20 Best Mind Bending Movies On Netflix Right Now

20. Extinction (2018)

Directed by Ben Young, this 2018 film stars Michael Pena and Lizzy Caplan in the leading roles. Pena plays a man called Peter who is subject to vivid and horrific dreams where he sees his loved ones are confronted by aliens who have invaded the earth. Worried, Peter visits a psychiatrist where he meets another man who is having similar dreams. The city is attacked that very day, and a string of events follow, which makes us question what we have been seeing for so long. Peter also reveals secrets about himself which were totally unexpected when the movie began. ‘Extinction’ has some solid performances and an amazing revelation in the end, but it has been criticized for its formulaic nature.

19. The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

After ‘Cloverfield’ (2008) and ’10, Cloverfield Lane’ (2016), ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ is the latest edition of the series, and this time the problem has shifted from invading aliens to a massive energy crisis on Earth. The scientists have decided that they can use a particle reactor to harness infinite amounts of energy, but there is also the risk of opening portals to another realm which makes us vulnerable to a potentially dangerous parallel universe. Though the movie has not received positive reviews, its connection to the Cloverfield universe makes it a must-watch for people who love mind-bending movies.

18. Lavender (2016)

‘Lavender’ opens in 1985 when a man named Patrick receives the news of his brother, his brother’s wife, and his niece’s massacre. The police even go on to reveal that a teenager named Jane was the only surviving member on the scene. Cut to 2010; Jane is a professional photographer famous for taking pictures of abandoned farmhouses. Although she is married and even has a daughter named Alice, she falls victim to frequent memory loss, which strains her relationship with her family. Things turn even worse when Jane is unable to recognize her daughter and husband after a car accident, although she receives a mysterious music box and a picture of a farmhouse she had photographed as a gift, which eventually reveals that Jane is considered the person responsible for the 1985 massacre. Another photograph leads to her having unexplainable visions, and soon the line dividing the past and present begins to blur, making Jane question her reality.

17. Mirage (2018)

‘Mirage’ opens in 1989 during a 72-hour-long electrical storm, when a boy, Nivo, witnesses his neighbor’s murder at the hands of her husband. Terrified, he runs onto the street, where a car hits and kills him on the spot. Twenty-five years later, Vera Roy and David Ortiz move into the same house and find an old TV set along with cassettes and video recorders. While going through a few cassettes, Vera comes across the video taken by Nico and begins watching it as a similar electrical storm begins lashing down on the city. After learning of the way Nico died, Vera discovers that she can interact with the boy through the tape and thus manages to save his life. However, this results in a space-time continuum glitch that completely alters her reality. With her husband now married to a different woman and her child never born, Vera desperately hunts for ways to set things right as the movie builds up to a mind-bending climax.

16. The Discovery (2017)

Is there an afterlife? Well, Thomas, the character played by Robert Redford in this 2017 movie, believes so and has also managed to scientifically prove this fact. Suicide tolls increase when people come to know they have a chance to lead a better life after they die. In the meanwhile, his son Will meets a girl named Isla on a ferry and they visit Will’s father’s laboratory to explain to him the dangers his discovery is causing. There, they find out yet another invention made by their father. Will keeps seeing visions of a boy on a beach about which he talks to Isla. His father’s machine helps him understand that he is caught in a loop from which he needs to get out. The movie sees some great performances from Rooney Mara, Robert Redford, and Jason Segel.

15. IO (2019)

This movie only shows us what can be the near-future of the earth in a few decades. It serves as a warning sign more than anything else. It speaks of a dystopic future when the Earth has become so toxic that mankind has colonized Io, a moon of Jupiter. A girl, Sam, is among the few people still living on the Earth and she comes across another such human, Micah, who tries to convince her to leave for Io soon. Meanwhile, her boyfriend has taken part in an expedition to find another planet suited for living. The question that this movie brings up is vital- in this day and age of heavy industrialization, when will the Earth finally become unlivable? And what shall we do then?

14. iBoy (2017)

Released on Netflix, this cyberpunk thriller stars Maisie Williams of ‘Game of Thrones’ fame. She plays a character called Lucy, whose friend, Tom Harvey, gets hit by shrapnel from his phone and finds out that he can now visualize digital signals. Lucy gets brutally raped in her home, which makes Tom use his powers to bring the attackers to justice. This unique tale is of a superhero of a different kind. Tom can see digital signals, and thus has an upper hand over everyone because the world now runs on digital data. The movie, though a thriller, might be taken as a metaphor for the fact that whoever controls digital data is currently our master.

