If you have just watched The Machinist, you might be on the hunt for more awesome movies like it. Well fret not, we have curated movies like The Machinist just for you!
Directed by Brad Anderson and starring the phenomenal Christian Bale, The Machinist features an emaciated insomniac who is baffled at the happenings around him.
To learn more about movies like The Machinist that can give you the same raw psychological thrill and exhibit high levels of self-preservation instincts, read on.
10 Mind-Numbing Psychological Thriller Movies Like The Machinist
1. The Fight Club (1999)
An insomniac holder of a white-collar job encounters a brash soapmaker and drama ensues. The two soon find themselves in a furtive fight club and amidst other confusions.
Directed by the master David Fincher and with performances that earned Brad Pitt and Edward Norton decades of fame, this movie entered the list of classics a long time ago. Thanks to the near-perfect ending, you’ll find your mind still running relentlessly long after the credits are over.
Movies like The Machinist and Fight Club bring out the stunning hidden power of the human subconscious and its manifestation into reality.
2. Taxi Driver (1976)
A war veteran takes up a night job as a taxi driver to help deal with his insomnia. Loathing the decadent lifestyle that the city has imbibed, he fantasizes about saving an underage prostitute from its shackles.
Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster give riveting performances in the film as you ride alongside an inside out emotional journey of a mentally unstable, lonely, and depressed man.
The Machinist deals with repressed memories and the long-lasting effects of avoidance of emotions such as guilt. Taxi Driver is very much similar thematically.
3. Donnie Darko (2001)
An emotionally vulnerable teenager encounters a man adorned in a rabbit costume. The events mark the beginning of a series of bizarre crimes that transcend space and time.
Donnie Darko is a Richard Kelly directorial with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jena Malone as lead performers. As a movie that explores the severity of certain hallucinatory experiences, it is a wild and scary trip.
The occurrence of a serious mental health disorder and its subsequent impact on the victim and their environment is an overarching theme in movies like The Machinist and Donnie Darko.
4. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
A seemingly possessed Vietnam war veteran struggles with eerie hallucinations. He is desperate to distinguish between dreams and reality while mourning profusely for his dead son.
Starring Tim Robbins and Elizabeth Pena, and directed by Adrian Lyne, Jacob’s Ladder is marked by tight storytelling and direction. The distress experienced by the character leads to a confusion that is almost visceral.
The series of hallucinatory episodes and sinister delusions until it finally all comes together puts this movie in the same league as movies like The Machinist.
5. Black Swan (2010)
A talented dancer grapples with embracing her dark side that is necessary to fully deliver on the chance of a lifetime. The risk heightens when a beautiful threat shows up.
This Darren Aronofsky thriller fetched universal acclaim for Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. You will be taken deep into the insecurities and the different ways in which it manifests in an artist’s obsession with perfection and rise to fame.
The Black Swan is very similar to The Machinist in the way in which the phantasmagoria of mystery and horror unravels.
6. Cashback (2006)
A man finds himself developing insomnia post a difficult breakup. Taking up a night job at the supermarket to combat sleepless nights proves to be eventful for him in more ways than one.
Written and directed by Sean Ellis, Cashback features Sean Biggerstaff and Emilia Fox as lead characters. Cashback is adorned by many mystical elements including a supernatural ability to literally stop time.
The gravity of insomnia as a medical condition and its effects really speaks through in The Machinist. Cashback affects you similarly.
7. American Psycho (2000)
A self-indulgent New York-based businessman turns out to be a psychopath in hiding who goes on a crime spree hoping to attain catharsis.
In this Mary Harron directorial we see another Christian Bale at the top of his acting genius. The movie starts off giving us a glimpse into a braggadocio’s nauseating lifestyle that quickly takes a dark turn.
Movies like The Machinist explore hidden alter egos and multiple personalities housed within a single individual. Looks like American Psycho was created with the same objective in mind.
8. Memento (2000)
Leonard Shelby, a former insurance investigator develops anterograde amnesia after a fatal injury that involved his wife being murdered.
This Christopher Nolan classic stars Guy Pearce and Carrie-Ann Moss in lead roles. Memento is guaranteed to keep you on tenterhooks with suspense and mystery all the way until its climax.
Guilt can sometimes lead you to take strange actions when it stems from a personal cause. Both The Machinist and Memento examine this theme in great detail during the course of their run.
9. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Four people desperate for a better life get involved in drug trafficking and excessive consumption pushing them to a tragic end.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Requiem for a Dream boasts terrific performances from Ellen Burstyn and Jared Leto. It attempts to shed light on the distress that people who persist in poverty go through and the methods they often employ to get at their aspirations.
Desperation is often followed by finding yourself in obliterating conditions. Both The Machinist and Requiem for a Dream serve as a pessimistic testimony for the same.
10. Mother! (2017)
An alluring house accommodates a writer and his wife. Their life begins to experience strange distortions when unanticipated guests start showing up.
This Darren Aronofsky directorial has Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as lead performers. Mother! takes you on a journey of contorted reality leaving you with more questions than answers at the end.
Both The Machinist and Mother! convolute your understanding of time, space, and people, leaving you profoundly numb at the end.