383 Best Dark Movies to Watch (Page 14)

This documentary prides itself on its rawness from its home video style. It uses a lot of uninterrupted clips that don’t really need to be there, as well as odd choices for symbolic b-roll and mood-setting music in the early going. But at the center of the documentary is John du Pont, an unstable old money mark who wishes to be one of the boys, treating the wrestlers like his family in the absence of his own. The interviews paint a clear picture of him as a delusional, lonely, and dangerous man, and the foreshadowing is insane albeit too slow. While it may be visually all over the place, perhaps the biggest nitpick about it is that, out of respect, it could have allotted more time to Dave Schultz or the aftermath.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Actor: Dan Chaid, Dave Schultz, John E. du Pont, Mark Schultz, Nancy Schultz

Director: Jon Greenhalgh

Rating: TV-14

The director of one of the few esteemed horror sequels (Wrong Turn 2: Dead End) adapting H. P. Lovecraft? Yes please. Joe Lynch reimagines "The Thing on the Doorstep" with the tropes of 90s erotic films and a tribute to classic possession horror cinema, meriting all our admiration for his effort. Suitable Flesh (even the title is erotic!) is fun, daring, very dark, and very horny. Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) delivers a strong lead performance, but Judah Lewis's (The Babysitter) sleazy Asa is what stands out here. Because of the horror's nature, all the actors will have a go at playing a demonic version of their characters and it's mostly good fun, but Lewis channels a certain scary nihilism that fits in very well with the film's attitude towards sex and possession... Without revealing too much hereafter, I must say that the film takes the phrase "an out of body experience" to the next level, when relating it to sexual pleasure.

Genre: Horror

Actor: Ann Mahoney, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Davison, Chris L. McKenna, Heather Graham, J.D. Evermore, Joe Lynch, Johnathon Schaech, Judah Lewis

Director: Joe Lynch

Remember the creepy blind nun from the Spanish horror film Veronica? While many nun-related horror films have nuns as its horror element, this time it’s the nun that gets spooked in Sister Death. The new release expands on her backstory, taking the story back in history, in her start as a novitiate in the former convent, a location that’s been changed after the terrors inflicted towards the nuns during the Spanish Civil War. While the film doesn’t delve that deeply, focusing instead on the slowly building up the film’s terror, there is something here about the hidden violence and covered-up trauma that still haunt the Catholic church in Spain, especially to those that have taken vows. Director Paco Plaza meticulously frames each terrific sequence with the isolating doubt in one’s faith that Narcisa experiences.

Genre: Drama, Horror

Actor: Almudena Amor, Antonio Duque, Arantza Vélez, Aria Bedmar, Chelo Vivares, Consuelo Trujillo, Luisa Merelas, Maru Valdivielso, Olimpia Roch, Sandra Escacena, Sara Roch

Director: Paco Plaza

A young Steve Buscemi leads this wry farce about a calamitous film set where nothing goes right. The sardonic script skewers the ins and outs of low budget film production and the various personalities on set from belligerent directors, pretentious cinematographers, and egotistic actors. 

A playful three-act structure and trips into dream sequences keep things light, while a strong supporting cast, including a cheeky appearance by Peter Dinklage and the fantastic Catherine Keener, gives the film the backbone it needs. 

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Catherine Keener, Danielle von Zerneck, Dermot Mulroney, Hilary Gilford, James Le Gros, Kevin Corrigan, Lori Tan Chinn, Matthew Grace, Norman Fields, Peter Dinklage, Rica Martens, Robert Wightman, Steve Buscemi, Tom Jarmusch

Director: Tom DiCillo

Rating: R

After you get back home, and you tuck your kids to bed, we search for some easy entertainment in the late-night talk show. Quips about today’s news and intimate conversations with guests are just the thing to wind down, but theoretically, anything can happen at late night. Late Night with the Devil plays as a pseudo-documentary centered on late show host Jack Delroy on a Halloween night, pairing the charged, uncensored atmosphere with a supernatural twist. The film alternates between the color-toned show and black-and-white behind the scenes, and as Delroy tries to lead the show to safe entertainment, with David Dastmalchian’s genial aura, things don’t go as planned as Lily becomes host to a scary demon with Ingrid Torelli’s terrifying physicality. It’s creepy and slightly comedic, with the classic selling of the soul for fame interrupted with words from their sponsors, and it’s certainly a fun twist to the late night we’re used to seeing.

