What Is Real?
WARNING: The intro might contain SPOILERS, in a sense, because it explains the essential nature of these movies.
They involve plots that play around with reality, or the lack of it. Movies in which one or multiple characters might be hallucinating, may or may not be n some kind of an induced state of delirium, and/or are unaware of the reality of their surroundings, i.e. that they are stuck in a different dimension, a different world, and usually are trying to figure out what that dimension or place is, if and when they become aware of this. Some of this films are hyper-realistic, some are less bombastic than that, but all have a big mystery at the core of the story.
It is not a list of standard mystery movies. I wanted to avoid using the word, but I suppose I have to: these mysteries are "existential" as opposed to whodunits or whatever. (Pretentiousness people tend to throw around that word with obvious and annoying eagerness, which is why I dislike it.) Obviously, the mystery factor is always there, but the puzzle to be solved isn't mundane but deals with key questions, such as what kind of a world does the character inhibit, and whether that what we see on the screen is real or not.
So no, the list doesn't include all those pompous "existentialist dramas" that have a central character seeking for the "meaning of life", these films contain an actual story rather than just quasi-profound ramblings that serve as "film award bait".
The it-was-all-just-a-dream end-twist films such as "Wizard of Oz" are not included. In such films reality is never questioned, and plays no role in the mind of the central character(s). There has to be an element of confusion regarding reality.
Lister in order of quality, with ratings.
They involve plots that play around with reality, or the lack of it. Movies in which one or multiple characters might be hallucinating, may or may not be n some kind of an induced state of delirium, and/or are unaware of the reality of their surroundings, i.e. that they are stuck in a different dimension, a different world, and usually are trying to figure out what that dimension or place is, if and when they become aware of this. Some of this films are hyper-realistic, some are less bombastic than that, but all have a big mystery at the core of the story.
It is not a list of standard mystery movies. I wanted to avoid using the word, but I suppose I have to: these mysteries are "existential" as opposed to whodunits or whatever. (Pretentiousness people tend to throw around that word with obvious and annoying eagerness, which is why I dislike it.) Obviously, the mystery factor is always there, but the puzzle to be solved isn't mundane but deals with key questions, such as what kind of a world does the character inhibit, and whether that what we see on the screen is real or not.
So no, the list doesn't include all those pompous "existentialist dramas" that have a central character seeking for the "meaning of life", these films contain an actual story rather than just quasi-profound ramblings that serve as "film award bait".
The it-was-all-just-a-dream end-twist films such as "Wizard of Oz" are not included. In such films reality is never questioned, and plays no role in the mind of the central character(s). There has to be an element of confusion regarding reality.
Lister in order of quality, with ratings.
List activity
2K views
• 2 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
71 titles
- DirectorRobert LepageStarsTilda SwintonTom McCamusSean McCannA man lives in parallel worlds, falling in love with the same woman, while the police hunt down a serial killer who steals brains.10/10
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsBrad PittEdward NortonMeat LoafAn insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.10/10
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenEthel BarrymoreIn Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.10/10
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsNatalya BondarchukDonatas BanionisJüri JärvetA psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.10/10
- DirectorAlex ProyasStarsRufus SewellKiefer SutherlandJennifer ConnellyA man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.9/10
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsBill MurrayAndie MacDowellChris ElliottA narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.9/10
- DirectorChristopher SmithStarsMelissa GeorgeJoshua McIvorJack TaylorFive friends set sail and their yacht is overturned by a strange and sudden storm. A mysterious ship arrives to rescue them, and what happens next cannot be explained.9/10
