The readers have spoken! Here’s the complete list of films (mostly) guaranteed to blow your mind.

SUMMER IS THE PEAK SEASON for taking a trip. Every year, when the days start to heat up, it’s a perfect time to go somewhere new – whether to a sun-drenched beach on a distant shore, or a uniquely creative vision in a darkened theater.

The response was phenomenal – everyone had an opinion, if not their own films for the list.

This past summer, editor Ian MacKenzie wrote one of the most popular articles in BNT history: “The Red Pill: 10 Films Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind.” The response was phenomenal – everyone had an opinion, if not their own films for the list.

“My original intention was to compile a list of films that applied stylistic themes and narratives to hint at greater truths about our society, culture and world,” Ian said in an e-mail interview.

“I picked these movies because they were either cult favorites or generally popular. If they had been too obscure, many people wouldn’t have been able to relate and contribute to the discussion.”

And contribute they did! It’s even been suggested the list be expanded, and the comments keep coming.

Stirring Up Discussion

Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut

“I hoped the list would do well, but I had no idea it would reach as many people and garner as many comments as it did. Of course, I’m happy it worked out and that it stirred up some healthy discussion,” said Ian.

While most comments were supportive, others were less enthusiastic or flat-out rude. Some people seemed to take it personally that their movies hadn’t been suggested, or that the films weren’t the greatest examples of world cinema.

“I think some people took the list as ‘the only mind blowing films out there’ instead of a list that was compiled through my subjective opinion,” Ian said. “I certainly have other films I could have added to the list (Holy Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ghost in the Shell) but wanted to keep the list to 10.

“I appreciated many of the suggestions from readers who ‘got it.’ Others just posted movies they personally found enjoyable, but not necessarily ‘mind-blowing.'”

The Lists

As of October 12, 2008, here are the movies readers chose as “mind-blowing.”

Some titles may surprise you (perhaps suggested jokingly), while others easily qualify beyond the original 10 films.

But keep this in mind: it’s a subjective list. People have different tastes, sometimes finding value in unusual places – after all, who doesn’t have a “guilty pleasure” or two? While reading these lists, it’s wise to see where people were coming from, not criticize them for having an opinion you don’t share.

What makes these films “mind-blowing,” anyway?

Most likely, there was at least one moment where you began to think differently. Whether you went there alone or with a theater of people, no one can take that trip away from you.