Genre: Horror

Actor: Adam Batt, Christopher Kirby, Clare Chihambakwe, David Dastmalchian, Elise Jansen, Fayssal Bazzi, Gaby Seow, Georgina Haig, Ian Bliss, Imaan Hadchiti, Ingrid Torelli, John Leary, John O'May, Josh Quong Tart, Laura Gordon, Michael Ironside, Miles Brown, Nicole Chapman, Paula Arundell, Rhys Auteri, Rik Brown, Steve Mouzakis, Tamala Shelton

Director: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes

Rating: R

John Mulaney’s comedy special has candid interview segments, gallows humor on a children’s show, oddly specific musical numbers, and other variety show tropes. It having a children’s cast is largely why its snarky, uneasy tone works, and the topics that make it so are why you might watch it again. The cute absurdity of it all, as well as brief moments of introspection that can catch you off guard, are why you might even watch this with (older) kids—just don’t expect them to sit through the whole thing. It’s a comedy special for kids, by adults, so by design it’ll always be a bit off.

Genre: Comedy, Family

Actor: Alexander Bello, André De Shields, Annaleigh Ashford, Ava Briglia, Camille De La Cruz, Cordelia Comando, David Byrne, Erin Quill, Isabella Iannelli, Jacob Laval, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jake Ryan Flynn, John Mulaney, Jonah Mussolino, Lexi Perkel, Linder Sutton, Mary Stout, Natasha Lyonne, Oriah Elgrabli, Orson Hong, Phyllis Bash, Rhys Thomas, Richard Kind, Suri Marrero, Tyler Bourke, Zell Steele Morrow

Director: Rhys Thomas

Rating: PG

Surreal, off-putting, and extremely disturbing, Infinity Pool plays with the concepts of cloning and the death penalty to craft an examination on colonial tourism. It’s a thematically rich horror film, with hazy neon-lit sex scenes and absolutely terrible behavior, enabled by their wealth and advanced technology that could have been put to better use. Mia Goth, in particular, is strikingly unhinged, as Gabi taunts and lures James into bigger and more terrible crimes, crimes that he can only pay off with the wealth of his father-in-law. And Alexander Skarsgård as James believably gets sucked into this extremely libertine lifestyle, fuelled by the nepotistic anxiety of not living up to his own potential. The film presents a scary notion that pushed by wealth and playground tactics, one will willingly kill their own conscience, again and again, to belong to their cohort.

Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller

Actor: Alexander Skarsgård, Alexandra Tóth, Amanda Brugel, Amar Bukvić, Caroline Boulton, Cleopatra Coleman, Gergely Trócsányi, Géza Kovács, Jalil Lespert, Jeff Ricketts, John Ralston, Kamilla Fátyol, Mia Goth, Roderick Hill, Romina Tonković, Thomas Kretschmann, Zijad Gračić

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

Rating: R

See, usually, when American violence in media is critiqued, it’s usually through analytic studies or overly exaggerated lectures stirring moral panic. Instead of doing this, however, auteur Michael Haneke decided to surpass the crime genre, playing with the form and emotions in Funny Games. It’s terrifying, not because it immediately delves into the violence, but because it starts off with an ordinary, innocuous visit, that gradually escalates into an unpredictable home invasion where two teenagers inflict needless violence in such a scary yet spectacular way, even involving the viewer into their shenanigans. Ironically, this led to Haneke creating a shot-for-shot American remake of this same story, but Funny Games’ break in form made Haneke a director to remember, as he started to film outside his native Austria after the standout thriller.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller

Actor: Arno Frisch, Christoph Bantzer, Doris Kunstmann, Frank Giering, Stefan Clapczynski, Susanne Lothar, Susanne Meneghel, Ulrich Mühe

Director: Michael Haneke

Rating: R