10 Movies & Shows Like Beau Is Afraid (2023)

Description: Eraserhead shares with Beau Is Afraid a surreal, nightmarish quality, exploring themes of anxiety, fatherhood, and existential dread. Both films use unsettling sound design and bizarre imagery to create a deeply immersive and disturbing atmosphere.

Fact: David Lynch's debut feature film took five years to complete due to budget constraints. The baby prop used in the film was so realistic that some crew members reportedly refused to touch it. Lynch has described Eraserhead as his most spiritual film.

Description: David Cronenberg's body horror classic shares with Beau Is Afraid themes of media-induced paranoia and the blurring of reality and hallucination. Both films feature protagonists whose perceptions of reality become increasingly distorted.

Fact: The film's special effects included a living, breathing television created with latex and pneumatics. James Woods was cast after Christopher Walken turned down the role. The film was initially banned in several countries due to its graphic content.

Description: Charlie Kaufman's masterpiece shares with Beau Is Afraid a deeply personal exploration of anxiety, mortality, and artistic creation. Both films feature protagonists whose realities become increasingly fragmented and surreal as they grapple with existential crises.

Fact: This was Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut. The film's title is a play on Schenectady, New York and the literary term synecdoche. Philip Seymour Hoffman lost 40 pounds during filming to portray his character's physical decline.

Description: Satoshi Kon's animated masterpiece shares with Beau Is Afraid a fluid, dreamlike narrative structure where the boundaries between dreams and reality dissolve. Both films explore the psychological impact of technology on the human mind.

Fact: Christopher Nolan cited Paprika as an influence on Inception. The film was Satoshi Kon's final completed work before his death. The parade sequence took over a year to animate.

Description: Like Beau Is Afraid, Black Swan depicts a psychological unraveling with surreal, hallucinatory sequences. Both films explore themes of perfectionism, mental illness, and the blurring of reality and fantasy.

Fact: Natalie Portman trained in ballet for up to eight hours a day for six months prior to filming. Darren Aronofsky originally conceived the film as a companion piece to The Wrestler. The film's budget was just $13 million, with much of the crew working for reduced rates.

Description: This early Yorgos Lanthimos film shares with Beau Is Afraid a disturbing examination of family dynamics and psychological control. Both films create unsettling worlds with their own bizarre internal logic.

Fact: The film was shot in just 30 days. The actors were kept isolated from each other when not filming to maintain the film's atmosphere. The film was banned in Iceland due to its controversial content.

Description: Like Beau Is Afraid, The Lobster presents a surreal, dystopian world where societal norms are exaggerated to absurd extremes. Both films explore themes of loneliness and the pressures of conformity.

Fact: Colin Farrell gained 40 pounds for his role. The film's concept came from Yorgos Lanthimos's own anxieties about being single. Rachel Weisz's character was originally written as American but changed to British when she was cast.

Description: This film shares Beau Is Afraid's exploration of paranoia and conspiracy in modern life, blending surreal elements with a detective story structure. Both protagonists navigate increasingly bizarre urban landscapes where reality seems to shift beneath their feet.

Fact: Director David Robert Mitchell included over 100 hidden codes and symbols throughout the film. The film's soundtrack features an original song by Disasterpeace, who also scored It Follows. Andrew Garfield reportedly lived in his character's apartment for weeks to prepare for the role.

Description: Yorgos Lanthimos's film shares with Beau Is Afraid a clinical, unsettling atmosphere and exploration of guilt and retribution. Both films present ordinary lives disrupted by inexplicable, almost supernatural forces.

Fact: The title references the Greek myth of Iphigenia. Barry Keoghan improvised the scene where he licks Nicole Kidman's arm. The film's dialogue was deliberately delivered in a flat, emotionless manner by the actors.

Description: Like Beau Is Afraid, The Lighthouse presents a psychological descent into madness with surreal, dreamlike sequences. Both films feature protagonists trapped in increasingly bizarre situations, with themes of guilt and paranoia permeating the narrative.

Fact: Shot in black-and-white on 35mm film with a nearly square