Beauty and Horror
We are drawn to beauty -- but at what cost? Often in film, beauty either provokes violence or conceals a sinister intent. These films explore how an attraction to aesthetic beauty can wound either its possessor or beholder, in ways that range from the subtly psychic to spectacularly physical.
The Neon Demon
Beauty is vicious.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, France, United States • 2016
- Director Nicolas Winding Refn
- Cast Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Desmond Harrington, Bella Heathcote, Karl Glusman, Abbey Lee
- Genre Horror, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, YouTube, FlixFling, Freevee, Hoopla
Under the Skin
Unsuspecting men fall under the spell of a seductive alien that prowls the streets of Glasgow.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States • 2014
- Director Jonathan Glazer
- Cast Scarlett Johansson, Kryštof Hádek, Paul Brannigan, Michael Moreland, Scott Dymond, Jeremy McWilliams
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Kanopy
200 Pounds Beauty
(미녀는 괴로워)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2006
- Director Kim Yong-hwa
- Cast Kim Ah-joong, Joo Jin-mo, Sung Dong-il, Im Hyun-sik
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Kocowa, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Rakuten Viki, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Cineverse, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Perfect Blue
(パーフェクトブルー)
A retired pop singer starts to lose her hold on reality when she is stalked by an obsessive fan.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ōkura, Yōsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya
- Genre Animation, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Irma Vep
A Hong Kong actress goes to France to star in a remake of a French silent film.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1996
- Director Olivier Assayas
- Cast Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Antoine Basler, Nathalie Boutefeu, Alex Descas
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max
The Stendhal Syndrome
(La sindrome di Stendhal)
Is it art or the vilest perversion ever filmed?
- ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1996
- Director Dario Argento
- Cast Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann, Marco Leonardi, Luigi Diberti, Paolo Bonacelli, Lucia Stara
- Genre Crime, Horror, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Night Flight Plus, Metrograph, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, VUDU Free, Kanopy
India Song
Anne-Marie, the wife of a French diplomat in 1930s India, takes many lovers to relieve the boredom in her life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1975
- Director Marguerite Duras
- Cast Delphine Seyrig, Michael Lonsdale, Mathieu Carrière, Claude Mann, Vernon Dobtcheff, Didier Flamand
- Genre Drama, Fantasy, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel
Belladonna of Sadness
(哀しみのベラドンナ)
A peasant woman is ravished on her wedding night and makes a pact with the Devil to get revenge.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1973
- Director Eiichi Yamamoto
- Cast Aiko Nagayama, Tatsuya Nakadai, Takao Ito, Masaya Takahashi, Shigako Shimegi
- Genre Animation, Drama, Fantasy
- Available on Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Donkey Skin
(Peau d'âne)
Cinderella's fairy godmother helped her get married. Hers will help her get out of it.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1970
- Director Jacques Demy
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Jacques Perrin, Jean Marais, Delphine Seyrig, Fernand Ledoux, Micheline Presle
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Music, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel
Funeral Parade of Roses
(薔薇の葬列)
The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other drag queens in Japan.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1969
- Director Toshio Matsumoto
- Cast Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Emiko Azuma, Yoshihiro Katô, Koichi Nakamura
- Genre Drama
- Available on Night Flight Plus, Metrograph, Kanopy
Daisies
(Sedmikrásky)
Decadence and destruction!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Czechoslovakia • 1966
- Director Věra Chytilová
- Cast Ivana Karbanová, Jitka Cerhová, Marie Češková, Jiřina Myšková, Julius Albert
- Genre Comedy, Fantasy
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV
Repulsion
Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia—the pathological fear of interaction with men.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1965
- Director Roman Polanski
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux, Patrick Wymark, Renée Houston
- Genre Drama, Horror, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Crackle, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Plex, Plex Channel
Eyes Without a Face
(Les Yeux sans visage)
A plastic surgeon goes to extreme lengths to give his disfigured daughter a new face.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 1960
- Director Georges Franju
- Cast Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault, Béatrice Altariba, Charles Blavette
- Genre Drama, Horror, Thriller
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video
Lola Montès
She lived too intensely and far too well!
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, West Germany • 1955
- Director Max Ophüls
- Cast Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Adolf Wohlbrück, Henri Guisol, Lise Delamare, Paulette Dubost
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max