Sarah Recommends: Mind-Bending Movies

This past year, many of us have faced quarantine boredom and tried to combat it with puzzles, books, games, or television shows. While all of these are acceptable substitutes, sometimes the best way to drag our minds away from the monotony of the world we are currently living in is through films that leave us questioning everything we’ve just seen. Below are some of my picks for movies that will keep your mind working through every minute, and may have you wondering what it was you just watched. Please note all of these are thrillers, both in English and not, and some may have themes not appropriate for those of younger ages.

Coherence (2013)

Language: English
Rated: NR

Where to Watch: Hoopla, Hulu, Amazon Prime

Eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of events due to the malevolent influence of a passing comet. The less you know about this film going into it, the better. This will leave you questioning what happened at the end.

My Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5


Prisoners

Language: English

Rated: R

Where to Watch: Danvers Library Rental, Hulu

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) faces a parent’s worst nightmare when his 6-year-old daughter, Anna, and her friend go missing. The only lead is an old motorhome that had been parked on their street. Dover, knowing that his daughter’s life is at stake, decides that he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands.

My Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5


The Call (2020)

Language: Korean

Rated: NR

Where to Watch: Netflix

In 2019, 28-year-old Kim Seo-yeon loses her cellphone while traveling to visit her sick, estranged mother in a rural area. Arriving at her rundown childhood home, she finds a decades-old cordless phone, and through it receives calls from a distressed woman who says she’s being tortured by her mother. After investigating the house, Seo-yeon figures out that the woman on the phone, Oh Young-sook, is living in the same house but in 1999.

My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆/5


I See You (2019)

Language: English

Rated: R

Where to Watch: Danvers Library Rental, Amazon Prime

I See You is a 2019 American crime horror film directed by Adam Randall, written by Devon Graye, produced by Matt Waldeck, and starring Helen Hunt, Jon Tenney, Judah Lewis, Owen Teague and Libe Barer. It follows a suburban family beset by unexplainable events that may be linked to the recent disappearance of a young boy.

My Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5


1BR (2019)

Language: English
Rated: PG-13

Where to Watch: NOBLE Library Catalog, Netflix

New to Los Angeles, a woman moves into a seemingly perfect apartment complex, and soon finds out that there are consequences for breaking the rules.

My Rating: ☆☆☆/5


The Invisible Guest (2016)

Language: Spanish

Rated: R

Where to Watch: Netflix

A young businessman wakes up in a locked hotel room next to the body of his dead lover. He hires a prestigious lawyer to defend him, and over the course of one night, they work together to find out what happened.

My Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5