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsSusannah YorkRene AuberjonoisMarcel BozzuffiWhilst writing a children's book, a woman interrupted by images unsure if they may, or may not be real9/10
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJude LawJennifer Jason LeighIan HolmA game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.9/10
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsChristian BaleJennifer Jason LeighAitana Sánchez-GijónAn industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.9/10
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsSam NeillJürgen ProchnowJulie CarmenAn insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.9/10
- DirectorVincenzo NataliStarsNicole de BoerMaurice Dean WintDavid HewlettA group of strangers awaken to find themselves placed in a giant cube. Each one of them is gifted with a special skill and they must work together to escape an endless maze of deadly traps.9/10
- DirectorDrew GoddardStarsKristen ConnollyChris HemsworthAnna HutchisonFive college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don't go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.8/10
- DirectorJosef RusnakStarsCraig BierkoGretchen MolArmin Mueller-StahlA computer scientist running a virtual reality simulation of 1937 becomes the primary suspect when his colleague and mentor is murdered.8/10
- DirectorScott DerricksonStarsCraig ShefferNicholas TurturroJames RemarA shady police detective becomes embroiled in a strange world of murder, sadism and madness after being assigned a murder investigation against a madman known only as "The Engineer".8/10
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsDavid CarusoStephen GevedonPaul GuilfoyleTensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back.8/10
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsTom CruiseNicole KidmanTodd FieldA Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.8/10
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsEduardo NoriegaPenélope CruzChete LeraA very handsome man finds the love of his life, but he suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured.8/10
- DirectorVincenzo NataliStarsAbigail BreslinPeter OuterbridgeMichelle NoldenA teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth, but her actions have consequences for herself and others.8/10
- DirectorWilliam EubankStarsBrenton ThwaitesOlivia CookeBeau KnappOn a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness - only to find himself in a waking nightmare.8/10
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsCharlotte BurkeJane BertishSamantha CahillA young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.8/10
- DirectorRyan WhitakerStarsSteven StraitKarolina WydraMadison LintzWhen two bus crash survivors awake to discover that they are the only people left in their town, they work together to unravel the truth behind the strange events.8/10
- DirectorJames Ward ByrkitStarsEmily BaldoniMaury SterlingNicholas BrendonStrange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead.8/10
- DirectorDario PianaStarsMike VogelJaime MurrayChristina ColeAn all-American guy is murdered each day by horrifying pursuers, only to wake up in slightly different lives to experience the terror of being murdered again.8/10
- DirectorMarc ForsterStarsEwan McGregorNaomi WattsRyan GoslingA psychiatrist attempts to prevent one of his patients from committing suicide while trying to maintain his own grip on reality.8/10
- DirectorPaddy BreathnachStarsLindsey HaunJack HustonMax KaschA group of friends are stalked and murdered whilst looking for psilocybin mushrooms in the Irish woods.8/10
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsJohn CusackRay LiottaAmanda PeetStranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rain storm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they're being killed off one by one.8/10
- DirectorStephen QuayTimothy QuayWeiser QuayStarsMark RylanceAlice KrigeGottfried JohnA young man goes to a school for servants run by a brother and sister. In the dreamlike and surreal world that he enters, how will his presence impact the people there and possibly even the school itself?8/10
- DirectorFranck VestielStarsClovis CornillacVimala PonsZohar WexlerA man wakes up in an underground cave, next to a dead body. He has no memory of how he got there and starts to try and work his way to the surface and escape from the network of tunnels, which seem to be some kind of ancient civilisation.8/10
- DirectorD.C. HamiltonStarsGino Anthony PesiBrinna KellyJason StuartA taxi driver finds himself trapped in a time loop. He picks up a pretty woman in a rural area at night. Later she disappears. The loop starts over, when he switches the meter back to vacant.8/10
