Schizophrenia is a relatively rare mental illness affecting slightly over 1% of the American adult population. It is a profound, yet debilitating mental illness that results in a person experiencing symptoms such as: depression, auditory hallucinations, delusions, flat affect, and paranoia. In order to get a better understanding of the illness, many people turn to watching movies. There have been many movies released that depict this illness in one way or another. Although some of these movies are fiction, some are based on a true life story of a person that had to deal with schizophrenia.
All Movies About Schizophrenia: An Extensive List of Films
The list below consists of movies that specifically are about cases of schizophrenia or are thought to be. They are listed in order by date of release. Many of these movies are not based on true stories, but some are. Not all of these movies portray schizophrenia or a main character with schizophrenia, but some have schizophrenic themes and/or overtones.
The Snake Pit (1948) – This movie is based on the novel “The Snake Pit” written by Mary Jane Ward in 1946. The novel tells a story about a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum and cannot recall how she ended up there. This film was considered very well done and actually won an Oscar. The story was based loosely on Mary Jane Ward’s life experiences in psychiatric care. She hears voices, feels out of touch with reality, and doesn’t remember her husband.
Through a Glass Darkly (1961) – This was a Swedish movie that is considered a three-act “chamber film.” Four family members act as mirrors for each other. The entire movie takes place while a family is on vacation on a remote island. One of the characters is released from an insane asylum where she was being treated for schizophrenia.
Images (1972) – This is a British-American movie about a wealthy housewife who experiences many delusions and hallucinations regarding her husband. She is obviously dealing with schizophrenia and has to sort out what is real from what is just in hear head. This movie is classified as a psychological thriller.
No Mercy No Future (Die Berührte) (1981) – This is a German movie about the daughter of uncaring wealthy parents who is locked up in an institution because she has schizophrenia. She experiences hallucinations and wanders the streets in search of God because she doesn’t receive proper psychiatric treatment. She ends up getting company from many strange, wandering men.
Santa Sangre (Holy Blood) (1989) – This was a Mexican-Italian movie with both flashbacks and flash-forwards in the plot. It is set in Mexico and details the crazy story of a boy named Fenix who grew up in a circus. The story involves flashbacks of religious cults, violence, and symbolism. The flash-forward involves drugs, prostitution, and murder.
Nightbreed (1990) – This was a fantasy horror movie about an unstable mental patient who is led to believe by his doctor that he is in fact a serial killer. His doctor is the actual murderer, but since he is struggling with mental illness, he is an easy victim for a set up. He eventually finds refuge in an abandoned cemetery. The main character is drugged by his doctor with LSD disguised as lithium and is ordered by his doctor to turn himself in for various murders.
Drop Dead Fred (1991) – This is a comedy fantasy style movie that includes emotional abuse, mental illness, and profanity. A young girl has an imaginary friend named “Drop Dead Fred” who causes chaos around the house and neighborhood. Nobody can see him except the young girl named Lizzie. Her mother is emotionally abusive and highly controlling. Although this isn’t completely schizophrenic behavior, some would argue that it could be classified as such.
The Fisher King (1991) – This is a comedy-drama style movie about a radio DJ who tries to help a man whose life he unintentionally ruined. He made a lot of insensitive, rude comments to a depressed individual who was a caller on his radio show. The guy who called the radio show ends up committing a mass murder at a popular Manhattan bar. The radio DJ ends up becoming suicidal for what had happened in regards to the caller into his show. He eventually attempts suicide, but instead is rescued by a homeless man suffering from catatonic schizophrenia.
Clean, Shaven (1993) – This movie is about a man who suffers from schizophrenia and is trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive parents. This movie attempts to take an objective look at the illness of schizophrenia and individuals that have it.
Benny & Joon (1993) – This was a romantic comedy movie about 2 unusual people that meet each other and fall in love. This film stars Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson as a couple. It has been noted by critics that “Joon” the character played by Masterson suffers from schizophrenia. Joon does experience auditory hallucinations and ends up doing pretty well with a stable routine and her daily medication.
Angel Baby (1995) – This is an Australian drama film about two people that meet during therapy and fall into deep love. Both of these individuals have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. They end up moving in together, getting pregnant and the wife dies during childbirth. Their daughter is given to the husband’s brother.
Conspiracy Theory (1997) – This is an American thriller movie that is about a lawyer working for the U.S. Government. A taxi driver who is a conspiracy theorist believes that most events that happen in the world are a result of government conspiracies and tells his ideas to the lawyer. The lawyer (played by Juilia Roberts) finds him funny because he saved her from a robbery, but doesn’t know that the taxi driver has been spying on her home. Some would suggest that there are overtones of schizophrenia in this movie.
Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) – This is an American drama movie about a young adult with untreated schizophrenia. He lives in a dysfunctional family with his sister who he may have gotten pregnant, and a highly athletic brother, and his authoritarian father. This film was not regarded well by critics.
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999) – This is a French historical drama movie that tells a story of St. Joan of Arc – the French war hero and religious martyr of the 15th century. As a young girl, Joan begins having “visions” that inspire her to lead the French battle against English forces. Her success in overcoming the English forces results in Charles VII taking the throne as ruler. Eventually Joan ends up being executed for committing heresy.
A Beautiful Mind (2001) – This is an American biographical drama movie that is based on the life experiences of John Nash (Dr. John Forbes Nash) – who struggled with schizophrenia. It features Russell Crowe playing star character John Nash and was inspired by the bestselling book with the same name written by Sylvia Nasar. The story showcases John Nash as a child prodigy and highlights the onset of paranoid schizophrenia in which he experiences delusions and believes that the F.B.I. is after him. It won four Academy Awards and was well received by critics.
Donnie Darko (2001) – This is a science fiction drama movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, and Patrick Swayze. It documents various adventures of the main character (played by Gyllenhaal) as he searches for meanings of visions that he experiences related to Doomsday. This movie has received pretty positive feedback and still has a large cult following.
The Caveman’s Valentine (2001) – This is an American mystery-drama style movie starring Samuel L. Jackson. It is based on the book “The Caveman’s Valentine” by Geoge Dawes Green that was released in 1994. The plot involves a former family man and pianist studying at Juilliard music school who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and lives in a cave near Inwood Park, New York. He experiences delusions that a man is controlling the world with rays from the Chrysler Building and that his mind is being taken over.
K-PAX (2001) – This is a science fiction, mystery movie starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges about a psychiatric patient who believes he is an alien. The patient claims to be an alien from the planet “K-PAX” – hence the title of the movie. Oddly enough, his outlook on life ends up being an inspiration for other patients as well as his psychiatrist.
Igby Goes Down (2002) – This is a comedy drama style movie that follows the life of a teenager in New York City who tries to cut ties with his family. In the movie, Jason Igby’s father suffers from schizophrenia and is committed to a psychiatric institution. Igby is fearful that he will eventually develop the same mental illness as his father. He sets out on a mission to find a better life, but ends up visiting his godfather.
Spider (2002) – This is a Canadian/British psychological thriller movie about a man who is staying at a halfway house for the mentally ill. When he is released from an institution, he begins to remember a childhood trauma that occurred – his father’s murder. He also recounts other murders that happened while growing up and is taken back to an insane asylum.
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003) – This movie is adapted from the autobiography written by Liz Murray called “Breaking Night.” Liz is one of two daughters in a Bronx family and her mother has schizophrenia and is addicted to drugs. Her father is a drug addict as well, but has AIDS and lacks social skills. She ends up running away from home with another girl who is being abused. She goes on to become a star student and accomplishes a lot during her collegiate life.
Keane (2004) – This is a drama movie set in New York City that highlights a mentally ill man trying to get over the fact that his daughter was abducted several months prior. He searches for his missing daughter and the main character “Keane” confronts various ticket agents and random strangers with documentation of her disappearance, but no one says they had seen his daughter. He ends up doing drugs and becomes increasingly paranoid – he thinks he is being followed. Some of the symptoms he exhibits are schizophrenic in nature.
Spider Forest (2004) – This is a Korean psychological thriller movie about a man who awakens in the middle of a forest and finds a cabin. In the movie, the main character sees someone who has killed many people who runs through the cabin. He eventually awakens again in a local hospital and is fully bandaged. His friend questions him about the murders and he realizes that he is the main suspect in the murders due to the fact that his fingerprints have been associated with the victims. Some would argue that this movie has some schizophrenic features.
15 Park Avenue (2005) – This is an English-Indian movie about a woman in her 30’s who suffers from schizophrenia and is taken care of by her older sister and mother. The woman suffering from schizophrenia ends up creating an alternate reality in her mind in which she marries her ex-fiancé and has kids. It is discussed that she lead a pretty normal life up until her early 20’s before a traumatic experience made her withdraw from the world – this lead to the development of schizophrenia.
Shabd (2005) – This is a Bollywood drama thriller about a man living a wealthy lifestyle in India with his wife. A man achieves much fame and success with his first book, but his subsequent works are not up to par with the first. He becomes depressed and begins writing a story about a real woman who he follows. The writer experiences such guilt for pursuing this woman that he develops schizophrenia and is sent to an asylum.
