So Cosmic horror is essentially the psychic damage of being given the keys to an incomprehensible universe, and going mad because of it. It’s unknowable, and it will drive you mad with sadness, fear, and unhinged lonely rage. Cosmic horror isn’t necessarily about anything brutally violent, but what would break your mind as reality dissolves around you.

Lovecraft was a terrible human (he was too racist for racists of his day, who essentially were like “you need to tone it down”). All his monsters were metaphors for immigrants, essentially. It’s a tragedy, and not something to ignore, but I don’t know how you reconcile the man vs his artwork, vs the world saying “we’re gonna take this out of your hands and make it better without the evil subtext”. And by evil, I don’t mean scary but the RACISM MAN. Sheesh.

HOWEVER… the universe he built is finally being tapped into by some of the greatest minds of our time. I’m pretty convinced I’m going to pivot on a particular story I’m writing to have it enter this genre. I don’t think existence is about hope or optimism. How can it be? For literary work to have impact, it needs to be honest, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard or seen anything as dishonest as a beautiful love story filled with hope and a happy ending riding off into the sunset. You know the people who ride off into the sunset? They die. Maybe painfully.

For people keeping track, Alex Garland is light years ahead of other writers in the exploration of it (see below, but also how he took the source material and shaped it is unreal), but what Richard Stanley did (HE IS BACK!!!) is thrilling. To see Cage doing understated stuff that will win him awards (stop reading and watch “Pig”), but what he did in Color Out of Space and Mandy? Wow. Also Stanley plans to make a trilogy of Lovecraft movies. I am a pig in mud.

I can’t even deeply talk about these wonderful films, because the entire narrative purpose is that there’s so many spoilers. I’ll do my best. I just hate when the trailer ruins the film, so that won’t happen here. Here we’ll see a mix of Lovecraft, Cosmic Horror, & then there’s Body Horror (Hi Cronenberg), and sometimes all 3. I find this sort of horror to be far more engaging than the torture porn trend, the “exorcist” stuff, or slasher stuff. The best stuff doesn’t visually scar vs occupying your mental space for years. =)

The one thing is how slippery a slope this arena is. I know there would be people raging at some of the suggestions, but you gotta hit “publish” to finish the post, so anything that is wrong or makes you mad, bring it on in the comments. I do really hope, if nothing else, you enjoy some of these shorts. Amazing work from people you’ll likely be talking about in a few years’ time with solid studio work.

FILMS

I link to the streamer when possible, but also Google’s aggregation of various streaming options, Ebert, or at times Rotten Tomatoes when you need to purchase / rent. SO MANY OF THESE FILMS would get me admonished or made fun of in disbelief on a film forum. Some of these are Lovecraft… some are adjacent. And i am sure some are just totally wrong. But this is my blog so either politely discuss with me or eat it. Also, I may organize the list someday, but I sorta like it random, non alphabetized, and non ranked. =)

2023 update:

David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future”

Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool

Heather Graham in Joe Lynch’s “Suitable Flesh”

Continued post update:

One rare gem that took me 5 years to unearth is “Black Mountain Side”, a brilliantly executed homage to John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, mixing in more deliberate Cosmic Horror, and it’s just something to push to the top of your list.

BACURAU – I wouldn’t watch this trailer of this BRILLIANT Brazilian movie about a small town, its people, and I’ll leave it at that. It’s under the spooky banner for obvious reasons. Intoning Sergio Leone, this nuevo-Western may have pacing issues, but it’s gorgeous to look at in anthropomorphic widescreen, and it marries magical realism with film-noir in a Western setting with a narrative that is brutally critiquing the cynicism and corruption of (sometimes w/ nuanced and overly specific) Brazilian politics (that can be lost on an American audience, but not that badly). I am happy to recommend the film, but again… don’t watch the trailer… IN FACT, I’ll delete it and replace with a pic of the one sheet, which is beautiful and does exactly what it sets out to do:

Possessor – unless you know Sean Bean’s schtick (spoiler?) and need to see all his work, I don’t know if I can recommend this because this is one of the most psychological and visually disturbing films I’ve seen in many, many years. It’s by Cronenberg’s son, and he’s definitely one to watch. Essentially, an assassin is dropped into people’s brains to carry out covert missions so they won’t be expected, but things start to go extremely haywire when the assessing starts dissociating from reality because of spending time in so many other people’s heads, and it spirals into absolute insane narrative complexity. It’s a brilliant, undervalued film.

