Psycho-Noir (Definitive List and Guide)
Psycho-noir is a sub-genre of neo-noir (itself a modern and post-modern continuation of classic film noir tropes) which is much more surreal and twisted then ordinary neo-noir. As I'm a big fan of the genre, which certainly lacks comprehensive list, I've decided to do a list of everything that I feel belongs to psycho-noir (and in case of any noir genre "feels" is a key word). While feature films prevail, short films, TV- and Web-Series (at times certain episodes) are still included. I'll do my best to keep list in chronological order.
There are, of course, certain criteria, which are also genre's tropes they are:
-Usual tropes of film noir and/or neo-noir: unusual angles (Dutch tilts) and photography, use of rain and wet asphalt, shadows, minimal lighting, night-for-night shots, smoke, smoking, femme fatale, antihero/private eye/beat cop protagonist, moral ambiguity etc.
-Use of surrealism, mysticism, symbolism, dream sequences, unreliable narration and flashbacks, unexplained scenes, non-linear narrative and other unconventional methods of story-telling which imply that both protagonist and audience are either deluded or have their perception manipulated;
-Surreal details and/or backgrounds, at times using chess, geometrical patterns, mirrors, tattoos, photographs to great extend;
-Eclectic editing (unusual transitions, single-frame inserts etc.) and/or photography (use of different types of camera and film);
-Eclectic soundtrack, which combines different genres of music and ambient noises (Note: for some reason a lot of psycho-noir movies use song "I Put a Spell on You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins);
-Shocking, genre- and mind-bending ending and/or climax; -Doppelgangers and/or double identities;
-Shots of driving, highway, road, usually at night;
-Use of "screen within a screen" - television sets, cinemas, displays, etc.;
-Interesting, at times unique design of main titles and end credits (Note: a lot of psycho-noir titles use dark shades of blue for color of titles and credits, such as marine blue and navy blue);
Titles with no IMDb page (work in progress):
2008: "Mad November" (Bezumny noyabr) and "Bezumny noyabr 2";
Recommended reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_film_noir_titles&oldid=454506550#Psycho-noir - a list of psycho-noir titles on Wikipedia, deleted from "List of film noir" but saved in edits history;
http://smallcrimes-novel.blogspot.com/2007/08/defining-psycho-noir.html - Defining Psycho-Noir, a great article by Dave Zeltserman on the subject.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls073371107/ - a list by ronbouwheer.
If you have time for weird videos, here's my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PictureProductStudio http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWkcL-G3OwVvVb1B94bH5hQ
There are, of course, certain criteria, which are also genre's tropes they are:
-Usual tropes of film noir and/or neo-noir: unusual angles (Dutch tilts) and photography, use of rain and wet asphalt, shadows, minimal lighting, night-for-night shots, smoke, smoking, femme fatale, antihero/private eye/beat cop protagonist, moral ambiguity etc.
-Use of surrealism, mysticism, symbolism, dream sequences, unreliable narration and flashbacks, unexplained scenes, non-linear narrative and other unconventional methods of story-telling which imply that both protagonist and audience are either deluded or have their perception manipulated;
-Surreal details and/or backgrounds, at times using chess, geometrical patterns, mirrors, tattoos, photographs to great extend;
-Eclectic editing (unusual transitions, single-frame inserts etc.) and/or photography (use of different types of camera and film);
-Eclectic soundtrack, which combines different genres of music and ambient noises (Note: for some reason a lot of psycho-noir movies use song "I Put a Spell on You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins);
-Shocking, genre- and mind-bending ending and/or climax; -Doppelgangers and/or double identities;
-Shots of driving, highway, road, usually at night;
-Use of "screen within a screen" - television sets, cinemas, displays, etc.;
-Interesting, at times unique design of main titles and end credits (Note: a lot of psycho-noir titles use dark shades of blue for color of titles and credits, such as marine blue and navy blue);
Titles with no IMDb page (work in progress):
2008: "Mad November" (Bezumny noyabr) and "Bezumny noyabr 2";
Recommended reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_film_noir_titles&oldid=454506550#Psycho-noir - a list of psycho-noir titles on Wikipedia, deleted from "List of film noir" but saved in edits history;
http://smallcrimes-novel.blogspot.com/2007/08/defining-psycho-noir.html - Defining Psycho-Noir, a great article by Dave Zeltserman on the subject.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls073371107/ - a list by ronbouwheer.
