The theme of surrealism was first implemented in cinema during the 1920s. The goal of the movement was to reject cinematic norms by relying on shocking and disconcerting imagery to evoke a totally new emotion from its consumers. It dismissed tradition and instead attempted to create an entirely new cinematic experience.
Surrealism was typically associated with art and literature before being utilized in cinema. Its implementation in moving pictures marked the first instance a movement was reshaped to work on the silver screen. Countless directors have since incorporated themes of the surreal into their work, but some movies convey the bizarre far more efficiently than others.
10 Lamb
Lamb, directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson tells an unconventional story about unplanned parenthood. After discovering a newborn lamb in their barn, Maria and Ingvar choose to take care of it as if it were their child. This particular lamb, however, exhibits a few more human-like characteristics than its siblings.
Lamb lulls its viewers into false senses of security due to its slow pacing. Ingvar and Maria live relatively normal and carefree lives while caring for their unlikely son, but it is hard to ignore how absurd the overall scenario is. The surrealism is so subtle that it can easily be mistaken for normalcy.
9 Black Swan
Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan sees Natalie Portman filling the shoes of Nina Sayers, an up-and-coming ballet dancer hellbent on achieving stardom. She auditions to play Black Swan Odile in an upcoming play but begins to lose her grip on reality due to the character's twisted nature.
Black Swan is told from the perspective of Nina's fractured mind, thus further enhancing the surreal elements present throughout. The unpredictable story makes it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction but accentuates the movie's themes of alienation and otherness even more so.
8 Mother!
Darren Aronofsky's Mother! documents the story of a loving husband and wife as they renovate their new home. Their life appears free from hardship, that is until a collection of unwanted guests show up on the couple's doorstep and refuse to leave.
Mother! relies heavily on religious themes and imagery, with each scenario alluding to a biblical event from the past. It takes these concepts and twists them repeatedly until they are unrecognizable. The level of surrealism it incorporates can be offputting at first, but a second watch is sure to cement it as one of the better films to implement the concept.
7 The Neon Demon
At its core, Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon is a simple examination of the Los Angeles modeling industry. It centers on Jesse, a young woman hoping to start a career as a model, who by interacting with some questionable people, finds herself with a target on her head.
The Neon Demon quickly becomes a much more treacherous depiction of L.A.'s fashion world with its gruesome imagery and questionable acts. Though the neon-styled color palette partially conceals the full extent of the film's horror, its reliance on surrealism is incontrovertible.
6 Titane
Titane, directed by Julia Ducournau, follows the unsettling story of Alexia as she attempts to leave her trauma-riddled past behind her in favor of something new. Her journey sees her donning the guise of a missing boy in the hope of being cared for by his father. This plan works, and Alexia begins a new life.
Titane is crawling with some of the most unsettling imagery to grace cinema screens. Its combination and utilization of body horror and surrealism both work in tandem to convey an array of devastatingly shocking images and scenarios. It refuses to shy away from its depictions of gore, but that's what makes it so memorable.
5 Suspiria
Dario Argento's Suspiria tells the story of a young woman's journey to become a ballet dancer. Suzy Bannion travels to Germany to attend the Tanz Dance Akademie but, upon her arrival, she learns something sinister is taking place behind its walls.
While studying at the academy, Suzy's mind becomes plagued with gruesome and otherworldly images. The longer she spends at the establishment, the further she descends into madness. Death surrounds her, but not in the way it typically would in a less surreal movie.
4 Men
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Alex Garland's Men follows Harper Marlowe as she tries to distance herself from a tragic event that befell her. The sudden death of her husband has left her stricken with grief, so she decides to go on a lone holiday to the mysterious town of Cotson to clear her mind.
Lurking behind every corner of this uncomfortable town, however, lies in wait a frightening male presence. Each of Harper's interactions paints the townsfolk as sinister and dangerous, further alienating her from her already out-of-control life. Her time in Cotson is surreal, amplifying the movie's horror elements tenfold.
3 Midsommar
Ari Aster's Midsommar follows Dani Ardor, a young psychology student, as she tries to come to terms with the tragic death of her entire family. To make matters worse, her boyfriend has grown tired of her and no longer sees her as how he once did.
In the hope of putting her past behind, Dani decides to join her boyfriend on his trip to Sweden and slowly gains the power to stand up on her own two feet once more. The midsummer celebration she finds herself attending is bursting with horrifying and unusual imagery that she eventually comes to embrace by the movie's climax.
2 Eraserhead
David Lynch's Eraserhead follows the story of Henry Spencer, an extremely awkward young man with very little going for him. When he learns that his girlfriend, Mary X, is pregnant, he asks her to move into his dilapidated home with him, but the birth of the child turns his life upside down.
Eraserhead is chock-full of unsettling imagery, made even more confounding by the movie's bizarre premise. The grimy aesthetic of the world it is set in permits a daunting level of eeriness to spread throughout, but the design of Henry's baby is arguably the most harrowing feature.
1 House
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The story of House, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi follows seven classmates during a vacation. Gorgeous had planned to spend her summer holidays with her father, but upon learning she now has a stepmother, decides to travel to her aunt's home with her classmates instead.
House is possibly the most ludicrous movie to grace the surrealist genre for a variety of reasons. It embraced outlandish ideas and themes while also incorporating a jarring level of comedy. Most movies to attempt this unusual storytelling method would likely fail at its execution, but House is an exception.