Movies that have taken me to the DARK SIDE
by DukeEman | created - 08 May 2011 | updated - 1 week ago | PublicList of movies that have taken me to the nasty dark side of life, a place I never ventured into until seeing these movies. I decided not to include too many horror movies. In alphabetical order.
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1. Taxi Driver (1976)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama
A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Votes: 921,470 | Gross: $28.26M
I know this is out of order but it is the most profound movie that changed my view on life & introduced me at the age of sixteen to the sewer street life... from the comfort of my lounge.
2. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Horror
Doctor, scientist, organist, and biblical scholar Anton Phibes seeks revenge on the nine doctors he considers responsible for the death of his wife.
Director: Robert Fuest | Stars: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Virginia North, Terry-Thomas
Votes: 16,686 | Gross: $0.55M
As a teenager it had me scared to see the many creative ways to kill a person. But what scared me the most was the humour in it! Now i love it.
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
R | 148 min | Action, Drama, War
A young German soldier's terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.
Director: Edward Berger | Stars: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus
Votes: 246,117
Novelist Remarque would have been proud of this movie version based on his 1928 novel, a memoir on his horrific ordeal during The Great War, and this adaptation really puts you in the trenches of madness, a war fought by the stupidity of Generals who had no idea on modern warfare and sacrificed millions of lives for their own ego...
4. American History X (1998)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama
Living a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.
Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien
Votes: 1,186,942 | Gross: $6.72M
Ugly dark side to the Yankee culture.
5. American Psycho (2000)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 716,448 | Gross: $15.07M
Corporate madness creates a killer.
6. Amores Perros (2000)
R | 154 min | Drama, Thriller
An amateur dog fighter, a supermodel, and a derelict assassin, all separately struggling to find love, find their lives transformed by a devastating car wreck in Mexico City.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo, Álvaro Guerrero
Votes: 253,027 | Gross: $5.38M
Life ain't pretty for some.
7. Angel Heart (1987)
X | 113 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 95,883 | Gross: $17.19M
Rourke and De Niro dance with the Devil.
8. Antichrist (2009)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm
Votes: 136,614 | Gross: $0.40M
Lars really pushes it this time, and what horrid fun we have!
9. Apartment Zero (1988)
R | 124 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In early 1980s Buenos Aires, a struggling movie theater owner takes in a roommate but suspects he is responsible for a series of political assassinations.
Director: Martin Donovan | Stars: Hart Bochner, Colin Firth, Dora Bryan, Liz Smith
Votes: 4,239 | Gross: $0.67M
This one had me worried about my neighbour.
10. Apocalypse Now (1979)
R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, War
A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 710,794 | Gross: $83.47M
The madness of war.
11. Appendage (2023)
TV-MA | 94 min | Drama, Horror
A young fashion designer's life spirals as her darkest inner thoughts manifest into something gruesome- that won't stop growing.
Director: Anna Zlokovic | Stars: Hadley Robinson, Emily Hampshire, Kausar Mohammed, Brandon Mychal Smith
Votes: 3,669
Zlokovic has managed to tap into early Cronenberg and create this body-horror tale that drifts between Basket Case and The Body Snatchers with an 80's schlocky feel...
12. Apocalypto (2006)
R | 139 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, a young man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Gerardo Taracena, Raoul Max Trujillo, Dalia Hernández, Rudy Youngblood
Votes: 331,515 | Gross: $50.87M
You don't get a minute of rest in this.
13. Auto Focus (2002)
R | 105 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The life of TV star Bob Crane and his strange friendship with electronics expert John Henry Carpenter.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe, Maria Bello, Rita Wilson
Votes: 14,934 | Gross: $2.06M
Schrader is a master in taking us to the dark side of anything. All his movies are almost about the dark side.
14. Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
Not Rated | 114 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Bubby has spent thirty years trapped in the same small room, tricked by his mother. One day, he manages to escape and, deranged and naive in equal measures, his adventure into a modern and nihilistic life begins.
Director: Rolf de Heer | Stars: Nicholas Hope, Claire Benito, Ralph Cotterill, Syd Brisbane
Votes: 15,041
It's a big wide ugly world out there, Bubby.
15. Bad Lieutenant (1992)
NC-17 | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness and redemption.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Brian McElroy, Frank Acciarito, Peggy Gormley
Votes: 47,968 | Gross: $2.00M
Abel Ferrara always takes us to the darkest side and this time he drags Kietel down with him.
