Ask the Readers: 311 More Films 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.
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
- 12 Angry Men
- 12 Monkeys
- 13th Floor, The
- 1408
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Adaptation
- After Hours
- AI
- Altered States
- American Beauty
- American History X
- American Psycho
- Andromeda Strain
- Angel Heart
- Apocalypse Now
- Arlington Road
- Army of Darkness
- Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford, The
- Ballad of Jack and Rose, The
- Baraka
- Bedazzled (1967, 2000)
- Before Sunrise
- Before Sunset
- Being John Malkovich
- Being There
- Bermuda Depths, The
- Bicentennial Man
- Birth
- Blade Runner
- Blood Simple
- Blue Velvet
- Boy and His Dog, A
- Bride to Terabithia
- Buffalo 66
- Butterfly Effect, The
- Castaway
- Cement Garden
- Center of the World
- Children of Men
- Chopper
- Citizen Kane
- Clockwork Orange, A
- Closer
- Code 46
- Colossus: The Forbin Project
- Coma
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
- Constantine
- Contact
- Cool Hand Luke
- Crank
- Crash
- Cube Zero
- Cypher
- Dancer in the Dark
- Dawn of the Dead
- Day of the Dead
- Day the Earth Stood Still, The
- Dead Man
- Deer Hunter, The
- Defending Your Life
- Déjà vu
- Demon Seed
- Diary of the Dead
- Diary of the Dead 2
- Dr. Strangelove
- Dude, Where’s My Car?
- Easy Rider
- Ed Wood
- Elephant
- Elephant Man
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
- Equilibrium
- Eraserhead
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- eXistenZ
- Exorcist, The
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Face in the Crowd, A
- Fahrenheit 451
- Fail-safe
- Falling Down
- Femme Fatale
- Fifth Element, The
- Finding Neverland
- Five Easy Pieces
- Forest, The
- Forrest Gump
- Fountain, The
- Four Rooms
- Frequency
- Full Metal Jacket
- Funny Games
- Game, The
- Gattaca
- Girl, Interrupted
- Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The
- Graduate, The
- Green Mile, The
- Groundhog Day
- Gummo
- Happening, The
- Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay
- Heart of Darkness
- Hemp for Victory
- Hostel
- I, Robot
- Identity
- Idiocracy
- In Dreams
- Inherit the Wind
- Inland Empire
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- IT
- Jacket, The
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Joe Versus the Volcano
- Kill Bill
- Kill Bill 2
- Kiss of the Spiderwoman
- K-Pax
- Land of the Dead
- Life of David Gale, The
- Liquid Sky
- Lord of the Rings
- Lord of War
- Lost Highway
- Love, Liza
- Machinist, The
- Man From Earth, The
- Mars Attacks!
- Memento
- Men in Black
- Metropolis
- Milagro Beanfield War, The
- Miracle Mile
- Mothman Prophecies
- Mulholland Drive
- My Dinner with Andre
- Naked Lunch
- Natural Born Killers
- Nell
- Night of the Hunter
- Night of the Living Dead
- Nines, The
- Ninth Configuration, The
- Nirvana
- No Country for Old Men
- Omega Man
- One Hour Photo
- Othello
- Others, The
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Parallax View
- Party Monster
- Peaceful Warrior, The
- Pi
- Pink Floyd: The Wall
- Planet of the Apes
- Prestige, The
- Primer
- Psycho
- Pulp Fiction
- Punch Drunk Love
- Pursuit of Happyness
- Putney Swope
- Quiet Earth, The
- Razor’s Edge, The
- Repo Man
- Requiem for a Dream
- Reservoir Dogs
- Revolver
- Rollerball
- Royal Tenenbaums, The
- Running Scared
- Running with Scissors
- Rushmore
- Saving Private Ryan
- Scanner Darkly, A
- Seconds
- Seven
- Seventh Seal, The
- Shawshank Redemption
- Shining, The
- Silence of the Lambs, The
- Silent Running
- Sin City
- Six Ways to Sunday
- Sixth Sense, The
- Slaughterhouse Five
- SLC Punk!
- Sleuth
- Sliding Doors
- Snatch
- Society
- Sorry, Haters
- Southland Tales
- Straight Story, The
- Strange Days
- Stranger than Fiction
- Talk Radio
- Tarnation
- Taxi Driver
- Team America: World Police
- Terminator
- Thank You for Smoking
- They Live
- This Is Spinal Tap
- THX 1138
- Total Recall
- Toys
- Trainspotting
- Trigger Effect, The
- Truckers
- Unbreakable
- Usual Suspects, The
- V for Vendetta
- Vanilla Sky
- Vanishing Point
- Videodrome
- Village, The
- Wag the Dog
- Waking the Dead
- Watership Down
- What Dreams May Come
- What the Bleep Do We Know?
- What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
- Where the Buffalo Roam
- Wicker Man
- Wild Bunch, The
- Wisdom of Crocodiles, The
- Wristcutters: A Love Story
- 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!