Surreal movie recommendations?

[Deleted member 132407]

Look for Jan Svankmajer's films like Lesson Faust and Alice or David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. There's also a lot of interesting Eastern Europe films from the 70s like Valerie, Beauty and the Beast (Juraj Herz), Daisies, The Hourglass Sanatorium etc that have a surrealist style, but they feel less "aggressive" in general.

Awesome taste on films. This is a tripped out film here @ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101660/

 

[NotReallyHere]

Wow, you guys work fast!

I did have another quick addition. I'm not sure how far back OP wants to go - or what their tolerance for ancient Art House Cinema might be - but you really can't go wrong with the films of Jean Cocteau. Le Sang d'un Poète is maybe his most influential, though my wife and I are pretty partial to La Belle et la Bête.

Post automatically merged: May 29, 2025

What Dreams May Come / Brazil

Fun Fact - you just named some of my (Brazil) and my wife's (Dreams) favorite films

 

[middler]

look into:
Pi
Tetsuo the ironman
Naked Lunch
Man Bites Dog
City of Lost Children
Delicatessen

also:
A Boy and His Dog
Six String Samurai
The Ugly

 

[Sfjeov]

look into:
Pi
Tetsuo the ironman
Naked Lunch
Man Bites Dog
City of Lost Children
Delicatessen

also:
A Boy and His Dog
Six String Samurai
The Ugly

I rewatch Pi a couple of time back when I was young cuz of how cool it was.

 

[nyka]

Beau Is Afraid
Adaptation
Synedochy New York
Inland Empire
The Piano Tuner of EarthQuakes
Trash Humpers
Malice@Doll

 

[Bonkers225]

Highly, highly, highly recommend:

 

[pingugaming]

i guess survive style 5+ (2004) is surreal, weird, flat out in$ane. all of these adjectives fit imho haha

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Kon Satoshi's Perfect Blue and Paprika and Oshii Mamoru's Angel's Egg

I know somewhere down the line I've watched a live action movie like this of some sort but I can't remember atm.

 

[AncientBehemoth]

Funky Forest: The First Contact 2005​

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

look into:
Pi
Tetsuo the ironman
Naked Lunch
Man Bites Dog
City of Lost Children
Delicatessen

also:
A Boy and His Dog
Six String Samurai
The Ugly

Oh yeah Delicatessen! GG I would have posted this one.

But as a Belgian, I can tell you that Man Bites Dog is not a surreal movie. It's *hyper-real*, almost like reality TV found footage. Heavily inspired by a TV show we got here named "Strip Tease" which is basically a series of documentaries following weird people. It's awesome. Here's one where some random country guy talks about how he's building a flying saucer in his garden.

 

[Spike's iconSpike]

I've been going through Lynch and Jodorowsky movies, so is there any other surreal movies that I haven't heard of?
View attachment 74784

Mr. K (2024)

I saw this movie and forgot about it

 

[Kamako]

Fantastic Planet

Has a runtime of around ~60 mins as well.

 

[AntonioDP]

Under the Silver Lake. You won't regret.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Fantastic Planet
View attachment 74926

Has a runtime of around ~60 mins as well.

Ahhh that’s a great pick!!

 

[Emerald Flowsion]

 

[DanVzare]

If you want a nice surreal movie, may I recommend The City of Lost Children.

I personally didn't enjoy the movie, but it was very aesthetically pleasing, and I loved the surrealism in it. I just wish the character motivations made more sense.

"I'll use this apple as bait in order to get rid of my element of surprise, since I'm just going to break in anyway."
"I want you to save her so she doesn't die! Wait, you failed and she died? I'll kill you! Wait, he didn't fail and she's actually still alive? I'll kill her too!"
"We need a map to avoid the gigantic mines that are clearly visible, and that you can smack with an oar and they still won't explode."
"I want to destroy this place with me inside! Wait, hold on, I don't want to die!"