16. Baise-moi (2000)
Not Rated | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two young women, marginalised by society, go on a destructive tour of sex and violence. Breaking norms and killing men - and shattering the complacency of polite cinema audiences.
Directors: Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi | Stars: Raffaëla Anderson, Karen Lancaume, Céline Beugnot, Adama Niane
Votes: 18,568 | Gross: $0.01M
Thelma & Louise on a heavy dose of French steroids.
17. Bandit Queen (1994)
Not Rated | 119 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The story of the bandit queen Phoolan Devi who was sent to prison in 1983 and got free in 1994.
Director: Shekhar Kapur | Stars: Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey, Rajesh Vivek, Raghubir Yadav
Votes: 5,318 | Gross: $0.40M
India's own dark side.
18. Barton Fink (1991)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner
Votes: 129,015 | Gross: $6.15M
The writer's mind can be a dark place.
19. The Belly of an Architect (1987)
R | 119 min | Drama
An architect supervising an exhibition starts to have mysterious stomach pains while his life slowly falls apart.
Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Brian Dennehy, Chloe Webb, Lambert Wilson, Sergio Fantoni
Votes: 6,283 | Gross: $0.29M
Journey into a waiting death that becomes an obsession.
20. Beware the Slenderman (2016)
TV-14 | 114 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
Tells the story of two 12-year old girls, who attempted to murder one of their friends in an attempt to appease Slenderman, a fictional monster from a horror website.
Director: Irene Taylor | Stars: Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weier, Angie Geyser, William Weier
Votes: 7,812
While attempting to appease the teenage market with the horror aspect, this documentary is a fascinating account on the modern dilemma of parenting teenagers (specially those with a mental illness) in a society misled by internet fables...
21. Ben ming nian (1990)
107 min | Crime, Drama
A semi-literate who was deprived of schooling during the Cultural Revolution, Li Huiquan, is released from labor camp. But his attempts to make good are continually thwarted. His street ... See full summary »
Director: Fei Xie | Stars: Wen Jiang, Cheng Lin, Hong Yue, Xiaoning Liu
Votes: 552
Taxi Driver China style.
22. Black Swan (2010)
R | 108 min | Drama, Thriller
Nina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder
Votes: 825,371 | Gross: $106.95M
In the tradition of Polanski's THE TENANT...
23. Blade Runner (1982)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos
Votes: 823,590 | Gross: $32.87M
Ridley creates a superb futuristic dark place.
24. Bluebeard (1972)
R | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A World War I pilot whom everybody envies as a "ladykiller" actually is one. After he beds a woman he's after, he murders her.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, Virna Lisi, Nathalie Delon
Votes: 1,601
This left an impressing on my sister & I when we where only 12. We just hoped our dad wasn't a bluebeard.
25. Blue Velvet (1986)
R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
Votes: 215,855 | Gross: $8.55M
Master of the Dark Side, David Lynch, shows how it's done.
26. The Boys (1998)
R | 86 min | Crime, Drama
Brett Sprague is a violent and psychopathic man, who is released on parole after serving a sentence for assault. As he returns to his family house and we watch him and his brothers, Stevie ... See full summary »
Director: Rowan Woods | Stars: David Wenham, Toni Collette, Lynette Curran, John Polson
Votes: 1,725 | Gross: $0.00M
The horrid minds of these dark beasts.
27. Brazil (1985)
R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 211,324 | Gross: $9.93M
Gilliam's films may seem whimsical on the surface but they are dark and disturbing on the inside.
28. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Not Rated | 75 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
Votes: 53,293 | Gross: $4.36M
Better than the original, thanks to James Whale.
29. Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
R | 121 min | Drama, Thriller
Haunted by the patients he failed to save, a monumentally burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three increasingly turbulent nights.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames
Votes: 76,097 | Gross: $16.64M
Scorsese's ambulance ride to hell.
30. Brothers' Nest (2018)
102 min | Comedy, Thriller
Two brothers' murder plans go somewhat sideways in this Australian dark comedy.
Director: Clayton Jacobson | Stars: Shane Jacobson, Clayton Jacobson, Kim Gyngell, Lynette Curran
Votes: 1,587
The Jacobson brothers go dark and twisted with mixed results...
31. Brute Force (1947)
Passed | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
At a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard.
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo
Votes: 11,552
Burt Lancaster is one of my favourite Hollywood Classic actors of all time and he shows us the hellish side of prison.