American Films
  1. 12 Angry Men
  2. 12 Monkeys
  3. 13th Floor, The
  4. 1408
  5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
  6. Adaptation
  7. After Hours
  8. AI
  9. Altered States
  10. American Beauty
  11. American History X
  12. American Psycho
  13. Andromeda Strain
  14. Angel Heart
  15. Apocalypse Now
  16. Arlington Road
  17. Army of Darkness
  18. Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford, The
  19. Ballad of Jack and Rose, The
  20. Baraka
  21. Bedazzled (1967, 2000)
  22. Before Sunrise
  23. Before Sunset
  24. Being John Malkovich
  25. Being There
  26. Bermuda Depths, The
  27. Bicentennial Man
  28. Birth
  29. Blade Runner
  30. Blood Simple
  31. Blue Velvet
  32. Boy and His Dog, A
  33. Bride to Terabithia
  34. Buffalo 66
  35. Butterfly Effect, The
  36. Castaway
  37. Cement Garden
  38. Center of the World
  39. Children of Men
  40. Chopper
  41. Citizen Kane
  42. Clockwork Orange, A
  43. Closer
  44. Code 46
  45. Colossus: The Forbin Project
  46. Coma
  47. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
  48. Constantine
  49. Contact
  50. Cool Hand Luke
  51. Crank
  52. Crash
  53. Cube Zero
  54. Cypher
  55. Dancer in the Dark
  56. Dawn of the Dead
  57. Day of the Dead
  58. Day the Earth Stood Still, The
  59. Dead Man
  60. Deer Hunter, The
  61. Defending Your Life
  62. Déjà vu
  63. Demon Seed
  64. Diary of the Dead
  65. Diary of the Dead 2
  66. Dr. Strangelove
  67. Dude, Where’s My Car?
  68. Easy Rider
  69. Ed Wood
  70. Elephant
  71. Elephant Man
  72. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
  73. Equilibrium
  74. Eraserhead
  75. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  76. eXistenZ
  77. Exorcist, The
  78. Eyes Wide Shut
  79. Face in the Crowd, A
  80. Fahrenheit 451
  81. Fail-safe
  82. Falling Down
  83. Femme Fatale
  84. Fifth Element, The
  85. Finding Neverland
  86. Five Easy Pieces
  87. Forest, The
  88. Forrest Gump
  89. Fountain, The
  90. Four Rooms
  91. Frequency
  92. Full Metal Jacket
  93. Funny Games
  94. Game, The
  95. Gattaca
  96. Girl, Interrupted
  97. Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The
  98. Graduate, The
  99. Green Mile, The
  100. Groundhog Day
  101. Gummo
  102. Happening, The
  103. Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay
  104. Heart of Darkness
  105. Hemp for Victory
  106. Hostel
  107. I, Robot
  108. Identity
  109. Idiocracy
  110. In Dreams
  111. Inherit the Wind
  112. Inland Empire
  113. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
  114. IT
  115. Jacket, The
  116. Jacob’s Ladder
  117. Joe Versus the Volcano
  118. Kill Bill
  119. Kill Bill 2
  120. Kiss of the Spiderwoman
  121. K-Pax
  122. Land of the Dead
  123. Life of David Gale, The
  124. Liquid Sky
  125. Lord of the Rings
  126. Lord of War
  127. Lost Highway
  128. Love, Liza
  129. Machinist, The
  130. Man From Earth, The
  131. Mars Attacks!
  132. Memento
  133. Men in Black
  134. Metropolis
  135. Milagro Beanfield War, The
  136. Miracle Mile
  137. Mothman Prophecies
  138. Mulholland Drive
  139. My Dinner with Andre
  140. Naked Lunch
  141. Natural Born Killers
  142. Nell
  143. Night of the Hunter
  144. Night of the Living Dead
  145. Nines, The
  146. Ninth Configuration, The
  147. Nirvana
  148. No Country for Old Men
  149. Omega Man
  150. One Hour Photo
  151. Othello
  152. Others, The
  153. Pan’s Labyrinth
  154. Parallax View
  155. Party Monster
  156. Peaceful Warrior, The
  157. Pi
  158. Pink Floyd: The Wall
  159. Planet of the Apes
  160. Prestige, The
  161. Primer
  162. Psycho
  163. Pulp Fiction
  164. Punch Drunk Love
  165. Pursuit of Happyness
  166. Putney Swope
  167. Quiet Earth, The
  168. Razor’s Edge, The
  169. Repo Man
  170. Requiem for a Dream
  171. Reservoir Dogs
  172. Revolver
  173. Rollerball
  174. Royal Tenenbaums, The
  175. Running Scared
  176. Running with Scissors
  177. Rushmore
  178. Saving Private Ryan
  179. Scanner Darkly, A
  180. Seconds
  181. Seven
  182. Seventh Seal, The
  183. Shawshank Redemption
  184. Shining, The
  185. Silence of the Lambs, The
  186. Silent Running
  187. Sin City
  188. Six Ways to Sunday
  189. Sixth Sense, The
  190. Slaughterhouse Five
  191. SLC Punk!
  192. Sleuth
  193. Sliding Doors
  194. Snatch
  195. Society
  196. Sorry, Haters
  197. Southland Tales
  198. Straight Story, The
  199. Strange Days
  200. Stranger than Fiction
  201. Talk Radio
  202. Tarnation
  203. Taxi Driver
  204. Team America: World Police
  205. Terminator
  206. Thank You for Smoking
  207. They Live
  208. This Is Spinal Tap
  209. THX 1138
  210. Total Recall
  211. Toys
  212. Trainspotting
  213. Trigger Effect, The
  214. Truckers
  215. Unbreakable
  216. Usual Suspects, The
  217. V for Vendetta
  218. Vanilla Sky
  219. Vanishing Point
  220. Videodrome
  221. Village, The
  222. Wag the Dog
  223. Waking the Dead
  224. Watership Down
  225. What Dreams May Come
  226. What the Bleep Do We Know?
  227. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
  228. Where the Buffalo Roam
  229. Wicker Man
  230. Wild Bunch, The
  231. Wisdom of Crocodiles, The
  232. Wristcutters: A Love Story
  233. Zombie Strippers
Foreign Films
  • 23
  • 8½
  • Amores Perros
  • Audition
  • Avalon
  • Bad Boy Bubby
  • Baise-Moi
  • Bliss
  • Blowup
  • Blue Spring
  • Breaking the Waves
  • Carandiru
  • Cashback
  • Chungking Express
  • Cidade de Deus (City of God)
  • Cube
  • Cube 2
  • Dancer in the Dark
  • Death Note: The Movie
  • Delicatessen
  • Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man)
  • Dot the I
  • Dreams
  • El Topo
  • Europe Trilogy
  • Festen
  • Following
  • Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby
  • Funky Forest
  • He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
  • Human Traffic
  • Idi i Smotri (Come and See)
  • Irréversible
  • Kontroll
  • La Cité des Enfants Perdus (The City of Lost Children)
  • La Double Vie de Veronique
  • La Trilogie
  • Le Decalogue
  • Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain
  • Life is Beautiful
  • Man Bites Dog
  • Mathilde
  • Mbi (We)
  • Microcosmos: Le Peuple de l’Herbe
  • Mitt Liv Som Hund (My Life as a Dog)
  • Motorcycle Diaries, The
  • No Smoking
  • Oldboy
  • Once Were Warriors
  • Open Your Eyes
  • Romance
  • Run Lola Run
  • Sans Soleil
  • Santa Sangre
  • Seul contre tous (I Stand Alone)
  • Shine
  • Spoorloos (the original of the Vanishing)
  • Stalker
  • Sweet Movie
  • Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
  • Tae-Guki (Brotherhood)
  • Tetsuo: The Iron Man, The
  • The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
  • Holy Mountain, The
  • Quatermass Xperiment, The
  • Science of Sleep, The
  • Tin Drum, The
  • Tricouleur or Blue, White, Red
  • Visitor Q
  • Walkabout
  • Y Tu Mamá También
Anime
  • Akira
  • Ghost in the Machine
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
  • Paprika
  • Perfect Blue
  • Serial Experiments Lain
  • Tekkonkinkreet

Now there can’t possibly be any worthy movies excluded from the list…or are there? Share in the comments!