What's a Mindf**k Movie?

Warning: This post contains language, because I'm not going to keep censoring the term "mindf**k movie." Got it?

After tackling the term "chick flick" a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to follow up by trying to pin down a working definition of the "mindfuck movie," a term I've been seeing used more and more on social network sites, particularly by young male moviegoers. To me, the term brings to mind movies featuring warped perceptions, the ones you'd expect from David Lynch and David Cronenberg. However, psychological genre thrillers like "Inception," "Shutter Island," and "Primer" seem to be the usual examples of mindfuck movies, stories that present you with one baseline reality and then find ways to subvert or twist that, calling into question what you think you know about what you've seen.

Lately, the term has been getting even broader, and covers movies with big narrative twists ("Old Boy," "Matchstick Men"), movies with psycedelic imagery or dream sequences ("Jacob's Ladder," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"), conspiracy stories ("Pi," "Eyes White Shut"), mental meltdowns ("Repulsion," "Black Swan"), unconventional narratives ("Memento," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), unconventional storytelling ("Waking Life," "The Fountain"), and some films that feature prominent fantasy elements juxtaposed with the real world ("Pan's Labyrinth," "Heavenly Creatures"). Pretty much anything that would have worked as a "Twilight Zone" episode or anything that feels like a "Twilight Zone" episode, qualifies to be a mindfuck movie.

So where are the boundaries? I think it's easier to rule out what a mindfuck movie isn't. Mindfuck movies are not straightforward. There's always some major element of the characters' reality that isn't what it initially seems or has significant ambiguities. At some point the viewer should question whether what they're witnessing is really happening in film's established reality. There's no particular genre that a mindfuck movie is limited to, but they do tend to be more prevalent in science-fiction and fantasy. Also, because the story has to set up some kind of big twist or multiple levels or versions of reality, they tend to be fairly complex, at least on the surface. Mindfuck movies are almost always high-concept, meaning that it's difficult to describe the basic premise in a simple sentence, the way you're supposed to these days with original material.

What I've found that what draws people to these movies is that they are at least a little bit unconventional and offer some surprises. Many of these films are still fairly formulaic, despite a few narrative detours, and don't get nearly as screwy and ambiguous and weird as I think they could be, but I can see how your average moviegoers could have their world shaken enough by the ending of "Oldboy" or the wacky visuals and apocalyptic vibes of "Donnie Darko" to declare them examples of really daring and edgy filmmaking. Movies like "Holy Motors" or "Certified Copy" technically should count as mindfuck movies, but they're way too highbrow for the people who are generally asking for movies in that category. So, while mindfuck movies have ambiguities and lingering questions that require interpretation, like "The Shining," we're not talking about the movies that go so far into avant-garde territory that they lose mainstream appeal.

People who watch mindfuck movies aren't looking for the really smart or challenging movies, but the movies that offer a certain kind of experience. The puzzle or the mystery of these stories may hold a lot of the appeal, but I think the most important element is the revelation moment, when the rug is pulled out from under the viewer's feet, rules are changed in an instant, and the world is turned upside down. I've noticed that whatever subversion of reality is employed in these movies, it has to be presented in a more visceral, threatening manner, to really give the reveal some punch. So a thriller like "Primer" is much more likely to be called a "mindfuck" than a contemplative existential film like "Stranger Than Fiction," or a gentle romantic-comedy like "Groundhog's Day." The "Narnia" movies don't count, because the fantasy world is exactly what it appears to be. In "Coraline," the fantasy world is really an elaborate trap, that the heroine doesn't discover until the third act, so it does.

I count myself as a fan of this emerging little genre, because the movies are usually more cerebral and creative than the norm. However, I dislike the term "mindfuck," which is a descriptor only a teenage boy could have come up with. I'm pretty sure it's a variation of an older name for them, "mind-bender" movies, which I don't like much either. "Psychological thriller" seems to be closer to what these movies actually do for viewers, though that name comes with a different set of connotations, and it's too broad. If these movies become more popular, I expect we'll figure something out eventually.

Happy watching.
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