In Shutter Island, a U.S. Marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderer who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Of course, not everything is quite what it seems. A Martin Scorsese film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, one of their six collaborations. One that is dense in psychological paranoia, and that’s you the viewer! The question is though would you like any of the following movies that are bound to mess with you …
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)
The world of imagination is amazing. This early classic is a blueprint of sorts for Shutter Island. We follow Franzis (Friedrich Feher) as he discusses how his fiancee Jane (Lil Dagover) is in an almost catatonic state, after visiting the cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) at the fair.
Starring Rock Hudson. A middle-aged man is unhappy with his life. After being called on by a persistent friend that he thought was dead, he is given the opportunity to start again, but it comes with a price. A cautionary tale that you shouldn’t put your life in another’s hands.
Emily Blunt is Rachel, a recently divorced woman that watches other people’s lives while travelling on a train. One day she gets a little too involved, and this leads to a chain of events that devastates many lives after.
A remote motel in the Nevada Desert, in a storm, the people stranded there are being killed off one by one. Who is the murderer? Does this have anything to do with a serial serial killer’s secret court hearing that same night? John Cusack and Ray Liotta lead in this thriller that explores mental health.
Tim Robbins is Jacob, a haunted Vietnam veteran, mourning the loss of his child, who must overcome his disassociation from life, by determining the truth from reality. A haunting film that remains with you for a while after viewing.
The overlooked Sci-fi thriller of 1998, just in case you didn’t know, this film lost out to The Matrix big time. A place with no sun, and the residents are completely oblivious. It is up to John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) to lead them into the light.
Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) can’t sleep. He hasn’t slept in a year, and he is visibly wasting away. However, he is still maintaining his job, until there is an incident at the factory in which he works, and things start to take a sinister turn.
A David Lynch Classic. After surviving a car crash on the winding road of Mulholland Drive, a woman (Naomi Watts) now suffering amnesia, and an enthusiastic Hollywood hopeful (Laura Harring) search for clues across Los Angeles in a twisting, surreal adventure, shifting in between dream and reality.
David Fincher directs this one. Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a dedicated dancer must focus to maintain her sanity after winning the principal role in a production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”.
David Fincher again, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. A tale that highlights the expectations and broken promises in a marriage, with horrific consequences. After watching this film, I really had to question the context of its title!
A Christopher Nolan vehicle, and Leonardo DiCaprio leads a formidable cast for this dream heist. A team has to infiltrate someone’s subconscious, however someone on the team is about to sabotage everything.
Leonard (Guy Pearce) can’t build new memories, and the last thing that he remembers is his wife’s murder. As he goes forward to investigate, each lead also moves the tale backwards, eventually revealing what really happened.
A Hitchcock classic. An ex police detective (James Stewart) suffering with vertigo becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman (Kim Novak) who seems to be possessed, leading to devastating consequences.
An overlooked classic of Alfred Hitchcock, and starring the formidable Laurence Olivier as the brooding aristocrat, Maxim De Winter and Joan Fontaine, who becomes his second wife. This is a psychological tale that may stay with you for a while.
So here are a few for you to think about. Maybe you’ve seen them all, maybe not. If you have, then why not share your viewing experience!
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