Movies like Brand Upon the Brain!
If you like "Brand Upon the Brain!" you are looking for disturbing, surreal and cerebral movies about / with human experiment, surrealism, lighthouse, childhood memory, lesbian, island and orphanage themes of Comedy, Drama and Fantasy genre shot in USA.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Brand Upon the Brain! (2006)
4K
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Together with his teenage sister and a horde of orphans, young Guy Maddin lazes away his under-stimulated youth on the mysterious island he will someday inherit. In the lighthouse orphanage in which they all live, their every move is watched over by their overbearing and tyrannical mother while their father, a scientist and inventor, works away secretively in the basement. When new adoptive parents discover mysterious head wounds on their children, teen detectives Wendy and Chance Hale - brother and sister sleuths known as the "Lightbulb Kids" - visit the island to launch an investigation. As the investigation progresses, the kids are led into the darkest regions of revelation and repression as the terrible secrets of Guy's family are revealed.
Style:
disturbing, surreal, cerebral, experimental, psychological, atmospheric, avant garde, black and white, mind bending, psychedelic ...
Plot:
human experiment, surrealism, lighthouse, childhood memory, lesbian, island, orphanage, investigation, family relations, parallel world, treatment, dying, abandoned, mental disorder, eye, delusion, mad scientist, child in peril, domineering mother, incest, male nudity, coming of age, advanced technology, trippy, blacks and whites ...
Time:
year 2006
Place:
canada, romania
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Most similar movies to Brand Upon the Brain!
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out surreal, weird, mind bending and psychedelic films with plots about surrealism, magic realism, obsession, trippy, existentialism, creativity and loneliness mostly in Drama, Fantasy and Comedy genres. Some movies like Brand Upon the Brain!: Eraserhead (1977), Ink (2009), Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988), The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973), The City of Lost Children (1995). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
142K
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Style:
surreal, psychological, avant garde, art house, experimental ...
Plot:
surrealism, baby, existentialism, nightmare, insanity, psychology, dream, loneliness, psychosis, factory, dark humor, eccentricity ...
Time:
70s, year 1977, 20th century
Place:
america, philadelphia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min.
Story:
An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save what's important to her by connecting with the lives she could have led in other universes.
Style:
cerebral, surreal, psychedelic, philosophical, mind bending ...
Audience:
kids, family friendly, adult
Plot:
female protagonist, multiverse, fight, alternate universe, surrealism, chinese immigrant, lgbt, immigrant, parallel world, midlife crisis, kung fu, mother daughter relationship ...
Time:
2020s, future
Place:
brighton
Similarity:
100%
23K
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
Invisible forces exert power over us in our sleep. A mercenary named Ink, on a literal nightmare mission, captures the spirit of 8-year-old Emma in the dream world. To save her, the dream-givers marshal all their resources, focusing on saving the ...
Style:
surreal, dark fantasy, atmospheric, cerebral, visually stunning ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
another dimension, parallel universe, nightmare, good versus evil, time paradox, businessman, imagination, supernatural, father daughter relationship, parent child relationship, surrealism, dystopia ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 72 min.
Story:
While their mother is dying in the modern Gimli, Manitoba hospital, two young children are told an important tale by their Icelandic grandmother about Ainar the lonely, his friend Gunnar, and the angelic Snjofrieder in a Gimli of old.
Style:
surreal, black and white, avant garde, expressionism, independent film ...
Plot:
surrealism, smallpox, hospital, dying mother, village, epidemic, dead woman, cat, medical, seagull, fishing village, hallucination ...
Time:
year 1988, 20th century, 1900s, turn of the century
Place:
iceland, canada
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Poland
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
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, ...
Style:
surreal, psychological, psychedelic, dark, cerebral ...
Plot:
surrealism, alternate dimension, alternate reality, metaphysics, nightmare, female nudity, renaissance, magic realism, time travel, macabre, trippy, existentialism ...
