Ask the Readers: 311 More Films Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind

“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!