Read More: Best Suspense Movies on Netflix

13. The Perfection (2018)

‘The Pefection’ revolves around promising young cellist Charlotte Willmore, who leaves the Bachoff music school in order to care for her ailing mother. Once her terminally ill mother passes away, Charlotte contacts the head of the school and discovers that a star student named Lizzie took over her place after she left. Although Charlotte initially befriends Lizzie and starts a romantic relationship with her, jealousy takes over, and Charlotte feeds Lizzie a hallucination-inducing medicine before manipulating her to hack off her arm. Although Charlotte goes back to her everyday life as if nothing has happened, things change when Lizzie returns, leading to a mind-bending tale of vengeance that hides a massive twist and threatens to expose one sinister secret after the other.

12. Berlin Syndrome (2017)

‘Berlin Syndrome’ revolves around an Australian photographer and backpacker, Clare, who meets an English teacher called Andi while vacationing in Berlin. Drawn towards each other, Clare and Andi share a steamy one-night stand, although the following morning, the Australian native realizes that Andi has locked her inside his apartment. When Andi returns, he is pretty apologetic about forgetting to let Clare out, and she forgives him, which leads to another night of fun. However, with each passing night, Clare gets familiar with Andi’s possessive ways, which start with a simple word written on her shoulder and goes all the way to him restraining her to the bed. Clare also realizes that the English teacher’s apartment is built like a prison, and the situation gets even more sinister when Andi is suspected of having murdered his previous girlfriend.

11. The Guilty (2021)

‘The Guilty’ revolves around LAPD officer Joe Baylor, who is under investigation for shooting a teenager during duty. Working the night shift at a 911 call center, he eagerly awaits the end of his shift and his next hearing, where he plans to plead not guilty. While accepting various 911 calls, Joe gets connected to a scared woman, Emily, who claims that her ex-husband, Henry, has abducted her. Initially, he tries highway patrol to locate the vehicle but is unsuccessful. Then, managing to extract her home address, Joe sends officers to the house, where they find her daughter, as well as the mutilated body of her younger child. Moreover, after breaking into her ex-husband’s home, authorities find that the woman is a patient at a mental health facility. As roles suddenly get reversed, and the truth begins coming to light, the movie delivers one mind-bending twist after the other, making this a must-watch.

10. In The Shadow Of The Moon (2019)

In 1988, a police officer is hunting a serial killer and manages to track her down, only to watch in horror as she gets trampled by a subway train. The case closes after the murderer is dead. Only she is not dead and resurfaces 9 years later and the killings start again. With the authorities unable to comprehend the logic-defying murders, only one cop is close to figuring out the reality, especially when she starts dropping hints. ‘In The Shadow Of The Moon’ is a crime thriller that will leave your head slightly spinning when you’re done watching it, and that’s not entirely a bad thing.

9. Horse Girl (2020)

Sarah is a sweet, socially awkward woman with a fondness for crafts and horses. The film ‘Horse Girl‘ centers around Sarah as she gets increasingly paranoid and suffers a total, crippling mental breakdown to the point where she cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not. The surreal psychological drama tries to take viewers inside Sarah’s mentally disturbed headspace so that audiences can feel as she slips further and further down the spiral. Some really great acting by Allison Brie who plays Sarah; there’s a strange fragility in her eyes that threatens to shatter as the film progresses.

8. Anon (2018)

In a future where even people’s private memories aren’t really private since all memories are recorded, crime is almost non-existent. The existence of an intriguing young woman with no name, no identity, no digital history at all is bad news for the cops, as she heralds the resurgence of crime that they had so carefully kept in check. ‘Anon’ might be more a cautionary glimpse into the future than just a figment of someone’s imagination, as our generation recklessly documents every tiny detail of our lives on the digital plane. Could we be rolling towards a time when our memories are recorded and can be viewed by others? Who can say?

7. Lucid Dream (2017)

A father desperately searching for his missing son has exhausted almost every avenue in the three years since the child got abducted. He finally comes across the method of lucid dreaming that will enable him to see the exact moment when his son got kidnapped and track him from there, all while sleeping. ‘Lucid Dream’ is an intense South Korean sci-fi mystery-thriller that is not completely without faults. It mostly maintains the fast-paced fervor but stumbles a bit here and there when it gets way too emotional for the genre.

6. The Call (2020)

‘The Call’ revolves around city-dweller Kim Seo-Yeon, who loses her cellphone while traveling to the village to meet her mother in 2019. However, once at their dilapidated village house, Kim finds a cordless phone that connects her to a woman in 1999. The woman, Oh Young-sook, lives in the same house but claims that her mother is torturing her. Realizing an opportunity to save her father, who died in a fire back in 1999, Kim uses Oh to try and warn him of the impending danger. The plan works, and Kim finds both her parents alive and the house in better order. Still connected through the call, Kim finds out how Oh dies and subsequently warns her, resulting in Oh killing her mother and becoming a serial killer. Interestingly, no matter how the girls try and make things right in the past, it somehow affects the future negatively. However, what makes the film so incredible is how it makes the audience rack their brains about the pair’s next move before delivering a twist that is sure to blow one’s mind.

