# Beware of these movies



## Anxious_Swede

Some movies were real bad for my DP/DR (well at least they made me real anxious/worried and I wish I'd never seen them). These movies are all kind of 'alternate reality' movies, and I thought of posting the ones I can think of here so that perhaps you wont expose yourselves to them (or at least know what you're getting yourself into if you do):

Fight Club
Identity
Matrix
Vanilla Sky
13th floor (or something like that, perhaps 11th floor. VR movie)

If you know of any other movies about 'alternate reality' and the likes, please post. I know I'd been better off without having watched the above.


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## Axel19

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' freaked me out quite a bit.


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## bat

trainspotting


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## berlin

I experienced a breakdown early nineties and after I'd put the worst of it behind me I still couln't bear to watch Flatliners or The Lawnmower Man!


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## Scattered

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind is an amazing movie.


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## Guest

vanilla sky freaked me out


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## ret

stoned + DP + The Cell = not good


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## Guest

I couldn't even get through that one. Also, The Truman show freaks me out for some reason


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## sebastian

It's a shame because a lot of these are actually quite good films. I actually kind of entered a couple of months of a breakdown after seeing Fight Club. It wasn't the movie that caused it, but it certainly didn't help. It was just the push i needed, or didn't need as the case may be.

s.


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## Guest

Pfenny79 said:


> Also, The Truman show freaks me out for some reason


NOT a good movie for anyone with paranoia!


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## Martinelv

Fight Club is an absolutely fantastic movie...definately one of my favourites.

Requim for a Dream, or PI, or anything by David Lynch should probably be best avoided for DP'ers.


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## Guest

> Requim for a Dream, or PI, or anything by David Lynch should probably be best avoided for DP'ers.


I agree. Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway etc.. should all be avoided by those who do not want to go any deeper into this state. I think my DP worsened for at least 2 months after watching Mulholland Drive. I would have to add Jacob's Ladder and Dark City to the list. Very scary, psychologically twisted movies!


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## Depersonalized

How about Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker? That is by far the most insane movie. Take Mulholland Drive and multiply it by a 1000.


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## Scattered

Was that meant to be sarcastic?


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## gimpy34

I'll second Fight Club and Vanilla Sky. I saw those movies in the early stages of my DP and they freaked me out. I've gotten so used to my DP by now, though, that I'm not really weirded out anymore.

Memento might be up there.


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## Depersonalized

Scattered said:


> Was that meant to be sarcastic?


no


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## Rektchordz

ive had dp/dr for five years, and love pretty much all the films ya on about, they do trip me out a little after watching them, but im not letting dprick  stop me from enjoying films. try getting a lil drunk when u watch them, makes u stop doing that over think bollox. Were all worried about going insane, and these films show us possible ways of it happening . peace jay


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## CECIL

Not only how it could happen but how to get through it as well, don't forget that part.


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## Guest

Hmm, I never have trouble with movies. Perhaps its because I have studied film and can say "I know how they did that" and look at it from a technical level instead of getting sucked in.

I love movies and many of the ones mentioned are my favorites, especially _Pi_. It?s a very unnerving, but that?s why I like it so much.


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## Vertigo

This is a terrific thread, as I thought I was an idiot for feeling freaked out at Fight Club [even tho I really liked it] and the Truman Show. Among others, of course.

Now I know I'm an idiot for completely different reasons!


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## Brainsilence02

Some of those movies got me amazed, like Fight Club.

Some of them got me disapointed like Vanilla Sky. In this one, I did the mistake to bring myself into the place of the protagonist and got really disapointed at the then, as I felt forsaken from everything and everyone.

Some of them got me really really scared, like Event Horizon. That one made me feel about death (and life) differently. I blame this one for my major "zone" entering when, nearly 3 years later, I realised that when some day I cease to exist (death).


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## enngirl5

The Butterfly Effect. Great movie but it definitely may freak you out. And what sucks is that these movies listed are so good, they used to completely be my kind of movies but so much for that. I've never seen Vanilla Sky but I've heard it mentioned here a lot for making people anxious.


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## Guest

another one NOT to see is "Solaris" (especially the original Russian version from about 20 yrs ago - often revived in art film houses). Excellent film, but trust me, you do NOT want to go there.

I agree wholeheartedly with the others posted here, and only want to add that something like Vanilla Sky, while terribly disturbing dp-wise, is just not a very good movie, and for THAT reason isn't as freaky as Fight Club which is too damn brilliant.

