A guide to films that express social realism or escapism; and a guide to culturally important films that may reveal a character's thoughts, dreams, or motivations.
Image from Firestarter from slashfilm.com at https://www.slashfilm.com/img/gallery/heres-why-stephen-king-hated-1984s-firestarter/intro-1651093729.jpg
Mad Science
Altered StatesResearch scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) believes other states of consciousness are as real as everyday reality. Using sensory deprivation, then adding powerful hallucinogenic drugs, he explores these altered states ... and endures experiences that make madness seem a blessing.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE ALTERED
ISBN: 0780664035
Publication Date: 1980
The Black HoleScientists are all aboard an Earth discovery vessel on a fruitless search for life in space when they encounter a lost spaceship perched on the event horizon of the universe's most powerful phenomenon, a black hole.
Call Number: JUVENILE DVD MOVIE BLACK
ISBN: 0788851772
Publication Date: 1979
Ed WoodDepicts the off-beat life of Hollywood filmmaker Ed Wood, as famous for the bad movies he made as for the women's clothing he liked to wear while he directed them.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE ED
ISBN: 0786936212501
Publication Date: 1994
Ex MachinaCaleb, a 24-year-old coder at the world's largest Internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a retreat belonging to the company's reclusive CEO, Nathan. But when Caleb arrives, he finds that he will have to participate in a fascinating experiment with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot woman, Ava.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE
ISBN: 0031398221074
Publication Date: 2014
Eyes Without a FaceA plastic surgeon, holed up in a Paris mansion, is obsessively slicing off the faces of kidnapped women and grafting the flayed skin onto the rotting countenance of his beloved young daughter, disfigured in an automobile accident.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE EYES
ISBN: 0037429195727
Publication Date: 1959
FirestarterCharlene 'Charlie' McGee is a child who has the amazing ability to start fires with just a glance. Can her psychic power and the love of her father save her from the threatening government agency, 'The Shop, ' that wants her destroyed?
Call Number: DVD MOVIE FIRESTARTER
ISBN: 0025192246982
Publication Date: 1984
The FlyWhen a scientist attempts to transfer matter through space, things go horrifically wrong and two grotesque man-fly hybrids are created. Now, with the head of a fly and a wing in place of one of his arms, the scientist desperately hopes that he, his wife and his brother can capture the other mutant and reverse the experiment.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE FLY
ISBN: 0024543873068
Publication Date: 1958
GattacaIn Gattaca, only the strong succeed and the strong are genetically pre-selected at birth. When one man dares to defy the system, he gets caught in a web of lies, corruption, and murder.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE GATTACA
ISBN: 0014381860924
Publication Date: 1997
The Invisible ManA scientist discovers how to make himself invisible but can't reverse the process. He realizes with terror that he has become a prisoner of his unseen self, and this unbearable state drives him to madness and murder.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE INVISIBLE
ISBN: 0025192249617
Publication Date: 1933
Island of Lost SoulsLaughton is a mad doctor conducting ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE ISLAND
ISBN: 0715515088114
Publication Date: 1932
MetropolisIn 2026, the rich rule over the poor, who live underground. One man tries to bridge the gap between the two classes. In July 2008 a complete 16mm copy of the film was discovered with an additional 25 minutes of lost footage that had not been seen since the film's premiere in 1927. In restoration, the text of the intertitles was taken from German censorship records and translated into English. Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung in co-operation with ZDF and ARTE supported the restoration, and the sci-fi epic was re-released in 2010.
Call Number: MOVIE METROPOLIS
ISBN: B0040QYROA
Publication Date: 1927
OkjaMija is a South Korean girl growing up on an Edenic mountainside with her grandfather and best friend: Okja, a giant, empathetic "super pig" created as part of a secret GMO experiment. When Okja is abruptly torn away from her, Mija embarks on a perilous rescue mission that places her at the center of a sinister corporate conspiracy.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE OKJA
Publication Date: 2017
PrimerEverything you think you know about modern science is about to unravel in this critically acclaimed film about two young engineers and the consequences they face when they invent a machine that enables them to travel back in time.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE PRIMER
ISBN: 0794043784927
Publication Date: 2004
SecondsA sinister, science fiction dispatch from the fractured 1960s that concerns a middle-aged businessman dissatisfied with his suburban existence, who elects to undergo a strange and elaborate procedure that will grant him a new life. Starting over in America, however, is not as easy as it sounds.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SECONDS
ISBN: 0715515108713
Publication Date: 1966
VideodromeCable TV programmer Max Renn seeks out the ultimate in bizarre shows for his channel. He meets a mysterious supplier named Harlan who gives him access to an underground sex and violence network called "Videodrome."