Best movies like Santa Sangre
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the heretical church of Santa Sangre ("Holy Blood"), and then commit suicide. Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his surviving and armless mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Mexico, Italy
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, psychedelic, dark, atmospheric, psychological, art house, mindfuck, creepy, cult classic
Best tv shows and movies like Santa Sangre (1989):
Similar in 78%
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
Similar in 85%
The Living and the Dead (2006)
Plot Summary:
A descent into Hell is triggered when "Ex-Lord" Donald Brocklebank finds that he must leave Longleigh House for London to find a way to pay for the medical treatments for his wife Nancy. Alone, his over-protected, delusional, adult son, James, fancies himself in charge of the manor house with his terminally ill mother, and barricades the two of them into the house.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, bleak, disturbing, suspenseful, scary, sexy, psychedelic, depressing, suspense
Similar in 89%
Repulsion (1965)
Plot Summary:
In Roman Polanski's first English-language film, beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, black and white, cerebral, atmospheric, psychological, scary, suspense, art house, psychological thriller
Similar in 89%
Persona (1966)
Plot Summary:
A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer. Alma eventually confesses her secrets to a seemingly sympathetic Elisabeth and finds that her own personality is being submerged into Elisabeth's persona.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 128000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, minimal cast, psychological, surreal, sexual, art house, black and white, philosophical, disturbing, cerebral
Similar in 80%
The Tenant (1976)
Plot Summary:
A quiet and inconspicuous man (Trelkovsky) rents an apartment in France where the previous tenant committed suicide, and begins to suspect his landlord and neighbors are trying to subtly change him into the last tenant so that he too will kill himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, black comedy, surreal, atmospheric, offbeat, disturbing, suspense, psychological thriller, scary, mind bending
Similar in 76%
Fear (1983)
Plot Summary:
A killer is released from prison and breaks into a remote home to kill a woman, her handicapped son and her pretty daughter.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Austria
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: disturbing, atmospheric, psychological, controversial, slasher, psychological thriller, scary, bleak, depressing, surreal
Similar in 89%
Bug (2006)
Plot Summary:
A lonely waitress with a tragic past, Agnes rooms in a run-down motel, living in fear of her abusive, recently paroled ex-husband. But when Agnes begins a tentative romance with Peter, an eccentric, nervous drifter, she starts to feel hopeful again - until the first bugs arrive.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, mind bending, suspenseful, suspense, scary, creepy, psychological thriller, cerebral, cult classic
Similar in 88%
Don't Look Now (1973)
Plot Summary:
After Laura and John Baxter lose their only child in a horrible drowning, they are greeted by strange sightings of her throughout their everyday lives. When two old ladies approach them in Italy with news that their daughter may still be alive, it seems too good to be true. Perhaps it is.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: suspense, twist ending, disturbing, atmospheric, sexy, suspenseful, psychological, surreal, erotic, gothic
Similar in 79%
The Gopher (1970)
Plot Summary:
El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man. El Topo (the mole) claims to be God, while dressed as a gunfighter in black, riding a horse through a spiritual, mystical landscape strewn with old Western movie, and ancient Eastern religious symbols. Bandits slaughtered a village on his path, so El Topo avenges the massacred, then forcibly takes their leader's woman Mara as his. El Topo's surreal way is bloody, sexual and self-reflective, musing of his own demons, as he tries to vanquish those he encounters.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: Mexico
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychedelic, disturbing, allegory, experimental, cult classic, controversial, bloody, art house, stylized
Similar in 84%
Videodrome (1983)
Plot Summary:
A sleazy cable-TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a very unusual fashion when he acquires a new kind of programming for his station.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 101000
Genere: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychedelic, psychological, disturbing, mind bending, cerebral, dark, mindfuck, cyber, art house
Similar in 82%
Suicide Club (2001)
Plot Summary:
When 54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train it appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, surreal, disturbing, atmospheric, creepy, bloody, suspenseful, controversial, splatter, cult classic
Similar in 82%
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Plot Summary:
In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 103000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, dark, atmospheric, psychedelic, mind bending, avant garde, cerebral, scary, art house
Similar in 77%
The Cell (2000)
Plot Summary:
A psychotherapist journeys inside a comatose serial killer in the hopes of saving his latest victim.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 108000
Genere: Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, surreal, scary, psychedelic, mind bending, psychological thriller, suspense, atmospheric, cerebral, suspenseful
Similar in 78%
Titane (2021)
Plot Summary:
Following a series of unexplained crimes, a former firefighter is reunited with his son who has been missing for 10 years.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, tense, surreal, cerebral, scary, dark, art house, captivating, suspenseful, erotic
Similar in 85%
The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973)
Plot Summary:
Set in pre- World War II era. A young man is on a strange train to see his dying father in a sanatorium. But the place is going to ruin and recalls a lot of memories from the past. He is beset by soldiers from the past, colonial black mercenaries, girls from his early life, and his parents. It is an interior adventure, with unusual atmospheric flair and extraordinary sets.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Poland
