383 Best Dark Movies to Watch (Page 23)

If you’re ready to unleash your dark side, there are plenty of fantastic picks to enjoy, from pitch black comedy to crime thrillers and dystopian sci-fi. Here are the best and dark-themed movies and shows to stream right now.

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331. Stranger by the Lake, 2013

	
Rarely do we get to see the human body in its natural state in public, mostly limited to nude beaches, but it’s understandably so– beyond the usual social norms, there’s a vulnerability in doing so, a vulnerability that is sometimes taken advantage of. Stranger by the Lake captures the beauty of that vulnerability, with stunning shots that elevate the explicit scenes from being pornographic, but crucially, the film also captures its dangers, namely the increasingly self-destructive risks Franck takes that leads him to a dangerous man. The line between lust and aggression blurs in this film, and understandably, some may take this film to be sex-negative, but Stranger by the Lake is an intriguing slow burn towards its inevitable conclusion.Genre: Drama, Thriller
Actor: Alain Guiraudie, Christophe Paou, François-Renaud Labarthe, Jérôme Chappatte, Mathieu Vervisch, Patrick d'Assumçao, Pierre Deladonchamps
Director: Alain Guiraudie

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332. Provoke, 2023

Art Deco, opium dealings, and cutting off tongues… China then is different from China now, but that short period of time before World War II still fascinates people with how different the country could have been. Tencent Picture took advantage of that fascination through their microdrama Provoke, mixing in a revenge plot that comes straight from the film noir popular at the time. Of course, there’s only so much plot points one can fit into less than 15-minute episodes, and because of this, the camera lingers a bit too long on the cast’s gorgeous faces in order to stretch out the story for 25 episodes. That being said, the whole production is so stunning to watch that fans of the genre might be willing to forgive that the story is spread too thin. Provoke might have been more cohesive as a movie, but it’s intriguing enough to binge as is after the end of a long work day.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Daisy Li, Elaine Yi, Min Xing Han, Wang Ruolin, Zhao Yiqin

Director: Zeng Qingjie

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333. Lilya 4-ever, 2002

	
Not for the faint of heart, this Russian-language Swedish film doesn't actually display anything graphic on screen, but it still makes for a difficult and distressing viewing experience. Many films similar in spirit and subject matter have been released in the decades since Lilya 4-ever's own take on human trafficking and child sexual exploitation, which might make it less effective for new viewers. But its tone is still unique enough to set it apart—all thumping electronic/rock music blocking out the pain, and naturalistic direction that allows the film's young stars to be as authentically awkward and naively hopeful as possible.Genre: Crime, Drama
Actor: Aleksandr Okunev, Artyom Bogucharsky, Bo Christer Hjelte, Elina Benenson, Herardo Contreras, Jeff Norman, Johan Åkerblom, Liliya Shinkaryova, Lyubov Agapova, Madis Kalmet, Nikolai Bentsler, Oksana Akinshina, Oleg Rogatchov, Pavel Ponomaryov, Sten Erici, Tomasz Neuman, Tõnu Kark
Director: Lukas Moodysson

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334. Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre, 2023

After decades of terrifying tales, it’s no wonder that Junji Ito developed a cult following internationally, big enough for a streaming giant like Netflix to invest in a brand new adaptation. Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre is fairly faithful to its source material, keeping the plot points of supernatural beings and spine-chilling body horror in its selected twelve tales. That being said, being an anthology, the selection in Junji Ito Maniac greatly varies on how scary it is. On top of this, the series’ art style, made more cleanly for easier animation, is simply less scary than the black-and-white, shadowy sketches from the original manga. New and younger viewers might still get a thrill from the latest anime rendition of Junji Ito’s stories, though older fans might find that it pales to the original.

