What do you want to watch tonight?
Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.
Closest to Outer Range first
Dark 2017
Series
A missing child sets four families on a frantic hunt for answers as they unearth a mind-bending mystery that spans three generations.
The sides of Dark
- A puzzle across time
- A small town with a buried secret
- Fate against free will
- Four families, one knot
- Grey rain and a heavy score
Good for you if
- you like a family tree you need to draw on paper.
- you like a cold, patient mystery.
- you like a series you understand better the second time.
Bad for you if
- you need some hope. In Winden, families lose their children, then everything else.
- you won't read subtitles. It's in German (a dub exists).
About: time · fate · family
Severance 2022
Series
Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
The sides of Severance
- Office workers with their memories split in two
- The endless white corridors of Lumon Industries
- A team sorting numbers they don't understand
Good for you if
- you like piecing together what Lumon really does.
- you like goats in an office basement and a waffle party as a reward.
- you like Mark slowly realising what his other self lives through.
Bad for you if
- you need things to move fast from the first episode.
- you want answers at the end of every season.
About: work · identity · grief · control
Undone 2019
Series
After getting into a near fatal car accident, Alma discovers she has a new relationship with time and uses this ability to find out the truth about her father’s death.
The sides of Undone
- A woman bending time after a car crash
- Her dead father guiding her
- Rotoscoped animation over real actors
Good for you if
- you like reality slipping away from Alma scene after scene.
- you like painted animation traced over real actors.
- you like a daughter trying to save the father she lost.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch animated series.
- you want to know for sure whether Alma's visions are real.
About: grief · mental illness · time
The OA 2016
Series
Seven years after vanishing from her home, a young woman returns with mysterious new abilities and recruits five strangers for a secret mission.
The sides of The OA
- A blind woman who returns after seven years, able to see
- Five strangers meeting in an unfinished house
- A set of movements said to open a door
Good for you if
- you like a story that refuses to say what kind of story it is.
- you can live with an ending that stops instead of answering.
- you want the feeling that something bigger sits behind a disappearance.
Bad for you if
- you need momentum, and whole episodes here are one person telling a story.
- you want travel between dimensions to hold up when you think about it.
- you roll your eyes the first time five people do the movements in a basement.
About: belief · grief · captivity
Annihilation 2018
Film
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.
The sides of Annihilation
- Five scientists entering the Shimmer
- Nature mutating into something else
- A bear that screams
Good for you if
- you like science fiction that feels like a nightmare.
- you like rainbow-coloured, mutated landscapes.
- you like an ending that refuses to explain itself.
Bad for you if
- body horror and one terrifying creature are too much for you.
- you need momentum. The expedition moves slowly and quietly through the Shimmer.
About: self-destruction · change · grief
Constellation 2024
Series
When a fatal accident occurs on board the International Space Station, a lone astronaut makes the heroic journey back to Earth, only to discover key pieces of her life—including her young daughter—have changed.
The sides of Constellation
- An accident on the International Space Station
- An astronaut coming home alone
- A daughter who seems different
Good for you if
- you like piecing together which reality you are watching.
- you like a mother who can't trust her own memories.
- you like a story that starts with an accident aboard the International Space Station.
Bad for you if
- you need a story that moves faster.
- you need the quantum physics to make real sense.
About: identity · motherhood · reality
Neon Genesis Evangelion 1995
Anime
At the turn of the century, the Angels returned to Earth, seeking to wipe out humanity in an apocalyptic fury. Devastated, mankind's last remnants moved underground to wait for the day when the Angels would come back to finish the job. Fifteen years later, that day has come... but this time, humanity is ready to fight back with terrifying bio-mechanical weapons known as the Evangelions. Watch as Shinji, Rei, Asuka and the rest of the mysterious shadow agency Nerv battle to save earth from total annihilation.
The sides of Neon Genesis Evangelion
- A boy ordered by his father to pilot a giant robot
- Angels attacking Tokyo-3
- A final two episodes inside his head
Good for you if
- you like a series that leaves you with more questions than answers.
- you care more about the pilots' minds than the robot fights.
- you like an ending that goes somewhere no one expected.
Bad for you if
- you can't take depression and self-loathing on screen.
- you don't watch anime.
About: depression · fathers and sons · loneliness
Servant 2019
Series
A Philadelphia couple are in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and opens the door for a mysterious force to enter their home.
The sides of Servant
- A grieving couple and a lifelike doll
- A young nanny who moves in
- A Philadelphia townhouse the camera hardly leaves
Good for you if
- you like dread building inside one house.
- you like a doll that may have become a real baby.
- you like a mystery stretched patiently over four seasons.
Bad for you if
- you can't watch a story built on the death of a baby.
- you can't take horror, even when it is more creepy than gory.
About: grief · guilt · faith
Donnie Darko 2001
Film
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
The sides of Donnie Darko
- A troubled teen and a giant rabbit
- A jet engine falling on a house
- Twenty-eight days until the end
Good for you if
- you like strange, dreamy films with a dark edge.
- you like piecing together a story that won't explain itself.
- you like arguing about the ending afterwards.
Bad for you if
- you need some hope. Donnie's world counts down to the end from the first minutes.
- you want something soft and safe. A jet engine crashes into Donnie's bedroom early on.
About: fate · time · adolescence
Mr. Nobody 2009
Film
Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence with his wife and 3 children; one day, he wakes up as a mortal centenarian in the year 2092.
The sides of Mr. Nobody
- The last mortal man in 2092
- A boy choosing between his parents
- Three loves in three possible lives
Good for you if
- you like piecing together lives that branch from one choice.
- you like a film that leaves you unsure which life was real.
- you like big questions about time, chance and choice.
Bad for you if
- two hours and twenty minutes of branching lives is too much for you.
