While most modern blockbusters routinely deliver stories that hum with a certain familiarity, these hit films did just the opposite. Abandoning the comfortable status quo of more traditional tales, these are some of the most notable films that have left audiences bamboozled as they tried to wrap their heads around what they had just watched. The fact is that some films insist upon being viewed twice—or three, or four, or twenty times—to be understood.
There are few things in cinema that can achieve the cultural staying power of the very best mind-bending movies. From sci-fi spectacles that leave audiences scatterbrained to mystery thrillers so layered with twists and turns that a repeat viewing is necessary to see how it all fits together, these mind-twisting movies have forged their own legacies with their dumbfounding nature, which have left fans perplexed. Featuring complex stories that demand repeat viewings to be digested, these are the best mind-blowing movies that left viewers’ heads spinning when the credits rolled.
45
‘Get Out’ (2017)
Directed by Jordan Peele
One of the defining movies of the 2010s, as well as a landmark success at the Academy Awards for both horror cinema and representation in film, Get Out is, above all else, a picture lauded for its striking originality. Meshing psychological horror with satirical observations of race relations in America, Jordan Peele’s debut film follows an African-American photographer who travels to the family home of his white girlfriend for a weekend holiday, where he learns his hosts’ awkward exchanges with him are a veneer of something far more sinister.
The film is relatively orthodox in terms of the mechanics of its progression, but the ambition and dare of the story itself is overwhelming on first watch, if only for its unbridled creativity and its thematic punch. Brilliantly, Get Out has held up extraordinarily even as many have revisited it. It doesn’t just demand to be rewatched, but it actually becomes a better film on the second viewing as all its details and intricacies become more apparent.
Get Out
- Release Date
-
February 24, 2017
- Runtime
-
1 hour, 44 minutes
44
‘Tenet’ (2021)
Directed by Sir Christopher Nolan
Sir Christopher Nolan is something of a master of mind-boggling movies that confound and compel on first viewing, only to be made sense of upon rewatch. While Tenet does still have some elements that cause one’s brain to overwork itself on a second viewing—the theory of entropy and its effects are uniquely confusing, no matter how many times the film is revisited—the rapid plot progression is far easier to absorb and invest in the second time around.
Running as a bit of a spy action thriller, it follows a CIA operative as he is recruited by a mysterious agency specializing in time-inverted objects to prevent a Russian from assembling weaponry from the future to use against the world. There is a marvelous feel that it is a James Bond movie combined with Christopher Nolan’s knack for time-bending science fiction. While first viewings are usually aggressively confusing, a rewatch does enable one to enjoy the sheer might of the action spectacle and the momentum of the narrative more fully.
Tenet
- Release Date
-
September 3, 2020
- Runtime
-
150 minutes
43
‘Timecrimes’ (2007)
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo
A little-known sci-fi from Spain that has gradually worked its way up to cult classic status over the years, Timecrimes is a brilliantly constrained yet confounding story of time travel, duplicity, and consequences. It follows Héctor (Karra Elejalde), a married middle-aged man whose snooping on a young woman on his property leads to him being attacked and seeking refuge in a mysterious building. He is contacted by a scientist who persuades him to hide in what is revealed to be a time machine, kickstarting a mind-bending loop that sees Héctor striving to undo his actions without impacting the future.
Whatever limitations were imposed on the film by its shoestring budget are overcome with solid performances and a delightfully intelligent screenplay that squeezes every bit of tension and intrigue out of its premise. While the sheer complexity of the story warrants repeat viewings to be fully grasped, audiences can rest assured that Timecrimes’ linear progression and logical character decisions do ensure it makes sense once the peculiar plot dynamics are understood.
Timecrimes
- Release Date
-
December 12, 2008
- Runtime
-
92 minutes
42
‘The Machinist’ (2004)
Directed by Brad Anderson
While it has many twists and turns that can be difficult to keep up with on first viewing, a huge reason why The Machinist is so difficult to absorb in just one watch is because of how significant an impact Christian Bale’s confronting physique has on the audience. The mercurial star famously shed 62 pounds to portray Trevor Reznik, a paranoid and insomniac lathe operator who is plagued by unusual occurrences while being stalked by an intimidating man who no one else seems to notice.
As the ominous mystery surrounding the imposing follower gradually unfurls, audiences are posed more intricate and disturbing questions regarding Reznik’s true nature and what dark secrets may reside in his past. Given its bleak atmosphere and its heavy subject matter, The Machinist isn’t necessarily the easiest film to revisit, but viewers who do indulge get a far clearer grasp on Reznik’s character and the details of the macabre thriller story.
41
‘Coherence’ (2013)
Directed by James Ward Byrkit
Another mind-boggling masterpiece made with minimal money, Coherence mixes searing psychological thrills with high-concept sci-fi to spellbinding effect. It follows eight friends as they meet up for a dinner party on a night, only to be plagued by strange occurrences after Miller’s Comet passes Earth. As they walk to the only house in the area with power to investigate the cause of the peculiarities, they discover that the comet has opened a rift between multiple realities, all of which contain the eight friends looking for answers.
