I enjoy a movie that messes with my mind a bit. I like to call these movies “brain-itching movies.” The discomfort they induce causes viewers to pick at their brain cells searching for answers and conclusions to the bewildering and twisty plots. Here are a few fun “Brain Itchers” to add to your watch list.
All three movies listed below can be found on Netflix:
- Gone Girl: You’re spending the whole movie on the edge of your seat as the calculated, mysterious and cunning protagonist, Amy Dunne, takes you through her plan for vengeance against her husband. David Fincher's Gone Girl is a psychological thriller revealing the dark sides of a marriage gone very, very wrong. Amy fakes a pregnancy, disappearance, and death at the hands of her cheating husband, Nick Dunne. Family, friends, and neighbors rally around the idea that Nick is the perpetrator of Amy’s presumed demise. Little do they know that Amy has masterminded the entire plot in an attempt to send her husband to jail while she is on the run in search of a new life for herself. Along the way, she experiences hardships that force her to deviate from her initial plan. However, she is determined to succeed and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. Where will she end up? Will she get away with it or does she get caught in her lies? This is a movie where the end will leave you speechless, and for some, maybe even amazed.
- Shutter Island: We all know Leonardo DiCaprio can do no wrong, but, Marshall Edward “Teddy” Daniels can - especially when investigating a case in a hospital for the criminally insane. This mind-bending thriller is sure to keep you hyper-focused on each scene, quote, and character. The year is 1954 and Teddy Daniels, played by DiCaprio, is a U.S. marshal investigating the disappearance of patients and the corruption within Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. However, the twists and turns throughout the movie make audience members wonder if DiCaprio’s character is on the right track to the truth of the facility or is uncovering the truth about himself. In the end, audience members are faced with the real truth of both Shutter Island and Teddy Daniels… and the truth is mind-blowing. You will not regret this watch!
- The Woman in the Window: Amy Adams stars as the disoriented, unstable and deranged Dr. Anna Fox - a former therapist with a fear of leaving her house due to her agoraphobia. When she is not drinking too much alcohol with her medication, she is looking out her window spying on the new neighbors, who are not all that they seem to be. Her suspicions about the family rise as she sees abuse, arguments, and the eventual murderer of an assumed family member through her window. After she calls in the police, the new neighbors are able to dispute her claims by bringing in a look-alike/replacement of the murdered woman, as well as using Dr. Fox’s mental instability against her. Throughout the film, audience members are torn between whether or not Dr. Fox was just “seeing things” in her drunken, medicated state or if these events actually did happen. In the end, the truth is unveiled. This movie dives into the nuances of mental illness and the stereotypes surrounding it. While thrilling, it is also quite insightful.
While these films are all nearly cinematic masterpieces, I recommend not watching them alone because they leave you scared to sleep in the dark. The best way to watch them is with a partner or group of friends because putting the puzzle pieces together with others is an experience that is both fun and would otherwise be difficult to complete alone.