Time:
year 1973, 20th century
Place:
poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: France, Germany, Spain, Belgium
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
Style:
surreal, cult classic, visually stunning, gothic, atmospheric ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
steampunk, dystopia, children, childhood, friendship, good versus evil, surrealism, cloning, flea, trippy, escape, mad scientist ...
Time:
future
Place:
france
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Horror, Romance
Country: Canada
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
In the remote Alpine village of Tolzbad at the turn of the century, people talk quietly and restrain their movements lest avalanches come and kill them. This atmosphere lends itself to repressed emotions - shown through the parallel stories of ...
Style:
surreal, cult classic, experimental, disturbing, atmospheric ...
Plot:
surrealism, family problems, mother son incest, erotica, magic realism, voyeur, nobleman, passion, human relationship, mother child relationship, psychology, survival ...
Time:
year 1992, 90s, 19th century, 1920s
Place:
swiss alps, canada, tokyo
Similarity:
31%
Genre: Documentary, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, History
Country: Canada
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
The geographical dead center of North America and the beloved birthplace of Guy Maddin, Winnipeg, is the frosty and mysterious star of Maddin’s film. Fact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this work, conjuring a city as ...
Style:
surreal, art house, experimental, satirical, enigmatic ...
Plot:
surrealism, life philosophy, relationships, eccentricity, haunted by the past, loneliness, dysfunctional family, lifestyle, art, mother, metaphor, city life ...
Time:
year 2007, 2000s, 20th century
Place:
canada, winnipeg
Similarity:
28%
Movie in collections
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father's sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.
Style:
surreal, disturbing, black and white, stylized, atmospheric ...
Plot:
amusement park, hallucination, losing-it hero, disneyland, surrealism, dysfunctional family, adultery, loss of job, middle aged man, disorder, parents and children, midlife crisis ...
Time:
year 2000, 21st century
Place:
usa, florida
Similarity:
23%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Canada
Duration: 60 min.
Story:
Story of Guy Maddin, hockey player for the Maroons, and son of a local hairdresser/abortion doctor. Guy tries to overcome his own cowardice (and multiple head-knocks) as he navigates through a dream-like Winnipeg.
Style:
surreal, homoerotic, black and white, romantic, atmospheric ...
Plot:
murder, abortion, pregnancy, psychopath, tragic love, dangerous attraction, investigation, obsession, prodigy, addiction, couple relations, surrealism ...
Time:
year 2003
Place:
winnipeg, canada
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Short, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min.
Story:
A story of a group of humanoid rabbits and their depressive, daily life. The plot includes Suzie ironing, Jane sitting on a couch, Jack walking in and out of the apartment, and the occasional solo singing number by Suzie or Jane. At one point the ...
Style:
surreal, atmospheric, psychological, experimental, offbeat ...
Plot:
rabbit, dark humor, danger, confined, confinement indoors, isolation, surrealism, exploitation, arthouse horror, extreme, trippy, stoned ...
Time:
year 2002
Similarity:
22%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
Spike Jonze’s debut feature film is a love story mix of comedy and fantasy. The story is about an unsuccessful puppeteer named Craig, who one day at work finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for ...
Style:
surreal, psychological, cerebral, cult classic, mind bending ...
Audience:
date night, chick flick, adult
Plot:
surrealism, puppeteer, subconscious, psychology, satire, lesbianism, body swapping, body swap, philosophy, actor, existentialism, manipulation ...
Time:
90s, 20th century, year 1999
Place:
new york, new jersey, usa, manhattan new york city
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
Mrs. Van Houten has shown signs of losing touch with reality, and her husband discusses possible treatment with Dr. Caligari, who says Mrs. Van Houten has a disease of the libido.
Style:
independent film, mind bending, psychotronic, disturbing, experimental ...
Plot:
surrealism, body horror, nymphomaniac, sexual fantasy, electrocution, cannibal, transvestite, psychiatrist, female masturbation, absurd humor, laboratory, supernatural being ...
Time:
80s
Similarity:
21%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Three intercut stories about outsiders, sex and violence. In "Hero," Richie, at age 7, kills his father and flies away. After the event, a documentary in cheesy lurid colors asks what Richie was like and what led up to the shooting. In the ...
