20 Psychedelic Movies To Watch If You Love ‘Fantastic Planet’
20. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
The underground cyberpunk masterwork of Shinya Tsukamoto is the black and white hyperkinetic fever dream of flesh melting into the metal. The movie is about a man getting infected by a metal fetishist, resulting in him undergoing a horrific stop-motion mutation into an amorphous creature of pipes, cables, and pieces of scrap metal. Accompanied by pounding industrial noise soundtrack, the film is an aggressive assault on the audience's perception.
19. Yellow Submarine (1968)
The quintessential pop-art odyssey where the music of The Beatles is put front and center, providing inspiration for vividly detailed hand-made animation sequences of otherworldly fantasy. Throughout the whole picture, viewers follow the band to Pepperland in order to defeat the evil Blue Meanies. Absolute high point in mainstream animation that does not shy away from lunacy.
18. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
Masterpiece of Czech New Wave cinema with a story of a girl's metamorphosis told through vividly depicted dream sequences. The movie incorporates vivid gothic surrealism, with themes revolving around vampires and supernatural magic earrings, making it a combination of a classic horror flick and lyrically rendered fairy tale.
17. Paprika (2006)
Another gem among the animation works of Satoshi Kon, where the main heroine uses some device in order to get into people's dreams. Soon enough, the storyline begins to unfold into a chaos and utter insanity, resulting in one of the most memorable and visually pleasing examples of mind-bending surrealism with a particularly vivid depiction of surreal march of common house items through the town.
16. The Cell (2000)
Visually spectacular movie where Tarsem Singh transforms sci-fi thriller concept into a unique cinematic experience, owing to peculiarities of the setting. The dreamscapes of killer's mind make use of avant-garde approach and create immersive atmosphere, thus ensuring that architectural designs are equally impressive next to bizarre costumes and surreal visuals.
15. Mandy (2018)
The heavy metal-influenced film drenched with neon colors and filled with the madness fueled by grief. Set in the gloomy 1983, the film makes use of brilliant color schemes featuring purples and deep reds, accompanied by ambient synth music and surreal animation depicting the most brutal acts of vengeance in impressively bizarre ways.
14. Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
Prequel to Mandy, the highly stylized tribute to old Eurosci-fi films. The film features many geometrical shapes, grain effect, and electronic music soundtrack, all contributing to overwhelming feeling of immersion in surreal environment of vintage dystopia.
13. Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
Contemporary to Fantastic Planet, beautiful art-house film depicting a tragic and poetic folk horror story. Through watercolor paintings and black lines, this movie moves fluidly between the most elegant imagery and the grotesque and erotic psychedelic images accompanying psych-jazz.
12. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Yet another master work of Terry Gilliam, the adaptation of the famous Hunter S. Thompson's wild novel full of drug abuse. Featuring all the usual mind-blowing visuals like the breathing carpet and lizard-filled hotel lobbies, this movie shows the struggles of two people trying to keep their sanity amidst the madness of consumer society.
11. Altered States (1980)
The other movie by the cinematic surrealist, Kenneth Russell, depicting the process of mind changes occurring as a result of sensory depravation. The protagonist attempts to regress into his primeval self via drugs, resulting in a set of shocking visual experiences that leave the viewer in awe.
10. Mulholland Drive (2001)
Steamy and dark neo-noir mystery film by David Lynch that delves into the illusion of Hollywood. The protagonist and her best friend attempt to uncover the truth about Los Angeles and the true nature of reality, basing their quest on dream logic.
9. El Topo (1970)
The quintessential midnight movie, El Topo is Alejandro Jodorowsky's surrealist western. Featuring violent allegories and spiritual revelations, the movie tells the story of the surreal and mystical journey across a desert populated by a cast of strange characters and metaphoric objects. Completely free of genre tropes, this movie transforms an ordinary story about the gunslinger into an enormous psychedelic trip to self-discovery.
8. Stalker (1979)
A masterpiece of sci-fi, Andrei Tarkovsky's "Stalker" is a deeply meditative movie with an elaborate philosophical meaning behind every frame. It takes you on a slow-paced journey to "The Zone," an alien wasteland with non-existent laws of physics and a special room in which you can get anything you desire. The entire movie consists of lingering shots of a dark color palette slowly transitioning to rich colors. This alienated experience is achieved by using zero special effects, making the film pure cosmic philosophy.
7. Hausu (1977)
One of the most legendary movies in Japanese horror, "Hausu" is a masterpiece of insane creativity and wild surrealism. The plot revolves around a group of girls visiting their demonic aunt who lives in a haunted mansion, where they get killed by a flying piano, flying watermelons, and a bloody painting of a cat. The movie contains a multitude of strange visual effects combined with hand-drawn colorful backdrops making it feel cartoonish.
6. The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
An unconventional film in many aspects, The Color of Pomegranates is an Armenian art film, which does not rely on the classic narrative style but focuses instead on the life of the poet represented in series of static visual tableaux with vibrant colors and rich textures. Each frame resembles medieval painting, making it hypnotic and captivating to watch. The film represents a new purely visual language created by a filmmaker.
5. Eraserhead (1977)
David Lynch's masterpiece is an example of atmospheric horror with surreal body parts. Focusing on a neurotic man who finds himself in an alien landscape taking care of an unusual baby, this film creates an unprecedented sense of discomfort for the viewer. Due to shadowy and textured cinematography, each frame resembles a beautiful, but terrifying moving painting with an exceptional attention to detail.
4. Suspiria (1977)
An unconventional horror film directed by Dario Argento, Suspiria replaces traditional shadows with a colorful display of primary colors, including red, blue, and pink. The entire action takes place in the luxurious German ballet school where a coven of witches is hiding and killing students one by one. Using an overwhelming amount of color and progressive rock music creates a dreamlike atmosphere and puts the viewer into an altered state.
3. Enter the Void (2009)
Gaspar Noé has developed a psychedelic exploration of a life after death in a first-person perspective. Taking place in the neon-lit world of Tokyo, the film shows a camera freely exploring the buildings of the city and passing through various walls while following the protagonist's drifting soul. It results in a highly exhausting and mesmerizing visual experience.
2. The Holy Mountain (1973)
Alejandro Jodorowsky's masterpiece is an explosive combination of cosmic symbolism, alchemy, and religion. A thief and a group of planetary disciples ascend the mountain under the instruction of an alchemist to perform different rituals. The density of shocking, surreal, and immaculately shot images can compete even with the wildest animation ever done.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick's epic is the ultimate representation of cosmic scale and philosophical vision. Featuring numerous shots of sterile spacecraft interiors and the iconic "Stargate" sequence in which the transition to Jupiter takes place, the film presents slit-scan photography for almost three minutes resulting in an out-of-the-world experience.
