Any movie worth its salt touches on your emotions. In some films, though, the feel-good emotions are conspicuously missing. These aren't movies you want to watch when you're looking for some good ol' escapism, as they strike a cord that is decidedly unsettling.
1. The Matrix
So much about The Matrix suddenly feel far too…real. The red pills, the blue pills, the rise of machines (and machine learning), humans voluntarily living digital existences while humans are mined of their lifeforce. These are just a few of the Matrix-derived terms and themes that don't seem as “thought-provoking” and “edgy” as they did in 1999.
They seem downright predictive at this point.
2. A Clockwork Orange
Truly one of the most off-putting movies you will ever watch, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange will turn your stomach for reasons that you can't ever quite put your finger on. Protagonist Alex DeLarge leads a band of pillaging miscreants in a dystopian future of England, When caught and sentenced, the film turns into a thought-control hell that only heightens the madness.
3. Limitless
Bradley Cooper's Limitless might be seen as a cautionary tale easily translated to the “smart drugs” that power so many American brains today. In a society where everything is at your fingertips and plenty of drugmakers promising to 10x your productivity, we might be wise to watch Limitless one more time.
Too real?
4. A Scanner Darkly
In the vein of A Clockwork Orange, the “animated” film A Scanner Darkly is the product of revered sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. A trippy venture into a not-so-distant future where surveillance rules all and a hyper-hallucinogenic drug is wreaking havoc on the population's collective psyche, A Scanner Darkly is about as unnerving as mainstream films get.
Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., and Woody Harrellson make appearances, but the star power will be little solace to those who thought they'd be watching just another “animated” movie.
5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Mescaline, absinth, LSD, and every other intoxicating substance under the sun mixed with the gonzo mind of Hunter S. Thompson. What could go wrong?
The hyper-bizarre Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is meant to keep you on your toes, and it certainly is not a warm-and-fuzzy kind of film.
6. Fight Club
David Fincher's cult classic film Fight Club will make you question what is real and perhaps even what it means to be sane. That's not exactly the ideal film choice for anyone who feels like they're teetering on the edge of emotional stability.
7. Joker
Joker truly embraces the ethos of dark comedy. Which means you will get plenty of the dark if you want the comedy. Mostly, though, Joker is just dark.
8. Signs
With all the UFO sightings populating headlines on a seemingly daily basis, M. Night Shyamalan's Signs serves as the unwelcomed answer to a pressing question: What if the aliens aren't our buddies?
If you're inclined to believe that a real-life close encounter of the third kind might be in the cards in the near future, Signs might not be the best choice for movie night.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.