Experimental movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant experimental movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out experimental, surreal, avant garde, art house, serious and offbeat films and TV shows about / with surrealism, existentialism, art, death, loneliness, dialogue, artistic, society, obsession and storytelling plots mostly in Drama, Comedy and Mystery genres shot in USA, France, UK and other countries.
2001
TOP 10 movies tagged as experimental: Gummo (1997), The Man Who Sleeps (1974), El Topo (1970), Wavelength (1967), 24 Frames (2017), Johanna (2005), Upstream Color (2013), Paradise (2014), Container (2006), Wrong (2012).
Best films
New films
| Never Blink (2025) | 3.0 | |
| New Wave (2025) | 7.3 | |
| Anemos (2025) | 7.6 | |
| Universal Groove (2024) | 5.5 | |
| Madly (2025) | 6.9 |
List of experimental movies
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
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Tunisia
Duration: 77 min.
Story:
In this French tour-de-force a young student decides to have no more interaction with the world than is needed to minimally sustain life. His increasingly automaton-like behavior is coupled with a strange clarity of insight about the world around ...
Style:
experimental, art house, artsy, existential, contemplative ...
Plot:
nihilism, existentialism, depression, loneliness, minimalism, introspection, existential loneliness, boredom, loser, time travel, lsd, trauma ...
Time:
70s, 20th century
Place:
paris france, france
Is relevant?
33K
Genre: Drama, Western
Country: Mexico
Duration: 125 min.
Story:
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, ...
Style:
experimental, surreal, disturbing, sexy, psychedelic ...
Plot:
desert, surrealism, boy, murder, revenge, religion, rape, church, violence, russian roulette, lion, dark hero ...
Time:
year 1970, 70s
Place:
south america, latin america, mexico
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 45 min.
Story:
Wavelength consists of almost no action, and what action does occur is largely elided. If the film could be said to have a conventional plot, this would presumably refer to the three “character” scenes. Snow’s intent for the film was “a ...
Style:
experimental, contemplative, underground film, surreal, avant garde ...
Plot:
art, fetish, underground, estrangement, introspection, human nature, dealing with death, boredom, symbolism, confusion, pretense, elitism ...
Time:
year 1967, 20th century, 60s
Place:
new york, usa
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Drama
Country: Iran, France
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
A collection of 24 short four-and-a-half minutes films inspired by still images, including paintings and photographs. An experimental project made by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami in the last three years of his life.
Style:
experimental, anthology, slow cinema, poetic, philosophical ...
Plot:
painting, minimalism, reflection, photography, meditation, filmmaker, director, photographer, meaning of life, film industry, memory, life & death ...
Time:
year 2017
Place:
middle east, iran
Is relevant?
544
Genre: Drama, Musical
Country: Hungary
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Johanna, a young drug addict, falls into a deep coma after an accident. Doctors miraculously manage to save her from death's doorstep. Touched by grace, Johanna cures patients by offering her body. The head doctor is frustrated by her continued ...
Style:
experimental, serious, realistic, atmospheric, sexual ...
Plot:
hospital, coma, medical, life is a bitch, healing power, addiction, drug abuse, rehabilitation, doctors and patients, old man, nurse, opera ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
europe, hungary
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
Style:
surreal, psychological, mind bending, experimental, art house ...
Audience:
family friendly
Plot:
love affair, brainwashing, parasite, existentialism, drugged, tragic love, memory loss, haunted by the past, identity crisis, trippy, parallel universe, revenge ...
Time:
year 2013, 2010s, 90s, 21st century
Place:
usa
Is relevant?
160
Country: France
Duration: 68 min.
Story:
A commentary on the place Cavalier grew up, in search of faith and despair in digital filmmaking.
Style:
experimental, contemplative, serious, atmospheric, realistic ...
Plot:
introspection, unfulfillment, countryside, cause and meaning, odyssey, crucifix, bible story, black cat, singing, bird, snow, cat ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
france
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 72 min.
Story:
Poetic, experimental and different, Container is described by Lukas Moodysson as "a black and white silent movie with sound" and with the following words; "A woman in a man's body. A man in a woman's body. Jesus in ...
Style:
experimental, black and white, avant garde, art film, poetic ...
Plot:
desire for fame, identity crisis, minimalism, intimate, metaphysics, human relationship, darkness
Is relevant?
