Not preachy. Not instructive. Just films that quietly raise the bar.
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.
It shows someone doing something quietly right. No announcement. No reward. Just doing it.
A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
It shows someone doing something quietly right. No announcement. No reward. Just doing it.
During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
You finish this and feel a vague, good pressure to be more considered. That's the right feeling.
In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
It shows someone doing something quietly right. No announcement. No reward. Just doing it.
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.
You finish this and feel a vague, good pressure to be more considered. That's the right feeling.
The films that inspire you to be better never set out to do that. They just get close enough to something true that the comparison lands.
Survival ethics. Not the obvious choice but occasionally powerful.
Good paired viewing. Worth pausing to discuss.
Henry Frankenstein pieces together body parts in the hope of bringing a human-like creature to life. The mad scientist's dreams are shattered by his monstrous creation awakening with rage to a world that hates and fears him.
You finish this and feel a vague, good pressure to be more considered. That's the right feeling.
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
It shows someone doing something quietly right. No announcement. No reward. Just doing it.
Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax accepts a job at a New York law firm. With the stakes getting higher every case, Kevin quickly learns that his boss has something far more evil planned.
You finish this and feel a vague, good pressure to be more considered. That's the right feeling.
While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.
It shows someone doing something quietly right. No announcement. No reward. Just doing it.
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
It shows someone doing something quietly right. No announcement. No reward. Just doing it.
Some films earn their effect. These do.