Style:
disturbing, anthology, avant garde, surreal, independent film ...
Plot:
homosexual, lgbt, gay erotica, homoeroticism, gay teenager, prison, violent, surrealism, lgbtq, body horror, experiment, transgression ...
Time:
90s, 80s, 1940s
Place:
tokyo
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Alone on a tiny deserted island, Hank has given up all hope of ever making it home again. But one day everything changes when a dead body washes ashore, and he soon realizes it may be his last opportunity to escape certain death. Armed with his new ...
Style:
surreal, buddy comedy, touching, absurd, philosophical ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
surrealism, corpse, friendship, forest, loneliness, hallucination, dark humor, friendship between men, survival, imagination, dead body, island ...
Time:
year 2016, 2010s, 90s
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min.
Story:
Julie, a teen who died from a PCP overdose in the early '70s searches from beyond the grave for her younger brother Bob who now in the '90s is an obese watch seller suffering with sucrose intolerance.
Style:
surreal, serious, rough, suspenseful, scary ...
Plot:
afterlife, drug abuse, mental illness, supernatural, obsession, ghost, life is a bitch, terrorism, mentally unstable, artists and showbiz, danger, supernatural ability ...
Time:
70s, september 11 2001
Similarity:
20%
192K
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
surreal, atmospheric, mind bending, cerebral, cult classic ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
mathematics, insanity, obsession, paranoia, computer, conspiracy, surrealism, alienation, psychology, eye, cyberpunk, mental illness ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, year 1998, future
Place:
new york, america, middle east, usa, coney island brooklyn new york city ...
Similarity:
20%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: Argentina
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
La Antena (English: The Aerial, 2007) is an Argentine drama film, written and directed by acclaimed film director Esteban Sapir. The film features Alejandro Urdapilleta, Rafael Ferro, Florencia Raggi, and others. The movie begins with a pair of ...
Style:
surreal, expressionism, serious, atmospheric, suspenseful ...
Plot:
distopia, totalitarianism, family relations, social decay, mind control, dishonesty, society, life is a bitch, human nature, revolution, corrupted ruler, child in peril ...
Time:
future
Similarity:
20%
Movie in collections
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: France, USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story:
An Innuit hunter races his sled home with a fresh-caught halibut. This fish pervades the entire film, in real and imaginary form. Meanwhile, Axel tags fish in New York as a naturalist's gofer. He's happy there, but a messenger arrives to ...
Style:
art house, surreal, melancholic, atmospheric, dark comedy ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
desert, magic realism, car salesman, nervous breakdown, self discovery, surrealism, family relations, fall in love, love and romance, eccentric family, on the road, sex scene ...
Time:
90s, year 1993
Place:
arizona, alaska, usa, new york, papua new guinea
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is lovestruck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.
Style:
surreal, psychological, psychedelic, philosophical, visually stunning ...
Audience:
girls' night, date night
Plot:
dream, surrealism, magic realism, love story, magic, daydreamer, escape from reality, artist, existentialism, melancholy, imagination, childhood ...
Time:
year 2006, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
paris france, mexico, france, europe, latin america ...
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Norway, Iceland
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Forty-year-old Andreas arrives in a strange city with no memory of how he got there. He is presented with a job, an apartment - even a wife. But before long, Andreas notices that something is wrong. Andreas makes an attempt to escape the city, but ...
Style:
surreal, philosophical, psychological, enigmatic, art house ...
Plot:
dystopia, nightmare, suicide attempt, exile, accountant, alone in the world, parallel universe, suicide, emotionless, isolation, confined, captivity ...
Time:
distant future, future
Place:
argentina
Similarity:
19%
256K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: Belgium, Germany, Canada, France, UK, Luxembourg, USA
Duration: 141 min.
Story:
Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence with his wife and 3 children; one day, he wakes up as a mortal centenarian in the year 2092.
Style:
psychological, surreal, mind bending, philosophical, thought provoking ...
