black mirror is an anthology television series that has built one of the weirdest collections of cautionary tales of this decade. From the harms of addiction to new-age technology to the chilling effects of society’s newest and smartest ways of dealing with the human condition, many stories leave viewers sitting on the edge of their seats as they merge science fiction technology with very real philosophical dilemmas around societal antagonisms.
Some movies have a perfectly imagined storyline full of the same suspense and innovation reminiscent of the black mirror universe and are the perfect movies to watch in anticipation of Charlie Brooker’s next project (whether or not it’s the series’ highly anticipated sixth season).
Unlimited
Unlimited (2o11) have constructed a world in which there is an unmanageable pill that allows the user to expand their mental acuity. The downside, the drug has terrible withdrawal symptoms, and it’s in extremely limited supply.
Unlimited opens up a world that explores how far people would go when they not only crave power, but have immense desperation to avoid the pain that comes with losing that power. The drastic choices Bradley Cooper’s character makes in the film, including drinking the blood of a man he killed to get another dose inside, demonstrates the iconic and bizarre nature of the message this film carries.
The Giver (2014)
In The donor the head of the Main Society forces its people to unknowingly take a drug that inhibits their ability to feel emotions, exercise free will, and see colors. The purpose of this excessive societal control was to create a “perfect” and eternal civilization.
This film shows how far people can go to preserve humanity, which challenges the notion of “peace at all costs”. The film leaves the viewer with a puzzling philosophical dilemma, whether it makes more sense to prevent the fall of humanity by any means necessary or to allow society the freedoms that can ultimately lead to their own extinction.
In Time (2011)
On time depicts a world in which the time left to live acts as in place of physical currency, as the solution to immortality had been achieved. The drastic differences in lifestyles between rich and poor are apparent; while the wealthy are granted immortality without stress, the poor live hand to mouth and cannot even make the simple decision to sleep without threatening their lives.
The weirdness of new-age technology combined with the unjust means of preventing overpopulation in an immortal society leaves the viewer with an appetite for thought-provoking dissections of the world, even after the film’s upbeat conclusion.
Would You Rather (2013)
In Would You Rather a sadistic benefactor decides to push the limits of his diners to determine how desperate they are for the money he offers to a lucky winner. The scariest and most mind-blowing moment comes in the conclusion, in which the protagonist is given an ultimatum near the end of dinner; kill the person in front of them, or walk away having saved a life, but sacrificing the chance to take the money.
The film is an excellent slow-burn suspense thriller, highlighting the shift from the discomfort of having to perform an uncomfortable small task, to the horrors of making difficult life or death choices as the night advances. The drastic change in character behavior and morality drives the disturbing nature of the film until the shocking twist at the end in which the protagonist murders the only other surviving guest to earn money for his brother, who ends up being a tragic mess, because he too dies of his illness.
The Circle (2015)
In The circle, 50 people are abducted by aliens and placed in a room with a machine that dictates that one of them must die every two minutes. People can either let the machine pick someone to kill at random, or vote individually for who goes next.
The storyline forces reluctant participants to reveal who or what they value most in society, forcing them to justify who is more worthy of life. The film delves into people’s values based on age, race, lifestyle, religion, and more. of the group, allowing the viewer to get involved in the process of selecting participants, leading them to justify each successive vote. The film ends in the most chilling and thought-provoking way, in which a shocking twist stems from an unforeseen deception, leaving the viewer feeling betrayed alongside those who are sacrificed.
Nerf (2016)
Nerve centers on two individuals Vee (played by Emma Roberts) and Ian (Dave Franco), who meet through an app that tests to see how far people will go when entering a competition that uses foot-in-the-door tactics to get them to complete high-stakes tasks for money. Considered one of Dave Franco’s finest films, Nerve takes audiences on a high-stakes adventure through a series of required tasks.
This film highlights the insidious nature of rising dangerous stakes and the power of online anonymity. Anyone who acts as an “observer” on the app could anonymously offer a challenge to the player for an amount of money equal to the intensity of the challenge, leading to exciting results and thought-provoking questions about the power of online anonymity.
Passengers (2016)
In Passengers, technological disruption leads to the unlikely life of passenger Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt), who must decipher his meaning and purpose as a traveler he will never live in to see his destination. After being released from cryo-sleep too soon, Jim awakens fellow passenger, Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence). In one of Jennifer Lawrence’s most iconic roles, Aurora discovers the nature of her newfound consciousness on the journey and rightly feels betrayal and complex emotions about it after bonding with Jim.
The strangeness of this film lies in the terrifying nature of the helplessness of the passengers who are stuck in cryogenic sleep for a lifetime. For decades, they’ve all been at the mercy of an individual’s decisions and the expansive unpredictability of space, giving it a chilling, mind-bending uncertainty that stays with the viewer after watching the movie.
Level 16
Level 16 (2019) follows the story of a group of young girls who are raised in a very restrictive environment, which they believe to be an adoption agency. The girls are described as being forced to take sleeping pills, cruelly punished for insubordination and not being taught to read. It is later revealed that the establishment raises the girls so that when they come of age, they can carve the skin off their faces to transplant onto wealthy women who wish to look younger.
This film features a bizarre, hyperbolic twist on humanity’s relentless desire for eternal youth in which young girls are raised like cattle, rather than treated like human beings. It reaches an exciting and empowering conclusion when the girls discover their worth is in their own skin and carve it themselves to finally be recognized at the end as children in need of proper care.
get out
Get Out (2017) is a critically acclaimed film and one of the highest rated horror films of 2017. In get outan interracial couple Chris and Rose travel to a house on Lake Pontaco to meet his family, which turns out to be something much more sinister than a weekend getaway.
This film presents a bizarre twist on humanity’s relentless desire for eternal youth and immortality, coupled with the horrors of losing bodily autonomy at the hands of one who seeks to exploit another’s body for their own gain. It tackles the insidious disarming power of racism through a stunning visual depiction of the back room of the mind, where they are hauntingly forced to watch another person take full control of their autonomy.
Mother!
Mother! (2017) is a metaphorical story between God and Mother Earth, which surrounds the horrific devolution of peace in a house shared by a waiting couple. The film plays on the terrifying nature of allowing minor disturbances to occur and continue with increasing embarrassment until they become dangerous and horrific conditions for a mother’s home.
The disturbances and increasingly gruesome imagery as the film progresses give it a spooky feel as the action gets more hectic as the small guest list in the house morphs into a fully functioning company. , riddled with disturbing sectarian behavior and likely to incite violent wars. Devolution of Peace in the Little House brings to light the most destructive aspects of human nature in a focused and unbearable way for the mother in a chilling journey.
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