- you need the science of a story to hold up.
About: choice · time · love
Nope 2022
Film
Residents in a lonely gulch of inland California bear witness to an uncanny, chilling discovery.
The sides of Nope
- A brother and sister training horses in California
- Something hiding in a cloud above the ranch
- A former child star haunted by a chimp attack
Good for you if
- you like dread that comes from looking up at the sky.
- you like a UFO story that is nothing like the ones you know.
- you want wide desert skies and sound that fills the room.
Bad for you if
- you need momentum, and the first half takes its time.
- you can't stand a bloody chimp attack on a TV set.
About: spectacle · exploitation · siblings
Fringe 2008
Series
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, brilliant but formerly institutionalized scientist Walter Bishop and his scheming, reluctant son Peter uncover a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events and realize they may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern that blurs the line between science fiction and technology.
The sides of Fringe
- An FBI agent investigating impossible cases
- A brilliant scientist just out of a mental institution
- A parallel universe with doubles of everyone
Good for you if
- you like cases that bend the laws of science.
- you like a larger pattern hidden behind each strange event.
- you like Walter and Peter Bishop rebuilding a father and son bond.
Bad for you if
- you need the science to stay believable.
- five seasons is too much for you.
About: fathers and sons · loss · other worlds
The Leftovers 2014
Series
When 2% of the world's population abruptly disappears without explanation, the world struggles to understand just what they're supposed to do about it. This is the story of the people who didn't make the cut.
The sides of The Leftovers
- Two percent of the world vanishing at once
- A police chief holding his family together
- A silent cult dressed in white
Good for you if
- you like grief so raw it moves you to tears.
- you can live with never learning where the vanished went.
- you like Kevin and Nora, two broken people trying to go on.
Bad for you if
- you can't take grief, suicide and despair on screen.
- you need a story that moves fast, not three seasons of mourning.
About: grief · faith · loss
Tales from the Loop 2020
Series
The story of the town and people who live above “The Loop,” a machine built to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe – making things possible that were previously relegated only to science fiction.
The sides of Tales from the Loop
- A small Ohio town above a strange machine
- Rusted robots in snowy fields
- A different neighbour in each episode
Good for you if
- you like quiet, patient episodes with long silences.
- you like Simon Stålenhag's paintings brought to life.
- you like science fiction that feels small, personal and strange.
Bad for you if
- you need some hope, and many episodes end on loss and loneliness.
- you want the mysteries of the Loop explained.
About: time · loneliness · family
Arrival 2016
Film
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
The sides of Arrival
- The grief underneath the sci-fi
- Aliens that are truly alien
- Understanding as the plot
- Time that doesn't run straight
Good for you if
- you like a film that quietly breaks you at the end.
- you like patient scenes where people try to understand each other.
- you like aliens treated as a real problem of language and science.
Bad for you if
- you want an alien invasion with battles. There are none.
- you'd rather not work to follow a story. Louise's memories only fall into place in the last act.
About: language · grief · time · choice
Twelve Monkeys 1995
Film
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
The sides of Twelve Monkeys
- A prisoner sent back in time to stop a virus
- An asylum and a raving patient
- An airport memory
Good for you if
- you like a time loop you piece together.
- you like a feverish, strange atmosphere.
- you like a wild, twitchy supporting role.
Bad for you if
- you want clear answers about what's real.
- you need some hope. A plague has already wiped out most of humanity before the story starts.
About: fate · madness · memory
Devs 2020
Series
Young computer engineer Lily Chan investigates the secretive development division of her employer, a cutting-edge tech company based in San Francisco, which she believes is behind the murder of her boyfriend.
The sides of Devs
- A tech campus hidden in the redwoods
- A quantum computer that can see the past
- An engineer looking into her boyfriend's death
Good for you if
- you like Lily digging into what the secret Devs team is really building.
- you like long silences and a quiet, humming dread.
- you want Alex Garland's golden lab and composed frames.
Bad for you if
- you want chases and shootouts with your tech thriller.
- you need the physics on screen to be real physics.
About: free will · grief · technology
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch 2018
Film
In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a dark fantasy novel into a video game. A mind-bending tale with multiple endings.
The sides of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
- A young programmer in 1984
- A video game based on a choose your own adventure book
- Choices you make with your remote
Good for you if
- you like a 1984 bedroom full of ZX Spectrum games and cassette tapes.
- you like going back to find the endings you missed.
- you like a story that starts to know you are watching.
Bad for you if
- you want one story with one ending.
- you can't watch childhood guilt and a young man losing his grip on reality.
About: free will · control · guilt
Coherence 2014
Film
Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.
The sides of Coherence
- Four couples at a dinner party
- A comet passing overhead
- Another house just down the street
Good for you if
- you like piecing together what a comet did to one dinner party.
- you like a dinner party where the floor drops out from under you halfway.
- you like catching the glow sticks and photos the second time.
Bad for you if
- you want big effects, and this is friends talking in a living room.
- you need an ending that tells you exactly what happened.
About: identity · choice · friendship
Serial Experiments Lain 1998
Anime
Lain—driven by the abrupt suicide of a classmate—logs on to the Wired and promptly loses herself in a twisted mass of hallucinations, memories, and interconnected-psyches.
The sides of Serial Experiments Lain
- A shy schoolgirl who logs on to the Wired
- A classmate's suicide and the emails she sends afterwards
- A world where the network and real life blur
Good for you if
- you like a quiet, eerie anime where the internet starts to feel haunted.
- you like piecing together who Lain really is across thirteen strange episodes.
- you're happy to finish with questions and your own theory.
Bad for you if
- you don't watch anime.
- a teenage suicide at the very start is too much for you.
About: identity · the internet · loneliness · reality