# Screw-with-the-mind movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827 "2003-04-06T06:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Riboflavin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Riboflavin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riboflavin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/41 "2003-04-07T16:24:33Z")
Lots of sugestions here. I’m going to have to poke around on imdb to see what some of these are. Looks like I’ve got a wide selection On the ones I’m familiar with: The Game, Brazil, and 12 Monkeys are all movies I liked, but IIRC they’re not quite what I’m looking for here - a little more external to the subject. Oh no, I might just have to rewatch them to be sure, how will I survive? Blade Runner and Total Recall are more of action movies than what I’m really looking for here. David Lynch films - I’ve seen Lost Highway and some of his other stuff, they come off to me more like ‘lets be confusing for the sake of confusion’ than what I’m looking for (I’m not a big Lynch fan). The drug movies also aren’t really what I’m trying to get at here. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/42 "2003-04-07T16:29:27Z")
Without question one of the best films I’ve ever seen in bringing you a First-person POV of a mentally-damaged person is still in current release in many areas: David Cronenberg’s **Spider**. A remarkable film. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/43 "2003-04-07T16:32:50Z")
Dark City was the first DVD I ever watched (2 am, night flight above the Rockies with Northern Lights just outside the window). Wanted more, so watched The Matrix (watered-down Dark City), eXistenZ (uneven acting: loved him, hated her) and The Thirteenth Floor (very well-done, esp. Phillip Seymour Hoffmann). Dark City still ranks as the best, with the bonus that the commentary is by Roger Ebert, and I learned a lot about Film Noir from it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/44 "2003-04-07T16:46:58Z")
Android. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/45 "2003-04-07T17:09:23Z")
_Total Recall_ tried to be a “mess with your mind” movie, in the sense that you would keep asking yourself “was he really doing all this stuff, liberating Mars, killing bad guys, even though he started out as a bad guy himself, or was it all just a delusion from the time he went to Rekall?” But I don’t think it succeeded. For my money, there were too many scenes that took place outside of Quade’s frame of reference to make me think it was all in his mind. Isn’t it in the Uniform Movie-Makers Code that if you tell a story that’s “it all in Character X’s imagination” you have to pretty much tell it from Character X’s point of view? Granted, there is lots of great foreshadowing (you can see Rachel Ticotin’s picture on the screen at Rekall, and one of the technicians mutters “Oh, _Blue Sky on Mars_ – that’s a new one!” Maybe in the hands of some other director than Paul Verhoeven, who has the subtlety of napalm, they could have brought off the mind-bending angle better. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/46 "2003-04-07T17:09:23Z")
_Total Recall_ tried to be a “mess with your mind” movie, in the sense that you would keep asking yourself “was he really doing all this stuff, liberating Mars, killing bad guys, even though he started out as a bad guy himself, or was it all just a delusion from the time he went to Rekall?” But I don’t think it succeeded. For my money, there were too many scenes that took place outside of Quade’s frame of reference to make me think it was all in his mind. Isn’t it in the Uniform Movie-Makers Code that if you tell a story that’s “it all in Character X’s imagination” you have to pretty much tell it from Character X’s point of view? Granted, there is lots of great foreshadowing (you can see Rachel Ticotin’s picture on the screen at Rekall, and one of the technicians mutters “Oh, _Blue Sky on Mars_ – that’s a new one!” Maybe in the hands of some other director than Paul Verhoeven, who has the subtlety of napalm, they could have brought off the mind-bending angle better. ---
**Author:** ![Semp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Semp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Semp)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/47 "2003-04-08T01:10:10Z")
I won’t say it _screws_ with the mind, more of just playing with it, but Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen manages to weave between “reality” and “fantasy” nicely. And overlap, of course. ---
**Author:** ![ThatGuyWithPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@ThatGuyWithPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatGuyWithPants)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/48 "2003-04-08T01:24:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptMurdock \* > \*\*_Total Recall_ tried to be a “mess with your mind” movie, in the sense that you would keep asking yourself “was he really doing all this stuff, liberating Mars, killing bad guys, even though he started out as a bad guy himself, or was it all just a delusion from the time he went to Rekall?” But I don’t think it succeeded. > > For my money, there were too many scenes that took place outside of Quade’s frame of reference to make me think it was all in his mind. Isn’t it in the Uniform Movie-Makers Code that if you tell a story that’s “it all in Character X’s imagination” you have to pretty much tell it from Character X’s point of view? > > Granted, there is lots of great foreshadowing (you can see Rachel Ticotin’s picture on the screen at Rekall, and one of the technicians mutters “Oh, _Blue Sky on Mars_ – that’s a new one!” Maybe in the hands of some other director than Paul Verhoeven, who has the subtlety of napalm, they could have brought off the mind-bending angle better. \*\* Not to mention that it sucked. ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/49 "2003-04-08T04:27:00Z")
The Hawaii Five O movie/pilot was about guys getting brainwashed in a sensory deprivation tank - scary stuff. Freaked me out anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/50 "2003-04-08T19:20:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ThatGuyWithPants \* > \*\*Not to mention that it sucked. \*\* Did not! How can any movie in which Arnie pulls a tracking device out of his brain through his nose suck? OK, it’s cheesy, it’s not hi art, but it’s still enjoyable. And it’s full of catchy quotes… “I’ve got fiiiive kids to feed!” “I’m coming for you sucker! I’m gonna TEAR YOU UP!” “Consider that a divorce” hehe! ---
**Author:** ![ElJeffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ElJeffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElJeffe)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/51 "2003-04-08T19:44:11Z")
> [@](#): > > ## quote: > > Originally posted by Ace\_Face > American Psycho > > * * * > > Don’t do it! Read the book instead! The book is better than the movie, but I would offer two qualifiers here: First of all, I thought the movie was quite good, though not as nuanced as the book, for obvious reasons, so watching the movie will still offer plenty of entertainment, and I think qualifies as a “screw with your mind” movie. Second, the book is freakin’ GRAPHIC. I mean, I’m not one to be easily put off by graphic description, but I found it hard to get through the last half of this. It’s page after page of sick crap that’ll make you squirm. That said, it’s a good read, and the sick-factor is actually relevant to the theme of the book, even if it doesn’t seem so initially. Anyway, they’ve been mentioned, but I’ll repeat the nominations for Jacob’s Ladder and Pi. I know that drug-induced mind-fucks have been poo-pooed, but I’ll still mention Requiem For A Dream, because it’s so damned good. Jeff ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/52 "2003-04-08T20:36:26Z")
I want to second _Videodrome_, and pretty much anything by David Cronenburg. What a kooky cat. Actually, _Fight Club_ sort of fits into this theme as well. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827/53 "2003-04-08T20:46:12Z")
**ElJeffe** : Well, in my opinion the movie could have been much better. Christian Bale didn’t manage a third of the menace of the Bateman character. It’s not a bad movie though, and if you haven’t read the book then you could do worse than to watch it. Of course, the book is stomach churning, so if anyone out there is the slightest bit icky about blood n guts (or Genesis, for that matter) then do not read it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-with-the-mind-movies/166827.md?page=2)