10 More Movies Like Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut, was delivered and shown to Warner Bros. executives prior to its release, and six days later the director would die of a heart attack. It’s an illicit and erotic film that studies a lot of different themes within the dynamic of men and women and sexual desires. And boy does it explore the underbelly of wild underground elite parties.
Kubrick spends nearly half the film letting his lead character, Bill Harford (Tom Cruise), go down into a labyrinth-like world that feels like a dream based in reality. And then he pulls us out of it, wondering if what we saw was real.
If you’ve finished streaming this one and are looking for alternatives – fret not! We’ve combed through the archives and saved you the hassle with our top picks for alternate viewing.
So without further ado, we present 10 movies to check out when you’ve finished watching Eyes Wide Shut.
The Village
M. Night Shyamalan’s 2004 film, The Village, may not match in tone and have an erotic feel to it, but it does touch on secret societies. It’s a movie about a secluded Pennsylvania village that lives by strict rules that have to do with the woods that surround them. It has a polarizing twist ending that people don’t see coming and a mystery to it that lets the viewer soak up the atmosphere a bit.
The Village does fail in comparison to Eyes Wide Shut in terms of scope and scale, but both films stick with you when they’re done. There’s no answer as to “Why?” at the end of both; it just kind of is what you want it to be by the time the credits roll.
F For Fake
As you’ll see, there will be a lot of iconic directors mentioned on this list in comparison to Eyes Wide Shut. Any time people shout “Fake News”, F for Fake should be a documentary for most of us, and yet it came out back in 1973. Yes, it is a documentary and the only one on this list, but it was directed by Orson Wells, and his goal in making the film was to exploit the acts of high society in the world of media, the lies that can be told, and the underworld culture it may or may not create.
It shows us that those whoever has the power can manipulate the message of truth for those who don’t. Kubrick has made a lot of great films; some call Eyes Wide Shut his masterpiece. Wells has also made some of the best movies ever made, and yet some like to say the same thing about him in terms of F for Fake.
Basic Instinct
From decades beginning to decades ending, the 1990s were loaded with erotic thrillers. Basic Instinct stars Michael Douglas as San Francisco police detective Nick Curran, who investigates the murder of a rock star. In his investigation, he meets novelist Catherine Trammel (Sharon Stone), a seductive temptress who knows a lot about the victim, maybe more than she’s leading on. And it gets pretty hot and heavy from there.
Basic Instinct is Paul Verhoeven firing on all cylinders in his direction. The film is highly erotic but also has a great mystery that unravels through the near-pornographic sex scenes. No secret societies here, but both films have a horny protagonist who begins to question things.
The Machinist
Christina Bale would literally morph his body into the deathly appearance of a skinny, sleep-deprived warehouse worker. In The Machinist, Bale must find the root of his insomnia, thus setting forth a path of strange events. Bale is a performer when it comes to his acting. Kubrick is one as well. I wonder what it would have been like if these two had paired up as actors and directors. In plot, The Machinist and Eyes Wide Shut don’t seem to have too much in common. But they both share a commonality of a dream-like atmosphere in the respective films. And they both leave the audience, making it hard to distinguish who is real and what isn’t.
Inception
The biggest-budget movie on this list is about a crack team of people pulling off what we guess we would call a heist of the mind. Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who brings said crack team into the mind of the son of a billionaire who will inherit his fortune. As they enter a man’s dreams, they plan to plant an idea inside of them, thus creating a ripple effect in his life.
Inception is nothing like Eyes Wide Shut, and as a matter of fact, it doesn’t make for a great double feature. But director Christopher Nolan is a big fan of Kubrick, and both movies do a great job of twisting the audience around and having them contemplate reality and the dream world. Both films also have very interesting endings that are far apart on the spectrum but still leave you wanting to know more.
The Wolf House
Here’s one the general moviegoer may not be aware of. The Wolf House is a stop-motion animation film about a woman who takes refuge in a strange house in Chile after escaping Nazi persecution. The film is loosely based on an actual story. The animation utilizes dark, twisted fantasy tones and avant-garde cinema to try and tell its story.
Like Eyes Wide Shut, it is off-putting, somber, and has moments of sheer terror, yet it doesn’t feel like a full-on horror movie. There is a very strong secret society subplot to this animated film as well, which lines up perfectly with Eyes Wide Shut.
Black Swan
Natalie Portman plays Nina, a talented ballet dancer who pushes herself to her limits to achieve greatness. She pushes herself so much that eventually the lines of reality start to blur. Black Swan and Eyes Wide Shut both have moments that seem to bounce back and forth between reality and the mind of the film’s main character. There are nightmarish moments in Black Swan that shock audiences. And yet, both Black Swan and Eyes Wide Shut have a lot of commentary on high society and what one does to stay relevant amongst the elite.
Mulholland Drive
Spoiler alert: David Lynch is going to take up the rest of this list. Because if anyone can make a film feel like a fever dream, it’s David Lynch. Mulholland Drive is about a woman who is amnesiac after a car accident. She links up with an actress to retrace her steps, and the two end up going down a deep, dark path that bends reality.
David Lynch likes to disturb you, but in the most lo-fi, liminal kind of way. There are images in Mulholland Drive that are terrifying but never really haunting. Like how dreams can sometimes be. Everyone has a different approach to how they view a David Lynch film. Never try to put his work in a box.
Lost Highway
Lost Highway was a massive box office bomb, but it was only a precursor to the trip down the wormhole David Lynch would take us in later films. Lost Highway has generated a huge cult following, mainly from Lynch lovers. A film about two intersecting lives that are connected because there is a woman in both stories played by Patricia Arquette. Anything more adds to the lure and thrill of the movie.
Lost Highway is a dark tale about the lust for owning someone and the horrors that we all have inside of us. It sounds a lot like Tom Cruise’s character in Eyes Wide Shut.
Blue Velvet
Eyes Wide Shut takes place in New York City, and Blue Velvet takes place in small-town America. And both dive deep into the underbelly of secret societies that feel like a lot of wrong goes on no matter where we are in the world.
Blue Velvet is about a man who returns to his hometown to look after his father’s shop while he’s in the hospital. He then discovers a human ear in the grass, leading him into a dangerous mystery of crime that surrounds a tormented club singer. The two films make the best kind of double feature, despite their opposite settings. Both Eyes Wide Shut and Blue Velvet give one another clues as to the mystery of it all, but they never solve the mystery for you. That’s all on you to decide.
So there we have it, our 10 Movie picks to keep you busy after watching Eyes Wide Shut.
What do you think of our picks? Do you agree? Are there any notable omissions? Let us know in the comments below!