12 Movies Like Vivarium That Are Definitely Worth Watching

Lorcan Finnegan's "Vivarium" is a trippy, frightening, disorienting sci-fi film anchored by Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg's stellar performances as Gemma and Tom, respectively. Gemma is a schoolteacher, and Tom is a handyman. "Vivarium" begins with the couple visiting a local real estate office to buy an affordable house. The agent takes them to Yonder, a new development housing complex made up of identical homes. Within moments of seeing unit nine, the agent disappears. Gemma and Tom try to leave. But no matter where they go or what they do, they end up back at unit nine.

Containing elements of every science fiction subgenre under the sun — including body horror, alien invasion, and time loops — "Vivarium" might appear to be a hodgepodge of better films. However, its distinct visual style and frightening exploitation of ennui elevate it. With a dynamite Imogen Poots, "Vivarium" engages audiences with its existential questions and ending. Here are 12 movies that twist and rattle the mind as effectively as "Vivarium" did.

David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" might be his most accomplished work. Or it might be "Mulholland Drive." Or, better yet, it might be "Lost Highway." In truth, it's probably "Eraserhead." Lynch is a modern Kafka, tapping into existential ennui and exploring the horrors within that realm. In "Blue Velvet," the suburbs are a mysterious and dangerous place. Kyle MacLachlan stars as a college student named Jeffrey Beaumont. Upon returning home to Lumberton, North Carolina, he finds a severed human ear in a vacant lot. From there, he teams up with Laura Dern's Sandy, daughter of a police detective, to investigate the ear and all the rotten things hidden beneath the façade of small town Americana. 

Trippy, unusual, and, at times, baffling, "Blue Velvet" works on the same weird wavelength as "Vivarium." Where "The Stepford Wives" at least endeavored for a veneer of normalcy, "Blue Velvet" goes full-throttle, getting very weird very quickly. Still, it's one of Lynch's more accessible works, making it the perfect unusual suburban horror cocktail to serve alongside "Vivarium."

"Vivarium" is all about the horrors of conformity. All of the homes in Yonder look the same. The housing layout, its crisp lawns, and even the clouds in the bright, blue sky are defiant in their stations. Philip Kaufman's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," adapted from Jack Finney's novel "The Body Snatchers," imagines the worst kind of compulsory conformity. Aliens arrive from outer space in the form of small pods with pink flowers. Day after day, they replicate humans, turning their bodies to ash while taking their forms as lifeless mimics.

It's a frightening concept and one that renders Kaufman's adaptation of the 1956 original film one of the scariest movies ever made. Unconsented conformity, whether urban or suburban, is frightening to consider. The film's invasion doesn't happen overnight, slowing building with Emmerich-Esque spectacle. The aliens are methodical, menacingly creeping into everyday life. In other words, it's no different than Yonder's suburban life, which isn't as picture-perfect as it appears.

Speaking of horrors in the suburbs, "Scream" doubled down on its "Blue Velvet"-like approach with its story of a masked serial killer terrorizing the small community of Woodsboro, California. On the surface, "Scream" (and its inimitable franchise) might not seem to have much in common with the sci-fi-tinged "Vivarium." But they share more DNA than audiences might think.

Chief among these elements is the focus on the film's enduring myopic perspective of its residential protagonists. While Imogen Poots' Gemma and Neve Campbell's Sidney are well-aware of the threat posed, everyone else seems blithely okay with the unfurling horror. After all, the "Scream" franchise has set two sequels in Woodsboro — each complete with a new bloody massacre. Sidney and Gemma would make an excellent pairing. It's easy to imagine the two of them skulking around the suburbs, taking charge while incredulously wondering aloud why no one else seems quite as shaken by the events as they are.

"Little Children" isn't a horror movie. It isn't even science-fiction. But its screenplay co-writer Tom Perrotta has dabbled in both of these genres (see: "The Leftovers"), and Todd Field's 2006 adaptation of Perotta's novel is horrifyingly distressing — just not in the way audiences might think. Kate Winslet earned an Oscar nomination for her starring role of Sarah Pierce, a mother and wife living in suburban no-man's-land. She's grappling with existential dissatisfaction and a decaying marriage. One day, Sarah meets her neighbor Brad (Patrick Wilson). Within weeks, the two engage in a sordid, extramarital affair.

While it sounds conventional, "Little Children" is anything but that. With disturbing parlays into sex offenders, deep-rooted insecurity, grief, and violence, "Little Children" is a casket of inflammatory neighborhood ennui waiting to explode. Frighteningly visceral and adroitly performed, "Little Children" is the kind of movie that'll haunt audiences. Like "Vivarium," it proves that a seemingly perfect life is likely a lie.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Brian Yuzna's "Society" is strange. Teenager Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) is tired of his family's wealth. He resents his parents as most teenagers do — though admittedly, it's probably easier to feel that way in a sprawling Beverly Hills mansion. He meets regularly with a therapist to unspool his frustrations. Despite his initially conventional grievances, Bill begins to suspect his parents are involved in a murderous cult.

Classmates go missing. Bodies appear and disappear like ghosts. Bill even hears a tape suggesting his parents are homicidal. Tearing back the veneer, not just from suburbia, but the upper echelon of society, the commentary in this film parallels "Vivarium." While the suggestion that the uber-rich are aliens, monsters, cultists, or any other terrifying thing isn't unique, "Society" has a breezy 80s conviction that helps the film considerably. Yuzna's film asks viewers to pull back the layers of any perfect image. With frightening certainty, it'll reveal something horrifying.

"The World's End" finds director Edgar Wright firmly in "Twilight Zone" territory for the conclusion of his Cornetto Trilogy. The film stars the same rotating cast of performers from "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead." In "The World's End," Gary King (Simon Pegg), an aging alcoholic, brings his childhood friends Andy (Nick Frost), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine), and Peter (Eddie Marsan) on a pub crawl they failed 25 years earlier.

Unbeknownst to them, aliens are invading their hometown. Soon, it's a comic-tinged battle for their lives. As it progresses, the film relies more on drama than humor. Wright caps his trilogy on a more heartbreaking note than fans might expect. Thematically, Wright is working with a lot. But like "Vivarium," he most prominently explores how people aren't who they appear to be. No different than perfect shudders and green lawns, Pegg's character, and his hometown, are masking their pain and dissatisfaction with life. Beneath the surface, there's little left but hurt and regret.