Proof (2005) – This is an American drama film featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins and Jake Gyllenhaal. It was based on the play “Proof” by David Auburn. In this film, a mathematician (Paltrow’s father) developed schizophrenia and she has to take care of him.
Stateside (2005) – This is a romantic drama movie based on a true story. The story is about an affluent guy serving in the Marine Corps to avoid being in jail who falls in love with an actress that has undiagnosed schizophrenia. The actress is living with undiagnosed schizophrenia and her concerts keep doing poorly as a result of her condition. The story is based on the life of actress Sarah Holcomb.
A Scanner Darkly (2006) – This is an animated science-fiction thriller starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder. The movie is about a powerful drug called “Substance D” becoming popularized throughout the United States after the government has lost it’s “war on drugs.” This drug causes people to experience bizarre hallucinations and people to experience drug-induced schizophrenia.
Bug (2006) – This was an American film based on a play of the same name about a woman believing the delusions of a schizophrenic man that she meets in an Oklahoma motel. The woman was unable to move on from the disappearance of her son and engaged in drugs and alcohol. She meets this drifter and ends up entering a relationship with him out of loneliness. He explains his delusions to her such as that he has been victim of U.S. Government testing. She believes his delusions and they end up lighting themselves on fire.
Canvas (2006) – This is a drama movie about a Florida family dealing with a mother who is dealing with schizophrenia. This movie received pretty decent, positive reviews – but never became widely popular.
Memoirs of My Nervous Illness (2006) – This movie is based on the 1903 journal that was written by Daniel Paul Schreber. Schreber was a prominent German judge who became incarcerated in an insane asylum after a break with reality. He began experiencing delusions, believed he was communicating with God through a secret “nerve language.” He also had the desire to transform himself into a woman.
Danika (2006) – This is a horror movie about a woman suffering from very disturbing hallucinations with paranoia. Most of the hallucinations that she experiences contain threats to the safety of her family as well as media-influenced fears such as kidnappings, accidents, and terrorists. The woman ends up telling all of her thoughts to her husband and psychiatrist.
I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (2006) – This is a Korean romantic comedy that takes place in a mental institution. A young woman believes that she is a cyborg and is institutionalized after cutting her wrists. She experiences many delusions and utilizes electronics to attempt to fulfill her deluded thoughts that she is in fact a cyborg. Another man dealing with schizophrenia believes he can steal people’s souls.
Reprise (2006) – This is a Norwegian movie about successful writers and friends in their early 20’s. One is propelled to stardom, while the other’s work is rejected. The successful writer of the two ends up developing schizophrenia and is picked up by the other at a psychiatric hospital. Eventually the other non-schizophrenic writer finds his voice with the help of his idol.
Woh Lamhe (2006) – This is a movie based on Parveen Babi’s life including her personal struggles with schizophrenia and her relationship with Mahesh Bhatt. This was Bhatt’s tribute to Parveen for the time he was able to share with her. The title translates to “Those Moments” and is in regards to the quality moments he appreciated with her. She is documented in the list of famous people with schizophrenia that was created.
Mr. Brooks (2007) – This movie is a psychological thriller starring Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, and Dane Cook. The movie is based on a successful Portland businessman and serial killer who is forced to take on Dane Cook’s character after being blackmailed. His life gets more complicated when a police officer reopens investigation into his past murders. Some would argue that the tendencies exhibited by the main character do not fully qualify as schizophrenia.
My Name Is Alan and I Paint Pictures (2007) – This is a documentary about Alan Russell-Cowan, a renowned street painter diagnosed with schizophrenia. The movie attempts to address major issues that influence the life of Alan. It includes the treatment and diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and highlights the therapeutic aspects of art for people with mental illness.
Savage Grace (2007) – This was a movie based on the book with the same title written by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson. The story is based on the relationship between a wealthy socialite and her son in which they engage in incest. The film is based on a true story of Barbara Daly Baekeland and her husband Brooks Baekeland with their only child Antony who ended up being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Mirrors (2008) – This is a horror movie created to remake the Korean film “Into the Mirror.” The movie begins with a security officer entering a room from which he cannot escape – staring into a mirror. Another security guard attempts to figure out what is going on and during his investigation he discovers someone who suffered from schizophrenia. Most would consider this more of a horror film rather a depiction of schizophrenia.