Genre: Animation, Mystery

Rating: TV-MA

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335. Femme, 2023

	
While gay acceptance has been improving in most of the world, unfortunately, this acceptance isn’t universal to all sexualities and queer gender identities, especially for people of color. Femme depicts this difference through the relationship of Jules, a black gay drag queen, and Preston, a white masculine closeted gay drug dealer. As Jules deepens their relationship for revenge, and Preston opens up and allows himself to become more vulnerable, the film explores the way toxic masculinity and violence still dictates most of their dynamic, through an unsettling, sexually charged, stylish approach from the debut co-writers and directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping. However, Femme is particularly uneven, more focused on humanizing the aggressor rather than prioritizing the survivor.Genre: Drama, Thriller
Actor: Aaron Heffernan, Antonia Clarke, Asha Reid, George MacKay, John McCrea, Luis Torrecilla, Moe Bar-El, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Nima Taleghani, Peter McPherson
Director: Ng Choon Ping, Sam H. Freeman
Rating: NR

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336. Corner Office (2023)

Corner Office nails the look and feel of corporate claustrophobia. The cars parked in anonymous rows, the flat gray of the office walls, the endless drone of the copier, and the senseless watercooler babble—these are among the harmless rituals of office life, but they take on a nightmarish glare in this corporate satire, which starts off strong and strange and promising. Apart from the unnerving setup, it also finds a compelling lead in Hamm, who trades in his signature cool for the mousy and delusional Orson (imagine, Don Draper, mousy!). It’s a transformative performance that remains impressive throughout. But then the film loses its way somewhere in the middle. Orson finds a room no one else sees, and instead of playing into the absurdity of the phenomenon and mining meaning out of it, the film stretches it into a mystery that eventually, inevitably, loses intrigue. Corner Office is still a good film, a haunting experience for anyone who has been traumatized by their respective nine-to-five jobs, but it lacks the structure and edge to be the best it could be.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Allison Riley, Christopher Heyerdahl, Danny Pudi, Jon Hamm, Sarah Gadon

Director: Joachim Back

Rating: PG-13

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337. Bone Tomahawk, 2015

A peculiar Western that might not please everyone if it wasn't for its main star, Kurt Russel. It's a mix between classic western material, a horror flick, and a fantasy movie. Yes, it's a lot. And not only that, it can be slow at times. However, in those perks it also finds a lot of originality in a saturated genre, and one more time: Kurt Russel. He's amazing as can be expected, playing the sheriff of a quiet town that gets struck by sudden disappearances. The suspect is a faraway tribe known for its cannibalism practices, the movie follows the sheriff as he leads an expedition to save a disappearing woman.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Western

Actor: Alex Meraz, Brandon Molale, David Arquette, David Midthunder, Eddie Spears, Erick Chavarria, Evan Jonigkeit, Fred Melamed, Geno Segers, James Tolkan, Jamison Newlander, Jay Tavare, Jeremy Tardy, Kathryn Morris, Kurt Russell, Lili Simmons, Maestro Harrell, Mario Perez, Matthew Fox, Michael Emery, Michael Pare, Omar Leyva, Patrick Wilson, Raw Leiba, Richard Jenkins, Robert Allen Mukes, Sean Young, Sid Haig, Zahn McClarnon

Director: S. Craig Zahler

Rating: Not Rated

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338. Red Queen, 2024

Red Queen is well-shot, well-produced, and extremely well-cast, so it’s hard to pinpoint why it feels mediocre at first. But once you get past the sheen of its budget and the warm glow cast by its two likable leads, the titular red queen Antonia (Vicky Luengo) and her sidekick Jon (Hovik Keuchkerian), it becomes apparent how hollow the foundations are. Antonia is hailed as a singular genius who, much like Sherlock and his many copycats, needs only to scan a room to know the depths of a person. She also enters a version of Sherlock’s “mind palace,” an accurate and artful reenactment of the crime. But the answers she arrives at, though correct, feel simplistic and pedestrian. They’re hardly cerebral, nor do they require special knowledge: it all just sounds like something a good detective should know. Jon is a more realistic rendering of a cop, but it is strange how he is defined only by his weight and sexuality. At least in the first few episodes, these traits are merely used as the punchline to their jokes. The trimmings are not too impressive either; the secret organization they’re part of, the serial killer’s motives, and Antonia’s traumatic past are intriguing, but all too familiar in this saturated genre.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Mystery

