People Are Sharing The Movies That Truly Messed With Their Minds, And I'm Definitely Adding Some Of These To My List

    "Took me a few days to trust people again after The Game."

    Morgan Sloss
    by Morgan Sloss

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Recently, Reddit user u/NotSoSnarky posed the question, "What's the best mindf*ck movie?" Here are some of the top-voted responses:

    1. Memento (2000)

    Screenshot from "Memento"
    Newmarket Films / Courtesy Everett Collection

    "We have the special edition DVD where you can watch the movie 'backwards' (in chronological order), and it is nowhere near as powerful. The very fact that the movie is so disjointed makes us, as the audience, connect with Leonard, so at the end, when we find out how everything started, it hits you like a ton of bricks. And it keeps getting better with multiple watches."

    —u/Charlie_Olliver

    2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

    Screenshot from "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
    Focus Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "My favorite of all time. I was so confused the first time I watched it, but then, I realized Kate Winslet’s hair color helps you follow the timeline. Such a beautiful and moving film."

    —u/frenchforkate

    "'Meet me in Montauk' will never not send shivers down my spine."

    —u/sidechain101

    3. Inception (2010)

    Screenshot from "Inception"
    Melissa Moseley/Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection

    "I love Inception because it's a beautiful movie about romance and letting go, masquerading as a heist movie."

    —u/Sunny16Rule

    "My all-time favorite. Nolan is a f*cking genius."

    —u/MasterChief813

    4. Paprika (2006)

    Screenshot from "Paprika"
    Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan / Via youtube.com

    "Paprika will take your brain for a ride."

    —u/PrancingSatyr521

    "And your eyes and ears, too. The film is gorgeous, and the music is amazing."

    —u/Irishpanda1971

    "The first time my sister and I saw it in the theater, we stepped out onto the sidewalk afterwards and were both like, 'Reality doesn't feel very real right now.'"

    —u/Morsigil

    5. Coherence (2013)

    Oscilloscope Laboratories/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "My favorite part about all this is how the actors improvised a lot of the scenes and dialogue — it gives it such a homey feel and really pulls you into the story. I’ve watched this movie, like, five times, and I go down an internet rabbit hole every time because it’s such a cool concept."

    —u/thematrix1234

    "I love 'people trapped in a place together'-type movies, and this one DELIVERS."

    —u/Dozinggreen66

    6. Oldboy (2003)

    Tartan Films / courtesy Everett Collection

    "I watched it for the first time recently. It holds up to everything I've heard about it, and I've heard nothing but incredibly high praise. The only exception is the famous hallway fight scene — I loved it, but I imagine it was much more impactful back when it was released, and single-shot action scenes were unheard of."

    —u/Gamecrazy721

    "My favorite movie. The American remake is a joke and travesty."

    —u/Foxx_Mulderp

    7. Primer (2004)

    Screenshot from "Primer"
    ThinkFilm/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "By a long shot. I have watched it a few times, and I still can’t tell you exactly how everything plays out, which is so unique because it’s not overdone at all. It is, paradoxically, extremely simplistic in its complexity. It doesn’t reach out of its reality to add to the factor of confusion. It’s just a huge mess of causality and attempted reparations."

    —u/satalfyr

    "I've watched it more than a dozen times. It still mindf*cks me. It was made for, like, $7k, and it's still one of the greatest mindf*cks ever. And almost NO ONE has seen it. It got, like, zero publicity and remains unheard of to this day."

    —u/there_is_no_spoon1

    8. Get Out (2017)

    Screenshot from "Get Out"
    Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "Oh my god, was looking for this one. I just saw it the other day, and WOW."

    —u/Puzzleheaded_Bee_765

    9. Mulholland Drive (2001)

    Screenshot from "Mulholland Drive"
    Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "I was obsessed with deciphering Mulholland Drive for a while. I bought it on VHS, fell deeper into the rabbit hole, and ended up printing out various perspectives and discussions of forum users. The only other time I did that was with Twin Peaks."

    —u/Alaska-TheCountry

    10. Jacob's Ladder (1990)

    Screenshot from "Jacob's Ladder"
    Tristar Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

    "That movie f*cked me up something fierce. Seriously underrated."

    —u/xhollec

    "I've yet to see another movie that hits as hard as this one does."