32. Buffalo '66 (1998)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being released from prison, Billy is set to visit his parents with his wife, whom he does not actually have. This provokes Billy to act out, as he kidnaps a girl and forces her to act as his wife for the visit.
Director: Vincent Gallo | Stars: Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke
Votes: 60,326 | Gross: $2.38M
Restless life.
33. Buffet Froid (1979)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Alphonse lives in an empty building. Empty but for one neighbour, the police captain Morvandieu. When the man who have killed Alphonse's wife appears, the three men will be thrown in a serie of event in a surrealist world.
Director: Bertrand Blier | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Bernard Blier, Jean Carmet, Denise Gence
Votes: 6,509
You can sometimes laugh at the Dark Side of life.
34. The Butcher Boy (1997)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
The antisocial son of an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother grows up in 1960s Ireland.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Eamonn Owens, Alan Boyle
Votes: 11,475 | Gross: $1.82M
A child's state of mind.
35. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Votes: 70,100
Where the cinema's dark side all began.
36. Cape Fear (1962)
Passed | 106 min | Drama, Thriller
A lawyer's family is stalked by a man he once helped put in jail.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin
Votes: 31,899
Evil revenge scenario that has left me paranoid!
37. Il capitano (1991)
110 min | Crime, Drama
A Finnish couple murders a young boy and his parents when they prevent the theft of their son's bicycle.
Director: Jan Troell | Stars: Maria Heiskanen, Antti Reini, Berto Marklund, Antti Vierikko
Votes: 913
Sweden's own dark side courtesy of Jan Troell.
38. Captain Conan (1996)
129 min | Drama, War
The war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Philippe Torreton, Samuel Le Bihan, Bernard Le Coq, Catherine Rich
Votes: 2,450
There are no rules in war.
39. Cecil B. Demented (2000)
R | 87 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
An insane independent film director and his renegade group of teenage filmmakers kidnap an A-list Hollywood actress and force her to star in their underground film.
Director: John Waters | Stars: Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Alicia Witt, Adrian Grenier
Votes: 16,657 | Gross: $1.28M
John Waters sticks it up the Hollywood establishment.
40. Cherry (I) (2021)
R | 142 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Cherry drifts from college dropout to army medic in Iraq - anchored only by his true love, Emily. But after returning from the war with PTSD, his life spirals into drugs and crime as he struggles to find his place in the world.
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo | Stars: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Forrest Goodluck
Votes: 37,355
The Russo Bros. hit a home run with this near cinematic brilliance in entering the mind of a lost soul under the influence of anything to forget about the horror...
41. Child of God (2013)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A dispossessed, violent man's disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order.
Director: James Franco | Stars: Scott Haze, Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Parrack, Steve Hunter
Votes: 4,397 | Gross: $0.04M
A deranged World according to a homeless necrophiliac...
42. Chopper (2000)
R | 94 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Chopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.
Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, Vince Colosimo, Renée Brack
Votes: 41,534 | Gross: $0.23M
The Aussie underworld that had me looking over my shoulder.
43. Christiane F. (1981)
R | 138 min | Biography, Drama
A teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Natja Brunckhorst, Eberhard Auriga, Peggy Bussieck, Lothar Chamski
Votes: 29,456
German teenage angst.
44. City of God (2002)
R | 130 min | Crime, Drama
In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund | Stars: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele, Phellipe Haagensen
Votes: 801,622 | Gross: $7.56M
Poverty + Survival = gangs & death.
45. Class Trip (1998)
96 min | Drama, Mystery
A schoolboy Nicholas always worries about something. When he goes on a school skiing trip, all his visions and nightmares take him over.
Director: Claude Miller | Stars: Clément van den Bergh, Emmanuelle Bercot, Yves Verhoeven, Lokman Nalcakan
Votes: 1,589
Sinister twist in this one.
46. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 881,769 | Gross: $6.21M
Alex was a naughty boy
47. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,415
The brutality of war.
48. Compulsion (1959)
Approved | 103 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Two wealthy law-school students go on trial for murder in this version of the Leopold-Loeb case.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, Diane Varsi, Bradford Dillman
Votes: 7,508
This really impressed me as a child. Taught me that there are some evil beings lurking amongst us.
49. Crazy Love (1987)
90 min | Drama
Three 'Bukowskian' torrid nights in the life of a man in search of love. Harry, 12, is young and naive. Love, for him, is romantic love between princes and princesses demurely kissing each ... See full summary »
Director: Dominique Deruddere | Stars: Josse De Pauw, Geert Hunaerts, Michael Pas, Gene Bervoets
Votes: 1,434 | Gross: $0.12M
Bukowski's perverse dark side told by the Belgiums.
