This year, we saw no shortage of experimental indie projects and blockbusters that defied
convention to shock audiences.
Want to watch a film that has you wide-eyed and open-mouthed by the time the credits start
to roll?
Check out a few of the most baffling movies of 2018.
Suspiria may be a remake, but this modern take on Dario Argento's 1977 film stands apart
from other 2018 horror films.
When Susie, played by Dakota Johnson, is admitted to a dance academy in West Berlin, the Academy
is still reeling over the disappearance of a student.
Before her disappearance, the student confessed that she believed the academy was run by a
coven of witches, and as it turns out, she might not have been crazy after all.
Suspiria is a disturbing body horror packed with trippy imagery.
It's like watching a feature shot in hall of mirrors.
Told in six distinct narrative acts, the film makes it difficult to distinguish what's real
and what's merely a product of the characters' imaginations.
Starring Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius Green and Tessa Thompson as his artistic girlfriend
Detroit, Sorry to Bother You begins as a film about a desperate telemarketer trying to pay
his rent, but turns into an absurdist dark comedy that subverts all expectations by the
third act.
As his coworkers unionize to protest their low pay, Cassius tells himself that he can
support them from the other side of the picket line, but he gets swept up into a conspiracy
that he never saw coming.
Sorry to Bother You is easily one of the strangest and best movies in decades.
Starring Nicolas Cage as Red and Andrea Riseborough as his titular companion, Mandy is easily
some of Cage's best work in recent years.
The plot follows Red and Mandy as they live a happy, reclusive life... until Mandy is
kidnapped by a violent hippie cult.
Directed by Panos Cosmatos', Mandy delves into gory, psychedelic imagery that you can't
look away from.
As the film progresses, the line between fantasy and reality is so heavily blurred that you're
left unsure of what to believe.
Assassination Nation quickly builds into something much more sinister and terrifying than you
could have ever expected.
When a hacker starts revealing the personal messages of a small town, the airing of dirty
laundry turns from petty high school drama into a full-blown bloody conflict.
Assassination Nation takes a predictable premise and jacks it all the way up to the most extreme
possible conclusion.
As more secrets are revealed, the degradation of social norms occurs so quickly that it's
safe to assume it wouldn't be a realistic turn of events in real life, but it's worth
asking, "what if?"
In First Reformed, Reverend Ernst Toller holds services at a church with a dwindling congregation.
As he's grappling with the death of his son, Toller gets a frantic call from one of his
flock.
She's worried about her husband Michael, a radical environmentalist who sees no hope
for the planet.
As Toller attempts to counsel Mary and Michael, he's forced to think about his own beliefs
and worry about the current state of the human race.
Directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Ethan Hawke as Reverend Toller and Amanda Seyfried
as Mary, First Reformed refuses to wrap up neatly for the viewer.
After watching First Reformed, you can't help but wonder if the doomsday believers have
a point after all.
"Every tiny insect, the whole world is a manifestation of his holy presence, I think this is an issue
where the church can lead!"
Annihilation is one of those genre-bending films that combines the best of science fiction
and horror into a single compelling storyline.
Kane, played by Oscar Isaac, is the only survivor of an expedition into "The Shimmer," an electromagnetic
field that's spreading on the southern coast of the United States.
What really happened while he was inside, and was it really Kane who came back?
A scientist, played by Natalie Portman, is determined to find out with her own expedition.
As she ventures into the Shimmer herself, nothing is quite what it seems.
"It's in me."
"It'll be in all of us."
The Happytime Murders follows a human and puppet detective team as they try to figure
out who's behind the recent murders of retired sitcom stars.
With puppets engaging in everything from violent crime to petty theft and raunchy jokes, it's
like a twisted look at your childhood favorites.
You won't be able to look at a puppet quite the same way after watching The Happytime
Murders.
Sure, you've got to give the cast and crew props for their willingness to get creative
in the medium, but it's hard not to wonder why this story had to be told with puppets,
which is truly baffling.
In Madeline's Madeline, Helena Howard stars as Madeline, a young woman who joins a prestigious
"physical theater" troupe.
Her intensely ambitious director pushes her to explore her family trauma through her art,
particularly her relationship with her mother.
But Madeline's performance begins to cross from art into life, until the two become completely
indistinguishable.
At its core, Madeline's Madeline is a film about acting.
It represents a look inside the mind of an artist, complete with dizzying, dramatic cinematography.
The characters explore identity through performance, and the movie encourages viewers to consider
how much of our own identities are authentic parts of who we are, and how much is merely
a performance for others.
"Okay.
Excuse me.
Hi, yeah.
Okay.
Right."
In the suspenseful thriller Unsane, Claire Foy plays Sawyer, a woman who moves away from
home to escape her stalker.
But even after she thinks she's in the clear, Sawyer struggles to move on and meets with
a counselor to dig into the healing process.
Unfortunately, she ends up being tricked into a long-term stay in a psychiatric institution,
where she makes a terrifying discovery.
Watching Unsane will have you questioning everyone around you for days after.
"Your name is Sawyer Valentini."
"You know that already."
"By signing this, you've consented to voluntary commitment for 24 hours."
"...No."