Spring – falling in love isn’t always simple. Benson & Moorhead (The Endless, Resolution) directed Lovecraft love story. For the faint of heart, this is actually wholly watchable even if you aren’t horror people. This is both a happy combination of Cosmic and Body, without breaking the mental break with hardcore horror! =) Probably the only film on this list I could say that about.

In the Mouth of Madness – one of the best, Sam Neill tries to find an author who disappears while a pandemic of completely insane madness takes hold of the country. Pretty relevant nowadays, it’s truly amazing. Not to knock Carpenter, far be it from that, but this could be a David Lynch film in that he dials the surreal up to chaos levels.

The Thing – Carpenter’s classic. Top 3 Horror films of all time, and I’d probably have a fist fight with you if you mention Blum or Wan. I’ll say, with a culture that drops words like “genius” carelessly

Prince of Darkness – Carpenter’s final entry into the Apocalypse Trilogy

Underwater – Kristen Stewart needs to be a lead in every action film forever. What amounts to one of the best B-movies Hollywood has ever made, with a self-satisfied script that is bonkers from the start, it peppers in the cosmic horror slowly, with some literary easter eggs to boot. The cast is superb, and it calls back a little to stuff like Deep Star Six and Leviathan, whilst paving new ground that *should* end up intellectual property tentpole summertime joy. For real. I love this movie with all my heart. And Kristen… bravo!

Mandy – Panos Cosmatos (you’ll need to watch Beyond the Black Rainbow too) with his eerie, beautiful shot but horrifying Nic Cage vehicle that just exemplifies the existentially lonely and horrifying breakdown of the life you love and trust. The lightning alone is worth it, but Cage’s bathroom scene is one of the greatest moments in overacting history, and NO… I am not saying that negatively, or that Nic doesn’t have actual range. Watch this year’s “Pig” to see my point.

The Endless – It’s all fun and games until the cult isn’t wrong. Another Benson and Moorhead entry.

The Ritual – Atoning and grieving with your buddies on a bro-camping trip, when things get more complex than human regret. Shit gets dark and weird.

Midsommar – When a charming visit to your friend’s rural Swedish summer festival goes off the rails, with reality and your mind. One of the best films of this decade. “A couple travel to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown for its fabled midsummer festival, but what begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.”

He’s a genius… so:

Hereditary – a film about you not being able to pick your family, Aster’s first film prior to Midsommar. I can’t wait to see more of this guy. “When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited.”

The VVitch – A claustrophobic and tight shot period horror piece, that will need subtitles, from a true auteur, this is Egger’s first film, prior to The Lighthouse. This is essentially a slow burning period piece that is so accurate, you might need subtitles for ENGLISH. This is Queen Gambit lead’s first film, Anya Taylor Joy, and she proves why we’ll see a lot more of her, likely forever. It’s just perfectly executed, unless you need action and car chases.

Resolution – helping a friend get clean and sober in a remote spot. Remember this Benson and Moorhead entry is their first, and begins a tightly knit universe that has all their other films adjacently or directly tied to this. The non-spoiler lead in to this independent film is that there’s more going on than the problems between old friends.

Sea Fever – Solitary marine-biology student Siobhán endures a week on a ragged fishing trawler, miserably at odds with the close-knit crew. But out in the deep Atlantic, an unfathomable life-form soon ensnares the boat. As members of the crew now succumb to a strange infection, Siobhán must overcome her alienation and win their trust — before everyone is lost.

Annihilation – This is a masterpiece by Alex Garland. It is also one of my favorite films of all time, in the top 3 or 5 or 10. It’s post his ghost-directing of the visually stunning Dredd (see it in 3D), and Ex Machina. He re-uses the eminitely brilliant Oscar Isaac in this film, but Natalie Portman steals the show. This is truly one of the greater cosmic horror films ever, delivering on the unknowable nature of our complex and cold, uncaring, desperately weird universe. But the subtext of mental illness, and the accountability of how we emotionally grow, change, and self-destruct throughout our lifetime is what we’ll be unpacking for decades. Here’s a quick post and video of Garland talking about the film (which I linked above too LOL): https://unclefishbits.com/going-from-sanity-to-being-locked-into-the-subjectivity-of-existence-a-note-from-the-movie-annihilation/

Daniel Isn’t Real – Truly, you can’t make a statement like that in the title of a film, can you? A wild take on schizophrenia and mental illness, this film slowly reveals itself in a very deft way. Go in blind, as they say. Some great acting, as well. “Troubled Luke suffers a violent family trauma and resurrects his childhood imaginary friend to help him cope. Charismatic and full of energy, `Daniel’ helps Luke to achieve his dreams, before pushing him into a desperate fight for his own soul.”