With its pulsating premise and its intelligent plot progression, Coherence doesn’t just compel audiences, but it draws them to the edge of their seats, with every tantalizing twist engulfing viewers deeper into the rapidly evolving story. Between its cerebral sci-fi spectacle and the shifting intentions of its characters, Coherence can easily lose viewers on the first watch, but revisiting the film allows all the little details and subtleties to be digested, thus illustrating the true excellence of the screenplay.
Coherence
- Release Date
-
August 6, 2013
- Runtime
-
89 Minutes
40
‘Lost Highway’ (1997)
Directed by David Lynch
Where the surreal and enigmatic collide is where David Lynch does his best work. Many of his greatest achievements are defined by their hypnotic yet mystifying allure, with 1997’s Lost Highway a skin-crawling and spellbinding thriller that oozes the director’s rich stylistic might. Intersecting between two stories, it follows a jazz musician plagued by the idea that his wife is having an affair and a young mechanic who becomes enchanted by the spouse of a ruthless gangster.
In addition to the wafting narrative interests, Lost Highway is made all the more bewildering by the fact that Patricia Arquette portrays the focal woman in both stories, even though they are two different characters. It doesn’t necessarily make sense in a storytelling fashion by the time the credits roll, a fact that remains the same after multiple rewatches, but fans intrigued by Lost Highway would do well to revisit the sprawling picture to engage with its thematic exploration anew and derive their own meaning from the impressionable film.
Lost Highway
- Release Date
-
January 15, 1997
- Runtime
-
134 minutes
39
‘Frailty’ (2001)
Directed by Bill Paxton
Criminally underrated and subtly engrossing, Frailty marks what was an inspired directorial debut from Hollywood star Bill Paxton, thriving as a heady and striking psychological horror about religion and murder. An FBI agent is visited by Fenton Meikes (Matthew McConaughey), a man who claims his younger brother is the culprit in the “God’s Hand” serial killings. He details how his brother and their father (played by Paxton) became engulfed in the idea that they had been chosen by God to slay demons.
Impressively, Paxton always maintains a dramatic underscore, never allowing the overt horror elements to dominate the movie beyond a handful of shocking sequences. It thrives as a low-key, slow-burn thriller that revels in its many narrative twists. Come the end of the film, audiences need to rewatch it from the beginning to piece everything together, a task that imbues the picture with a new form of appreciation given how well it is assembled.
Frailty
- Release Date
-
April 12, 2002
- Runtime
-
100 minutes
38
‘Pi’ (1998)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Made on a shoestring budget, Pi is the commanding and confounding directorial debut by the ever-intriguing Darren Aronofsky. An experimental piece that functions as a fiercely intelligent psychological thriller, it follows an unemployed mathematical genius who believes everything in the universe can be explained with numbers. As he sets out to prove his theory, however, he finds himself being pursued by an aggressive group with unclear motives.
Its visual presentation is terrifically gritty, defined by its film grain and shaky camera work that gives an immediate urgency and paranoia to Max’s (Sean Gullette) frantic story. Its intricate story progression and its academic themes make Pi a tough film to digest in one viewing, but its gripping suspense and Aronofsky’s scintillating direction has ensured it has a plethora of fans who have eagerly revisited it to explore the story in greater depth and detail.
Pi
- Release Date
-
July 10, 1998
- Runtime
-
84 minutes
37
‘Dark City’ (1998)
Directed by Alex Proyas
A dark sci-fi tech noir mystery thriller, Dark City is a film that juggles plenty of components to make for a sprawling and grandiose story. It follows John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), an amnesiac who awakens in a strange hotel and learns that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. As he hurries to piece together elements of his forgotten life—and figure out if he really is the killer—he discovers a peculiar cult-like group who refer to themselves as the Strangers.
Its peculiar mystique is complemented by its visual style, with director Alex Proyas incorporating a bleak and gloom stylistic vibrancy that imbues it with a palpable atmospheric might that feels both completely foreign and strangely familiar at the same time. Juggling so many narrative threads and ideas, while also wowing viewers with its unique visual allure, Dark City may require multiple watches to be understood and digested in full.
Dark City
- Release Date
-
February 27, 1998
- Runtime
-
100 minutes
36
‘Enter the Void’ (2009)
Directed by Gaspar Noé
From the expert provocateur Gaspar Noé, Enter the Void is an awe-inspiring and overstimulating voyage into the afterlife that is so rich with visual grandeur and heady ideas that it can be entirely overwhelming on first viewing. It follows an American drug dealer living in Tokyo who, after a botched deal ends in violence, finds himself embarking on a visceral journey through the afterlife that takes the form of Tokyo’s neon-infused nightclub scene.
Best described as a psychedelic acid trip into another state of being, Enter the Void isn’t afraid to throw viewers into a hypnotic vortex they aren’t likely to comprehend initially. While the broad strokes of the story are relatively simple, the intensity of the film’s style and the nuance in its spiritual findings make it a movie that should be watched multiple times to be truly discovered.