Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows
Recommended reading
Leonardo DiCaprio as Trooper William "Billy" Costigan Jr. undercover and sneaking next to a wall during a scene in The Departed.
Thriller Movies The 25 best thriller movies to send a shiver down your spine
Uma Thurman as Discord in The Old Guard 2.
Movies The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch this week
Neytiri in Avatar
Movies The 32 greatest sci-fi movies of the 2000s
Tom Holland in new Netflix movie The Devil All the Time
Thriller Movies The 25 best Netflix thrillers to watch right now
The White House gets destroyed in Independence Day
Movies The 32 Greatest Sci-Fi Movie Moments Of All Time
Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby
Movies The 32 greatest movies under 90 minutes
Keir Dullea in 2001: A Space Odyssey
Movies 32 Movies With Ambiguous Endings
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

30 Mindbending Movie Scenes

Features
By George Wales published 27 March 2013

What a trip

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

The Scene: A deliriously nutso dream sequence in which David Kessler imagines the hospital under attack from a horde of gun-toting mutant Nazis!

The Crazy: You might have been expecting werewolves. You almost certainly wouldn't have expected the above!

Page 1 of 30
Page 1 of 30
Pinocchio (1940)

Pinocchio (1940)

The Scene: The Pleasure Island sequence, a cautionary tale for any would-be delinquents in the audience. Pretty effective it is, too!

The Crazy: Behave yourself or you'll be transformed into a donkey and sold into captivity. Er, okay.

Page 2 of 30
Page 2 of 30
Wild Strawberries (1957)

Wild Strawberries (1957)

The Scene: Professor Isak has a bizarre nightmare featuring handless clocks, deserted cityscapes and the worrying site of a coffin containing his own corpse. Heavy…

The Crazy:
A dream sequence in a Bergman film was never going to be particularly fluffy, and so it proves here with this head-scratching sequence.

Page 3 of 30
Page 3 of 30
Knocked Up (2007)

Knocked Up (2007)

The Scene: Cirque du Soleil on mushrooms… sounded like a good idea at the time, didn’t it chaps? Oh dear…

The Crazy: Grotesque French clowns, made all the more grotesque thanks to Judd Apatow’s fish-eye lens. No wonder the boys head straight back to the hotel afterwards!

Page 4 of 30
Page 4 of 30
Natural Born Killers (1994)

Natural Born Killers (1994)

The Scene: The diner sequence, in which Mickey and Mallory lay waste to a posse of rednecks in supremely grisly style.

The Crazy:
As the camera lurches woozily around the diner, rapidly flipping between colour and black and white, you can tell that a storm is brewing. And when it finally arrives, its quite the head-rush!

Page 5 of 30
Page 5 of 30
Requiem For A Dream (2000)

Requiem For A Dream (2000)

The Scene: Sara hallucinates that she’s watching herself compete on her favourite game show, while her fridge steadily makes its way from the kitchen towards her armchair.

The Crazy: Things get increasingly upsetting as Sara’s fragile grasp on reality steadily begins to ebb away, and her fantasy life comes ramming into her consciousness with extreme prejudice.

Page 6 of 30
Page 6 of 30
Spun (2002)

Spun (2002)

The Scene: Brittany Murphy and Jason Schwartzman get their tweak on as they cruise round LA whilst completely out of their heads.

The Crazy: It's jump-cuts ahoy as the audience gets a look inside the minds of a pair of meth users. Not advisable for sufferers of the jitters…

Page 7 of 30
Page 7 of 30
Being John Malkovich (1999)

Being John Malkovich (1999)

The Scene: If the idea of a portal that allows one to experience the world as John Malkovich sees it wasn't weird enough what would happen if Malkovich himself went through said portal?

The Crazy: Charlie Kaufman is in possession of a rare imagination indeed. Malkovich Malkovich, Malkovich!

Page 8 of 30
Page 8 of 30
The Shining (1980)

The Shining (1980)

The Scene: As poor old Wendy Torrance tries to make her escape, she stumbles upon a man in a bear suit giving a spot of oral relief to a fellow partygoer. Whuh?

The Crazy: It’s a moment of purest surrealism that totally throws the audience for a loop in the middle of an already hugely tense sequence!

Page 9 of 30
Page 9 of 30
Spellbound (1945)

Spellbound (1945)

The Scene: Gregory Peck recounts the bizarre dreams he's been having, in which a sinister masked man stalks him at every turn.

The Crazy: Dream sequences often give a director license to go a little "out there", and Hitchcock doesn't waste the opportunity, hiring Salvador Dali to construct his dreamscapes.

Page 10 of 30
Page 10 of 30
Antichrist (2009)

Antichrist (2009)

The Scene: Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg get down to it out in the woods, underneath the shade of an old oak tree. However, there's something a bit off about this particular oak…

The Crazy: As the camera pulls out, disembodied human hands are revealed to be poking out from the tree's various nooks and crannies. Odd.