Interestingly, if anyone gets a chance to see "Tarnation" - a docu-film made by a young man who does have dp, about his story and his very mentally ill mother - I say go see it. UNlike the movies mentioned above, this one is about LIFE, and reality - granted under the experience of mental illness, but realistic nonetheless. It's fascinating and I don't think it would produce creepy surreal feelings in you.

It's the FANTASY films that cause trouble - ones that deal with alternate realties and bizarre aspects of infinity and other dimensions - things that are very stuff of our obsessions and delusions.

And be sure to always get popcorn (an under-rated anti-anxiety agent, grin)

J

p.s. *DO not read below this if you do not want to have Fight Club SPOILED (the plot revealed, etc.)*
To me, one of the most horrifying aspects of Fight Club is that fine line between inner reality and outer reality. The hero has manifested an alter ego for himself in the Brad Pitt character - a DELUSION, and an active one. The very idea that the hero has done all those violent things to HIMSELF - under the delusion of some fantasy that incorporates the externals we see in the first half of the film - that triggers a "TRUTH" in people....the fear that inside we are "dr. jekyll and mr. hyde" - that we have some Self inside us that is DOING things to us without our conscious awareness...he mutilates his OWN hand in the kitchen scene and its his delusion that makes it appear as if Pitt has inducted him into some bravado ritual. Is this hero really just some poor schmo who goes home all alone every night and acts out his sado-masochistic delusions? Getting himself into un-winnable bar fights all the while believing he has been inducted into some "elite club?"

That's the core of the psychic terror of that film to me. It triggers our unspoken fears that we are indeed creating all that we see, and just living some self-destructive experience alone in our own minds.


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## rob

I found the matrix and vanilla sky strangely reassuring - and was quite into penelpe cruz for the first time after watching v sky - might watch it again tonight

Has anyone ever read L'Etranger by Albert Camus? Rings a few bells with me and my detachment.

rob


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## Guest

Ambivalence is my reaction to these alternate/ questioning reality movies. They inspire respect in me and stimulate my mind, but they can also screw with my mind if I'm vulnerable to that at the time. Nikki


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## sebastian

JanineBaker said:


> another one NOT to see is "Solaris" (especially the original Russian version from about *20 yrs *ago ).


Incidentally, this is also the running time of the original Solaris film.


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## Monkeydust

> Has anyone ever read L'Etranger by Albert Camus? Rings a few bells with me and my detachment.


Yep, excellent book.

Like most people here, I used to love these movies. Anything a bit "out of the ordinary" used to seem cool; now it's the opposite. Oh well.


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## Martinelv

> into penelope cruz


Janine ? Is this a Freudian slip, or am I just reading more into Rob's quote than I should be.


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## Guest

sebastian said:


> JanineBaker said:
> 
> 
> 
> another one NOT to see is "Solaris" (especially the original Russian version from about *20 yrs *ago ).
> 
> 
> 
> Incidentally, this is also the running time of the original Solaris film.
Click to expand...

_
*ZING!*_

My favorite movie in the whole wide world is _Waking Life_. I think it could either be the best thing or the worst thing for someone with DP/DR to watch.


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## Guest

Martin, oh, no...I think you're reading VERy correctly (and perhaps....ahem, even with a psychoanalytic eye, lol). Yes, that Rob's psyche is chock full of "slips"

:wink:

p.s.
_Waking Life_ is yes, excellent, but I think NOT good for severe dp people....I strongly do NOT recommend it.


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## Guest

I think everyone should watch all of the movies listed at least 100 times


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## rob

Dear Mr and Mrs Freud

Oh lord - what have I said now - just thought that penelope cruz had beautiful eyes and at least played a character with some interesting emotional depth (which is unusual for Holywood movies which usually concentrate on portraying characters not as themselves but as endorsements of the American way of life / and a code of morality that only the well off can aford to comply with) - also in the unlikely event that I were to find myself in bed with penny (as I like to call her) and martin, I would definitely not crawl over penny to get martin ...

One other thing - Tom Cruise gets on my tits (figuratively speaking of course - why of course? I don't know) in those awful action movies he does for the money - but in Vanilla Sky I thought his transition from all American wonderboy to isolated psychological wreck was fantastic and now I am a fan of his too ....

only fair to martin to point out that i wouldn't crawl over penny (or indeed nicole) to get to tom cruise or martin - you ok with that?

i fear that any further slips may result in unwanted pregnancies and I firmly believe in the rights of the unborn to choose ....

bring it on!

rob x (sexual or affectionate - you decide)


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