Top 10 Most Cerebral Movies That Wipe Our Minds

Cerebral Movies: A non-expected ending is something that every moviegoer expects from the flick. There are lots of movies who tried to create an unexpected ending but failed to do so, and sometimes those ending resulted as the worst part of the movie. Some movies are in the hall of fame just because the director and screen writer crafted the ending in such a way that the climax tricked the viewer’s mind. (Contains spoilers)

Below is a list of top 10 cerebral movies. Challenge yourself with the brainiest, most cerebral movies of all time.

1) Fight Club

Fight Club Top 10 Cerebral Movies
Tyler Durden!!!! One of the most famous characters in the history of cinema. Fight Club is the movie which deals with a concept which happens to every person. Going through the daily life of a middle-class person and how he has destroyed his ambition, so he tries to become something new entirely. If you have a great plot, great actors like Edward Norton and Brad Pitt and you give all these in the hand of David Fincher.

You already know the quality of the product that you are gonna receive. Giving attention to minor details in the movie was a point where director proved that he was manipulating the audience since the start. Initially, when the movie was released it wasn’t a hit, but later people noticed the minor details and movie did well with DVD and other sales.

Fight Club is one of the best movies ever and it is also my personal favorite. Also, its one of the must watched films ever produced.

2) Predestination

Predestination Top 10 Cerebral Movies
Playing around the concept of time-travel is never easy. Time travel paradoxes help to create mind bending concepts but on the other end, it is very necessary to hold and direct those concepts without going away from reality. The writers of the movie very nicely adapted the novel and converted it into a screenplay which was contented with pure brain chilling twists.

The movie is not only having unexpected endings at the end but also keeps revealing great suspense throughout the movie. The casting was one of the main reasons for achieving great results. This movie showed some potential in the Australian Film Industry and gave recognition to Sarah Snook.

Predestination rips your brain, in the end, something which was never expected out of this movie from any point of view.

3) Shutter Island

Shutter Island Top 10 Cerebral Movies
The master piece by Martin Scorcese and inimitable acting by Leonardo Dicaprio proved the movie its worth. The movie keeps giving you chills and real feels of a mental asylum. A pivotal role by Mark Ruffalo allowed the director to characterize the lead role in a more fashionable way. A gradual approach of showing Ben Kingsley as an antagonist made the audience feel for the Dicaprio.

Never expected that a test run of the patient is going on screen and expecting what the director forced us to expect. The director manipulated the viewers too cleverly that the ending perplexed the brain of everyone. The clever decision of choosing the right weather and environment for the movie bonded the audience with the movie till the climax.

Shutter Island is a bone chilling movie at its best and a posh direction by the director.

4) Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko Top 10 Cerebral Movies
The debutant director proved his worth in the world of cinema by this flick. If you want a SCI-FI movie that keeps you intrigued also in a state of confusion and still keep you attached to the movie and you start anticipating something a beyond nonlinear Donnie Darko is the movie for you.

This is a slow paced movie with many well-directed characters which keep you fascinated throughout the movie. Some people didn’t like the movie as they the movie didn’t convey the script properly. This may be because of less production budget but still, if you are true movie fan you will understand the depth of the script as well as the work done in the field of direction.

5) The Others

10 Cerebral Movies
A horror movie with a plot twist is not something that we witness every day. The Others is well written and directed that it never allows the audience to anticipate any kind of twist. Depicting the servants as an antagonist was the best piece of art. It leads the audience to believe that something fishy is going on. The servants aren’t something that they expected and a sudden unexpected entry of the husband adds a lot of questions to the plot.

Class acting by Nicole Kidman was truly mesmerizing. Directing the relationship between mother and children and the care of the mother to protect her children from any threat was the emotional stroke of the movie.

The love of a single mother is purely depicted in the movie. The Others is considered as one of the best horror, thriller and suspense movie.

6) Memento

Memento (2000)
This is the movie which gave Christopher Nolan a recognition as one of most intellectual directors. Memento brought a pure new concept to depict brain diseases in movies. The pure nonlinear direction of the movie also showed some new techniques of depicting and conveying the story. The casting was done perfectly the dialogue was coming out not only from the characters but from the personalities too. Guy played a perfect character and did justice to it.

The non-linear storyline of the movie keeps the audience intrigued, and keeps them in suspense of something that they never expected. The ending was a monologue kind of thing that allowed the audience to understand the character and his life.

Memento is still considered as one of the best movies by Nolan’s. No offense to Batman fans.

7) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Top 10 Cerebral Movies
Believe me when I say this movie is a SCI-FI love story. Blending the result of SCI-FI with a stroke of love story allows this movie to stand out from the ordinary crowd. Creating issues with the Mark Ruffalo’s personal life with Kirsten Dunst shows the consequences of the choices that you make.

The movie depicts that every experiment doesn’t only have a negative side effect but that effect is ever lasting and permanent. Science plays an important role in the script, and it conveys the story in a more satisfying manner. The whole direction is never slipped off the track.

The climax which shows a never ending loop which allows the audience to relive the whole movie again in just a few seconds. It’s one the best SCI-FI ever made.

8) Moon

Top 10 Cerebral Movies
Directing a movie with few characters at an isolated is never easy. The director has to bind the viewer’s attention throughout the movie. Slow pace movies aren’t much anticipated by the audience. But Moon keeps you moving with the script. The portrayal of the characters is one of the pivotal features in a movie, and Moon has shown the best portrayal of the characters.

Relationship and `attachment between the two look alike is being directed nicely and owes to reality. Imaginative, Intriguing, and ambitious, Moon gives plenty of proof that Jones is having some serious talent, approaching his concepts into intellectually and morally challenging subject.

This movie also has an accurate amount of emotional touch needed to keep the script touching the grounds of reality. Moon is a seriously underrated SCI-FI movie.

9) The Prestige

The Prestige Top 10 Cerebral Movies
One more Nolan flick which gave an unexpected as well as the satisfying ending to the story of two great illusionists. The movie tells us about the story of two magicians who different ways to achieve their ambition. The era in which the movie is set creates a different ambiance for the audience. Adding some of the theories about Tesla connects reality and imagination at a higher level.

Giving least possible screen time to Angier’s ingénieur played the trick for the director. No one anticipated a character swap. Giving equal touch to characters personal and married life ensured the emotional and affectionate feel of the movie.

Still, Prestige is sometimes considered as one of the most underrated movies. But a pure flick-fan knows the value of any movie and understands the hard work of the director and its team.

10) Inception

Top 10 Cerebral Movies


A lot of people have already started hating me by seeing a movie like this ranked on 10. But I am talking about a movie which has an unexpected ending or a suspense. Inception left the viewers in a perplexed state. Inception is one of those movies who is too finely crafted and edited that every moment in the movie takes you to the different level of thinking. The concept of the movie is so intriguing. After watching the movie you can tell that the script has done pure justice with the concept of the movie.

Even today people are discussing its ending and this movie is gonna be marked and nailed as a masterpiece in the world of cinema. They say hard work pays off, true they say.

List Created By: Aditya Pandey