Page 11 of 30
Page 11 of 30
The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Scene: The Dude gets his drink spiked, causing him to experience some extremely odd dreams in which bowling naturally features heavily.

The Crazy: Even Saddam makes an appearance, handing the Dude his bowling shoes when he hits the lanes…

Page 12 of 30
Page 12 of 30
Videodrome (1983)

Videodrome (1983)

The Scene: James Woods is settled in for a nice evening in front of the telly, only for things to get a bit mental as the screen starts addressing him directly…

The Crazy: As if the on-screen murder of the presenter wasn't enough, the television itself soon starts to morph and mutate. Pucker up, James!

Page 13 of 30
Page 13 of 30
Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (1937)

Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (1937)

The Scene: Snow White’s escape into the dark forest is one of the scariest sequences of any children’s film you’d care to mention, with Snow enduring all manner of reality-distorting horrors before finally passing out.

The Crazy:
Trees with gaping mouths, driftwood that snaps like a crocodile, disembodied pairs of glowing eyes… no wonder she faints!

Page 14 of 30
Page 14 of 30
The Fly (1986)

The Fly (1986)

The Scene: As if the film wasn’t already grotesque enough, Cronenberg throws in a dream sequence for good measure that manages to trump everything else in terms of body-horror weirdness. Yes, it’s when Geena Davis gives birth to a giant maggot. Urgh.

The Crazy: You know something horrible is going to happen from the minute the sequence begins, but you probably won’t have been expecting the sheer level of ickiness of what takes place!

Page 15 of 30
Page 15 of 30
Zoolander (2001)

Zoolander (2001)

The Scene: A gloriously silly bit of head-scrambling, as Mugatu brainwashes Zoolander in supremely daft fashion. Just look at that dog…

The Crazy: It might be played for laughs, but this is still a pleasingly surreal affair, even if it largely revolves around Will Ferrell shouting!

Page 16 of 30
Page 16 of 30
A Scanner Darkly (2006)

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

The Scene: The opening freakout in which Rory Cochrane’s junky imagines himself plagued by a swarm of entirely imaginary bugs. Not very pleasant…

The Crazy: Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped animation blurs the line between fantasy and reality, creating an effective sense of heightened awareness. And of course, everyone hates bugs…

Page 17 of 30
Page 17 of 30
Trainspotting (1996)

Trainspotting (1996)

The Scene: Renton feels the full force of heroin withdrawal as his parents lock him in his bedroom and force him to go cold turkey…

The Crazy: The horrifying, bloated baby crawling across the ceiling is enough to put you off drugs for life. Stay n school, kids!

Page 18 of 30
Page 18 of 30
Across The Universe (2007)

Across The Universe (2007)

The Scene: A brain-scrambling circus scene in which Ringmaster Mr. Kite presides over a bizarre menagerie indeed. Come back Zippo, all is forgiven…

The Crazy: Clowns are a bit scary at the best of times, but these take it to the next level. Yikes!

Page 19 of 30
Page 19 of 30
Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko (2001)

The Scene: Donnie stares into the mirror, before touching it and revealing its fluid texture. Weird enough on its own, before the sudden arrival of a man in a giant rabbit suit in place of Donnie’s reflection…

The Crazy: The slow build of the doom-laden score coupled with Frank’s horrifying appearance is jarring to say the least…

Page 20 of 30
Page 20 of 30
Altered States (1980)

Altered States (1980)

The Scene: The water-tank hallucinations, featuring the famous image of an eight-eyed goat, among various other horrors!

The Crazy: Jesus on the cross with the head of an eight-eyed goat… crazy enough for you?

Page 21 of 30
Page 21 of 30
Enter The Void (2010)

Enter The Void (2010)

The Scene: The entire movie probably qualifies, but we'll opt for the sequence set within a woman's birth canal. which will buzz around your brain long after the credits have rolled.

The Crazy:
Watching a sex scene from inside a woman's body as the camera follows the semen's journey to the ovum, is quite an experience...

Page 22 of 30
Page 22 of 30
Dumbo (1941)

Dumbo (1941)

The Scene: Pink elephants on parade. What exactly were those animators smoking, we wonder?

The Crazy: The discordant music is pretty disorientating on its own, but pared with the grotesquely distorted elephants, its doubly effective.

Page 23 of 30
Page 23 of 30
Easy Rider (1969)

Easy Rider (1969)

The Scene: Our freewheeling heroes decide to drop some acid in New Orleans. It's quite fun to begin with, and then you get the feeling they'd probably quite like it to stop.

The Crazy: Quick-fire editing, strange imagery and a sprinkling of nudity is the perfect way to recreate the mania of a heavy dose of acid.

