To celebrate the release of the new Martin Scorcese / Leonardo DiCaprio psychological thriller, Shutter Island, we count down the top 5 movies featuring the clinically insane!
Set in the sixties, Girl Interrupted is a somber drama about Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) – who ‘voluntarily’ checks into Claymoore Hospital after a failed suicide attempt. She befriends some genuinely afflicted patients, amongst them is a pathological liar, an anorexic and a self-harmer. However, it’s Angelina Jolie as the diagnosed sociopath, Lisa Rowe, that Susanna finds herself drawn to. Together they upset their fellow patients by getting into all sorts of trouble. The film was criticized for its sappy delivery of a clichéd female coming-of-age story, which was more about misunderstood teenage angst and less about the complicated inner lives young people face with mental illness. Nevertheless, Jolie won an Oscar for best supporting actress portraying the rebellious and abusive playmate.
Memorable Quote: “Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60′s. Or maybe I was just a girl… interrupted.”
Session 9 is an intelligent take on the horror genre that doesn’t rely on cheap shocks or gruesome special effects to create a deeply disturbing and slow burning psychological thriller.
The film is set in the Danvers State Hospital, Massachusetts. An unashamedly Scottish Peter Mullan leads his crew of hazmat workers to clear the aforementioned condemned building of asbestos. After they stumble upon a collection of sinister taped interviews from former patients, the claustrophobic and dark rooms of the asylum begin to take on a life of their own. Sporting a great cast that includes David Caruso, Paul Guilfoyle and Josh Lucas, the scenery is truly chewed to pieces as the tension ratchets and an unseen assailant starts picking-off the crew one by one. Most critics at the time rightly praised the film’s dark and creepy atmosphere that was low on gore and high on bum-hole-tightening tension.
Memorable Quote: “Satanic Ritual Abuse Syndrome. It was big in the ’80s.”
Terry Gilliam dazzles us with this bat-shit-crazy story of time travel, terrorism and world-ending flu pandemics. Inspired by the French short film La Jetée, 12 Monkeys depicts the world in 2035 devastated by a disease that forced the surviving human population to live underground.
Convict James Cole (Bruce Willis) volunteers for time travel duty to gather information and when he first arrives in the past, Cole is arrested and understandably locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Here he meets Jeffrey Goines, the insane son of a world-renowned virologist and certified loon, played with twitch-perfect eccentricity by Brad Pitt. Cole’s sanity is truly tested while incarcerated and the poor bastard has to deal with a WWII bullet in the leg, telephone calls to the future, Jeffery’s insane and psychotic ramblings and the need to eat live spiders for ‘evidence’. Visually arresting, satisfyingly sci-fi and with neat logic to the madness, this film stands out as Gilliam’s finest work to date.
Memorable Quote: “…and if you forget one thing, I will have you shaved, sterilized, and destroyed!”
Deep breath…
Young Girl has nightmares about lambs. Girl trains with FBI and joins a specialist unit for studying fruit cakes. Girl interviews serial killer in an asylum who is the fruitiest of all the cakes. Fruit Cake discusses eating people and the joys of fine wine. Girl cons Fruit Cake to help catch a Cowboy serial killer who has kidnapped a Senator’s daughter. Cowboy likes to wear dresses made of human skin. Fruit Cake isn’t stupid, begins a game of “quid pro quo” and starts to use Girl for his own amusement. The analyst becomes the analysed and the Fruit Cake enjoys messing with the Girl’s head. Fruit Cake reveals the identity of the Cowboy before eating someone’s face and escaping with an improvised disguise. Girl tracks down Cowboy at his creepy residence complete with hidden dungeon. Girl faces off with Cowboy in the dark and shoots him. Fruit Cake phones girl for a quick gloat before walking off into the sunset. The End.
Memorable Quote: “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
Oh come on, what else were you expecting?! An undeniable classic. Simply put, this is a timeless, culturally important and down right entertaining piece of movie history. If you didn’t know, Jack Nicholson plays McMurphy: a sane, if not naive, rebellious recidivist who charms his way into a mental asylum for an easy life where he can live out his sentence for statutory rape. He soon finds living in the hospital difficult and frustrating being surrounded by the genuinely odd and disturbed patients. Match him off against one of celluloid’s all time great antagonists, Nurse Ratchett (Oscar winner Louise Fletcher), and you’ve got a captivating tale that culminates in an attempted escape to Canada. With too many classic scenes to mention (the impromptu boat trip being a particular highlight) the success of this film is thanks to a fantastic script, great direction and an outstanding supporting cast.
Memorable Quote: “In one week, I can put a bug so far up her ass, she don’t know whether to shit or wind her wristwatch.”
I am getting ready to watch Shutter Island right now.
great list. never seen session 9, but will be checking it out... coincidentally I am very, very excited about shutter island.
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