5. The Gift (2015)

‘The Gift’ follows married couple, Simon and Robyn, who are very much in love and lead a perfect life. After relocating to a Los Angeles suburb, the pair comes across Simon’s old classmate, Gordon Moseley, who is overjoyed to meet his old acquaintance. However, the situation grows strange when Gordon visits the couple at odd times, much to Simon’s annoyance. He even invites the couple to his home for dinner but leaves them alone, citing an urgent work problem. Although Simon and Robyn do not think much of Gordon’s behavior initially, they soon find the fish in their pond dead and their dog missing. Moreover, Robyn also hears strange footsteps around the house, and while Gordon is the only suspect, sinister revelations from the past soon indicate that even Simon is not who he claims to be.

4. Shutter Island (2010)

‘Shutter Island’ revolves around US Marshals Edward “Teddy” Daniels and Chuck Aule, who are sent to Ashecliffe Hospital, a mental asylum for criminals, in order to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando. While the disappearance is mysterious in itself, Edward and Chuck face additional challenges when the Ashecliffe Hospital refuses to cooperate and reveals that Rachel’s doctor had gone away from the asylum immediately after the disappearance. In the meantime, Teddy is plagued with his own visions from the past, which mysteriously blend in with the circumstances at the asylum and make him question the very reality. Known for its mind-bending twists and revelations, ‘Shutter Island’ is a treat for fans who enjoy psychological thrillers.

3. Happy As Lazzaro (2018)

‘Happy As Lazzaro’ is an Italian mind-bending drama film that follows the incredulous, unbelievable, inexplicable story of Lazzaro, a good-natured and simple-minded young peasant who helps his nobleman friend Tancredi fake his own kidnapping to dupe his mother. The two boys bond as they run through the wilderness, even wondering if they could be half-brothers. When the police arrive and evacuate the illegally run tobacco estate, the boys are separated and Lazarro falls off the high end of a cliff. Miraculously, he does not die and wakes up many years later, not having aged at all. The movie’s plot gets pleasantly odder as Lazarro sets out to find his old friend Tancredi. ‘Happy As Lazzaro’ starkly points out the class difference between the rich and the poor and how one exploits the other.

2. Fractured (2019)

‘Fractured’ follows couple Ray and Joanne, as well as their daughter, Perri, while returning from thanksgiving dinner. Ray and Joanne’s marriage seems to be in trouble, and the couple keeps arguing before deciding to stop at a nearby store to buy batteries. At the store, a stray dog scares Perri, and she falls into a construction pit nearby. Although her injuries don’t appear to be serious, Joanne insists that they should get her checked at a hospital. Once in the hospital, Perri and Joanne go off to do a scan while Ray waits. Hours pass, and with no news of his family, Ray walks up to the front desk, demanding an answer. However, the hospital claims to have never served such people, and sure enough, all traces of his family are missing from the records. Desperate with fear, Ray involves the police and even suspects an organ trafficking ring but to no avail. Working wonders on the audiences’ minds, the movie builds up tension before delivering a twist that will make one think long after the credits finish rolling.

1. Oxygen (2021)

‘Oxygen’ revolves around Elizabeth Hansen, who awakens in an airtight cryogenic unit, where oxygen levels are falling rapidly. Desperate to survive, she learns her name from the AI before contacting her husband, Léo Ferguson. Upon calling Leo, a woman picks answers the phone. However, once Elizabeth mentions she is Leo’s wife, the confused woman hangs up the phone. Anxious with worry, Elizabeth tries the number again, and this time, the woman informs her that earth has been overridden by a deadly virus that even killed her husband. Moreover, Elizabeth also manages to get the pod’s master code, but it doesn’t grant her freedom from a gravity-less hollow space. As Elizabeth’s fate is slowly revealed, the movie does a wonderful job of building suspense through confusion and, interestingly, with each twist, makes viewers question if everything is really as it seems.

20. Extinction (2018)#

19. The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)#

18. Lavender (2016)#

17. Mirage (2018)#

16. The Discovery (2017)#

15. IO (2019)#

14. iBoy (2017)#

13. The Perfection (2018)#

12. Berlin Syndrome (2017)#

11. The Guilty (2021)#

10. In The Shadow Of The Moon (2019)#

9. Horse Girl (2020)#

8. Anon (2018)#

7. Lucid Dream (2017)#

6. The Call (2020)#

5. The Gift (2015)#

4. Shutter Island (2010)#

3. Happy As Lazzaro (2018)#

2. Fractured (2019)#

1. Oxygen (2021)#