The Beach House – “Emily and her boyfriend Randall have been in a difficult relationship for some time, which is why the couple decides to take a short vacation at Randall’s father’s beach house. However, the break soon turns into a real struggle for survival.”

Under the Skin – essentially an atmospheric experimental film, I doubt I could even describe it. Johannsen as the lead is mesmerizing, and the men she stalks were literally unknowing participants picked up off the street. Talk about exploitation, this is a haunting, terrifying film you might not ever be able to wrap your brain around.

Color Out of Space – You know, this is a crappy synopsis. This is Richard Stanley coming out of hiding and creating massive art with Nic Cage, and adapting the unadaptable as well as possible. This is meant to be the start of a trilogy, and I cannot wait… “After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm, Nathan Gardner and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism that infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare”

The Whisper in the Darkness – Whereas The Call of Cthulhu is a tribute to the silent Hollywood horrors of the 1920s, films such as The Cat and the Canary, The Whisperer in Darkness takes into account the sound horror film boom of the 1930s, evoking what a Lovecraft adaptation might have looked like if it was produced in the wake of Dracula and Frankenstein. (Cannot find streaming, currently)

Vivarium – This is a film about millennial fears of the mundane prison of home ownership, but at a level that is so surreal, it’s something you’ll need to read up on or watch a second time. “Hoping to find the perfect place to live, a couple travel to a suburban neighbourhood in which all the houses look identical. But when they try to leave the labyrinth-like development, each road mysteriously takes them back to where they started.”

Event Horizon – This is a classic with lots of Hollywood backstory… studio interference, lost footage, etc. It’s not well made, but it’s a delightful cult Lovecraftian Sci-Fi that had my girlfriend of the time walk out of the theatre. “When the Event Horizon, a spacecraft that vanished years earlier, suddenly reappears, a team is dispatched to investigate the ship. Accompanied by the Event Horizon’s creator, William Weir (Sam Neill), the crew of the Lewis and Clark, led by Capt. Miller (Laurence Fishburne), begins to explore the seemingly abandoned vessel. However, it soon becomes evident that something sinister resides in its corridors, and that the horrors that befell the Event Horizon’s previous journey are still present.”

Necronomicon: The Book of the Dead – This anthology is divided into four segments: “The Library” which is the wraparound segment involving Lovecraft’s research into the Book of The Dead and his unwitting release of a monster and his writing of the following horror segments “The Drowned”, “The Cold”, and “Whispers”.

Altered States – LSD on drugs. “Respected scientist and psychology professor Edward Jessup (William Hurt) decides to combine his experiments in sensory deprivation tanks with powerful hallucinogenic drugs, convinced that it may help him unlock different states of consciousness. The experiments are a success at first, but as Jessup continues his work, he begins to experience altered mental and also physical states. As he spends more time in sensory deprivation, his grip on reality begins to slip away.”

Existenz -Surreal body horror from Cronenberg. “Video game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) has created a virtual reality game called eXistenZ. After a crazed fan attempts to kill her, Allegra goes on the run with Ted (Jude Law), a young businessman who falls into the role of bodyguard. In an attempt to save her game, Allegra implants into Ted’s body the video game pod that carries a damaged copy of eXistenZ. Allegra and Ted engage in a series of experiences that blur the lines between fantasy and reality.”

The Mist – Darabont’s Masterpiece, and one of the most brutal endings in cinematic history. I doubt that’s a spoiler for a list like this, and you’ll be so immersed you’ll forget the comment. But there’s a Black and White version released, as well. Just like Mad Max, watching the film, then watching Black and White, is a must for film nerds. “After a powerful storm damages their Maine home, David Drayton (Thomas Jane) and his young son head into town to gather food and supplies. Soon afterward, a thick fog rolls in and engulfs the town, trapping the Draytons and others in the grocery store. Terror mounts as deadly creatures reveal themselves outside, but that may be nothing compared to the threat within, where a zealot (Marcia Gay Harden) calls for a sacrifice.”

