What? Where? Why? Huh?
Some movies just mess with your head—in the best way. They jump timelines, play with reality, and leave you wondering what you just watched. If you love a good mind-bender, these confusing films are probably already on your list.
Solaris
In Solaris, a psychologist travels to a space station near a mysterious planet only to encounter a physical manifestation of his dead wife. Apparently, the planet seems to pull memories from the subconscious. Its deliberate pacing and philosophical depth leave viewers uncertain about what’s real or imagined.
SOLARIS (1972) Trailer | Lem 2021: I've Seen the Future by AFISilverTheatre
Eraserhead
This movie’s plot is unclear, and its symbolism is dense. It immerses audiences in a bleak, industrial world filled with disturbing imagery and unsettling soundscapes. The protagonist’s monstrous child and surreal encounters defy conventional logic, much like a waking nightmare.
David Lynch, Wikimedia Commons
The Green Knight
Directed by David Lowery, The Green Knight turns a classic Arthurian tale into a slow, dreamlike quest filled with eerie forests and talking foxes. As Sir Gawain faces strange trials, you're left questioning what counts as bravery, honor, or reality. Abstract visuals and cryptic symbolism deepen the mystery.
The Green Knight | Official Trailer | Prime Video by Amazon Prime Video UK & IE
The Holy Mountain
Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain is a wild, spiritual journey that fuses religion and political critique into a kaleidoscope of surreal imagery. This film’s visual metaphors shift constantly and fail to anchor the viewer in any one reality. By the end, it mixes fiction and truth in a single breath.
The Holy Mountain - Official Trailer | ABKCO Films by ABKCO Records & Films
Perfect Blue
The seamless blend of horror and paranoia makes the film feel unstable. Perfect Blue illustrates how a pop star’s transition to acting triggers a psychological breakdown. Critics believe it deliberately confuses dream sequences with reality, and replays key moments with subtle changes to distort perspective.
Perfect Blue - Official Trailer by Shudder
Triangle
What starts as a simple yachting trip quickly turns into a time-looping descent into madness. The plots are layered like a spiraled onion: whenever you think you've figured it out, it folds back into itself. By the third identical scene playing out slightly differently, you’ll either be theorizing…or reaching for aspirin.
Triangle (2009) Movie Explained | Sci-Fi Time Loop Thriller Breakdown by Movie Logic
The Man Who Fell To Earth
David Bowie plays an alien trying to save his dying planet, but ends up derailed by alcoholism and capitalism. Viewers often become confused as they watch the film slip between timelines and tones and move from sci-fi to tragedy without warning. It’s not always clear what’s happening.
The Man Who Fell to Earth | Original Trailer | Coolidge Corner Theatre by thecoolidge
The Fall
Here, the line between imagination and reality grows increasingly blurry. Though visually stunning and emotionally layered, it tells a fantastical story within a story, spun by a bedridden stuntman to a little girl in a hospital. With time, it becomes hard to tell whose fantasy we’re in.
The Fall (2006) | Trailer HD by Josh Winter
Brazil
Terry Gilliam’s Brazil is like 1984 on acid—bureaucracy, dream sequences, and exploding paperwork collide in a dystopian fever dream. Our hero gets trapped in a system so absurd it becomes its own villain. The ending? Equal parts brilliant and maddening.
The Endless
Two brothers return to a cult only to find time looping. It is later revealed that something cosmic is at play, and each character may be trapped in their own private eternity. By the end, the only thing clear is that reality checked out long ago.
Upstream Color
This is the story of a woman implanted with a parasitic organism and drawn into a strange cycle involving pigs and sound engineers. Locations and dates change abruptly, so that viewers are forced to fill in the gaps themselves. With minimal dialogue, Upstream Color is intentionally disorienting.
Upstream Color Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Shane Carruth Movie HD by Rotten Tomatoes Trailers
Vanilla Sky
One moment, the protagonist is a successful ladies's man; the next, his life spirals into tragedy and a possible virtual dream. You’re never quite sure which version of events—if any—actually happened. Vanilla Sky constantly flips between reality and simulation without warning or explanation.
Vanilla Sky (2001) Trailer | Tom Cruise | Penelope Cruz by Film Trailer Channel
Lost Highway
A man accused of murder transforms into a different person, and somehow continues the story in a completely new identity. There are no transitions or justification: things just happen. As the film loops and bends, viewers are left with a trail of unanswered questions.
LOST HIGHWAY Clip - "Party" (1997) David Lynch by JoBlo Movie Clips
Inland Empire
Filmed over three years with no fixed script, Inland Empire is three hours of fractured identities and cryptic settings. Actor Laura Dern plays multiple versions of a woman whose life and film role blur into one. And just when a plot thread starts to make sense, it vanishes into another dimension.