Also, while it's not actually a movie, may I recommend Lexx.
It's a very surreal series, and one which I've enjoyed enough to watch multiple times. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but it should definitely scratch that itch.

 

[null.problem]

Symbol (2009)
Nowhere (1997)
Freaks (2018)
Cremaster (there are several)

 

[sama_lton]

Another suggestion

The Fountain (2006) ⭐ 7.1 | Drama, Mystery, Romance

1h 37m | PG-13

www.imdb.com

I've been sitting on watching this one for some reason, probably time to change that.

As for other surreal movies...

-the Cremaster series
-Altered States (1980)
-Tetsuo: Iron Man and Tetsuo: Body Hammer
-964 Pinocchio
-Hellevator
-Save the Green Planet
-Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
-Nowhere (1997)
-The Doom Generation
-eXisTance
-Singapore Sling
-The City of Lost Children
-Demonlover
-The Cell (the one with J.Lo)
-The Fall (2006)
-Open Your Eyes (1997)
-Rubber's Lover

 

[null.problem]

Ah! How could I forget Rubber - about a killer psychic tire where you get to see the 'audience' sometimes. Pure gold!
Blood tea and Red String - creepy stop motion Alice in Wonderland

 

[Deleted member 132407]

Another suggestion

Berliinin taivaan alla (1987) ⭐ 7.9 | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

2h 8m | S

www.imdb.com

 

[RustySK]

Direct to video, was it that bad to be preserved on a DVD-R bootleg?

You know, honestly, I do genuinely kind of love it. There's definitely a good deal of personal nostalgia involved, but I do think it manages to nail that balance between pants-on-head stupid and cinematic competence quite well.
It's definitely crass and a lot of its more high concept ideas fall flat on their face, but any movie that starts with a slow-motion bulimia choreography in the style of synchronized swimming is doing something right in my book.
Don't get me wrong though, this is very much an exploitation film, not an arthouse project.

Also, I thought of another, less exploitation-y, more intentionally surreal movie - Holy Motors.
I don't exactly feel qualified to give an accurate summary of this one - we pretty much follow a man as he jumps between lives - but it's definitely memorable.

 

[CardcaptorEd2019]

Dreams by Akira Kurosawa

It's Such a Beautiful Day by Don Hertzfeldt

 

[Deleted member 132407]

You know, honestly, I do genuinely kind of love it. It manages to nail that balance between pants-on-head stupid and cinematic competence quite well.
It's definitely crass and a lot of its more high concept ideas fall flat on their face, but any movie that starts with a slow-motion bulimia choreography in the style of synchronized swimming is doing something right in my book.
Don't get me wrong though, this is very much an exploitation film, not an arthouse project.

Also, I thought of another, less exploitation-y, more intentionally surreal movie - Holy Motors.
I don't exactly feel qualified to give an accurate summary of this one - we pretty much follow a man as he jumps between lives - but it's definitely memorable.

I forgot about that film, awesome pick. Same director for the film Annette (2021).

Post automatically merged: May 29, 2025

I've been going through Lynch and Jodorowsky movies, so is there any other surreal movies that I haven't heard of?
View attachment 74784

Did you happen to watch Blue Velvet? Beautiful & tripped out film.

Blue Velvet - ja sinisempi oli yö (1986) ⭐ 7.7 | Crime, Drama, Mystery

2h | K-16

www.imdb.com

 

[J.B’s rabbit den]

Tetsuo the iron man trilogy along with 964 Pinocchio are two of my best outer minded horror movie recommendations if you’re looking for something that’ll leave you feeling all kinds of weird and out of it. But if you’re not looking to smoke any type of horror while not a movie if want to get into more kid friendly but also pretty territory I’d recommend Watching Kaiba (2008)

 

[Deleted member 132407]

Dark Comedy fans out there

Blood simple (1984) ⭐ 7.5 | Crime, Drama, Thriller

1h 39m | K-16

www.imdb.com