Jacob’s Ladder – After returning home from the Vietnam War, veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) struggles to maintain his sanity. Plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks, Singer rapidly falls apart as the world and people around him morph and twist into disturbing images. His girlfriend, Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña), and ex-wife, Sarah (Patricia Kalember), try to help, but to little avail. Even Singer’s chiropractor friend, Louis (Danny Aiello), fails to reach him as he descends into madness.

Mandela Effect – I made a post about Mandela Effect, the weird issue mass delusions of groups of people remembering the world incorrectly. Here it is. Well, this is a great mumblegore entry to psychosis and cosmic confusion and dread. “A man becomes obsessed with a phenomenon where facts and events have been collectively misremembered by thousands of people. Believing it to be the symptom of something larger, his search for answers brings him to the brink of insanity when a startling revelation forces him to make a difficult decision that, if he is right, could have consequences for the entire world.”

Coherence– Dinner Party film. Incomprehensible chaos slow burn simmer about quantum reality and multiverses.

Cube – I remember falling in love with this when it came out, relating the unknowable puzzle of reality within the bureaucratic framework of incomprehensible politics and punitive social action. Truly a wonderful film, and I am surprised, like Hellraiser, they’ve not been able to mind this intellectual property more efficiently. “Without remembering how they got there, several strangers awaken in a prison of cubic cells, some of them booby-trapped. There’s onetime cop Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint), scientist Holloway (Nicky Guadagni), young math genius Leaven (Nicole de Boer), master of escapes Rennes (Wayne Robson), autistic savant Kazan (Andrew Miller) and architect Worth (David Hewlett), who might have more information on the maze than he lets on. The prisoners must use their combined skills if they are to escape.”

Dagon – Arguably one of the better Lovecraft adaptations, it suffered from the late 90s production process and was released in the early 2000s and is largely lost on audiences, even horror. But it was a wonderful film for what it was attempting to do, and well worth the view: “Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden) is yachting on the Spanish coast with three companions when a freak storm causes their boat to founder on the rocks. Paul goes to a nearby village to get assistance, as two of his friends have been trapped in the boat’s wreckage. He notices that the locals seem odd, and their behavior grows increasingly strange. When Paul begins seeing a mermaid (Macarena Gomez) who has appeared in his nightmares, he realizes that the fearful world of his dreams is now a reality.”

The Invitation – This is one of the best mumblegore films, tapping into insecurity in suburbia: “While attending a dinner party at his former house, a man (Logan Marshall-Green) starts to believe that his ex-wife (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband (Michiel Huisman) have sinister plans for the guests”

Aniara – This is one of my highest recommended film of all time, a brooding and existential Swedish film about a space cruise liner lost to failure that will cruise through infinity for eternity. It’s one of the best metaphors for the pandemic, and existence, I could ever conjure. I watched this so many times in 2020: “A spacecraft carries settlers to Mars after there is an apocalypse on Earth. When it strays off course, the consumption-obsessed passengers are prompted to consider their place in the universe.”

Lost Highway – Some films will never be anything other than a puzzle where you move the pieces around. I love this film, but also need to re-watch it constantly: “From this inventory of imagery, Lynch fashions two separate but intersecting stories, one about a jazz musician (Bill Pullman), tortured by the notion that his wife is having an affair, who suddenly finds himself accused of her murder. The other is a young mechanic (Balthazar Getty) drawn into a web of deceit by a temptress who is cheating on her gangster boyfriend. These two tales are linked by the fact that the women in both are played by the same actress (Patricia Arquette).”

Re-Animator – This is legend, and it’s 80s history vs nostalgia. The acting of the principal aside, the irreverence coupled with horror reverence made this twisted classic a must watch, which also highlighted the Fangoria article level of extreme talent in effects for the time. “Loosely based on H P Lovecraft’s classic horror tale, Herbert West is a young scientist who has a good head on his shoulders and another on the lab table in front of him.”