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPeter WellerJudy DavisIan HolmAfter developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.8/10
- DirectorJohn AugustStarsRyan ReynoldsHope DavisMelissa McCarthyA troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways.8/10
- DirectorPål SletauneTony SpataroStarsKristoffer JonerCecilie A. MosliJulia SchachtJohn has just been left by his girlfriend Ingrid. That day he allows himself to be seduced into a mystical and scary world, where it is impossible to separate truth from the lies7/10
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsCathryn HarrisonTherese GiehseAlexandra StewartTo escape a gender war, a girl flees to a remote farmhouse and becomes part of an extensive family's unusual, perhaps even supernatural, lifestyle.7/10
- DirectorPrano Bailey-BondStarsNiamh AlgarMichael SmileyNicholas BurnsAfter viewing a strangely familiar video nasty, Enid, a film censor, sets out to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality.7/10
- DirectorCharlie KaufmanStarsJesse PlemonsJessie BuckleyToni ColletteFull of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents' secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself.7/10
- DirectorGuy RitchieStarsJason StathamRay LiottaAndré 3000Gambler Jake Green enters into a game with potentially deadly consequences.7/10
- DirectorHerk HarveyStarsCandace HilligossFrances FeistSidney BergerAfter a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.7/10
- DirectorA.D. CalvoStarsGuy WilsonValentina de AngelisDeborah TwissAfter playing a pagan ritual on a dare, a group of high school students find themselves trapped in an endless cycle of their worst fears.7/10
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsNicole KidmanChristopher EcclestonFionnula FlanaganIn 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.6/10
- DirectorJens LienStarsTrond FausaPetronella BarkerPer SchaanningIn a strange city where every person seems content beyond reason a new man arrives in town and stirs up trouble by asking too many questions.6/10
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.6/10
- DirectorCarl BessaiStarsDustin MilliganAmanda CrewRichard de KlerkThree twenty-somethings find themselves in an impossible time loop, where each day they awaken to the same terrifying day as the preceding one.6/10
- DirectorMennan YapoStarsSandra BullockJulian McMahonAmber VallettaA depressed woman learns that her husband was killed in a car accident the previous day, then awakens the next morning to find him alive and well at home; then awakens the day after that to find that he's dead.6/10
- DirectorJeff RenfroeMarteinn ThorssonStarsRichard ReesJeremy SistoUdo KierAfter receiving mysterious empty packages inside his apartment, a young computer-programmer begins a personal investigation into their origins.6/10
- DirectorChris SivertsonStarsChristina RicciSantino BarnardDon BaldaramosStory centers on a traumatized woman fleeing from her abusive ex-husband with her 7-year-old son. In their new, remote sanctuary they find they have a bigger, more terrifying monster to deal with.6/10
- DirectorM. Night ShyamalanStarsBruce WillisHaley Joel OsmentToni ColletteMalcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, starts treating a young boy, Cole, who encounters dead people and convinces him to help them. In turn, Cole helps Malcolm reconcile with his estranged wife.6/10
- DirectorRay GowerStarsThora BirchToby StephensChristien AnholtAs Susan Hamilton sleeps, she dreams that she is another person in an alternative reality. As her greatest fears come to life, she is pursued by the notorious serial killer known as the Night Stalker.6/10
- DirectorKaare AndrewsStarsJessica LowndesJulianna GuillRyan DonowhoAfter a mysterious malfunction sends their small plane climbing out of control, a rookie pilot and her four teenage friends find themselves trapped in a deadly showdown with a supernatural force.6/10
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsBill PullmanPatricia ArquetteJohn RoseliusAnonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.6/10
- DirectorStephen CraggStarsJohn BishopKirk BovillRyan DoomJessica moves into a loft on the eighth floor of a Los Angeles apartment building called The Dante. The other tenants all seem friendly at first, but when she starts witnessing horrible deaths, she must team up with her neighbor Evan to solve the mystery and uncover her own connection to the place.5/10
- DirectorJean-Baptiste AndreaFabrice CanepaStarsRay WiseLin ShayeMick CainChristmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.5/10
