Number 5's Surreal Creepy Film Collection

[zwanzig]

Black Mountain Side (2014)

I thought this was a very simple story with great, juicy, creepy bits sprinkled throughout. It's a perfect Lovecraftian setup: a team of researchers on an archaeological dig in an isolated area with an impending storm season that will isolate them even further. They find a strange structure in the snow that looks like it predates a lot of other artifacts that are known about, and one by one they start to experience strange occurrences, degrading mental states, seeing a strange figure, etc. It's not very well known but still very good.

[vulcanlogician]

I just got Amazon Prime video. Can anyone recommend weird flicks I can watch there? I am really not impressed with their library, but I bet there are some gems in it.

[zwanzig]

The Void (2016) is one of my favorites in this category. It reminds me a lot of Clive Barker's stuff and captures the tone and aesthetic of a modern Lovecraftian horror.

In the middle of a routine patrol, officer Daniel Carter happens upon a blood-soaked figure limping down a deserted stretch of road. He rushes the young man to a nearby rural hospital staffed by a skeleton crew, only to discover that patients and personnel are transforming into something inhuman. As the horror intensifies, Carter leads the other survivors on a hellish voyage into the subterranean depths of the hospital in a desperate bid to end the nightmare before it's too late.(imdb)

Strange cultists, body horror transformations, portals to other worlds filled with ancient incomprehensible evil, madness and perception distortion... What more could you want from your creepy, eldritch horror?

 

[zwanzig]

Going to get a couple of "schoolhouse" ones out of the way. These usually involve a young woman, impressionable, being affected or preyed upon by outside forces.

Moth Diaries (2011)

Rebecca is suspicious of Ernessa, the new arrival at her boarding school. But is Rebecca just jealous of Ernessa's bond with Lucie, or does the new girl truly possess a dark secret?(imdb)]

This was haunting when I first saw it. I would place this just at the very cusp of what I think qualifies in this creepy film list. There were certain things about it, the duality between otherworldly/supernatural and delusion and madness. It reminded me a lot of Black Swan in that way.


The Neon Demon (2016)

When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has. (imdb)

This was stylistically unsettling. I remember feeling unbalanced and claustrophobic while watching this movie, from scene to scene, the way things played out. I really like the undertones of this. Is it witchcraft? Is it metaphor?

The Blackcoat's Daughter (2016)

Two girls must battle a mysterious evil force when they get left behind at their boarding school over winter break.(imdb)

I really enjoyed this. Nothing much happens and in some ways, it reminds me of Vox Lux (2018). But it is the subtlety and hint of things that I enjoy. That whisper of something dreadful and unseen slithering across your skin. I also liked the different take on this. The bad news for Christians always trying to scare people with the idea of demonic possession is that in reality, being infused with the power of the Devil would be seductive and some people would actually really enjoy it.

Nocturne (2020)

An incredibly gifted pianist makes a Faustian bargain to overtake her older sister at a prestigious institution for classical musicians. (imdb)

This one reminded me of Black Swan also but there's a different energy to it. I also like the idea of artists becoming obsessed and sacrificing for their craft. Especially when the story involves otherworldly powers preying upon the innocence of the artist. You want it so bad but you don't know what it is you truly ask for.

[zwanzig]

Updating this with a couple of isolation "demonic entities" entries. I like demonic possession in films and battles with sanity against the Devil but in a particular type. I like it best when God or religion is barely present/not at all or absolutely ineffectual. It makes me think of Lovecraftian horror even more; as if, in the story of the movie, there is no idea of God to appeal to or the people within the film are starkly aware of the paperthin protection of religion. Then, in that context, the Devil isn't really himself. He's not a fallen angel who's only purpose is to play adversary to the Christian God. The demonic forces seem more primal, more earthy, more ancient. Like Old Ones slithering tentacles into our world.

