It's strange to think that a human being might want to be both terrified out of their wits and completely bewildered at the same time, but there are a group of motion pictures that excel in doing exactly that - films that exist to frighten and confound in equal measure. Sometimes it's not enough to be just afraid. Sometimes folk need their brains melted, too. What follows, then, are 10 horror movies that were designed with an emphasis on the scary and the cerebral. Whilst there are countless horror flicks out there that settle for mere jump scares and gory deaths, the filmmakers behind these particular films set out to do more. Whether that meant incorporating aspects of sci-fi, guiding their characters through some seriously questionable scenes of depression and despair, or just piling on the hallucination sequences until your brain is forced to say "Um, what the hell?", these bewildering experiences in absurdist horror come with a guarantee that - when it's time for the credits to roll - you'll be left cowering in the darkness, anxiously trying to piece it all together...
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