INLAND EMPIRE | Official Trailer | STUDIOCANAL International by STUDIOCANAL
The Congress
Robin Wright plays a version of herself who sells her digital image to a movie studio. But then the story takes a wild turn into a trippy animated world. The film alternates between real-life and animated sequences. Reality starts to blur, and nothing makes much sense after that.
The Congress (2013) | Trailer | Robin Wright | Harvey Keitel | Jon Hamm by The Match Factory
Antichrist
A grieving couple retreats to a cabin in the woods, but things quickly spiral into dark and disturbing territory. The Antichrist combines haunting symbols, nightmares, and mythology without clear meaning. Many viewers are left confused, especially when a fox suddenly whispers and chaos reigns.
Antichrist (2009) Official HD Trailer [1080p] by DeFilmBlog 1:09
Holy Motors
An actor travels across Paris in a limousine and performs as a different character at every stop, without any clear reason or audience. It’s impossible to tell where performance ends and reality begins. Additionally, scenes erratically jump from romances to street beggars to accordion solos.
Holy Motors TRAILER (2012) - Denis Lavant, Eva Mendes Movie HD by Rotten Tomatoes Coming Soon
Mother!
This allegorical fever dream begins as a home-invasion thriller and quickly escalates into chaotic symbolism. Biblical references, metaphors for fame, motherhood, and the environment all pile on at once. Characters also morph roles mid-scene, and the present seems to accelerate or stall without logic.
Mother! Official Trailer #1 (2017) Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem Thriller Movie HD by Zero Media
eXistenZ
Gamers plug into an organic virtual reality system, but once inside, distinguishing game from real life becomes impossible. Characters question their memories and surroundings at every turn. eXistenZ switches dimensions of reality so often, you’re left wondering whether any of them were real.
eXistenZ (Trailer) by Behind The Science Fiction
Possession (1981)
A woman’s erratic behavior spirals into body horror and political paranoia. The tone used swerves from domestic breakdown to supernatural horror without clear transitions. Dialogue is cryptic, and the film’s emotional logic feels like it belongs in another dimension.
Possession (1981) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p] by HD Retro Trailers
The Jacket
The Jacket uses a narrative that moves sideways more than forward. It tells the story of a war veteran who undergoes experimental treatment and finds himself slipping through time. He wakes up in the future inside a morgue drawer and tries to piece together his death while still alive in the present.
The Jacket (2005) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers
Waking Life
Shot in rotoscope animation, Waking Life follows a dreamer wandering through endless philosophical conversations with no clear plot or direction. Characters change form and occasionally realize they’re dreaming mid-sentence. The film hops from one existential musing to another, but offers no roadmap.
Waking Life (2001) Original Trailer [FHD] by HD Retro Trailers
Paprika
In Paprika, a therapist uses a dream-sharing device to help patients, but the dreams begin bleeding into reality. While the visuals shift rapidly, characters switch shape and entire settings merge. When a parade of appliances marches through the city, the laws of physics appear to give up.
PAPRIKA [2007] - Official Trailer (HD) by Sony Pictures Entertainment
Timecrimes
With no clear anchor in reality, this film’s plot spirals into confusion and one very unsettling bandage mask. We see a man entering a loop and encountering multiple versions of himself, each tangled in a web of escalating consequences. Every attempt to fix things only further fractures the timeline.
Timecrimes (2007) – Trailer by Shudder
Last Year At Marienbad
At a lavish, empty hotel, a man insists he met a woman the previous year—she insists otherwise. Their dialogue loops, the setting changes mid-scene, and everything feels frozen. Every repetition adds more doubt, and eventually, the characters seem unsure if they were ever real.
LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD - Official Trailer - 55th Anniversary Edition by StudiocanalUK
A Ghost Story
A man dies and returns as a ghost. He watches the world shift around him, but time doesn’t behave normally here: days and years drift by in silence. As several settings change without notice, he ends up at a point some presume to be the beginning.
A Ghost Story | Official Trailer HD | A24 by A24
The Double
In The Double, Jesse Eisenberg plays Simon James, a timid office drone whose life is upended by the arrival of James Simon, his confident, charismatic lookalike. The strange part? No one acknowledges how identical they are. Whether this double is real or just a projection of Simon’s unraveling mind is never made clear.
Synecdoche, New York
After a theater director builds a replica of New York City, he casts actors to play himself and everyone he knows. Everything skips ahead without warning, and characters are duplicated. Their play mirrors real life so closely that it becomes impossible to tell one from the other.
Synecdoche, New York | Official Trailer (2008) by Sony Pictures Classics
The Lobster
In a bleak future where being single is illegal, people must find a partner in 45 days or get turned into an animal. The rules are odd, but no one explains how they work. Somewhere between nosebleed pairings and forest-dwelling rebels, logic just casually leaves the room.
The Lobster | Official Trailer HD | A24 by A24
Enter The Void
A drug dealer in Tokyo gets shot and suddenly starts floating above the city, from where he watches life unfold below. The camera glides nonstop, through ceilings and sometimes into people's brains. Locations also melt into each other with glowing neon haze.
