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Movies are remarkably effective at putting dreams on-screen. Almost anything a person can imagine can be captured in a visual medium like film, and as such, cinema has given us plenty of brilliantly-realized dreams throughout its decades-long history. In some cases, dreams end up inspiring movies, with few examples being as clear as Akira Kurosawa’s underrated Dreams (1990), which was an anthology movie that depicted numerous dreams the director had had throughout his life.
On the other end of things, cinema can also capture experiences that play out like nightmares and visually depict them on-screen. This is perhaps best seen in the horror genre, but other genres can just as eerily recreate the feeling of being in a particularly harrowing nightmare. The following 10 movies can’t exactly be described as horror movies, but are all effective in presenting dark, psychologically tense atmospheres that may end up reminding viewers of bad dreams they’ve had before.
‘Mulholland Drive’ (2001)
Few directors capture dreamlike and nightmarish images as well as David Lynch. It’s possible to say he’s made a career out of doing just that, especially with a film like Eraserhead – itself a feature-length black-and-white nightmare – and a show like Twin Peaks, which seems to run on dream logic for much of its runtime.
Mulholland Drive is interesting, though, because while it’s certainly unsettling, it’s not quite a horror movie. It’s a very dark look at the seedier side of Hollywood, and while it begins feeling relatively grounded in reality (at least for Lynch), it becomes increasingly surreal as it goes on. What starts as a dream becomes more like a nightmare, and the fact it does all this without becoming a horror movie is a testament to Lynch’s ability to capture unreality on the silver screen.
‘A Serious Man’ (2009)
Numerous movies by the Coen Brothers have scenes that capture the sensation of having an anxious fever dream, but few sustain that feeling for an entire movie. A Serious Man, on the other hand, does, as it follows a physics teacher who seems to have the worst luck in the world.
In fact, the universe seems out to get Larry Gopnik, or at the very least refuses to let him catch a break. The way personal disaster after personal disaster befalls Larry is what ensures A Serous Man feels like the kind of nightmare most would be very relieved to wake up from, all the while staying firmly within the dark comedy/drama genres.
‘White Noise’ (2022)
White Noise is a movie that’s very hard to describe, seemingly by design. It follows a family led by a high-strung father, and the strange things that happen when a nearby disaster causes a toxic cloud to form over their town. Panic sets in for the family and the rest of the town’s residents, and only gets worse when they’re told they need to evacuate.
It puts a twisted, sometimes funny, and always uncomfortable spin on the disaster movie genre, with the scenes surrounding the toxic cloud having a particularly eerie dreamlike feel. White Noise sometimes feels like it’s dipping its toes into the horror genre, but never fully commits. Still, that doesn’t stop a good number of its scenes from feeling quite nightmarish.
‘Shiva Baby’ (2020)
Shiva Baby’s premise, on paper, might not sound all that tense or terrifying. The movie plays out during an extended funeral service, and centers on a young woman named Danielle, who really doesn’t want to be there. Her parents are overbearing, she doesn’t like small talk, and she has various secrets that those around her continually threaten to discover/unveil.
It’s the tone and style of Shiva Baby that makes it feel almost like a psychological thriller, despite it being most easily identifiable as a comedy. The claustrophobic setting, continual background noise, and various things the protagonist is feeling stressed about all have a tremendous effect on the viewer, leading to a black comedy that feels strikingly similar to a bad dream at certain points.
‘Under the Silver Lake’ (2018)
Few movies are as gloriously paranoid as Under the Silver Lake. It’s an underrated, genre-bending movie about a young man who, while searching for a woman who mysteriously vanished, uncovers a vast conspiracy that’s hiding in plain sight in Los Angeles, driving him progressively further down a rabbit hole that never seems to end.
It’s a paranoid thriller through and through, and certainly has some interesting – and sometimes darkly amusing – things to say throughout. It’s unlikely a dream with the same kind of frantic energy as Under the Silver Lake would last as long as the film does, so for anyone who wants the feeling of a crazy dream they won’t wake up from for over two hours, Under the Silver Lake has you covered.
‘After Hours’ (1985)
Martin Scorsese is best known for his crime movies, but he’s surprisingly good at capturing nightmares on-screen, if his underrated After Hours is anything to go by. This cult classic dark comedy tells the story of one man having the worst night of his life, as a date spirals viciously out of control, and he finds himself facing unexpected terror in a particularly hellish depiction of New York City.
Few movies capture a sense of escalating unease and dread as well as After Hours does, and that it does this whilst also being one of Scorsese’s funniest movies makes it all the more impressive. It’s likely to make you squirm just as much as it’ll make you laugh, but it wouldn’t exactly capture the sensation of a nightmare the same way if it shied away from those more tense moments.
‘The Trial’ (1962)
The Trial is criminally underrated, because as far as Orson Welles movies go, it’s honestly just as effectively directed as Citizen Kane. It’s based on the Franz Kafka story of the same name, and follows the unfortunate events that befall a man after he’s put on trial for a crime that no one will elaborate on.
This naturally makes it impossible for the main character to defend himself, because he doesn’t know what he’s been accused of. Things go from bad to worse, again and again, making for an intoxicating, intense, and incredibly surreal movie that effectively puts you in the nightmarish headspace of its extremely unlucky main character.
‘The Night Of’ (2016)
While The Night Of is a miniseries that runs a good deal longer than a movie, it’s so effective in capturing the feeling of a nightmare that it’s worth mentioning. This most specifically applies to its first episode, which feels similar to the aforementioned The Trial. In it, the main character is charged with a crime he’s sure he didn’t commit (a grisly murder), but no one seems willing to believe him, and he’s put through the grueling process of being arrested, interrogated, and eventually locked up.
Things become a little less nightmarish after the show’s first episode, but it can’t be denied how surreal and stomach-churning it feels. For anyone who’s had troubling dreams about committing crimes or being accused of committing a crime, parts of The Night Of might end up too intense to handle.
‘Uncut Gems’ (2019)
Time is something we’re all fighting against, and as such, time sometimes serves as an abstract antagonist of sorts in the world of film. Uncut Gems exemplifies this well, as it’s about a man who’s in debt to too many people to count, and is racing against the clock to gamble big and effectively earn back all the money he needs, and then some.
It’s a relentless movie that never lets up, and is filled with loud noises, suspenseful sequences, and unpleasant sights throughout. It’s such an effective thriller that it ends up harder to watch (and more nightmarish) than many horror movies, all the while remaining far outside what could be considered an example of a horror movie.
‘Brazil’ (1985)
Brazil is a hard movie to summarize. It takes place in a dystopian landscape that’s even more frightening than the world we currently live in, and follows a solitary man who lacks agency in passion in life, as he’s thrown around by various systems of power that he can’t seem to escape from.
There are various moments where the protagonist’s own dreams appear to offer some kind of escape, but even dreaming up a better world doesn’t prove to be a lasting solution. Things get continually more surreal and dreamlike as Brazil goes on, culminating in a series of repetitive fantasy sequences that end up being just that… fantasies. It’s bleak stuff, but at least it’s also entertaining and awe-inspiring to look at.
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