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsRoman PolanskiIsabelle AdjaniMelvyn DouglasA bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.5/10
- DirectorRick BotaStarsDean WintersAshley LaurenceDoug BradleyAfter a car crash, a shady stockbroker suffers from amnesia. This leaves him in a hazy limbo of sex and murder. But, as in a predestined journey, he unmistakenly takes the bait and follows the marked-out clues all the way to Pinhead.5/10
- DirectorDuncan JonesStarsSam RockwellKevin SpaceyDominique McElligottAstronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.5/10
- DirectorNick CohenStarsAnna BrewsterGeoff BellDaniel CaltagironeA weekend boating party turns into a nightmare for a group of young Londoners when they stumble upon a terrifying secret hidden in the reeds.5/10
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsMichael SacksRon LeibmanEugene RocheBilly Pilgrim has mysteriously become unstuck in time. He goes on an uncontrollable trip back and forth from his birth in New York to life on a distant planet and back again to the horrors of the 1945 fire-bombing of Dresden.4/10
- DirectorDave PayneStarsDevon GummersallDerek RichardsonTina IllmanStrangers trapped at an eerie travel oasis in the desert must unravel the mystery behind their visions of dying people while they are preyed upon by a decaying creature.4/10
- DirectorAnthony WallerStarsAdrian PaulAmanda DougeAnthony WallerA security expert is sent to a remote scientific camp to investigate strange things that are happening.4/10
- DirectorFilip KovacevicStarsStojan DjordjevicDacha VidosavljevicSten ZendorA man wakes up in a square of an unknown city again and again, after each failed attempt to escape four masked assassins. Through the never ending chase, he tries to recover his identity, and find out who set him up.4/10
- DirectorDave PayneStarsMichael MuhneyStephen MartinesLew TempleA sheriff and his son chase casino robbers, only to find the all of them are being chased by something else.4/10
- DirectorLucile HadzihalilovicStarsZoé AuclairLea BridarolliBérangère HaubrugeA look inside an offbeat boarding school for young girls.4/10
- DirectorCharlie KaufmanStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanSamantha MortonMichelle WilliamsA theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play.4/10
- DirectorTakashi ShimizuStarsLeslie BibbRyan KwantenAmy SmartFlight 7500 departs Los Angeles International Airport bound for Tokyo. As the overnight flight makes its way over the Pacific Ocean during its ten-hour course, the passengers encounter what appears to be a supernatural force in the cabin.3/10
- DirectorHélène CattetBruno ForzaniStarsCassandra ForêtCharlotte Eugène GuibeaudMarie BosAs a young girl Ana was a rebellious child. She was also tormented by images of death and a shadowy, ominous figure in black. Now an adult, she is once again tormented by shadowy, other-worldly forms.3/10
- DirectorGustavo HernándezStarsFlorencia ColucciAbel TripaldiGustavo AlonsoA young woman becomes trapped inside a house and is unable to contact the outside world as mysterious forces haunt it.2/10
- DirectorCameron CroweStarsTom CruisePenélope CruzCameron DiazA self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful lover.2/10
- DirectorChris KentisLaura LauStarsElizabeth OlsenAdam TreseEric Sheffer StevensA girl is trapped inside her family's lakeside retreat and becomes unable to contact the outside world as supernatural forces haunt the house with mysterious energy and consequences.1/10
- DirectorShane CarruthStarsShane CarruthDavid SullivanCasey GoodenFour friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.1/10
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsSam WorthingtonLily RabeLucy CapriA couple stops at a gas station, where their 6 y.o. daughter's arm is fractured. They hurry to a hospital. Something strange is going on there. The wife and daughter go missing.1/10
- DirectorAdam MasonStarsAndrew HowardPollyanna RoseOlivia HillWith a pocketful of drugs, Nick West takes out his girlfriend Sammy, for a good time. When they explore an abandoned asylum, the discovery of a bizarre device, a cross between an electric chair and sadistic fetish machine, transforms drugged-out bliss into agony and despair. After Sammy is brutally assaulted and murdered by unseen forces, Nick becomes the number-one suspect. Years pass and Nick, who had been locked up in a mental hospital, is released into the care of eminent psychiatrist Dr. Willard, who is hell-bent on exposing the truth behind the killing. Accompanied by Dr. Willard and several of his students, Nick returns to the scene of the crime. However, the decrepit asylum hides a blood-drenched secret.1/10