The Dark and the Wicked (2020)

On a secluded farm in a nondescript rural town, a man is slowly dying. His family gathers to mourn, and soon a darkness grows, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over the family. (imdb)

I really liked this one. There was a religious vibe throughout the film, and right from the start, it seemed like the mother had rituals in place that she was using to keep this thing at bay. But by the end, it feels less like the forces of good were succeeding at ANY point and instead, as if this thing had a timeline it was following on it's own schedule. Like it was orchestrating certain things to happen for it's own pleasure and designs, rather than a gate that it was slowly trying to unlock. It had free reign of the house, the people in and around the property, and their minds, no matter what they said or did. It was unsettling and chilling in different parts and as I empathized with the son and daughter more and more, the feeling of dread increased.

The Wind (2019)

A plains-woman faces the harshness and isolation of the untamed land in the Western frontier of the late 1800s. (imdb)

This was in the same vein as The Dark and the Wicked, except for 80% of the movie, this lady is all by herself in the middle of nowhere. Again, the religious presence is like this flimsy paper getting tossed around without meaning much or doing anything to help. The demonic entities of the frontier rule this prairied place of death and it feels like this soil has always belonged to them. And she will either bow beneath them or be consumed by them.

[zwanzig]

I've got a couple of bleak and dreadful weird ones to share today.

Embers (2015)

After a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory. (imdb)

Do you remember Nolan's Memento (2001)? Yeah. What if it were the whole world? Imagine how much that would suck, everyone in the world, losing their memory every 15-20 minutes. This movie follows the stories of a few different characters trying to navigate in this broken down world. I found the idea of being so untethered, so lost, incredibly disturbing. And the exploration of each individual existence that we get to see, felt very personal and frightening.

Aniara (2019)

A spaceship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing the consumption-obsessed passengers to consider their place in the universe. (imdb)

In films about space, getting knocked off course with a fuel shortage is merely a matter of clever problem-solving and dramatic music as the protagonists try to hit their window exactly right. In reality, you'd be SOL. The nitty gritty of it is a floating sarcophagus traveling for thousands of years to even get a chance of getting back on course in the vastness of space. This film is awful in how detailed it explores such an existential nightmare.

YellowBrickRoad (2010)

1940: the entire population of Friar, New Hampshire walked up a winding mountain trail, leaving everything behind. 2008: the first official expedition into the wilderness attempts to solve the mystery of the lost citizens of Friar. (imdb)

I really like this movie. Think: The Blair Witch Project except with an actually tantalizing mystery pushing the story forward and genuinely frightening circumstances. This film also explores the trope of the Brown Note, a sound or music that drives people to madness.

[zwanzig]

I've still got more to add to update my current collection of watched films but I'm taking it slow. I don't see these films super often and sometimes stumble onto them by mistake. So I don't want this thread to die before I see the next one. I'd need to make an entirely new thread at that point.

For now, I'm taking a break and talking about movies I haven't seen yet but want to see. Here is a short list of films that I haven't seen yet but could potentially fit this list.

The Vigil (2019)
Border (2018)
Honeydew (2020)
Jakob's Wife (2021)
Relic (2020)
Come True (2021)
Anything For Jackson (2020)
Possessor (2020)
The Lodge (2020)

Has anyone seen these ones? What did you think?

[Angrboda]

YellowBrickRoad (2010)

1940: the entire population of Friar, New Hampshire walked up a winding mountain trail, leaving everything behind. 2008: the first official expedition into the wilderness attempts to solve the mystery of the lost citizens of Friar. (imdb)

I really like this movie. Think: The Blair Witch Project except with an actually tantalizing mystery pushing the story forward and genuinely frightening circumstances. This film also explores the trope of the Brown Note, a sound or music that drives people to madness.

[vulcanlogician]

I just watched Saint Maud and it was spectacular. Kind of a "more-plot-centered" Under the Skin but deserving mention in this thread (and this forum) for sure.

[arewethereyet]

I just got Amazon Prime video. Can anyone recommend weird flicks I can watch there? I am really not impressed with their library, but I bet there are some gems in it.

Amazon Prime video isn't the easiest streaming platform when it comes to finding things to watch.  There's some weird indexing of their content.

If you know a title you can look it up just like you would a product for purchase and then you find out if it's free with your membership or if there's an additional cost.  As much of an Amazon junkie as I am, their Prime video is my least favorite thing.