Shivers – This is 100% post-60s progressive sexuality then 1970s drug-addled nihilism projected onto the American culture wary of venereal disease, and it’s another master class in horror, zombies, peer pressure, and giving into to social conditioning. “After a scientist living in a posh apartment complex slaughters a teen girl and kills himself, investigators discover that the murderer had been carrying on experiments involving deadly parasites. Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton), a doctor living in the building, and his aide, Nurse Forsythe (Lynn Lowry), then realize that the parasites are on the loose, attacking fellow tenants. And those who become hosts turn into erotically obsessed maniacs who pass the bugs on through violent sex.”

Night of the Living Dead (1968) – Civil Rights, Race, Class and social anxiety on full display about a movie less about zombies, and more about how civil society erodes FAST in times of crisis. Who can you trust? This film also has a male lead who was an outlier for the time, and it upends convention in multiple ways. One of my favorite is the first non Lugosi “White Zombie” post voodoo zombie did, actually, run like a bat out of hell when chasing Barbara. He is legit coming to get you, Barbara.

The Cabin in the Woods – overly playful and one of the most genre bending and right turn shockers of all time, it’s a love note to horror with a twist. “When five college friends (Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams) arrive at a remote forest cabin for a little vacation, little do they expect the horrors that await them. One by one, the youths fall victim to backwoods zombies, but there is another factor at play. Two scientists (Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford) are manipulating the ghoulish goings-on, but even as the body count rises, there is yet more at work than meets the eye.”

The Cell – a mind fuck of a underrated film, but as a D’Onofrio obsessed fan, Lopez doesn’t dial it in. It’s a great visionary concept in the realm of Wim Wender’s “Until the End of the World”, but in the light of how criminologists will use augmented and virtual reality to both find leads and tap into the minds of killers: “The Cell” takes a shocking, riveting mind trip into the dark and dangerous corridors of a serial killer’s psyche — a psyche that holds the key to saving the killer’s final, trapped victim who remains alive. Making this journey into the recesses of a killer’s nightmarish fantasy world is Catherine Deane, a psychologist who has been experimenting with a radical new therapy. Through a new transcendental science, Catherine can experience what is happening in another person’s unconscious mind.

Melancholia – This is brutal, cosmic sadness, built into a world of chaos by Lars Von Trier. The acting is superb and worth the ensemble cast, but it’s a slow moving ballet of cosmic death: “A planet hurtles toward a collision course with Earth. Two sisters, one of them trying to recover from a heavy bout of depression and a failed marriage, cope with their destiny in very different ways.”

The Dead Center – The below has his 40 minute short film that was called brilliant by David Fincher. He had Shane Carruth act in this film, prior to the brilliant but complex director’s exit from Hollywood. This is truly Lovecraftian, dealing with the unknowable and the cosmic dread of not being able to control existence: “A psychiatrist’s sanity is pushed to the edge when a patient with amnesia insists he has died and has come back from the other side with something terrible.”

Killing of a Sacred Deer – Like Ari Aster, an important new voice. This is like Kubrick and Hitchcock combined in a love note. “Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor’s life in gradually unsettling ways. Soon, the full scope of Martin’s intent becomes menacingly clear when he confronts Steven with a long-forgotten transgression that will shatter his domestic bliss forever.”

The Lighthouse – This is Egger’s 2nd entry, and stunning. It’s been over-simplified as being called a film about two men trying to masturbate, and the lighthouse is suspiciously like a penis… but it’s so deeply more serious. I love this film: “Two lighthouse keepers clash, making their duties difficult even before a freak storms hits and strands them at the lighthouse for months.”

Dark City (Director’s Cut) – One of Ebert’s only “dvd extra commentaries” *EVER*. Think about this… he did Kurosawa, Citizen Kane, and this. Unreal. “John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can’t remember whether he committed the murders or not. For one brief moment, he is convinced that he has gone completely mad. Murdoch seeks to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.”

Alien – I wrote a wonderful post about capitalism and Alien. And more. Enjoy. This, with The Thing, is in the top 3 or 5 or 20 of all time. Probably in the 3, for sure in the 5. “In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. The terror begins when the crew encounters a nest of eggs inside the alien ship. An organism from inside an egg leaps out and attaches itself to one of the crew, causing him to fall into a coma.”