Audience:
date night, teens, adult
Plot:
time, destiny, philosophy, choice, alternate reality, depression, twists and turns, butterfly effect, surrealism, utopia, multiple outcomes, parallel world ...
Time:
future, year 2009, year 1975, year 2011, 2010s ...
Place:
canada
Similarity:
19%
41K
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Solomon and Tummler are two teenagers killing time in Xenia, Ohio, a small town that has never recovered from the tornado that ravaged the community in the 1970s.
Style:
disturbing, cult classic, experimental, controversial, black comedy ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
white trash, suburbs, sister sister relationship, youth, sexual abuse, adolescence, unsettling, teenage boy, abuse, violence, animal abuse, coming of age ...
Time:
90s, year 1997, 20th century
Place:
ohio, usa, america
Similarity:
19%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his ...
Style:
surreal, psychological, melancholic, romantic, philosophical ...
Audience:
date night, chick flick, teens, girls' night, adult
Plot:
memory, amnesia, relationships, surrealism, loneliness, existentialism, melancholy, love, love story, dream, memory loss, couples ...
Time:
2000s, year 2004, future, year 2003, 21st century
Place:
persia, america, usa, north america, new york
Similarity:
19%
8K
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Canada, France
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
The story of an imaginative boy who pretends he is the child of a sperm-laden Sicilian tomato upon which his mother accidentally fell.
Style:
surreal, disturbing, art house, erotic, humorous ...
Plot:
coming of age, masturbation, insanity, surrealism, dark humor, boy, dysfunctional family, animal abuse, childhood memory, mental illness, magic realism, bestiality ...
Time:
year 1992, 90s
Place:
canada, quebec, sicily, montreal
Similarity:
19%
22K
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A mind-bending love story following Greg who, after recently being divorced and then fired, meets the mysterious Isabel, a woman living on the streets and convinced that the polluted, broken world around them is just a computer simulation. Doubtful ...
Style:
surreal, mind bending, captivating, romantic, esoteric ...
Plot:
trippy, fictional city, father daughter relationship, mental disorder, surrealism, lgbt, virtual world, fictional reality, society, escape from reality, love and romance, life ...
Time:
2020s, 21st century
Similarity:
19%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Chile, France
Duration: 133 min.
Story:
“Having broken away from my illusory self, I was desperately seeking a path and a meaning to life.” This phrase perfectly sums up Alejandro Jodorowsky’s biographical project: reconstituting the incredible adventure of his life. Alejandro ...
Style:
art house, surreal, realistic, touching, atmospheric ...
Plot:
surrealism, childhood, coming of age, kids in trouble, dysfunctional family, family life, family relations, street kid, family problems, parents and children, misfit, youth ...
Time:
year 2013, year 2014, 2010s, 1930s, 20th century
Place:
chile, latin america
Similarity:
18%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 182 min.
Story:
CREMASTER 3 (2002) is set in New York City and narrates the construction of the Chrysler Building, which is in itself a character - host to inner, antagonistic forces at play for access to the process of (spiritual) transcendence. These factions ...
Style:
surreal, mind bending, atmospheric, stylized, serious ...
Plot:
surrealism, good versus evil, supernatural, imaginary, danger, punk, rivalry, artists and showbiz, apprentice, curses spells and rituals, zombie, graphic violence ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
new york, usa, manhattan new york city
Similarity:
18%
36K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
surreal, disturbing, psychedelic, cult classic, bleak ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
isolation, imagination, heroin, mental illness, drug addiction, surrealism, addiction, abandoned house, imaginary friend, mentally challenged, death by overdose, talking doll ...
Time:
year 2005, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
denmark, austin texas, texas, usa
Similarity:
18%
112K
Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
surreal, disturbing, psychedelic, cult classic, sexy ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
body horror, surrealism, cyberpunk, television, virtual reality, mind control, hallucination, insanity, dystopia, satire, mind game, brainwashing ...
Time:
80s, year 1983, 20th century
Place:
pittsburgh, malaysia, toronto ontario canada, usa, canada ...
Similarity:
18%
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