Cinema’s New Weird: Exploring The Surreal Turn In Indie Film

Lately, indie movies have been getting a whole lot weirder, and that’s not a complaint. We’re seeing a shift in filmmaking, especially in the indie space, where more and more directors are ditching the usual storytelling rules. Instead of clear plot lines, predictable endings, and polished heroes, we’re getting movies that feel like dreams or nightmares. They’re filled with bizarre visuals, mythical themes, and storylines that twist and dissolve before your eyes. These aren’t films that hold your hand. They drop you into strange worlds and dare you to find your way through.

This unofficial trend has earned a nickname: New Weird Cinema. It’s not a genre, exactly, but more like a shared vibe. Think of movies like The Green Knight (2021), The Lighthouse (2019), Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), Under the Silver Lake (2018), and Mandy (2018). These films don’t have much in common on the surface, but they all lean hard into surrealism, ambiguity, and a deep love for the strange.

The Green Knight: A Quest Into the Unknown

David Lowery’s The Green Knight isn’t your typical fantasy adventure. It’s based on a 14th-century poem about Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who accepts a mysterious challenge from a supernatural green figure. But if you’re expecting a fast-paced epic with dragons and sword fights, think again.

This film is slow, eerie, and full of moments that don’t totally add up on first watch. Gawain walks through foggy landscapes, meets a ghostly woman searching for her head, and encounters giants that may or may not be real. At one point, time seems to jump forward into a future where he’s a king, then rewinds again. It’s not always clear what’s happening, and that’s the point.

The film leans into myth rather than logic. It’s more about the feeling of being tested by life than about winning or losing. It taps into fears of death, legacy, and failure. Everything from the music to the color palette makes it feel like you’re in an ancient dream. And while it leaves a lot unanswered, it’s also one of the most emotionally striking films in recent years.

The Lighthouse: Madness in a Lantern Room

Willem Dafor, Robert Pattinson
The Lighthouse
A24

If The Green Knight is a slow walk through fog, The Lighthouse is a full-on descent into madness.

Robert Eggers’ 2019 film follows two men working at a remote lighthouse in the 1890s. One is a grumpy old sea dog (Willem Dafoe). The other is a quiet newcomer (Robert Pattinson). They argue, drink, hallucinate, and spiral into total insanity. The film is black and white, shot in a nearly square format, and full of loud seagulls, ancient sailor curses, and way too much fish guts.

This is a movie that doesn’t just tell you the characters are losing their minds; it makes you feel like you’re going crazy with them. It’s confusing, uncomfortable, and strangely funny at times. Mermaids appear. A tentacle slides across the screen. Time stops making sense. You start to wonder how long these men have been trapped together. Days? Weeks? Years?

Eggers fills the movie with mythology, from Greek sea gods to Prometheus-like themes about forbidden knowledge. But the beauty of The Lighthouse is that it never fully explains itself. It’s a mystery wrapped in a drunken fog, and that makes it endlessly rewatchable.

Everything Everywhere All At Once: Chaos With a Heart

In contrast to the slow and moody vibe of the first two, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a wild explosion of color, chaos, and multiversal madness. Directed by the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), the film became a massive hit in 2022 and even won Best Picture at the Oscars, which is kind of wild for a movie this weird.

It follows Evelyn, a stressed-out laundromat owner who finds herself able to jump between parallel universes. Some of them are exciting, some are heartbreaking, and some are just straight-up ridiculous. (Yes, people really do have hot dogs for fingers.) She fights with fanny packs, befriends a raccoon-chef hybrid, and talks to her daughter as a giant bagel of doom threatens reality itself.

It sounds chaotic, and it is, but it’s also deeply human. At its core, the film is about relationships: between mothers and daughters, between life choices and regret, between being overwhelmed and learning to let go. It uses its weirdness as a way to explore emotions that are hard to explain in words.

Where other multiverse stories focus on science or action, Everything Everywhere leans into absurdity and heart. It shows how surrealism can make a story more emotional, not less.

Under the Silver Lake: Hollywood, Conspiracies, and Code

Now we get to the slow burn. Under the Silver Lake, directed by David Robert Mitchell, is part mystery, part stoner comedy, and part breakdown of pop culture itself. Andrew Garfield plays Sam, an unemployed guy living in Los Angeles who becomes obsessed with finding a missing woman. But what starts as a simple mystery turns into a deep dive into strange codes, hidden messages in pop songs, and conspiracy theories about the elite.

This film is packed with symbols, references, and ideas. It’s like a puzzle that doesn’t want to be solved. It’s also a commentary on how we look for meaning in chaos, especially in a world full of information overload. Sam finds patterns where there might be none, and as viewers, we fall into the same trap; wondering if we’re meant to connect these dots or if we’re just as lost as he is.

It’s slow, it’s odd, and it’s divisive, but for those who enjoy movies that feel like whispered secrets, it’s a rewarding watch.

Mandy: Rage in Neon

And finally, Mandy. Directed by Panos Cosmatos, this 2018 film might be the most intense of the bunch. It stars Nicolas Cage in one of his most unhinged performances, and that’s saying a lot.

Set in the early 1980s, the film starts slow, almost like a beautiful dream. Red (Cage) lives a quiet life with Mandy, his partner, until a violent cult destroys everything. What follows is a bloody, psychedelic revenge story drenched in neon colors and heavy metal vibes. There are chainsaw fights. There are demon bikers. There are scenes that look more like paintings than real life.

Like the others, Mandy isn’t too concerned with logic. It’s all about the mood: the grief, the fury, the loss. Every frame is dripping with atmosphere. The sound design and music (by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson) only add to the immersive, trance-like feel. It’s brutal, but also strangely beautiful.

Why Are These Movies So Weird?

So what’s with all the weirdness? Why are so many filmmakers leaning into the surreal and mythic?

Part of it might be a reaction to the kind of safe, formulaic storytelling that dominates blockbuster cinema. With so many sequels, reboots, and superhero movies sticking to the same beats, audiences are starting to crave something different, even if it’s strange, slow, or hard to explain.

Another reason might be the world itself. In recent years, life has felt more uncertain than ever. Global events, social change, and constant digital overload have made the world feel chaotic and unpredictable. These films tap into that feeling. They reflect confusion, isolation, and a search for meaning.

Weird movies give us a place to explore things that don’t have easy answers. They let us sit in the unknown. They show us emotions and ideas that can’t always be explained through a regular story.

Final Thoughts

New Weird Cinema isn’t for everyone. These films are confusing, slow, and often end without clear conclusions. But they also offer something most movies don’t, freedom. Freedom to think, to feel, to not know exactly what’s going on and still be moved by it.

Whether it’s a knight walking toward his fate, a sailor yelling at the sea, or a woman hugging her daughter in a universe made of googly eyes, these movies aren’t afraid to be different. And that difference is what makes them powerful.

They remind us that movies don’t always have to make sense to mean something. Sometimes, the weirdest stories are the ones that stay with us the longest.