This article delves into the genre of surreal horror, examining its connection to surrealist art and identifying films that push the boundaries of weirdness and terror through dreamlike logic and absurdity. It highlights 'The Reflecting Skin' as a prime example.
Surreal horror movies use absurdity and dreamlike logic to confound and terrify the viewer, but which surreal horror movie is the weirdest of them all?
Though surrealism is often associated with painters like Dalí or filmmakers like Luis Buñuel, there is actually considerable crossover with horror. Even the most mundane horror flicks are surreal in their own way. Horror generally comes from a heightened sense of reality, and it requires the audience to suspend their disbelief much further than they would in any other genre. Real fears are stretched to often absurd limits, resulting in stories that go above and beyond what's actually possible.
While this is a trait in almost every horror movie, some embrace surrealism in a more literal sense. Surrealism, as a movement in art, is tricky to define. It can't be summed up by specific techniques, but is recognizable by its themes and ideas. Surrealist works usually juxtapose the absurd with the mundane and embrace a dreamy logic that is meant to unlock the unconscious parts of the human experience.
Surreal horror does that too, but the result is terrifying instead of thought-provoking. Some horror films deliberately court surrealism, taking a page from the masters of the early 20th century. Others adapt surrealist concepts into the recognizable horror movie mold, creating an interesting blend of traditional filmmaking with outlandish artistic expression.
The only thing unifying surreal horror movies is weirdness, and some are much weirder than others. 10 The Reflecting Skin The Reflecting Skin is one of the most underrated films of the '90s, and is a subtle surreal horror masterpiece. In 1950s Idaho, a young boy suspects that his neighbor is a vampire after his friends go missing. The film draws inspiration from painters like Andrew Wyeth for its sparse visuals.
It's surreal because it subscribes to the child-like logic of its main character. The movie brilliantly crafts a dreamlike atmosphere as the mundane days of the young boy's life blend with horrific tragedy. The Reflecting Skin is certainly the most beautiful film in surreal horror, but it isn't necessarily the weirdest.
The plot itself makes perfect sense, and is less of a mystery and more of an inevitable descent into the isolation of grief. 9 The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari The silent German Expressionist classic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, is considered the first true horror film. It concerns a doctor who keeps a man hypnotized so that he may see the future. Unfortunately, the somnambulist's sinister predictions all come true.
With painted shadows and theatrical production design, every part of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is exaggerated and strange. The world of the movie is itself a dreamlike nightmare, and it creates an eerie mood that haunts the viewer for all 50 minutes of the running time.
However, because nothing in the film feels real, it borders on fantasy. The film has its own logic that keeps it from being too weird, and many of its themes are easy to understand. 8 In The Mouth Of Madness Many films embrace H.P. Lovecraft's unique eldritch horror, but John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness actually gets it right.
An insurance investigator travels to a creepy New England town in order to locate a reclusive horror author and his missing manuscript. What he finds is a living nightmare. The film's descent into terror is downright apocalyptic, and feels cosmic in scale. In the Mouth of Madness has a creepy atmosphere that builds, and though some parts have aged poorly, it's a creepy ride.
The surrealism comes from the unknowable nature of its own horror concept. The strange images are a mere reminder that man is only a speck of dust in a vast cosmos that is impossible to understand. Even so, it's pretty light on absurdity or dreamlike weirdness. 7 The Babadook Surreal horror movies like The Babadook use unique methods to explore a simple idea.
A stressed-out mom and her son are haunted by images of a shadowy figure that lurks in their home. The Babadook itself is one of the most dynamic modern movie monsters, but the film is so much more than a creature feature. Its surrealism is subtle and not particularly weird, hence it falls somewhere toward the bottom of the list.
However, The Babadook deserves praise for crafting a mind-bending internal logic that makes commentary about mental illness, parenthood, and mortality. The story is built on a foundation of realism that is slowly shattered by the surreal events that unfold. 6 Mandy While most surreal horror films are dreamlike, Mandy is downright hallucinatory. A lumberjack vows revenge against an evil cult after they kill his one true love.
