Movies Like Perfect Dark

Children of Happiness

2024

De Novo, Perdição

2024

Rectangle & Rectangles

1984

This is a didactic film in disguise. A progression of brilliant geometric shapes bombard the screen to the insistent beat of drums. The filmmaker programmed a computer to coordinate a highly complex operation involving an electronic beam of light, colour filters and a camera. This animation film, without words, is designed to expose the power of the cinematic medium, and to illustrate the abstract nature of time.

Far from the Tree

2021

On an idyllic beach in the Pacific Northwest, curiosity gets the better of a young raccoon whose frustrated parent attempts to keep them both safe.

Bramayugam

2024

A folk singer in 17th-century Kerala discovers a mansion. Inside, he encounters an enigmatic cook and a powerful master, setting in motion a chain of events that changes his life.

House

1977

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

Odds & Ends

1959

Odds & Ends is a sly comment on the collage film and Beat culture. To discarded travel and advertising footage found at a local film laboratory, Belson Shimane added a mélange of animation—assemblages, cutouts, color fields, and line drawings—and faux hipster narration by Jacobs (credited via the anagram Rheny Bojacs) punctuated by a bongo backing. Strung together with doublespeak and non sequiturs, the monologue skirts the edge of nonsense as Jacobs waxes on about poetry, jazz, “reaching the public,” “having a good time,” and—although “money doesn’t count”—the “possibility of subsidy” through grants. Footage of champagne, tropical beaches, and exotic peoples intermingle with rhythmic drawings and stop-motion flights of fancy. The visuals race on through dazzling transformations, both amplifying and undercutting the patter. —National Film Preservation Foundation. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Iota Center Collection in 2006.

Curve

2016

Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a woman tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.

Luminare

1986

Abstract video art by John Sanborn and Dean Winkler. Dedicated to Ed Emshwiller.

Phantasmatapes

2025

Welcome to the 1980s TV horrorshow that never was. PHANTASMATAPES is a psychotronic VHS mixtape that reimagines THE REVENGE OF DR. X (a Japan-set creature feature that was written by Ed Wood) and THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (the savage body horror film that inspired FRANKENHOOKER) as a late-nite, home-taped double feature—complete with local TV commercials and a new synthesizer score from Taken by Savages (JUNGLE TRAP). Inspired by hazy memories of channel-surfing at the witching hour, this is a nostalgic and experimental art project from the minds behind Bleeding Skull.

Series 4

1972

This experimental short documents the clash, sometimes obsessive, sometimes glorifying, between humans and their mechanized environment. Using photographs, the animator creates varying perspectives through optical manipulation and changing colour, achieving bold and provocative effects.

The Bad Seed Returns

2022

Several years after the murderous events of the first movie left her father dead, Emma is now living with her aunt Angela and navigating high school. Angela’s husband begins to suspect that Emma may not be as innocent as she appears and suggests sending her off to boarding school. Meanwhile, a new girl at school seems to know Emma’s secrets, leaving Emma no choice but to slip back to her old ways and take care of her enemies by any means necessary.

Angel

1966

In this short film, a young man, a girl and a dog attempt to fly with wings more symbolic than practical.

Other Side of the Box

2018

A couple receives a mysterious package from an old friend.

The Hunt

2020

Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted turns the tables on her pursuers.

The Grandmother

1970

To escape neglect and abuse from his parents, a young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother.

Me + Her

2014

Creating a universe between two small pieces of Cardboard. When Jack and Jill of Cardboard City are separated by Jill's torrid illness, Jack must think outside the box to assure they will be together again.

Stopmotion

2024

Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother, embarks upon the creation of a film that becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her project take on a life of their own.