If you have time for weird videos, here's my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PictureProductStudio http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWkcL-G3OwVvVb1B94bH5hQ
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- 150 titles
- DirectorJohn ParkerBruno VeSotaStarsAdrienne BarrettBruno VeSotaBen RosemanThis film, with no dialogue at all, follows a psychotic young woman's nightmarish experiences through one skid-row night.
- DirectorYabo YablonskyStarsMickey RooneyLuana AndersKeenan WynnAn insane Hollywood makeup man kidnaps a woman, keeps her prisoner in his warehouse full of props.
- DirectorMarc B. RayStarsFred HolbertLeigh MitchellRobert KnoxA deranged kid murders his father and has his arm crushed by the farm tractor. After being discharged from the mental hospital with an amputee, he discovers that his mother has remarried, prompting him to go on a homicidal rampage.
- DirectorBernard QueysanneStarsJacques SpiesserLudmila MikaëlA 25-year-old male student in Paris becomes indifferent to the world around him, and subsequently feels a strong sense of alienation and hopelessness.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsGene HackmanJohn CazaleAllen GarfieldA paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.While being much more linear then a lot of the movies on that list, it should be noted, that plot still has a lot of (most likely deliberate) inconsistencies and an ending which is quite open to interpretations. It is one of the starting points of the genre, even though it lacks some of the key elements.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsRoman PolanskiIsabelle AdjaniMelvyn DouglasA bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsJohn AmplasLincoln MaazelChristine ForrestA young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a small Pennsylvanian town, where he tries to suppress his blood-lust.
- StarsEvgeniy LeonovIgor KostolevskiyLeonid MarkovIn the Siberian village of loggers, a young man Evgeniy Stoletov dies under mysterious circumstances. Death came after he jumped or was thrown from a railway platform moving at full speed. Suspicion falls on Arkadiy Zavarzin, recently released from prison.Soviet TV Series by far only added as a single film to IMDb (I'll fix that some time and/or add this as a series as well, I hope) which bears UNCANNY resemblance to "Twin Peaks" in both plot and style.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAlisa FreyndlikhAleksandr KaydanovskiyAnatoliy SolonitsynA guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
- DirectorGrigori KromanovStarsUldis PucitisJüri JärvetLembit PetersonPolice gets a call-out to a lonely hotel in the Alps. When an officer gets to the hotel everything seems to be all right. Suddenly, an avalanche cuts them out from the rest of the world, and strange things are going to happen.
- DirectorWilliam LustigStarsJoe SpinellCaroline MunroAbigail ClaytonA psychopathic man goes on a killing and mutilation spree in New York City.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsAl PacinoPaul SorvinoKaren AllenA police officer goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of New York City to catch a serial killer who is preying on gay men.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsJohn TravoltaNancy AllenJohn LithgowA movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJennifer O'NeillStephen LackPatrick McGoohanA scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.
- DirectorDavid WintersStarsJ'Len WintersJohn KellyJoe SpinellA New York taxi driver stalks a beautiful actress attending the Cannes Film Festival, which coincides with a series of violent killings of the lady's friends.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJames WoodsDebbie HarrySonja SmitsA programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsCatherine DeneuveDavid BowieSusan SarandonA love triangle develops between a vampire, her cellist companion, and a gerontologist.
- DirectorGerald KarglStarsErwin LederRobert Hunger-BühlerSilvia RyderA troubled man gets released from prison and starts taking out his sadistic fantasies on an unsuspecting family living in a secluded house.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsCraig WassonMelanie GriffithGregg HenryA young actor's obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJohn GetzFrances McDormandDan HedayaThe owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsHarry Dean StantonEmilio EstevezTracey WalterA young punk, recruited by a car repo agency, finds himself in pursuit of a Chevrolet Malibu with a huge, $20,000 bounty--and something otherworldly stashed in its trunk.
- DirectorPeter WernerStarsCybill ShepherdBruce WillisAllyce BeasleyDavid and Maddie meet the owner of a club who tells them about an unresolved murder. Maddie and David argue about who they think the real murderer is and, in their dreams, set about solving the murder that occurred 40 years ago.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
- StarsMichael GambonPatrick MalahideJoanne WhalleyTormented and bedridden by a debilitating disease, a mystery writer relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations.
