My favourite films are those that take place in dirty alleys. In desolate New York subway tunnels. Films about pessimistic outcasts speeding around oil-slicked roads in ‘70s cars searching for answers, headlights illuminating the smoky air. Despite being a generally optimistic person, it's the paranoid conspiracies of the neo-noir (a genre proliferated in the 1970s refashioning the gritty violence and shadowy style of 1940s/50s Hollywood film noir for contemporary tastes) and psychological crime thriller that stalks my thoughts and domineers my tastes. What follows is a list (in no particular order) of gripping films of grime and disquietude. Stories of crime, corruption and conspiracy, visible only to obsessive characters tortured by a need to unravel the web.
Jacob’s Ladder (1990) dir. Adrian Lyne
Jacob Singer is a Vietnam war veteran traumatised from a brutal incident when he was stationed in a village in the Mekong Delta, where his unit underwent a surprise attack and their humanity slipped away to reveal something much more monstrous. Now discharged, Jacob begins seeing demonic figures in the faces of New Yorkers everywhere he goes.
Jacob’s Ladder is a pinnacle of conspiracy film that pierces into the viewer’s primal fear. With its gripping body horror sequences and sonic landscape of excruciating dread, the constant paranoia of this film had me verging on a panic attack in the cozy Art Deco seats of the Golden Age Cinema. Hilariously, the film also features a favourite song of mine, ‘What’s Going On’ by Marvin Gaye, during one of the film’s most stressful scenes. If not for the unforgettable horrors it contains, why not watch Jacob’s Ladder for the Marvin Gaye needle drop?
Thief (1981) dir. Michael Mann
Thief is an expertly simple neo-noir dripping in style and precision. Our protagonist Frank is a talented jewel thief who catches the attention of a calculating mob boss to lead an ambitious heist. Allured by the opportunity to make a permanent exit from the crime world and escape to the peaceful family life he craves, everything hinges on this singular, final job (this premise may ring a bell to fans of Heat).
The anxious feeling of the mob’s constant presence is oppressive, amplified by the deliberate camera movements and resonant, ever-building score by German electronic artists Tangerine Dream (if you listen to the Challengers remix album as often as I do, you might enjoy the Thief soundtrack). This is a phenomenal heist movie — decadent neon visuals, expressively shot action sequences and a pervasive sense of cool — all executed with such mastery that it’s staggering to realise this is Mann’s first feature.
Seconds (1966) dir. John Frankenheimer
Seconds tells the story of an upper-middle-class man who stumbles upon an underground scientific organisation that offers second chances at a fulfilling life. With the help of this secret society, he fakes an accidental death and adopts a new identity, and a new face.
With its sprawling hallways, stilted performances and fish-eye angles, Seconds presents a world that feels eerily un-human. I wouldn’t be surprised if Corelie Faragat took inspiration from this film while conceptualising The Substance, given the obvious commonalities in theme and expressionistic cinematography. Given the recent rise in popularity of absurdism, surrealism and body horror, I implore everyone to hunt down a copy of this movie.
Barking Dogs Never Bite (2001) dir. Bong Joon Ho
Barking Dogs is a bizarre comedy-thriller that grapples with the corruption of everyday people in pursuit of a grander life they can only seem to reach via extreme means.
When Yun-ju, lacking work, becomes increasingly frustrated by the constant barking of a neighbour’s dog, he has nothing better to do than try to stop it. This soon unravels into a full-blown conspiracy of disappearing dogs, and the young idealist Hyeon-nam rises to find them in hopes of being praised by the local news station as a hero. This black comedy is a one-of-a-kind movie, equal parts exciting and emotionally sobering in that special way that Bong Joon Ho has become prolific for. However, I will give a massive content warning for upsetting scenes involving animal cruelty.
If you end up enjoying the titles on this list, I strongly recommend you explore Bong Joon Ho’s filmography and Korean cinema in general, which are rich with other fantastic crime thrillers, procedurals, and mysteries.
Mulholland Drive (2001) dir. David Lynch
Once, I got in a car crash moments after animatedly raving to the person driving about David Lynch’s cult classic murder mystery Twin Peaks. If there is a god, they are sick of hearing me talk about Twin Peaks.
It likely surprises no one then, to see the recently-passed director’s surrealist masterpiece, Mulholland Drive, appear in this list. The beloved story starts when naive, good-hearted Betty moves to Hollywood to pursue acting, finding an amnesiac woman taking shelter in her house after surviving a suspicious car crash (pausing for a moment to revel in the irony of my prior David Lynch car accident anecdote). As the two women attempt to recover the truth, they become submerged in a conspiracy that sprawls across Hollywood.
If you are lucky enough to see this film for the first time, I recommend you do so alone, on a big screen with the volume turned up high, and with no more prior context than this brief introduction.
Currently available on Stan.
Under the Silver Lake (2018) dir. David Robert Mitchell
In many ways, Under the Silver Lake is David Robert Mitchell’s sarcastic take on Mulholland Drive for the Internet age. Both dissect the perverse corruption of Hollywood and the sordid Los Angeles underworld. There’s even a Patrick Fischler cameo nodding to his famous role in Lynch’s movie.
Sam is unemployed, debauched, and on the brink of being evicted. When his attractive new neighbour suddenly vanishes, Sam becomes obsessed with finding her and unwinding the web of flimsy clues leading him through LA’s underground of mysterious dog killers, secret codes, and night-stalking, murdering owl-women.
Funnily enough, I find this film most interesting when putting the outlandish conspiracy plot to the side, and viewing it instead as a satire of the male gaze.
Currently available on Prime Video.
Stills sourced via FILMGRAB and ShotDeck.