50. Crimes of Passion (1984)
R | 107 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A mysterious woman, fashion designer by day and prostitute by night, is hounded by two men: a married father of two children and a sexually repressed preacher.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, Bruce Davison, Gordon Hunt
Votes: 8,544 | Gross: $2.91M
Ken goes dark on a hooker.
51. Cruising (1980)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police officer goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of New York City to catch a serial killer who is preying on gay men.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox
Votes: 28,074 | Gross: $19.80M
What were Pacino and Friedkin thinking?
52. Cure (1997)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Masato Hagiwara, Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa
Votes: 23,136 | Gross: $0.09M
A murderer with a difference.
53. Cyclo (1995)
123 min | Crime, Drama
When a poor bicycle-taxi driver has his cyclo stolen, he is forced into a life of crime. Meanwhile, his sister becomes a sex worker.
Director: Anh Hung Tran | Stars: Le Van Loc, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Nu Yên-Khê Tran, Quynh Nhu
Votes: 5,496 | Gross: $0.08M
Vietnam's own Taxi Driver.
54. Dead Man (1995)
R | 121 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Native American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen
Votes: 103,131 | Gross: $1.04M
Jarmusch & Depp make the Wild West even more wicked.
55. Dead Man's Letters (1986)
87 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In the aftermath of nuclear holocaust, a group of intellectuals crave to find hope in the pale and colorless new world. Among them, a history teacher tries to contact via letters his missing son.
Director: Konstantin Lopushanskiy | Stars: Rolan Bykov, Iosif Ryklin, Viktor Mikhaylov, Aleksandr Sabinin
Votes: 3,829
It's a very dark world after the nuclear apocalypse...
56. Dead Ringers (1988)
R | 116 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon
Votes: 53,626 | Gross: $9.13M
Jeremy Irons fits perfectly into Cronenberg's dark world.
57. Deep End (1970)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old dropout Mike takes a job at Newford Baths, where inappropriate sexual behaviour abounds, and becomes obsessed with his coworker Susan.
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski | Stars: Jane Asher, John Moulder-Brown, Karl Michael Vogler, Christopher Sandford
Votes: 7,509
Skolimowski brings the dark side to England.
58. Deliverance (1972)
R | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox
Votes: 119,340 | Gross: $7.06M
After seeing this as a young teenager, I vowed never to go pig hunting.
59. The Devils (1971)
R | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier's protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun's accusation of witchcraft.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian
Votes: 18,683 | Gross: $1.13M
Ken creates mayhem in the nunnery.
60. Dr. Petiot (1990)
102 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on the real life of Dr. Marcel Petiot: During world war II Petiot, an MD living in occupied Paris, promised to help wealthy Jewish people among his patients to flee occupied France ... See full summary »
Director: Christian de Chalonge | Stars: Michel Serrault, Pierre Romans, Bérangère Bonvoisin, Zbigniew Horoks
Votes: 797
Don't trust this doctor.
61. Dogs in Space (1986)
R | 103 min | Drama
Two man are the key members of a band called 'Dogs in Space' and share a house in a Melbourne suburb with a variety of young music fans and social misfits, including a college student and a transient and apparently nameless teenage girl.
Director: Richard Lowenstein | Stars: Michael Hutchence, Saskia Post, Nique Needles, Deanna Bond
Votes: 1,375
The Melbourne seedy music scene.
62. Donnie Darko (2001)
R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne
Votes: 850,521 | Gross: $1.48M
Something strange is going down
63. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A pharmacy-robbing dope fiend and his crew pop pills and evade the law.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James Le Gros, Heather Graham
Votes: 40,665 | Gross: $4.73M
The decline of a druggie family.
64. Edmond (2005)
R | 82 min | Drama, Thriller
A fortune-teller's teasing rumination sends Edmond Burke lurching into New York City's hellish underworld.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: William H. Macy, Julia Stiles, Joe Mantegna, Frances Bay
Votes: 12,446 | Gross: $0.13M
What pushes us to the dark side.
65. Edvard Munch (1974 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 210 min | Biography, Drama, History
This biopic of Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch focuses on the influences that shaped his art, his devastating affair with a married woman that will haunt him for the rest of his life
Director: Peter Watkins | Stars: Geir Westby, Gro Fraas, Kerstii Allum, Eric Allum
Votes: 3,381 | Gross: $0.04M
Mind of a tortured artist.