Page 24 of 30
Page 24 of 30
The Adventures Of Mark Twain (1985)

The Adventures Of Mark Twain (1985)

The Scene: This children's movie takes a turn for the macabre during this weird claymation sequence in which our young heroes share an encounter with, erm, Satan.

The Crazy: Satan's cruel destruction of a little clay village is both bizarre, frightening and not really suitable for children at all!

Page 25 of 30
Page 25 of 30
Vertigo (1958)

Vertigo (1958)

The Scene: Scotty's famously trippy nightmare, in which our hero finds his sleep disturbed by some very lurid imagery, as designed by expressionist artist John Ferren.

The Crazy: The close-up on the locket, complete with flashing colours and Carlotta's disconcerting stare, is disturbing in the extreme.

Page 26 of 30
Page 26 of 30
Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

The Scene: A gruelling dream sequence (or is it?) in which Satan comes to collect upon the arrangement made with Rosemary's husband.

The Crazy: It's probably one of the most uncomfortable sex scenes you'll ever witness, made all the more unnerving by the question mark over whether or not it's actually happening.

Page 27 of 30
Page 27 of 30
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)

The Scene: The boys attempt to check into a Vegas hotel while tripping their nuts off. Needless to say, it doesn't run entirely smoothly, particularly since the receptionist appears to be transforming into a dragon!

The Crazy: "There is no way of explaining the terror I felt," says Depp's character. And who can blame him?

Page 28 of 30
Page 28 of 30
Eraserhead (1977)

Eraserhead (1977)

The Scene: Almost too many to choose from, but we’ll go for the claymation sequence in which the worm emerges from the cupboard and goes wiggling around all over the shop.

The Crazy: As well as the obviously bizarre visuals, the wheedling noises emitted by the creature only add to the sense of mania!

Page 29 of 30
Page 29 of 30
Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)

Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)

The Scene: Wonka takes his party of visitors on a nightmarish boat trip through a psychedelic tunnel of horrors. Do not adjust your sets…

The Crazy: The whole sequence feels as if it's been lifted from an avant-garde horror movie rather than a slice of wholesome family entertainment.

Page 30 of 30
Page 30 of 30
George Wales
George Wales
Social Links Navigation

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.

See more Movies Features
Read more
Leonardo DiCaprio as Trooper William "Billy" Costigan Jr. undercover and sneaking next to a wall during a scene in The Departed.
The 25 best thriller movies to send a shiver down your spine
Uma Thurman as Discord in The Old Guard 2.
The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch this week
Neytiri in Avatar
The 32 greatest sci-fi movies of the 2000s
Tom Holland in new Netflix movie The Devil All the Time
The 25 best Netflix thrillers to watch right now
The White House gets destroyed in Independence Day
The 32 Greatest Sci-Fi Movie Moments Of All Time
Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby
The 32 greatest movies under 90 minutes
Latest in Movies
David Corenswet as Superman
David Corenswet has a favorite DC character he'd like Superman to meet next, and we're totally on board with it
Upcoming movies: Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning
New Tom Cruise underwater action thriller reportedly put on pause after budget spirals to $275m
Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw as Sofia and Rose in Hot Milk
Sun, sea, and strained relationships: Andor's Fiona Shaw and Barbie's Emma Mackey play a mother and daughter on the brink in new drama Hot Milk
David Corenswet as Superman in James Gunn's Superman
Is James Gunn's Superman linked to Justice League and the rest of the DCEU? The new superhero movie's canon, explained
The T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
Jurassic World: Rebirth writer "didn't have a single idea" how to continue the previous movies' 'dinosaurs in the our world' thing – so he backtracked using a key moment in Michael Crichton's novel
Pokemon image of Pikachu
Gotta watch 'em all: The best Pokémon movies from your childhood are available for free on YouTube for a "limited time"
Latest in Features
Alexej Manvelov as Akram Salim in Dept. Q
I’ve seen countless crime dramas, but Netflix’s Dept. Q and Poker Face season 2 are rewriting the sidekick archetype for the better
Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw as Sofia and Rose in Hot Milk
Sun, sea, and strained relationships: Andor's Fiona Shaw and Barbie's Emma Mackey play a mother and daughter on the brink in new drama Hot Milk
Two menacing gingerbread men look intimidating while a candy person waves from a cage
I didn't expect to like the latest D&D book, but after an utterly stupid adventure I'm all in on Dragon Delves
Mion and Rena look uneasy in the classroom in Higurashi: When They Cry
The Silent Hill f writer's debut game was basically the original Doki Doki Literature Club, and it's still terrifying me 23 years later
Quantum Witch screenshots
This stunning 2D "plotformer" is the ultimate cottagecore fantasy with an extra dose of mystery, sapphic witches, and a giant lady who fights you
Superman
Krypto the Superdog - The comic history of Superman's best friend
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...