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: surreal, mind bending, psychological, psychedelic, dark, mindfuck, disturbing, existential, philosophical, slasher
Similar in 79%
Eraserhead (1977)
Plot Summary:
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 125000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: surreal, avant garde, art house, psychological, disturbing, psychedelic, experimental, atmospheric, black and white, dark
Similar in 82%
Tideland (2005)
Plot Summary:
Because of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, psychedelic, bleak, dark fantasy, atmospheric, psychological, controversial, cult classic, mindfuck
Similar in 89%
Antichrist (2009)
Plot Summary:
A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 134000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Poland
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, scary, atmospheric, psychological thriller, bleak, art house, minimal cast, sexy, dark
Similar in 86%
Audition (1999)
Plot Summary:
Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 88000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: Japan, South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, scary, disturbing, tense, dark, bloody, surreal, controversial, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 80%
The Ordeal (2004)
Plot Summary:
A few days before Christmas, traveling entertainer Marc Stevens is stuck at nightfall in a remote wood in the swampy Hautes Fagnes region of Liège, his van conked out. An odd chap who's looking for a lost dog leads Marc to a shuttered inn.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, psychological, christmas horror, atmospheric, rough, serious, slasher, suspenseful, psychological thriller
Similar in 88%
Possession (1981)
Plot Summary:
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, psychological, disturbing, mind bending, art house, scary, creepy, grindhouse, controversial
Similar in 87%
Enter the Void (2009)
Plot Summary:
This psychedelic tour of life after death is seen entirely from the point of view of Oscar (Nathaniel Brown), a young American drug dealer and addict living in Tokyo with his prostitute sister, Linda (Paz de la Huerta). When Oscar is killed by police during a bust gone bad, his spirit journeys from the past -- where he sees his parents before their deaths -- to the present -- where he witnesses his own autopsy -- and then to the future, where he looks out for his sister from beyond the grave.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy
Country: France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan
Duration: 161 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, art house, visually stunning, philosophical, atmospheric, meditative, disturbing, surreal, cerebral, mindfuck
Similar in 77%
The Holy Mountain (1973)
Plot Summary:
A Mexican master leads a Christ figure and other disciples to a mountain of immortal wise men. The scandal of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky's flood of sacrilegious imagery and existential symbolism in The Holy Mountain is a spiritual quest for enlightenment pitting illusion against truth. The Alchemist (Jodorowsky) assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Mexico
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychedelic, avant garde, disturbing, art house, mindfuck, mind bending, experimental, atmospheric, stylized
Similar in 76%
Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989)
Plot Summary:
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a 1989 Japanese cyberpunk film by cult-film director Shinya Tsukamoto produced by Japan Home Video. This, his third film, is an extremely graphic but also strikingly-filmed fantasy shot in the same low-budget, underground-production style as his first two films. Revolving around the transformation of people into grotesque hybrids of flesh and metal, Tetsuo is above all an overwhelming audiovisual experience, set to a brain-pounding score by Chu Ishikawa and complemented by suitably exaggerated sound effects.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, psychotronic, surreal, disturbing, black and white, experimental, splatter, independent film, art house, atmospheric
Similar in 88%
The Shining (1980)
Plot Summary:
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, scary, atmospheric, psychological thriller, intense, disturbing, psychedelic, psychological horror, demonic
Similar in 90%
Black Swan (2010)
Plot Summary:
A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 808000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, cerebral, atmospheric, surreal, sexy, twist ending, psychological thriller, mind bending, visually appealing
Similar in 86%
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Plot Summary:
A traumatized Vietnam war veteran finds out that his post-war life isn't what he believes it to be when he's attacked by horned creatures in the subway and his dead son comes to visit him.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: surreal, twist ending, psychological, disturbing, scary, bleak, surprise ending, atmospheric, psychedelic, psychological thriller
Similar in 77%
The Machinist (2004)
Plot Summary:
The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik, a lathe-operator who is dying of insomnia. In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ability to sleep. This is no ordinary insomnia.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 410000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France, UK, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, twist ending, surprise ending, depressing, mind bending, surreal, bleak, neo noir, enigmatic, atmospheric
Similar in 89%
Pi (1998)
Plot Summary:
The debut film from Darren Aronofsky in which a mathematical genius Maximilian Cohen discovers a link in the connection between numbers and reality and thus believes he can predict the future.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 185000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, cerebral, black and white, mind bending, independent film, atmospheric, psychedelic, philosophical, dark
Similar in 82%
Raw (2016)
Plot Summary:
In Justine’s family everyone is a vet and a vegetarian. At 16, she’s a gifted teen ready to take on her first year in vet school, where her older sister also studies. There, she gets no time to settle: hazing starts right away. Justine is forced to eat raw meat for the first time in her life. Unexpected consequences emerge as her true self begins to form.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 87000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, bloody, dark, scary, atmospheric, stylized, sensual, bleak, slasher