Enter The Void Trailer HD by Crzymalu
Anomalisa
When a traveler checks into a hotel, something feels off. Every single person he meets has the same face and voice. The world around him muddles into sameness, and his brief escape into romance comes with surreal glitches and an emotional fog.
ANOMALISA | Official Trailer (HD) by Paramount Movies
The Frame
A paramedic and a thief, complete strangers, discover their lives are strangely connected. He sees her on his TV, she sees him on hers—and neither knows why. The story jumps between their points of view, leaving them (and us) unsure who’s in control.
THE FRAME Official Trailer #1 by Jamin Winans
The Zero Theorem
The Zero Theorem tells of a reclusive genius tasked with solving a mathematical formula that might explain the meaning of life. All the while, he’s living inside a burnt-out chapel and wearing VR goggles. Corporate overlords monitor his progress, but they don’t make much sense either.
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie
Several friends keep trying to sit down for dinner, but something always interrupts: wars, dreams, ghosts, and stage plays. Just when it seems they’ll finally eat, the situation changes unexpectedly. At some point, you realize the joke might be on you—and them.
THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE | Official Trailer | STUDIOCANAL International by STUDIOCANAL
The Science Of Sleep
A shy artist struggles unsuccessfully to separate his vivid dreams from waking life. Surprisingly, nobody reacts when he sleep-builds a time machine out of cellophane. The dialogues here also loop and drift off, much like his grasp on reality.
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP - Official Trailer - directed by Michel GONDRY (2006) by Partizan Official
Beyond The Black Rainbow
Inside a research facility, a mute girl with psychic powers is trapped and strictly guarded by a doctor. The film moves in dreamlike sequences where dialogue is scarce and every room glows like a synthwave fever dream. Nothing gets explained—even the glowing triangle.
Beyond The Black Rainbow Official Trailer #1 (2012) HD by Rotten Tomatoes Trailers
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
After a surgeon befriends a strange teenage boy who starts visiting his family, things become unsettling. People fall ill for no reason, while characters speak like robots trying to imitate emotion. The flat tone only makes the bizarre events feel more unnatural.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer | Playdate | Official Trailer 2 HD | A24 by A24
Rubber
A tire rolls through the desert and suddenly discovers it has telekinetic powers. Yes, an actual tire. It starts exploding animals and people, while an on-screen audience watches from a distance—until they don’t. If you're looking for logic, this tire will crush it.
Rubber (2011) - Official Trailer [HD] by Horrornymphs
The Turin Horse
Two people, a farmer and his daughter, eat boiled potatoes in silence and watch the wind howl for hours. Every action repeats, slower and stranger, as if time itself is grinding to a stop. Conversations are minimal, and even their horse seems existentially confused.
The Turin Horse Trailer by ONE Media
Bliss
In Bliss, an artist dives into a chaotic spiral of drugs and blood-soaked hallucinations while trying to finish a painting. The lines between her waking life and supernatural horror blur fast and violently. It’s hard to tell if she’s becoming something…or just painting it with her teeth.
Coherence’
A comet passes overhead during a party, and suddenly, there are multiple versions of the same guests wandering around. People start sneaking into other houses that resemble theirs, while repeating the dialogue. The more they try to fix things, the more tangled the timeline becomes for viewers as well.
Coherence Official Trailer 1 (2014) - Mystery Movie HD by Rotten Tomatoes Indie
The Fountain
Three stories unfold across centuries: a conquistador, a modern-day scientist, and a space traveler floating in a bubble with a tree. They all look suspiciously like Hugh Jackman, but the film offers no clear roadmap on how (or if) they connect. Everything combines into one long metaphysical swirl.
🎥 THE FOUNTAIN (2006) | Movie Trailer | Full HD | 1080p by MOVIE PREDICTOR
The Platform
A man wakes up in a strange prison with a hole in the center and a platform of food that lowers from the top. Each meal is based on what the prisoners said was their favorite food. No one knows how many levels there are—or who’s really in charge.
The Platform | Main Trailer | Netflix by Netflix
The Forbidden Room
This movie moves from a submarine crew trapped underwater, to loggers, then to a man who can’t stop bathing, and then…somewhere else entirely. Narratives nest inside each other like Russian dolls with no bottom. Every setting is steeped in melodrama and narrative chaos.
The Forbidden Room | Trailer | NYFF53 by Film at Lincoln Center
Sorry To Bother You
The film’s tone often deviates from office satire to sci-fi nightmare. It portrays a telemarketer who discovers a corporate world where success means changing one's species. When the horse-people arrive, you’re no longer sure if it’s a dystopian comedy or a corporate training video.
Sorry to Bother You Trailer #1 (2018) | Movieclips Trailers by Rotten Tomatoes Trailers