Cabin Fever – wunderkid Eli Roth produced a transgressive comedy horror for our time, and it was great. Some superb sequences and some great casting carried this freaky film talking about small town culture enabling problems: “Bert (James DeBello), a college student vacationing with friends in the mountains, mistakenly shoots a local man (Arie Verveen) with a skin infection while hunting in the woods. Panicking, he abandons the scene and leaves the man for dead. When the man stumbles into a reservoir, he infects the water supply, and soon one of Bert’s friends becomes infected. The friends struggle to stop the contagious, flesh-eating disease while on the run from a group of ornery backwoods locals out for revenge.”

Get Out – One of the weirdest but important genre bending horror films of all time. “Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with her parents, Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behaviour as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries leads him to a truth that he never could have imagined”

Donnie Darko – A cult classic that might not fit: “During the presidential election of 1988, a teenager named Donnie Darko sleepwalks out of his house one night and sees a giant, demonic-looking rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days. When Donnie returns home, he finds that a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom. Is Donnie living in a parallel universe, is he suffering from mental illness – or will the world really end?”

Drag Me To Hell – “Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) has a loving boyfriend (Justin Long) and a great job at a Los Angeles bank. But her heavenly life becomes hellish when, in an effort to impress her boss, she denies an old woman’s request for an extension on her home loan. In retaliation, the crone places a curse on Christine, threatening her soul with eternal damnation. Christine seeks a psychic’s help to break the curse, but the price to save her soul may be more than she can pay.”

Enter the Void – This is Gaspar Noe, so… of course: “This psychedelic tour of life after death is seen entirely from the point of view of Oscar (Nathaniel Brown), a young American drug dealer and addict living in Tokyo with his prostitute sister, Linda (Paz de la Huerta). When Oscar is killed by police during a bust gone bad, his spirit journeys from the past — where he sees his parents before their deaths — to the present — where he witnesses his own autopsy — and then to the future, where he looks out for his sister from beyond the grave.”

Get Out – This film rebooted horror prior to the pandemic: “Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with her parents, Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behaviour as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries leads him to a truth that he never could have imagined.”

Neon Demon – Chaos ensues: “Jesse (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles just after her 16th birthday to launch a career as a model. The head of her agency tells the innocent teen that she has the qualities to become a top star. Jesse soon faces the wrath of ruthless vixens who despise her fresh-faced beauty. On top of that, she must contend with a seedy motel manager and a creepy photographer. As Jesse starts to take the fashion world by storm, her personality changes in ways that could help her against her cutthroat rivals.”

Open Your Eyes – Mind fuck that was made into a Cruise film called “Vanilla Sky”: “Handsome 25-year-old Cesar (Eduardo Noriega) had it all — a successful career, expensive cars, a swank bachelor’s pad, and an endless string of beautiful and willing women. He is then thrown into a strange psychological mystery after a car accident scars his face and lands him in prison.”

Pandorum – A sci-fi space film with twist after twist and a fine cast for the budget. “Astronauts Payton (Dennis Quaid) and Bower (Ben Foster) awake in a hypersleep chamber with no memory of who they are or what their mission might be. While Payton stays behind to monitor the radio transmitter, Bower ventures out of the chamber into the seemingly abandoned spaceship. The men quickly realize that they are not alone and that the fate of mankind hinges on what they do next.”

Primer – A brilliant low-budget sci-fi time travel film that just kills, and proves talent is in the filmmaking, not just the story: “Intellectual engineers Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan) build and sell error-checking technology with the help of their friends Robert (Casey Gooden) and Phillip (Anand Upadhyaya). But when Aaron and Abe accidentally invent what they think is a time machine, Abe builds a version capable of transporting a human and puts the device to the test. As the two friends obsess over their creation, they discover the dark consequences of their actions.”

Pi -Unreal late 90’s indie film from a legendary director: “Numbers whiz Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) is stunted by psychological delusions of paranoia and debilitating headaches. He lives in a messy Chinatown apartment, where he tinkers with equations and his homemade, super-advanced computer. One day, however, Cohen encounters a mysterious number. Soon after reporting his discovery to his mentor (Mark Margolis) and to a religious friend (Ben Shenkman), he finds himself the target of ill-intentioned Wall Street agents bent on using the number for profit.”

Mother – A metaphor for how the Bible is a shitshow of chaos. “A young woman spends her days renovating the Victorian mansion that she lives in with her husband in the countryside. When a stranger knocks on the door one night, he becomes an unexpected guest in their home. Later, his wife and two children also arrive to make themselves welcome. Terror soon strikes when the beleaguered wife tries to figure out why her husband is so seemingly friendly and accommodating to everyone but her.”