The action horror flick leans heavily on its colorful visuals, and it ushers the viewer into the movie's neon-tinted nightmare world. Nicolas Cage gives a stellar performance, and is the ideal audience surrogate. With drugs flowing and fantasy images everywhere, Mandy lets the audience know that what they're seeing isn't necessarily real. It's weirder than the average surreal horror film because it intentionally incorporates genres like action and comedy into the mix.
The world of the plot is strange, and exists parallel to the day-to-day trappings of normal life. 5 Carnival Of Souls Carnival of Souls is a staple of late-night horror TV because it's in the public domain, but it shouldn't be overlooked as a surreal horror masterpiece. After surviving a car crash, a church organist moves to Utah and is haunted by visions of a ghostly man.
Herk Harvey's one-of-a-kind vision stands as one of the greatest independent films ever produced. As for its merits as a surrealist horror film, Carnival of Souls can take credit for inspiring generations of filmmakers. Few movies nail such subtlety in their dreamlike logic, and the film exists just off the cusp of reality.
Therefore, everything in Carnival of Souls has an unsettling and uncanny tone. It's weird in a way that makes the audience question what is and isn't real. 4 Jacob's Ladder Besides being one of the most surreal horror films ever made, Jacob's Ladder is also one of the most tragic. A Vietnam veteran is plagued by horrific flashbacks that lead him to investigate his experience during the war.
Urban horror has never been so terrifying, and Jacob's Ladder turns New York City into a labyrinth of nightmarish proportions. Jacob's world falls apart as he questions his sanity, and every figure in his life takes on a symbolic proportion. The movie's imagery is enough to score it plenty of weirdness points, and it's all in service of the story's themes.
Because Jacob's Ladder is such a complete package, it ranks much higher than many more overtly surreal horror flicks. 3 Suspiria With their elevated sense of unreality, it can be argued that all giallo films are surrealist horrors in their own right. Suspiria is the crown jewel of the Italian subgenre, and concerns a dancer who attends a mysterious school with supernatural happenings.
Dario Argento's vibrant colors and strange images create a sense that the viewer has departed the plain of reality. Subscribe for more surreal-horror film deep dives Get the newsletter for curated explorations, recommendations, and in-depth context on surreal horror and weird cinema - film breakdowns of visuals, themes, and why certain movies unsettle, plus thoughtful related film analysis and picks.
Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. The main storyline is almost unimportant, and is a platform for the film's own surreal inner logic. The kills are like vivid nightmares, and even the plot is inconsistent and absurd.
Suspiria is an experience, and a very weird one at that. It masquerades as a straightforward horror story, which adds to the strangeness. 2 House Japan is home to dozens of amazing horror flicks, but none so surreal as 1977's House. A school girl visits her estranged aunt in the woods, and brings along her closest friends. The aunt's witchcraft leads to a nearly endless series of weird occurrences.
Unlike most surreal films which limit themselves to conventional storytelling, House uses cinema itself as an instrument for surrealism. So many weird things happen that it's impossible to keep track of what's going on, and it ranges from horror to comedy with absurd glee. Japanese folklore blends with traditional horror movie imagery in a one-of-a-kind mix of oddball scenes.
House eventually becomes totally divorced from reality, reaching a state of surrealist nirvana not often seen in cinema. 1 Eraserhead Unlike the other surrealist horror films on this list, Eraserhead is a surrealist work first and foremost. David Lynch's debut feature concerns a worried man who becomes a father and finds that parenthood is a living nightmare. The black and white masterpiece has traces of reality that eventually give way to the greatest absurdity ever put on screen.
The horror comes not from monsters or jump scares, but from Lynch's own surrealist interpretation of mundane life. Everything is so weird that it's one of the only films that deserves to be called wholly unique. Eraserhead is arguably the weirdest movie ever made, horror or otherwise.
Surreal Horror Film Analysis Horror Genre Surrealism The Reflecting Skin
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