    —u/s1eep

    11. Arrival (2016)

    Screenshot from "Arrival"
    Jan Thijs / Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

    "Arrival had this beautiful, quiet subtlety to it. Kind of hard to explain, but I loved it."

    —u/MilesToGo32

    "It is one of the only movies ever to make me sob. Just the idea of life, its choices, and how even the bad stuff is worth reliving if it means the good comes with it. Ah, just makes me teary-eyed thinking about it."

    —u/dggtlg4

    12. The Game (1997)

    Screenshot from "The Game"
    Polygram Filmed Entertainment / courtesy Everett Collection

    "Took me a few days to trust people again after that movie."

    —u/etm105

    "Michael Douglas and Sean Penn delivered great performances!"

    —u/Working_Rub_8278

    13. Donnie Darko (2001)

    Screenshot from "Donnie Darko"
    Pandora Cinema / Newmarket Films / Courtesy Everett Collection

    "Watched it so many times, still find some things I overlooked. All-in-all, a special movie."

    —u/RealmDevourer

    14. Perfect Blue (1997)

    Screenshot from "Perfect Blue"
    Madhouse / Via youtube.com

    "I would say Perfect Blue is as good as it gets."

    —u/TheSinisterSex

    "Literally anything Satoshi Kon did is amazing. It's why so many filmmakers stole from him (it's not inspiration when you steal shot-for-shot scenes)."

    —u/MauiWowieOwie

    15. Enter the Void (2009)

    Screenshot from "Enter the Void"
    IFC Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "That's one of those movies where I'm glad I've seen it because it's such a unique movie-watching experience, but I also never want to watch it again."

    —u/squintsyjones

    16. Se7en (1995)

    Screenshot from "Seven"
    Peter Sorel / New Line Cinema / courtesy Everett Collection

    "I saw it in the theater in the mid-'90s when it came out. When the credits rolled, everybody just sat there in silence. Nobody got up for a long time. It was surreal.

    Fast-forward almost 30 years, my 20-year old son walks up to me all shaken up and says, 'Holy crap, I just watched Seven...have you seen it???' Almost 30 years, and it still holds its effect."

    —u/Joseph_Bloggins

    17. Black Swan (2010)

    Screenshot from "Black Swan"
    Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "It’s SO good. Pretty cathartic to watch the pressure of perfection, exerted on women specifically, through the lens of ballet, a hyperfeminine medium. A very satisfying descent."

    —u/craubapple

    18. The Prestige (2006)

    Screenshot from "The Prestige"
    Touchstone Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "The best Christopher Nolan film for my money."

    —u/InvestmentImportant1

    "There was a twist in The Prestige, like, every two minutes. My brain just kept doing backflips the whole film."

    —u/Sucking_saucer

    19. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

    Screenshot from "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
    David Bornfriend / A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection

    "I watched it shortly after the Doctor Strange sequel which, despite being called Multiverse of Madness, features just ONE alternate universe and then a very short montage where they're shot through a couple more before going home. EEAAO was a banquet in comparison."

    —u/mrsquare

    "A great movie that made me feel too much."

    —u/drownedout

    20. A Scanner Darkly (2006)

    Screenshot from "A Scanner Darkly"
    Warner Independent Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

    "I want to highlight a couple of the performances: First, Keanu Reeves is a perfect fit for that role. I know he's Reddit royalty, but he's a pretty limited actor. Here, he is sincere and soulful and believable.

    And it is exhilarating to watch a pre-MCU Robert Downey Jr. play — without a trace of vanity — an utterly charmless, manipulative nerd. He fully leans into it. I love it when stars play really unpleasant characters who have absolutely no redeeming qualities. It's so rare.

    Man, that film is such a mood, too."

    –u/OminOus_PancakeS

    21. And finally, Shutter Island (2010)

    Screenshot from "Shutter Island"
    Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

    "That one got me to jump out of my seat and say 'WTF' at the end."

    —u/JonFawkes3

    "That movie holds a special place in my heart. It's one of those movies you wish you could watch for the first time again. I actually had to watch it two and a half times the night I first watched it, and every time, the whole experience felt different!"

    —u/hecdavid11

    What's your favorite mind-bending movie? LMK in the comments below!

    Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.