Actor: Àlex Brendemühl, Andrea Trepat, Celia Freijeiro, Eduardo Noriega, Emma Suárez, Fernando Guallar, Hovik Keuchkerian, Nacho Fresneda, Pere Brasó, Urko Olazábal, Victoria Luengo

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339. Inside, 2023

Inside is a technical wonder and a fascinating vehicle for Dafoe’s character Nemo, who holds the entire thing together with a singularly insane performance. It also poses interesting questions about art, namely, what value does it hold at the end of the day? When you’re seconds away from dying of hunger and thirst, what good is a painting, a sculpture, a sketch? Are they really only as good as what they’re materially made out of or can they contribute something more? Inside plays with these questions, but unfortunately, not in any engaging, thoughtful, or creative way. The movie stretches on and on, recycling the same ideas and leaning on the inevitably disgusting ways humans survive as a crutch. An argument could be made that that is the point, to reveal the emptiness and dullness of expensive art, but Inside tries so hard to capture that feeling that it becomes the thing it critiques in the end.

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Actor: Andrew Blumenthal, Cornelia Buch, Eliza Stuyck, Gene Bervoets, Josia Krug, Vincent Eaton, Willem Dafoe

Director: Vasilis Katsoupis

Rating: R

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340. I Used to Be Funny, 2024

	
In the same festival where she showcased her screenwriting chops, Rachel Sennott also showcased her dramatic side in I Used to Be Funny, a difficult drama that garnered less acclaim than Bottoms (2023). It’s understandable– while both films have a witty, gen-Z slant in its comedy, this drama is much harder to balance and heavy to watch, dealing with mental health and PTSD. The non-linear narrative occasionally does make the film feel a tad disjointed as well. However, there’s a care and a warmth from Ally Pankiw’s direction that makes this exploration of Sam’s complex trauma feel heartfelt, and Sennott holds each scene with compelling charisma.Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Caleb Hearon, Dan Beirne, Dani Kind, Ennis Esmer, Hannah Spear, Jason Jones, Kathy Imrie, Matia Jackett, Miguel Rivas, Olga Petsa, Rachel Sennott, Sabrina Jalees
Director: Ally Pankiw
Rating: NR

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341. Gen V, 2023

As a spin-off of The Boys, Gen V returns to the same well of explicit, hyperviolent satire about seemingly benevolent superheroes—touching on many ideas that the franchise has already explored more strikingly before. This series' first three episodes are at their least effective when they get hung up on the shock factor of it all, with its satire often appearing as "cool" as the thing that it aims to satirize. But when the show quiets down and finally focuses up on its handful of main characters, it finds fresh ground for commentary.

At its heart this is a story about how the education system can be so easily bought by wealthy stakeholders who care more about producing star graduates than actually helping young people excel and find a place in the world. These kids are also immediately much easier to root for than Billy Butcher and his antihero crew, as each of them gradually reveals the trauma they're recovering from as a result of being experimented on and exploited. Gen V's central mysteries are slow to develop so far, but just seeing how this school-slash-factory is run helps make up for the slower pace.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Asa Germann, Chance Perdomo, Derek Luh, Jaz Sinclair, Lizze Broadway, London Thor, Maddie Phillips, Shelley Conn

Rating: TV-MA

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342. Door Mouse (2023)

