obvious from the onset.

[DMC]

Really good call on this one, btw...very disturbing. That one scene where his wife/gf's face looks like a rat was pretty fucked up
Wasn't that Elizabeth Pena? She was pretty hot back then.

[DMC]

The Book of Eli is ridiculous. The leap is too great for the mind to accept.

[TheRealCB]

Every Saw movie...After the 7th,you almost realize the guy has a point..

[DeadlyDynasty]

Wasn't that Elizabeth Pena? She was pretty hot back then.
Yep, before she packed on the pounds and got a lesbo haircut

[redzero]

Every Saw movie...After the 7th,you almost realize the guy has a point..

I can't believe you watched seven Saw movies.

[boutons_deux]

D Sutherland had a couple of really weird ones

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069995/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077745/

[TheRealCB]

I can't believe you watched seven Saw movies.

Well yeah,it's not something special as a movie (acting,action scenes or anything) but the whole "concept" is amazing imo.Simple mindfuck.

[PakiDan]

Eraserhead

this! Holy crap this is a twisted flick!

[Cochina]

Eraserhead


this! Holy crap this is a twisted flick!

No shit!!!......................and this:


Succubus ~ 1967

http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-synopsis/succubus.1/

[Proxy]

The Fountain
Moon
A Scanner Darkly
Mr. Nobody

[The Reckoning]

that one hellraiser movie where the guy is in hell, and it's modeled after groundhog day.