10 movies about mental hospitals, which will make you uncomfortable

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

"Medicine for Health", "Interrupted Life", "Substitution" and other pictures, the heroes of which had hard times in the walls of hospitals.

10. Grave seekers

• Canada, 2010.
• Horror, thriller.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 1.

Participants in the documentary program "The Grave Seekers" agree to spend the night in an abandoned mental hospital to dispel myths about the ghosts living there. At first, everything goes fine, but later the heroes realize that they have gone to hell: it is impossible to get out of the building, and something terrible is also coming to the poor journalists.

Canadian horror film in the genre of "found tape" whips up horror no worse than the famous "Blair Witch" and "Reportage". Best of all, the authors succeeded in the atmosphere of hopelessness and despair: watching the heroes wander along the endless corridors of the hospital, you involuntarily imagine yourself in their place and sympathize with them with all your heart.

9. Medicine for health

• USA, Germany, 2017.
• Horror, fantasy, thriller, drama, detective.
• Duration: 146 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

A young careerist Lockhart goes to a secluded sanatorium in the Swiss Alps to pick up his boss, on whose signature the success of an important deal depends. Doctors smile at the hero, but under various pretexts do not allow him to meet with the boss. Lockhart is forced to stay in the hospital and gradually realizes that something terrible is hidden within its walls.

When creating Cure for Health, director Gore Verbinski was inspired by the horror movies of the 70s, and also filled the picture with references to Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain and other intellectual literature. As a result, the film came out so surreal and depressing on the nerves that after it you would not want to visit health establishments at all.

8. Out of your mind

• USA, 2018.
• Thriller, detective.
• Duration: 98 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

A girl with an unusual name Sawyer Valentini has long been pursued by an obsessive boyfriend. The heroine moves to another city, but the developed persecution mania does not give her rest. Then she turns to specialists, signing a number of papers, after which she is immediately placed in a psychiatric hospital. There it turns out that the same stalker works in the clinic as a nurse, and Sawyer gradually ceases to understand who is going crazy - herself or the world around.

The plot of the thriller by Stephen Soderbergh was born from the idea of what will happen if a person is unwillingly placed in a hospital, where he will be in full power of his persecutor. In addition to a strong and engaging story, the film is also notable for the fact that it was shot entirely on the iPhone. This made production much faster and cheaper - filming took only two weeks.

7. Veronica decides to die

• USA, 2009.
• Drama, melodrama.
• Duration: 99 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

A young office worker Veronica tries to commit suicide, but fails. When the girl wakes up in the hospital, the doctors tell her the sad news: with the pills she damaged her heart and will die in a couple of weeks. Then the desire to perish is replaced very quickly by an equally strong desire to live.

The film based on the philosophical fiction of Paulo Coelho turned out to be much more melodramatic than the book. The action was transferred from Slovenia to America, and the plot with a bias towards esotericism was turned into a romantic story that everyone understands.

6. I'm a cyborg, but that's okay

• South Korea, 2006.
• Drama, melodrama, comedy.
• Duration: 105 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 0.

Yong Gun, a radio factory worker, decides one day that she is a cyborg and will only be powered by electricity from now on. The girl is placed in an insane asylum, where doctors try to force her to eat in the traditional way, and the patients turn out to be much kinder and more responsive than healthy people.

The film directed by "Oldboy" Park Chan-wok is a must-see for everyone who appreciates original films with colorful characters and specific humor - such as "Amelie" by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and "Science of Sleep" by Michel Gondry.

But Park's main source of inspiration was Tim Burton. The director even asked his composer to write music for the film in the spirit of Danny Elfman.

5. Jacket

• USA, Germany, 2004.
• Thriller, fantasy, detective, drama.
• Duration: 102 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

Former military serviceman Jack Starks is unfairly accused of murder and sent for psychiatric examination. In the hospital, a man is tortured in every possible way, testing new drugs on him, after which he is tied up and placed in the basement. There, the hero discovers that he can be transported into the future.

The fantastic drama "Jacket" with Adrian Brody and Keira Knightley will appeal not only to fans of hardcore thrillers, but also to those viewers who want to see an interesting story about time travel. At first, the film is stressful and can be confusing. But closer to the end, the complex mosaic will come together into something delightful.

4. Interrupted life

• USA, Germany, 1999.
• Drama, biography.
• Duration: 127 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

Young Suzanne Keysen tries to commit suicide. The daughter's depression scares her parents so much that they send her to a psychiatric hospital. There, the heroine becomes close to Lisa Rowe, a sociopathic girl who provokes staff.

Life, Interrupted, with young Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, is based on the memoirs of the real Suzanne Keysen, who spent two years in a psychiatric clinic. This is a very personal and incredibly difficult story about how people ignore the psychological problems of loved ones, preferring to sweep under the rug everything that they do not want to deal with.

3. Substitution

• USA, 2008.
• Thriller, drama, crime, detective.
• Duration: 141 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

Telephone operator Christine Collins reports to the police that her little son is missing. The boy is quickly returned to the family, but the heroine is sure that this is not her child. But no one wants to listen to a woman. Finally, the uncomfortable mother is locked up in a psychiatric hospital and promised to discharge her only if she admits she was wrong.

Another strong role of Angelina Jolie, this time in the film by Clint Eastwood, partly echoes "Girl, Interrupted." The worst thing about this story about the confrontation between an ordinary woman and the state is that it is based on a real case from police practice.

2. Isle of the damned

• USA, 2009.
• Thriller, detective, drama.
• Duration: 138 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

Federal Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Oul arrive at a psychiatric clinic located on a secluded island to investigate the circumstances of the patient's disappearance. The hospital management behaves as if they are hiding something, and in the course of the investigation, even more strange facts are revealed.

An excellent storyteller Martin Scorsese undertook to transfer a wonderful novel by Dennis Lehane (his works were used for films such as "The Mysterious River" and "Goodbye, Baby, Goodbye"). As a result, an exemplary film adaptation was released: the film keeps the viewer in suspense from the very beginning, and in the end it also dazzles with an unexpected denouement.

1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• USA, 1975.
• Drama.
• Duration: 133 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 7.

Criminal Patrick McMurphy is taken to a mental hospital to determine whether he is sane or not. There, the hero manages to breathe the spirit of freedom into the patients and, because of this, get involved in a war with the head nurse Mildred Ratched.

Once upon a time, Ken Kesey did not like how Milos Forman filmed his novel of the same name. So, the writer was against Jack Nicholson in the role of McMurphy. In addition, in the film, the focus from the main character of the book was shifted to another character. But in the end, the picture withstood the test of time and is now known even more than the literary source.