Top 10 Movies Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for films that are visually or narratively groundbreaking, widely recognized as unique by critics and cinephiles, or are still influential years after release.

#10: “The Holy Mountain” (1973)

A psychedelic and spiritual journey, the film from perpetual boundary pusher Alejandro Jodorowsky is as visually bizarre as it is thematically complex. Financed in large part by John Lennon, the film featured astounding sets and fantastic costuming. Juxtaposing sacred symbolism with profane imagery, the film features literal human feces being transformed into gold by an alchemist played by Jodorowsky himself. Transgressive, sacrilegious, overtly sexual, and absurd, “The Holy Mountain” stunned and amazed audiences in its day, while its unique visuals, both beautiful and upsetting, remain impressive even now.

#9: “Mulholland Drive” (2001)

Finding a David Lynch film that would be considered “normal” would honestly be harder than choosing one for this list. Right off the bat, his first feature, “Eraserhead,” became an instant entry into the bizarro cannon, but we think he topped himself with the masterpiece “Mulholland Drive.” In true Lynch style, it features shifting surrealist narratives with actors in shifting roles, with a neo-noir plot and a Los Angles setting. Describing the plot would be as fruitless as attempting to find a definitive meaning for the film, which is open to a multitude of interpretations. While many have speculated on the film’s true meaning, Lynch refused to give any answers, preferring to let people come to their own conclusions.

#8: “The Fall” (2008)

An existential look at the way we tell stories, and how we distort and bring our own interpretation to them, “The Fall,” follows an injured stuntman telling a young girl a heroic tale. It sets its fantasy sequences apart by making them bold and colorful, with truly striking and memorable imagery. A painstaking process to film, the movie was shot over the course of four years, with shooting taking place in twenty-four countries. Few were able to take in the film’s awe-inspiring visuals and profound story as, after a limited theatrical run, it was unavailable on streaming and was out of print on DVD and Blu-ray. However, a 4K restoration and theatrical rerelease from Mubi in 2024 finally made the film widely available.

#7: “Being John Malkovich” (1999)

The plot of “Being John Malkovich” involves a struggling puppeteer discovering a portal into the titular character actor’s mind. The puppeteer soon devises a scheme to charge people to experience life through Makovich’s eyes in fifteen-minute chunks. The story, involving intersecting love triangles and a group trying to achieve shared immortality by using the actor as a vessel, only gets stranger from there. What really sets it apart, however, are the themes of identity and self it tackles with its existential motifs. It was the first film for both screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze. The former would continue exploring these ideas in a unique way with his screenplay for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

#6: “Dogville” (2004)

There's minimalism and then there’s "Dogville." The film uses limited props and set pieces, opting instead to have lines painted on the ground represent walls, streets, and entire buildings in a sterile soundstage. This makes the movie feel closer to a community theater play than a film starring Nicole Kidman. It also means that at any moment, we can see what the residents of the entire town are doing, with nothing to obstruct them, laying their deeds bare for the audience to see all at once. Even the camerawork and lighting are seemingly simplistic. Critics were divided on whether this approach was pretentious or brilliant, but they were in agreement that nothing was like it.

#5: “Hausu” (1977)

The plot of “Hausu,” also known as “House” in English-speaking countries, is nothing particularly out of the ordinary as far as horror films go. A group of teen girls visit a house possessed by evil spirits that slowly picks them off. What really sets it apart is the film’s gonzo style. The film is a nightmare-inducing fever dream with vivid colors, demonic cats, pianos that eat people, and cheesy yet endearing special effects. And it's all wrapped up in an allegory about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite commercial success in Japan, it was largely criticized by the country’s film critics and remained unreleased in America for decades. However, it has since gone on to become a cult hit and a midnight movie classic.

#4: “Memento” (2000)

Christopher Nolan has gained fame in recent years for his non-linear storytelling, employing a complex narrative structure and manipulating time. But this earlier foray into the style was his most interesting. “Memento” follows Leonard Shelby, who suffers from short-term memory loss, hunting down his wife’s killer. His story plays out in two storylines, one moving forward and the other in reverse. In the second, we move backward with Leonard having forgotten what just occurred, meaning the sequence is as new to him as it is to the viewer. Through the two narratives, Shelby’s past and present are revealed in a twisty noir ending that recontextualizes everything that came before, or technically, after.

#3: “Russian Ark” (2002)

There have been a number of movies that appear to be shot entirely in a single unbroken shot, including one by Alfred Hitchcock. While most of those films have used hidden cuts and other trickery, with the advent of digital photography, the ability to shoot truly long sequences became an option, and several films took advantage. None, however, has ever been as bold and ambitious as “Russian Ark,” shot in the historic Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. The hour-and-a-half film required a cast of two thousand, including three orchestras, to hit their marks as the camera wound through thirty-three rooms. After three failed attempts, and with the light fading the filmmakers had one final chance, and this time they got it.

#2: “Cloud Atlas” (2012)

Based on a novel considered to be impossible to adapt for the big screen, “Cloud Atlas” is a truly ambitious film set in six different time periods. Each setting also had its own genre, including detective fiction, sci-fi, and high-seas adventure. While each plot featured unique characters, actors played multiple roles, using prosthetics to play wildly different parts. This reinforced the theme that the circumstances of one's birth, such as race and gender, were little more than superficial differences, as we are all human. Seemingly small events end up rippling across history, having massive impacts, and with the recurring actors, we see the same souls meeting in different lives, with their love echoing across different lifetimes.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Primer” (2004)

Loops Within Loops In a Head-Screaming Indie Time Travel Film

“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)

A Sci-Fi Masterpiece That Redefined the Genre

“Persona” (1967)

Ingmar Bergman’s Psychological Horror About Identity and Art

“The Adventures of Prince Achmed” (1926)

The Oldest Surviving Animated Feature Film Utilizes Shadow Puppets

“The Red Shoes” (1948)

An Impressionistic Masterpiece about Performance and its Toll

#1: “Loving Vincent” (2017)

In telling the story of the life of the brilliant but troubled genius Vincent van Gogh, this biopic made an animated film unlike anything ever attempted. “Loving Vincent” recreates the style of the famous artist in every moment, meaning that every single frame in the animated film was animated with an individual oil painting. This gave it the distinction of being the first ever animated film to be fully painted, utilizing actors to capture the action and a team of one hundred and twenty-five artists using rotoscope techniques. With nearly nine hundred scenes and a staggering 65,000 frames, the film is truly a work of art.

What film have you watched that’s unlike any other? Let us know in the comments below.