The Signal – It’s really for the last scene. It’s competent indie sci-f0, that uses Alien conspiracy really well. “A surprise awaits three college students (Brenton Thwaites, Beau Knapp, Olivia Cooke) who think they have tracked a rival computer hacker to a shed in the Nevada desert.”

The Machinist – “Factory worker Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) suffers from insomnia so severe that his condition has taken its toll on his weight and his mental health. When Trevor unintentionally causes an on-the-job accident that horribly injures a coworker (Michael Ironside), he begins to become even more troubled. Despite a relationship with Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a pretty prostitute, Trevor descends further into paranoia, blaming his problems on an enigmatic figure named Ivan (John Sharian).” This review is worth the brilliance.

They Live – Cronenberg, Lyynch, and Carpenter seem to own the list. This film is campy B-Movie fodder with the greatest extended alley fight scene in movie history. –> “Nada (Roddy Piper), a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens.”

TimeCrimes – This film is a surreal dream, and one of the most narrative driven but totally connected time travel films ever. “Nacho Vigalondo’s time-travel thriller opens with Hector spying on a beautiful woman undressing in the woods near his property. Investigating, he finds her assaulted and he in turn is attacked by a man whose head is swathed in bandages. Fleeing, Hector encounters a scientific facility where a scientist persuades him to hide in a time machine. Travelling back in time just a few hours, he observes himself.”

Trigger Effect – A surreal but panicked journey, this taps into how society breaks down immediately. “When a blackout hits, it doesn’t take long before Matthew (Kyle MacLachlan) and Annie (Elisabeth Shue) start breaking the law to protect themselves as they steal medicine for their sick child. But when the power stays out for several days and violence erupts, both the couple and their friend, Joe (Dermot Mulroney), decide that the best action is driving to Annie’s parents’ home. During the long road trip, they must stop to steal gasoline — but those with resources are desperately guarding them.”

Videodrome – Another Cronenberg body horror entry that is a classic: “As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn (James Woods) is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon “Videodrome,” a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend (Deborah Harry) auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.”

Hellraiser 1 – This movie changed everything and changed my life. Where people talked about sexual arousal vs violent imagery (ie Jason films showing boobies prior to killings), this film made violent slasher films into arousing sexual fetish taboo ventures. “Sexual deviant Frank (Sean Chapman) inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he tinkers with a box he bought while abroad. The act unleashes gruesome beings called Cenobites, who tear Frank’s body apart. When Frank’s brother (Andrew Robinson) and his wife, Julia (Clare Higgins), move into Frank’s old house, they accidentally bring what is left of Frank back to life. Frank then convinces Julia, his one-time lover, to lure men back to the house so he can”

Hellraiser 2 – Unreal follow up, offering all the same themes: “Confined to a mental hospital, young Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) insists her supposedly dead father is stuck in hell, controlled by sadomasochistic demons after being betrayed by his evil, occult-obsessed wife, Julia (Clare Higgins). Few believe Kirsty, except the thrill-seeking Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham), who is intrigued by S&M and the young woman’s lurid stories. So when Kirsty and fellow patient Tiffany (Imogen Boorman) head to hell for a rescue, Channard and Julia are close behind.”

From Beyond – a classic, but 80s all the way: “Obsessive scientist Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) successfully discovers a way to access a parallel universe of pleasure by tapping into the brain’s pineal gland. When he is seemingly killed by forces from this other dimension, his assistant, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), is accused of the murder. After psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) and detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree) take the case, the trio risks a return to the other world in order to solve the mystery.”

ALSO: I made a list of rubber reality films, and frankly a LOT of them fit in some ways. I get confused, as something that causes cosmic dread may not perfectly fit Lovecraft, and I start thinking some time travel films fit. I also think Body Horror is a huge part of this.

https://unclefishbits.com/reality-ever-started-unraveling-fast-can-barely-keep-let-alone-survive-well-movies-thats-rubber-reality-genre-works/

I’d say most Cronenberg and Llynch fits your world.

BUT SO DO SHORTS!

Click through. This guy directed Dead Center, and Fincher has basically called him genius. This is 40m but worth every second.