66. El (1953)
Approved | 82 min | Drama, Romance
A husband's suave exterior unravels after his marriage, and he unleashes his paranoid and volatile temper on his wife, which escalates to more dangerous and unpredictable tantrums.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Arturo de Córdova, Delia Garcés, Aurora Walker, Carlos Martínez Baena
Votes: 6,576
Bunuel knows how to show the dark side.
67. Elephant (2003)
R | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Elias McConnell, Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson
Votes: 97,294 | Gross: $1.23M
Gus Van Sant enters the the minds of the angst riddled teenagers.
68. Enter the Void (2009)
Not Rated | 161 min | Drama, Fantasy
An American drug dealer living in Tokyo is betrayed by his best friend and killed in a drug deal. His soul, observing the repercussions of his death, seeks resurrection.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Olly Alexander
Votes: 88,100 | Gross: $0.34M
Wandering lost soul.
69. Eraserhead (1977)
Not Rated | 89 min | Fantasy, Horror
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 127,574 | Gross: $7.00M
Welcome to David Lynch's nightmare
70. Equus (1977)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery
A psychiatrist attempts to uncover a troubled stable boy's disturbing obsession with horses.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Colin Blakely, Joan Plowright
Votes: 8,749
Lumet handles this dark stage production well.
71. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 455,308 | Gross: $232.91M
I was only 14 when I saw this at the local cinema (I knew the cinema owners who snuck me in). It made me believe in the Devil.
72. Fallen Angels (1995)
Not Rated | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
This Hong Kong-set crime drama follows the lives of a hitman, hoping to get out of the business, and his elusive female partner.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Charlie Yeung
Votes: 50,957
Wild ride through Hong Kong.
73. Falling Down (1993)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 206,791 | Gross: $40.90M
Is society to blame?!
74. Felicia's Journey (1999)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Thriller
A young woman leaves Ireland to find her boyfriend in England, and while there is helped by a man hiding unsettling secrets.
Director: Atom Egoyan | Stars: Bob Hoskins, Arsinée Khanjian, Elaine Cassidy, Sheila Reid
Votes: 8,406 | Gross: $0.82M
Egoyan handles the disturbed mind of a child killer with intelligence.
75. Fellini Satyricon (1969)
R | 129 min | Drama, Fantasy
A series of disjointed mythical tales set in first-century Rome.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Salvo Randone
Votes: 17,192 | Gross: $1.14M
So decadent but yet so poetic.
76. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,326,088 | Gross: $37.03M
David Fincher is the new King of the Dark Side. Even his recent movie SOCIAL NEWTWORK has its underlying dark tone.
77. Fingers (1978)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A dysfunctional young man is pulled between loyalties to his Italian mob-connected loan-shark father and his mentally-disturbed Jewish concert-pianist mother.
Director: James Toback | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, Jim Brown, Michael V. Gazzo
Votes: 2,885
Where art meets crime.
78. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
PG | 158 min | Adventure, Drama
The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy, Miguel Ángel Fuentes
Votes: 38,627
Herzog & Kinski are the Dark Side.
79. Freaks (1932)
Not Rated | 64 min | Drama, Horror
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 50,637 | Gross: $0.63M
The classic Dark Side.
80. Frenzy (1972)
R | 116 min | Thriller
A serial murderer is strangling women with a necktie. The London police have a suspect, but he is the wrong man.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Anna Massey
Votes: 49,438 | Gross: $12.60M
Hitchcock's darkest.
81. Fresh (2022)
R | 114 min | Horror, Thriller
After quitting dating apps, a woman meets the supposedly perfect man and accepts his invitation to a romantic weekend getaway, only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites.
Director: Mimi Cave | Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan, Jojo T. Gibbs, Andrea Bang
Votes: 74,314
So wickedly dark, and a neat symbolic way to show the ugly misogynistic world and what a woman has to do in order to survive it, or else be eaten - literally...
82. Funny Games (1997)
Not Rated | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Arno Frisch, Frank Giering
Votes: 84,195
How wicked was this piece of cinema torture?
83. From the Edge of the City (1998)
Unrated | 94 min | Crime, Drama
A group of Pontian Greek immigrant teenage dreamers dwelling marginalised in the notorious and lustreless wild suburbia, witness the city's repulsive face and an unrelenting world defined by prostitution, drugs, and inevitably, loss.