11K
Genre: Comedy, Mystery
Country: France, USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Dolph Springer wakes up one morning to realize he has lost the love of his life, his dog, Paul. During his quest to get Paul (and his life) back, Dolph radically changes the lives of others -- risking his sanity all the while.
Style:
experimental, black comedy, not serious, humorous, mindfuck ...
Plot:
surrealism, absurdism, identity crisis, dog, disorder, pets, mysterious character, mental disorder, adult humor, lost dog, telephone call, hipster ...
Time:
year 2012, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 70 min.
Story:
Jean-Marie Straub pushes this musicality of blocks to a paroxysmal extreme, mixing blocks of time (40 years separate the various extracts that are going to be used, and what is to be filmed), blocks of text (Malraux, Fortini, Vittorini, Hölderlin) ...
Style:
experimental, political, realistic, serious, atmospheric ...
Plot:
communism, working class, state affairs, politics, social differences, society, class struggle, utopia, communist, resistance, revolution, adaptation ...
Time:
20th century
Place:
egypt, italy, switzerland, tuscany
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
30 feet of pure terror is the result of an experimental drug used in a biochemical lab and this mutated nightmare is pure evil! Half-African cobra and half-diamondback, he's 30 feet long with a giant appetite for terror.
Style:
serious, tense, experimental, bleak, suspenseful ...
Plot:
giant snake, snake, mad scientist, dangerous animal, experiment gone awry, animal attack, escapades, small town, martial arts, science runs amok, shark, laboratory ...
Time:
90s
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: Poland, Russia, USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Created under a “manifesto” whose directives would make Lars von Trier shudder, this three-part film might look on paper like an exercise in forced hipness. Fortunately, its directors – Harmony Korine (USA), Alexsei Fedorchenko (Russia) and ...
Style:
experimental, contemplative, offbeat, thought provoking, suspense ...
Plot:
motivational speaker, lifestyle, society, multiple storylines, experimental narrative, visionary, enlightenment, metaphysics, character study, alternate reality, nihilism, haunting ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: France, USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story:
In the seedy domain of Miami’s criminal underbelly, a seasoned hitman embarks on the relentless pursuit of his next target. The movie is shot entirely through thermal lens as he navigates a twisted world where violence and madness reign supreme. ...
Style:
experimental, tense, dark, suspenseful, captivating ...
Plot:
assassin, hitman, murderer, serial killer, hallucination, pursuit, obsession, violent, urban, transformation, macabre, revenge ...
Place:
miami
Is relevant?
13K
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 72 min.
Story:
Begotten is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth.
Style:
surreal, atmospheric, avant garde, experimental, independent film ...
Plot:
necrophilia, surrealism, self mutilation, macabre, gory, spirituality, cruelty, chaos, nihilism, extreme, obsession, supernatural ...
Place:
america
Is relevant?
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 149 min.
Story:
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
Style:
futuristic, philosophical, mind bending, cerebral, psychedelic ...
Audience:
family outing, kids, teens, adult
Plot:
space travel, artificial intelligence, astronaut, outer space, space, moon, computer, scientist, human versus computer, extraterrestrial, deception, spacewalk ...
Time:
future, year 2001, 20th century, 2000s, stone age ...
Place:
persia
Is relevant?
Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our ...
Style:
philosophical, spiritual, psychedelic, surreal, cerebral ...
Audience:
kids, adult
Plot:
philosophy, existentialism, dream, surrealism, alternate reality, trippy, consciousness, bohemian life, sleeping, meaning of life, life philosophy, imagination ...
Time:
20th century, year 2001, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
texas, tibet
Is relevant?
231K
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that ...
Style:
futuristic, thought provoking, surprise ending, neo noir, experimental ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
cyberpunk, artificial intelligence, revenge, murder, surgery, microchip, dystopia, nanotechnology, technology, super soldier, cyborgs, super computer ...
Time:
near future, future, 2010s
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
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
Is relevant?
17K
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations.
Style:
black comedy, experimental, road movie, surreal, disturbing ...
Plot:
satire, surrealism, violence, traffic jam, murder, anarchism, car crash, car accident, misanthropy, on the road, cannibalism, cruelty ...
Time:
year 1967, 60s, 20th century
Place:
france, paris france
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Takes place in a chateau, an ambiguous story of a man and a woman who may or may not have met last year at Marienbad.