Overlayed with comic-style illustrations and cynical narration, Door Mouse is a neo-noir that struggles to supplement its visual flair with tangible characters. The titular Mouse is a horror comic by day and works at a burlesque bar at night, but she begins to worry when one of her coworkers is missing. From there, the film is a grunge cat-and-mouse chase into the underbelly of sex trafficking in the city. And although the direction is solid, the quip-heavy dialogue falls flat from characters that aren't fully fleshed out enough to pull off the right amount of chemistry for a justice-revenge tale. Thankfully, as a debut film for Avan Jogia as a writer and director, he's proven he has a narrative style worth looking out for.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Donal Logue, Famke Janssen, Hayley Law, Keith Powers, Landon Liboiron

Director: Avan Jogia

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343. A Killer Paradox, 2024

	
Life can be funny sometimes, with the way accidents can lead us to what would make the entirety of our lives. Usually, these accidents lead us to a new career, maybe the love of our life, and sometimes a new life path altogether, but for recently discharged Lee Tang in A Killer Paradox, it leads to finding that his talent is killing evildoers, accidentally or otherwise. It’s funny to see Lee accidentally getting away with murder and the way his imagination conceives of his serial killer victims, but the show also gets into intriguing thought experiments about the morality of his actions, as well as the way we try to reconcile the tragedy of a lost life, with the terrible consequences of the actions they did with their lives. It’s enjoyable, with the great cast and the unique cinematography, but the writing, structure, and thriller aspects fail to maximize what’s so interesting about A Killer Paradox.Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Actor: Choi Woo-shik, Lee Hee-jun, Son Suk-ku
Director: Lee Chang-hee
Rating: TV-MA

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344. The Village, 2023

Yu Katayama lives in a remote village with a garbage disposal business that's slowly turning into a landfill. When his childhood friend Misaki Nakai returns to the village, she encourages Yu to make a better life for himself despite his mother's gambling and the village ostracizing him. The Village is a slow-burning film interested in Yu's struggles as an outcast and in discussing the takeover of small villages for capitalistic industrial motives. The film is shot beautifully with dark, brooding visuals and lingering shots of Yu's quiet intensity throughout the film. Unfortunately, secondary characters are not fully developed outside of their interactions with Yu, causing the film to feel flat outside of pivotal moments. An evocative idea with parts more memorable than the whole.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Arata Furuta, Daiken Okudaira, Hana Kino, Haru Kuroki, Naomi Nishida, Ryusei Yokohama, Ryūto Sakuma, Sakuma Ryuto, Shidô Nakamura, Tetta Sugimoto, Wataru Ichinose

Director: Michihito Fujii

Rating: R, TV-MA

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345. The Horror of Dolores Roach, 2023

The first thing we learn about Dolores Roach is that she is a person of sensation and scandal, a masseuse who, as the newspaper clippings reveal, turned out to be a murderous cannibal serving human flesh to unwitting customers at a local eatery, a la Sweeney Todd. But the series is less about the horrors of the act and more about the woman behind the front. “I was never the blood-hungry sociopath people say I am,” Dolores claims early in the first episode. “I was just some chick in Washington Heights.” In an attempt to humanize Dolores, we’re made privy to the unforgiving circumstances surrounding her case, namely: the desperation of poverty, the relentlessness of discrimination, the brokenness of the criminal justice system, and the inevitability of gentrification, all of which play a crucial role in Dolores’ eventual descent into misdeed and madness. It’s an interesting idea, fleshing out her darkness in a comic tone and pitting it against systemic social problems, but sadly the show never pulls off the balance it needs to become an effective dark comedy. Maybe something was lost when it was adapted from a one-woman play to TV series, but it never really shakes off that amateur approach to telling its delicate story. The heavy-handed narration and the occasional gimmicks overshadow the horrific deaths that occur, and they don’t leave enough space for the story’s relevant themes to aerate and make a significant impact. It’s also not nearly as scandalous nor as sexy as it thinks it is, lacking passion both in its love and murder scenes. They come off scrubbed and squeaky, blunting what could have been, at the very least, a sharp murder thriller.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Alejandro Hernandez, Justina Machado, K. Todd Freeman, Kita Updike

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