Five Films That Could Be Episodes of Black Mirror
On April 10, the seventh season of the beloved anthology series Black Mirror premiered. If you’ve already binged every episode but crave more of its unsettling visions of the future, we’ve curated five films that deliver the same dose of thrilling unease.
eXistenZ, 1999
Renowned biotech game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) becomes a target during a test run of her groundbreaking creation, eXistenZ—a game controlled through organic ports embedded in players’ bodies. She pulls Ted (Jude Law), an unwitting intern, into her escape, plunging them into the game’s reality where every action, word, or suspicion might be scripted—or part of a real plot to dismantle the system. As they delve deeper, the boundaries between game and reality blur, trapping them in a labyrinth with no clear exit.
David Cronenberg, always ahead of the technological curve, explores themes that resonate decades later: the fusion of flesh and digital, the illusion of control in virtual realms, and an organic aesthetic that fascinates and repulses. Like the finest Black Mirror episodes, eXistenZ toys with the viewer’s perception until the final frame.
Seconds, 1966
Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph), a successful but disillusioned banker, receives a cryptic offer from a mysterious company: a new face, career, and identity. Accepting the deal, he transforms into Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson), a thriving artist. Yet, with this reinvention comes a haunting realization: no external change can fill an inner void, and his new reality feels chillingly artificial. The choice, he discovers, is irrevocable.
John Frankenheimer crafts an atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread, using unconventional angles, wide-angle lenses, and optical distortions to heighten the protagonist’s alienation. Though devoid of futuristic tech—save for eerily advanced plastic surgery—Seconds feels quintessentially Black Mirror. What happens when a second chance at a perfect life leaves the core self unchanged?
Demonlover, 2002
Diane (Connie Nielsen) juggles covert roles for two rival corporations locked in a ruthless battle over the 3D animated pornography market. Tasked with sabotaging a multimillion-dollar deal, she initially succeeds—until she realizes she’s a pawn in a larger scheme. Surrounded by spies, betrayal, and bizarre websites where even torture is commodified, Diane grapples with a world where the line between virtual and real has vanished, leaving no truth or escape.
Much like Black Mirror, Olivier Assayas’ Demonlover conjures a paranoid atmosphere where technology is a weapon and humans are mere avatars. What begins as a thriller sheds its genre skin, evolving into a visually arresting descent. Characters drift through hotel corridors, seek solace in pay-per-view adult channels, and struggle to discern friend from foe. With no clear moral or resolution, the film leaves a lingering sense that control was lost long ago.
The Parallax View, 1974
Small-town journalist Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) initially dismisses odd coincidences surrounding a senator’s assassination. But as witnesses, including a close acquaintance, die one by one, he’s drawn into a dangerous quest for the truth behind the official narrative. The deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes: something far more sinister than a lone gunman is at play—perhaps a shadowy organization erasing its tracks.
Alan J. Pakula’s film pulses with the paranoia of the 1970s, an era of Watergate and political assassinations. Its unsettling aesthetic—empty spaces, sterile geometric interiors, and hypnotic cinematography—feels eerily relevant today. The viewer, like Frady, becomes entangled in the puzzle, especially during a chilling psychological test at a futuristic corporation. Like Black Mirror, The Parallax View confronts us with an opaque, destructive system, speaking to the individual’s powerlessness against an impersonal machine.
Lucid Dream, 2017
South Korean journalist Dae-ho Choi (Go Soo) is haunted by the abduction of his young son from an amusement park years ago, with police long since abandoning the case. When he learns of an experiment that lets participants control dreams to relive past events, Dae-ho seizes the chance to uncover clues. With each dream, he unravels secrets hidden in a mosaic of memories, stumbling onto a far darker and more intricate conspiracy than he imagined.
Directed by debutant Kim Joon-sung, this brooding thriller evokes not only Black Mirror but also Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Technology becomes both a desperate tool for truth and a gateway to new fears, perhaps as paralyzing as the unknown itself.