Style:
surreal, mind bending, sexy, experimental, psychological ...
Plot:
hotel, surrealism, memory, obsession, uncertainty, stream of consciousness, alternate reality, amnesia, haunted by the past, dishonesty, hopes, destiny ...
Time:
20th century, year 1961, 60s
Place:
france, europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min.
Story:
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his ...
Style:
philosophical, artsy, surreal, atmospheric, visually stunning ...
Audience:
teens, family outing
Plot:
childhood, philosophy, spirituality, existentialism, coming of age, death, father son relationship, hopes, parenthood, religion, grief, family relations ...
Time:
1950s, year 2011, prehistory, 20th century, 50s ...
Place:
texas, southern usa, america, usa, china
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
The shadows of screams climb beyond the hills. It has happened before. But this will be the last time. The last few sense it, withdrawing deep into the forest. They cry out into the black, as the shadows pass away, into the ground.
Style:
experimental, slow cinema, disturbing, captivating, suspenseful ...
Plot:
darkness, nature, poem, spirit, forces of nature, supernatural, mysticism, night, macabre, romanticism, stoner, cosmology ...
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min.
TV show
Story:
The Adventures Of Noel And His Friends Smooth, Andy Warhol And Dolly.
Style:
surreal, experimental, humorous, absurd, not serious ...
Plot:
sketch, silly humor, disorder, satire, surrealism, police, trippy, hallucination, psychedelia, dark humor, friendship, young adult ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: Thailand, UK
Duration: 61 min.
Story:
Shifting between fact and fiction in a hotel situated along the Mekong River, a filmmaker rehearses a movie expressing the bonds between a vampire-like mother and daughter...
Style:
surreal, experimental, serious, contemplative, sincere ...
Plot:
hotel, mother daughter relationship, family relations, supernatural, reincarnation, parents and children, symbolism, magic realism, isolation, macabre, underground, ritual ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
asia, thailand
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Hungary
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
A film where anything can happen - the hero and the heroine changes their faces, age, look, names, and so on. The only same thing: The love between man and woman... in an archetypical love story cut from 500 classics from all around the world.
Style:
experimental, romantic, thought provoking, captivating, anthology ...
Plot:
love story, love, love affair, crazy love, college, male female relationship, multiple storylines, seductive woman, seduction, romantic relationship, love and romance, couple relations ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
For the past 40 years, Jan Svankmajer (Faust, Conspirators of Pleasure) has been hailed as one of cinema's most consistently surprising, wildly imaginative, and remarkable surrealists of our time. Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, ...
Style:
experimental, psychological, disturbing, surreal, art film ...
Plot:
surrealism, stop motion, puppet, humanity in peril, human existence, human flesh, multiple storylines, absurdism, dark humor, macabre, puppetry, symbolism ...
Place:
czechoslovakia
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Denmark, France, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Italy
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
With his first Dogma-95 film director Lars von Trier opens up a completely new film platform. With a mix of home-video and documentary styles the film tells the story of a group of young people who have decided to get to know their ...
Style:
sexy, experimental, surreal, disturbing, erotic ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
dogme 95, commune, orgy, mental illness, sex orgy, male nudity, nudity, sex, unsimulated sex, community, stupidity, sex scene ...
Time:
year 1998, 90s, 20th century
Place:
denmark
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
A portrait of the effects of schizophrenia on family life is the central focus.
Style:
disturbing, experimental, art house, surreal, controversial ...
Plot:
mental illness, schizophrenia, dysfunctional family, dogme 95, abusive father, dogma, surrealism, misfit, skating, extreme, eccentricity, male nudity ...
Time:
year 1999, 90s
Place:
new york, usa, alabama
Is relevant?
Genre: Documentary, Animation, Biography, Drama, History, Mystery, War
Country: Israel, France, Germany, USA, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Much awarded animated documentary, in which director and Israeli army veteran Ari Folman interviews friends and former soldiers about their memories of the 1982 Lebanon war and especially the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut. The usage on ...
Style:
adult animation, rough, experimental, psychological, serious ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
politics, military, mass murder, memory loss, soldier, haunted by the past, guilt, male pubic hair, catastrophe, memory, mission, army ...
Time:
year 2008, 20th century, 2000s, 80s, 21st century
Place:
lebanon, israel, middle east, palestine, beirut lebanon
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