Director: Constantine Giannaris | Stars: Stathis Papadopoulos, Costas Kotsianidis, Panagiotis Chartomatsidis, Anestis Polychronidis
Votes: 1,474
The Dark Side of the Greeks.
84. Get Carter (1971)
R | 112 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When his brother dies under mysterious circumstances in a car accident, London gangster Jack Carter travels to Newcastle to investigate.
Director: Mike Hodges | Stars: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland, John Osborne
Votes: 36,800 | Gross: $0.39M
Cold Cain.
85. Gods and Monsters (1998)
R | 105 min | Biography, Drama
The last days of Frankenstein (1931) director James Whale are explored.
Director: Bill Condon | Stars: Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich
Votes: 32,776 | Gross: $6.39M
Dark times with Mr Whale & his gardener.
86. The Good Father (1985)
R | 90 min | Drama
Bill (Sir Anthony Hopkins) is a man who's very bitter about his divorce and losing custody of his son. So, when one of his friends is being sued for divorce by his wife, so that she can ... See full summary »
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jim Broadbent, Harriet Walter, Frances Viner
Votes: 672 | Gross: $0.42M
Where the dark side began for Sir Anthony Hopkins.
87. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,258,360 | Gross: $46.84M
When I first saw this at the cinemas on its release it made me feel uneasy because I knew people just like that!
88. Gothic (1986)
R | 87 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The Shelleys visit Lord Byron and compete to write a horror story.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson, Myriam Cyr
Votes: 8,870 | Gross: $0.92M
Ken spends a night with the creators of the Dark Side.
89. The Great War (1959)
Approved | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, War
The Italian Army fought against the Austrians during World War I.
Director: Mario Monicelli | Stars: Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Bernard Blier, Folco Lulli
Votes: 4,610
Two great Italian comics in the darkest of war films.
90. The Big Feast (1973)
NC-17 | 130 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of men go to a villa in the French countryside where they resolve to eat themselves to death.
Director: Marco Ferreri | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Ugo Tognazzi
Votes: 14,716
Death by food & sex.
91. Greed (1924)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
The sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.
Director: Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller
Votes: 10,768 | Gross: $0.16M
Stroheim knows the Dark Side of humanity.
92. The Grifters (1990)
R | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe
Votes: 30,566 | Gross: $13.45M
Dark Side of the con world.
93. The Grim Reaper (1962)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When a woman is killed in a park, the police bring in everyone suspected of being there when the incident occurred and question them. One of them is the killer.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Francesco Ruiu, Giancarlo De Rosa, Vincenzo Ciccora, Alfredo Leggi
Votes: 2,606
Bertolucci's introduction to the dark side.
94. Hardcore (1979)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama
A religious businessman from Michigan has to venture into the world of pornography in California, desperately searching for his runaway teenage daughter.
Director: Paul Schrader | Stars: George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, Dick Sargent
Votes: 13,873
Another Schrader journey into the dark side.
95. La haine (1995)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama
24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili
Votes: 196,675 | Gross: $0.31M
The slums of Paris is full of hate.
96. Fireworks (1997)
103 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Nishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Ôsugi, Susumu Terajima
Votes: 33,211 | Gross: $0.23M
Takeshi - the master of the Japanese Dark Side.
97. Happiness (1998)
NC-17 | 134 min | Comedy, Drama
The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Director: Todd Solondz | Stars: Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker
Votes: 74,462 | Gross: $2.81M
Solondz may take the crown for the Dark Side.
98. Head On (1998)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A 19 year old Greek Australian youth struggles with his sexual identity and has one clumsy heterosexual and several homosexual encounters.
Director: Ana Kokkinos | Stars: Alex Dimitriades, Elle Mandalis, Damien Fotiou, Alex Papps
Votes: 4,628 | Gross: $0.38M
It can't get any darker than this.
99. Heavenly Creatures (1994)
R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Two teenage girls share a unique bond; their parents, concerned that the friendship is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent
Votes: 67,429 | Gross: $3.05M
Peter Jackson's intelligent Dark Side.
100. Heavy Traffic (1973)
R | 77 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
An underground cartoonist contends with life in the inner city, where various unsavory characters serve as inspiration for his art.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Joseph Kaufmann, Beverly Hope Atkinson, Frank DeKova, Terri Haven
Votes: 3,715 | Gross: $1.34M
The animation Dark Side thanks to Bakshi.
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