Skip to content

MesmeroWatch list, 0 saved

Movie

Poster for Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch

1991 · 115 min

A queasy, hypnotic descent into hallucination and addiction, where grotesque talking insects and deadpan dread blur the line between reality and fever dream.

Directed by: David Cronenberg
Genres: Crime, Drama
Starring: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm

Tagline: Exterminate all rational thought.
Overview: Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Search YouTube for a trailer

Add to a list: Naked Lunch

In the USNot loaded yet.

Directed by: David Cronenberg
Genres: Crime, Drama
Starring: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm

In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: darkstrength 3 of 3
eeriestrength 3 of 3
absurdstrength 2 of 3
melancholicstrength 2 of 3
Pacing: slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: addiction
identity
obsession
madness
death
Places: big city
single country house
Era: period
Audience: adult
Form: nonlinear
unreliable narrator
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language strong
Violence mild
Sex strong

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	3
Horror	7
Humour	4
Realism	3
Romance	3
Tension	6
Darkness	9
Complexity	9
Emotional weight	7

More like this

Titles like Naked Lunch

Movie

Videodrome

1983

A grimy, hypnotic descent into media madness, blending visceral body horror with cold, cerebral unease.

Same writer: David Cronenberg · Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about identity and obsession · nonlinear

Also: Same writer: David Cronenberg
Via: dark
eerie
identity
obsession
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 88 min

VideodromeHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Dead Ringers

1988

A cold, clinical descent into shared madness, unsettling and tragic, with a slow-building dread that lingers.

Same writer: David Cronenberg · Dark, melancholic, slow-burn · about addiction and identity

Also: Same writer: David Cronenberg
Via: dark
melancholic
addiction
identity
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 115 min

Dead RingersHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Barton Fink

1991

A sweaty, surreal descent into creative paralysis, blending black comedy with creeping dread and dreamlike unease.

Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about identity and obsession · nonlinear

Via: dark
eerie
identity
obsession
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 117 min

Barton FinkHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Crash

1996

A cold, hypnotic descent into erotic obsession, where chrome and flesh blur in a dreamlike, unsettling haze.

Same writer: David Cronenberg · Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about identity and obsession · nonlinear

Also: Same writer: David Cronenberg
Via: dark
eerie
identity
obsession
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 100 min

CrashHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Fly

1986

A tragic romance that curdles into visceral body horror, leaving you unsettled and heartbroken.

Same writer: David Cronenberg · Dark · about identity and obsession

Also: Same writer: David Cronenberg
Via: dark
identity
obsession
Pacing: measured
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 96 min

The FlyHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

1920

A feverish, twisted dream of painted shadows and crooked streets that unsettles and confuses you long after it ends.

Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about identity and obsession · unreliable narrator

Via: dark
eerie
identity
obsession
unreliable narrator
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 76 min

The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Shrouds

2025

A cold, mournful plunge into obsession and decay, dreamlike and unsettling, more a mood of grief than a plot to follow.

Same writer: David Cronenberg · Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about identity and obsession · nonlinear

Also: Same writer: David Cronenberg
Via: dark
eerie
identity
obsession
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 120 min

The ShroudsHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Silence of the Lambs

1991

A slow-burn psychological thriller that keeps you on edge with its eerie atmosphere and intense mind games.

Same composer: Howard Shore · Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about identity and obsession

Also: Same composer: Howard Shore
Via: dark
eerie
identity
obsession
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 119 min

The Silence of the LambsHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Spider

2002

A slow, unsettling descent into a fractured mind, where memory and delusion blur in a grey, oppressive London.

Same director: David Cronenberg · Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about madness · nonlinear

Also: Same director: David Cronenberg
Via: dark
eerie
madness
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 98 min

SpiderHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

The Lighthouse

2019

A slow, suffocating plunge into black-and-white madness, where two men's rivalry curdles into hallucination and dread.

Dark, eerie, slow-burn · about obsession and madness · nonlinear

Via: dark
eerie
obsession
madness
nonlinear
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: demanding
Runtime: 109 min

The LighthouseHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

A History of Violence

2005

A quiet life cracks open into brutal violence, leaving a lingering unease about identity and the cost of a hidden past.

Same director: David Cronenberg · Dark, melancholic, slow-burn · about identity

Also: Same director: David Cronenberg
Via: dark
melancholic
identity
Pacing: slow-burn
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 96 min

A History of ViolenceHidden from your suggestions.

Movie

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

1998

A dizzying, drug-soaked ride through neon chaos, funny and grotesque at once, that leaves you disoriented and exhilarated.

Dark, eerie · about addiction and identity · nonlinear

Via: dark
eerie
addiction
identity
nonlinear
Pacing: brisk
Attention: engaged
Runtime: 118 min

Fear and Loathing in Las VegasHidden from your suggestions.

Where to watch in the US

We have not loaded where to watch in the US for this title yet. Check again in a day or two.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres: crime, drama
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Written by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider, Monique Mercure, Nicholas Campbell, Michael Zelniker
Music: Howard Shore, Ornette Coleman
Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky
Runtime: 115 min
Country: Canada, United Kingdom
Languages: Arabic, English

TMDB IMDb Letterboxd Wikipedia Wikidata

Something wrong on this page? Tell us.