Best movies like The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
For the past 40 years, Jan Svankmajer (Faust, Conspirators of Pleasure) has been hailed as one of cinema's most consistently surprising, wildly imaginative, and remarkable surrealists of our time. Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation, and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty, and perversely visceral. KimStim (and Kino) is proud to to offer this collection of remarkable short works from an artist that has mesmerized audiences the world over and has inspired filmmakers from the Brothers Quay to Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 209
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, psychological, surreal, disturbing, claymation, adult animation, anthology, odd, weird
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Best tv shows and movies like The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer (2003):
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No. 12: Heaven and Earth Magic (1962)
Plot Summary:
The first part depicts the heroine's toothache consequent to the loss of a very valuable watermelon, her dentistry and transportation to heaven. Next follows an elaborate exposition of the heavenly land, in terms of Israel and Montreal. The second part depicts the return to Earth from being eaten by Max Müller on the day Edward VII dedicated the Great Sewer of London.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 844
Genere: Animation
Country: USA
Duration: 66 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, anime, independent film, silent, silent film
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Gauche the Cellist (1982)
Plot Summary:
Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony (the Pastoral Symphony).Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Music
Country: Japan
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: anime
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Imagination (2007)
Plot Summary:
Dr. Reineger, a famous neuro-psychologist, has become convinced that a twin girl named Anna has a rare form of Autism called Asperger's Syndrome, rendering her unable to cope with reality. As for her blind sister, Sarah, the doctor cannot say for sure why her imaginary visions map so close to Anna's. At home, unable to face reality, their father leaves the family. To escape the pain, the girls sink deeper and deeper into their imagination. When a major earthquake takes their mother's life, Reineger gets more involved with helping the now-orphaned twins, while struggling with his realization that the girls seem to be capable of prophetic visions. The girls escape the doctor's institution and a subsequent search finds no trace of them. Have they transcended the physical realm? A mixture of live action, stop motion animation and other techniques makes this film a fantastic journey into the realm of imagination.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 218
Genere: Animation, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: mind bending, atmospheric, serious, experimental, art film, offbeat, independent film, avant garde
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Cryptozoo (2021)
Plot Summary:
Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: adult animation, psychological, captivating, disturbing, mind bending, dark, surreal, weird, 2d animation
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A Town Called Panic (2009)
Plot Summary:
Animated plastic toys like Cowboy, Indian and Horse have problems, too. Cowboy and Indian's plan to surprise Horse with a homemade birthday gift backfires when they destroy his house instead. Surreal adventures take over as the trio travel to the center of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe where pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures live. With panic a permanent feature of life in this papier mâché town, will Horse and his girlfriend ever be alone?.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: Belgium, Luxembourg, France
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: humorous, surreal, light, colorful, talky, stylized, fast paced, not serious, claymation, adult animation
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Chronopolis (1982)
Plot Summary:
Chronopolis tells the story of a gargantuan city lurking in the sky colonized by powerful immortals who have become jaded with eternal life. Most of their time is spent monotonously constructing bizarre and unusual objects while waiting for the ultimate gift to arrive in their hands.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 551
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: France, Poland
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: experimental, retro, psychedelic, dark, claymation, adult animation, anime, avant garde, phantasmagoric
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The Wolf House (2018)
Plot Summary:
María, a girl from Colonia Dignidad, in Chile —a kind of sectarian community, tyrannically mastered by the ruthless Paul Schäfer, a German madman, religious fanatic and child predator, who would end up turning the place into a torture center at the service of the military dictatorship ruled by Augusto Pinochet—, is punished for having lost three pigs, so she decides to run away and take refuge in an abandoned house hidden in the forest.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Horror
Country: Chile, Germany
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, adult animation, psychological, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, psychological thriller, atmospheric, mind bending
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Where The Dead Go to Die (2012)
Plot Summary:
A troubled group of children living on the same block are haunted by a talking dog named Labby who brings them on surreal hell-rides between different dimensions and time periods.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, satanic, adult animation, brutal, bleak, serious, mind bending, dark, controversial, demonic
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Kuso (2017)
Plot Summary:
Broadcasting through a makeshift network of discarded televisions, this story is tangled up in the aftermath of Los Angeles's worst earthquake nightmare. Travel between screens and aftershocks into the twisted lives of the survived.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: disturbing, anthology, psychological, enigmatic, captivating, satirical, semi serious, dark, mumblecore, controversial
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Lunacy (2005)
Plot Summary:
Loosely based on two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe and inspired by the works of the Marquis de Sade. In 19th century France a young man is plagued by nightmares in which he is dragged off to a madhouse. On the journey back from his mother’s funeral he is invited by a Marquis he meets at lunch to spend the night in his castle. There he witnesses a blasphemous orgy and a ‘therapeutic’ funeral. He tries to flee but is taken to a lunatic asylum where the patients have complete freedom and the staff are locked up behind bars.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Horror
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, psychological, rough, suspenseful, mindfuck, dark comedy, offbeat, gothic, experimental
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Mad God (2021)
Plot Summary:
A figure known as "The Assassin" descends from the heavens into a nightmarish pit full of monsters, titans, and cruelty.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: adult animation, disturbing, surreal, avant garde, suspense, spooky, captivating, entertaining, scary, mind bending
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The Pied Piper (1986)
Plot Summary:
A darkly brilliant stop-motion adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin about a plague of rats that punish townsfolk corrupt with greed. One of Czechoslovakia's most ambitious animation projects of the 1980s, notable for its unusual dark art direction, innovative animation techniques and use of a fictitious language.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Czechoslovakia, West Germany
