Esoteric cinema, television, and comic books?

[leemuria]

Someone mightve already mentioned some of these, but a few faves:

• Haxan (1922), focuses mostly on witchhunts in medieval, but great imagery allround, including one of the first jumpscares in film history!
• Altered States (1980) and the Devils (1971), both by Ken Russell. Both have 10/10 dream sequences.

For comic books, an all time fave is Epileptic by David Beauchard. Autobiography about growing up with a sibling with epilepsy, and the various spiritualist routes taken by the parents to try to cure him.

 

[Morell]

 

[Lu_CiD]

comic book wise
books of magic, lucifer, fables.
anime
Tokyo Babylon , the the shingles megami movie, devil summoner.

Post automatically merged: Aug 4, 2026

dude that thing is the closest representation to the greyman that used to stand in the trees outside my window as a child

Post automatically merged: Aug 4, 2026

im not even kidding. I made a post about it. the fucker used to stalk me i swear. I also had other ppl see it so it wasn't hallucinated

 

[Thomas Tomorrow]

The Pixar film COCO is excellent.

 

[Eldros]

I saw The Devil Rides Out (1968) with Christopher Lee last night. One of the few films where he is a positive character.
I also got hold of The Wicker Man (1973), which I haven't seen yet.

 

[Phillian]

Movies that, in my view, had a certain esoteric quality:

• «The Blood of a Poet» (1932)
• «Beauty and the Beast» (1946)
• «Orpheus» (1950)
• «Testament of Orpheus» (1960)
• «The Innocents» (1961)
• «The Colour of Pomegranates» (1969)
• «The Holy Mountain» (1973)
• «Suspiria» (1977)
• «The Labyrinth» (1986)
• «The Witches of Eastwick» (1987)
• «Kiki's Delivery Service» (1989)
• «Bram Stoker's Dracula»
• «Death Becomes Her» (1992)
• «The Secret Garden» (1993)
• «La Belle Verte» (1996)
• «The Craft» (1996)
• «Matilda» (1996)
• «Practical Magic» (1998)
• «Eyes Wide Shut» (1999)
• «Sleepy Hollow» (1999)
• *«Howl's Moving Castle» (2004)
• «Pan's Labyrinth» (2006)
• «Astral City: A Spiritual Journey» (2010)
• «The Babadook» (2014)
• «Crimson Peak» (2015)
• «The Witch» (2015)
• «The Love Witch» (2016)
• «Coco» (2017)
• «Hereditary» (2018)
• «Suspiria» (2018)
• «Midsommar» (2019)
• «Hellbender» (2021)
• «Frankenstein» (2025)

(I am sure I am forgetting others, but these are some I recall)

 

[Konsciencia]

I want to add Two more.

Bruce Almighty
The Truman Show

 

[Morell]

Movies that, in my view, had a certain esoteric quality:

• «The Blood of a Poet» (1932)
• «Beauty and the Beast» (1946)
• «Orpheus» (1950)
• «Testament of Orpheus» (1960)
• «The Innocents» (1961)
• «The Colour of Pomegranates» (1969)
• «The Holy Mountain» (1973)
• «Suspiria» (1977)
• «The Labyrinth» (1986)
• «The Witches of Eastwick» (1987)
• «Kiki's Delivery Service» (1989)
• «Bram Stoker's Dracula»
• «Death Becomes Her» (1992)
• «The Secret Garden» (1993)
• «La Belle Verte» (1996)
• «The Craft» (1996)
• «Matilda» (1996)
• «Practical Magic» (1998)
• «Eyes Wide Shut» (1999)
• «Sleepy Hollow» (1999)
• *«Howl's Moving Castle» (2004)
• «Pan's Labyrinth» (2006)
• «Astral City: A Spiritual Journey» (2010)
• «The Babadook» (2014)
• «Crimson Peak» (2015)
• «The Witch» (2015)
• «The Love Witch» (2016)
• «Coco» (2017)
• «Hereditary» (2018)
• «Suspiria» (2018)
• «Midsommar» (2019)
• «Hellbender» (2021)
• «Frankenstein» (2025)

(I am sure I am forgetting others, but these are some I recall)

There are many Frankenstein movies, though I think Frankenstein (1994) to be damn the best... @Saint surely give that one a go!

 

[Phillian]

There are many Frankenstein movies, though I think Frankenstein (1994) to be damn the best... @Saint surely give that one a go!

I had never watched that edition, but I will definitely add it to my bucket list. In Frankenstein's theme, I also recommend «Mary Shelley» (2017)
I also recall a few other movies with that esoteric feel.

• «Kwaidan» (1964)
• «Kuroneko» (1968)
• «Valerie and Her Week of Wonders» (1970)
• «The Last Unicorn» (1982)
• «Angel's Egg» (1985)
• «Alice» (1988)
• «Dreams» (1990)
• «The Garden» (1990)
• «Inquietude» (1998)
• «The Others» (2001)
• «The Village» (2004)
• «The Skeleton Key» (2005)
• «Tales from Earthsea» (2006)
• «The Fountain» (2006)
• «A Field in England» (2013)
• «The Book of Life» (2014)
• «Hagazussa» (2017)
• «Ode to Nothing» (2018)
• «The Wolf House» (2018)
• «Incantation» (2022)
• «Late Night with the Devil» (2023)
• «Fréwaka» (2024)

 

[Eldros]

Just finished watching The Wicker Man (1973).-
About a strange group with deep roots in fertility, nature, and pagan customs..

 

[Phillian]

Well, let me not fall into a rabbit hole; I will mention a few TV Shows that I like and feel that have some esoteric quality & theme:

• The Twilight Zone (1959)
• The Addams Family (1964)
• Twin Peaks (1990)
• Charmed (1998)
• Carnivàle (2003)
• Merlin (2008)
• American Horror Story (2011)
• Penny Dreadful (2014)
• The Magicians (2015)
• American Gods (2017)
• Castlevania (2017)
• Dark (2017)
• A Discovery of Witches (2018)
• Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018)
• The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
• The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
• 1899 (2022)
• Archive 81 (2022)
• The Sandman (2022)
• Wednesday (2022)
• Agatha All Along (2024)