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, psychedelic, gothic, dark, experimental, surreal, gothic horror, claymation, adult animation, avant garde
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Surviving Life (2010)
Plot Summary:
Eugene, an aging man, leads a double life – one real, the other in his dreams. He goes to see a psychoanalyst, who tries to interpret the meaning of his dreams. Eugene finds a way of entering his dream-world at will and finds out about his childhood and what really happened to his parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, atmospheric, surreal, psychological, captivating, mind bending, psychedelic, dark
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The Tune (1992)
Plot Summary:
Del is a song writer for the obnoxious Mr. Mega, and in love with Didi, Mega's secretary. His quest to write a hit tune brings him to the wacky world of Flooby Nooby, where he just might learn to write songs from the heart.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 69 min
Plot tags: adult animation, psychedelic, surreal, confusing, anime, independent film, offbeat, humorous, semi serious
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Idiots and Angels (2008)
Plot Summary:
Angel, a selfish rotter is hanging around in a local bar, groping the wife of the barman and dealing with weapons. One morning he wakes up finding a pair of wings growing at his back. These wings do good deeds against his nature. But suddenly he finds himself fighting those who want these wings for their own dark plans.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: surreal, adult animation, humorous, semi serious, psychedelic, cult classic, mind bending, black comedy, anime, mind blowing
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Lesson Faust (1994)
Plot Summary:
A very free adaptation of Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus', Goethe's 'Faust' and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. Svankmajer's Faust is a nondescript man who, after being lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Czech Republic, France, UK, Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: surreal, art house, experimental, philosophical, dark, claymation, cerebral, mindfuck, atmospheric, stylized
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Grandma and Her Ghosts (1998)
Plot Summary:
A 5 year old kid moves to live with his grandma in a small town at Taiwan. Soon after, he discovers that her grandma is not only a vendor, but also she is good at catching spectres. One day, she comes across that her grandson has mistakenly releases some of the most ferocious ghosts from her house.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 378
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, surreal, semi serious, anime, black comedy, dark comedy
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Dirty Duck (1974)
Plot Summary:
Willard, a mild mannered insurance adjuster, teams up with a foul-mouthed fowl who takes Willard on a surreal quest to become less uptight - and possibly get laid in the process.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 545
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: adult animation, surreal, experimental, claymation, spooky, independent film, erotic, offbeat, humorous, not serious
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Blood Tea and Red String (2006)
Plot Summary:
A handmade stop-motion fairy tale for adults that tells the tale of the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over the doll of their heart's desire.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, stylized, semi serious, cult classic, adult animation, mind bending, psychedelic, dark, anime
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Waking Life (2001)
Plot Summary:
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: philosophical, spiritual, psychedelic, surreal, psychological, stylized, clever, adult animation, mindfuck, intellectual
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The Shivering Truth (2018)
Plot Summary:
An omnibus of painfully riotous daymares dripping with dream logic; a slate of emotional parables from the deepest caverns of your unconscious, lovingly animated in stop-motion. In other words, it is the Truth.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 11 min
Plot tags: anthology, surreal, adult animation, scary, suspense, funny, bloody, sketch comedy, adult cartoon, psychedelic
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Salad Fingers (2004)
Plot Summary:
The adventures of Salad Fingers, an unspecified mutated creature driven to madness by his loneliness.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 10 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, semi serious, adult animation, apocalyptic, funny, psychedelic, disturbing, anime, dark comedy
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The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (1991)
Plot Summary:
Based on a Russian folk tale. A proclamation went out through all the land that whosoever could build a flying ship would win the hand of the Tsar's daughter. The youngest son of a simple peasant shows up to claim her, and the dumbfounded Tsar quickly has second thoughts, setting several 'impossible" tasks for 'The Fool of the World' and his remarkable friends.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 401
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: experimental, claymation, cult film
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Greedy Guts (2000)
Plot Summary:
When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Czech Republic, UK, Japan
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, psychological, atmospheric, mindfuck, art house, suspenseful, humorous, dark, dark comedy
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Alice (1988)
Plot Summary:
A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare- no matter how twisted or odd that way must be. A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll’s novel ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, UK, West Germany
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, art house, atmospheric, experimental, absurd, mindfuck, psychological, adult animation, psychedelic
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It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Plot Summary:
Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche, in this new feature film version of Don Hertzfeldt's animated short film trilogy.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 62 min
Plot tags: philosophical, surreal, adult animation, thought provoking, atmospheric, experimental, enigmatic, depressing, bleak, melancholic
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Angel's Egg (1985)
Plot Summary:
A mysterious young girl wanders a desolate, otherworldly landscape, carrying a large egg.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: anime, gothic, avant garde, dark fantasy, surreal, adult animation, psychedelic, experimental, disturbing, fairy tale
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Hell and Back (2015)
Plot Summary:
Two best friends set out to rescue their pal after he's accidentally dragged to hell.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: adult animation, feel good, exciting, entertaining, humorous, funny, atmospheric, claymation, 3d animation, anime
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The House (2022)
Plot Summary:
Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: surreal, adult animation, anthology, dark comedy, suspenseful, experimental, gloomy, fairy tale, funny, suspense
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Cool World (1992)
Plot Summary:
Jack Deebs is a cartoonist who is due to be released from jail. His comic book "Cool World" describes a zany world populated by "doodles" (cartoon characters) and "noids" (humanoids). What Jack didn't realize is that Cool World really does exist, and a "doodle" scientist has just perfected a machine which links Cool World with our world. Intrigued at seeing his creating come to life, Jack is nonetheless wary as he knows that not everything in Cool World is exactly friendly.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, adult animation, anime, cult classic, surreal, stylized, mind bending, controversial, humorous, witty