The Soloist (2009) – This was a drama movie featuring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. It was based on the book “The Soloist” by Steve Lopez. It is based on the true life story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia and eventually became homeless as a result of his condition. Through the interaction of Foxx and Downey Jr. we find out more about Ayers’ story as a musical prodigy.
Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) – This movie is an Indian psychological thriller about an introverted guy with low self-esteem who is trapped in a job as a construction worker. He has had a troubled childhood and his brother died while trying to kill him in an unpredictable series of events. He eventually begins experiencing symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia accompanied by many delusions.
Shutter Island (2010) – Most people have seen this highly popular psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on Dennis Lehane’s book “Shutter Island” which was released in 2003. It features Leonardo DiCaprio playing a psychiatric patient on “Shutter Island” (located in Boston Harbor) with an institution for the criminally insane. DiCaprio’s character experiences many of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia including the delusion that he is being psychologically manipulated.
Take Shelter (2011) – This was a drama-thriller type movie in which a new husband (and dad) experiences a series of visions related to the apocalypse. He keeps the visions from his wife and their daughter. He focuses his efforts towards building a storm shelter in the backyard – but his odd behavior puts a strain on his familial relationship. His mother suffered from paranoid schizophrenia – a condition which he eventually developed.
Sucker Punch (2011) – This is a fantasy action type movie about a young woman who attempts to escape an institution for the mentally ill before suffering a lobotomy. The storyline follows her fantasies as well as her escape plan. She was sent to the institution by an abusive step-dad and is blamed for the death of her younger sister. Basically her step-dad is setting her up and trying to make her mentally incapacitated for something she didn’t do.
Of Two Minds (2012) – This tells a story about a relationship between a girl and her younger sister who suffers from schizophrenia. After their mother dies, the older sister is responsible for taking care of the younger, mentally ill sister. After an incident happens between the younger sister and the older sister’s son, it becomes clear that she cannot handle her younger sister’s mental illness.
Do you know any other movies about schizophrenia?
Did I leave any movies off the list that may have been about schizophrenia? If you know of any other movies that could be classified as highlighting the mental illness that is schizophrenia, feel free to let me know in the comments section so I can add it to the list. Of the movies above, what are your favorites? Which ones do you think do the best job at depicting someone struggling with schizophrenia? Personally I really think the movie “A Beautiful Mind” does a fantastic job showcasing the signs and symptoms.
How about “Jacob’s Ladder”? It may be more about severe PTSD and implications of government experiments and drug hallucinations, but it kind of fits the bill.
I saw a movie from Netflix years ago with “rocks” in the title. It showed illusions and hearing voices perfectly as a young man is followed everywhere by a couple telling him to do bad things. After seeing this movie, I understood what a schizophrenic person saw and did every day and needed to be able to show others what happens. Thank you for your help.
Hide and Seek (2005)
-Man Facing Southeast
-King of Hearts
Looking for the name of a movie with a man being released from a mental institution who returns home… everything seems strange, including people lurking around outside. In the end we learn that his entire family was killed and the house was boarded up.
Hi! I’m trying to find an independent movie from a few years ago (maybe 2013/2016, not older). A man visits and old friend and stays with him for some days. But he hears voices that tell him to kill his friend because the end is coming.
There is a very tense scene where he attempt to murder his friend with acid in his own basement… his friend accept to cover his head with some mask because he trust his old buddy. Great and very tense movie. Can’t remember the name. Help please!
Found it!!! “They Look Like People”!!! Yeah! Great movie!
Lonely Boy (2014). While seeking answers to a past he cannot remember, a schizophrenic must find the strength to control his mental illness as he tries to build relationships with those he pushed away. Winner of multiple festival awards.
Excellent film! I’m dealing with a close family member suffering from schizophrenia. Man, this really hit home.
Hi! I’m looking for a movie on which the actress was in a mental clinic or sanitarium and the director plans to kill her, the husband appears and…(well…no mention the end)…I can’t get a clue on its name!
I recommend The Secret She Kept it’s a made for TV movie about schizophrenia starring Kyla Pratt.
Hi, Saw a movie many years ago on TV. May have been on Lifetime about a girl with OCD who had a mental breakdown at a supermarket looking for olives and she became institutionalized. She falls in love with a schizophrenic patient and they end up being released and move in together. The guy stops taking his meds and his schizophrenic symptoms led him to be aggressive towards her and he had to be re-institutionalized.
The movie is called crazylove. All one word and it was made in 2005.
Does anybody remember the name of a made for TV movie in which a high school student (or perhaps she was starting college to be an architect) suddenly becomes a full blown schizophrenic. Her mother can’t understand this and somehow thinks that she is just stressed out. She is diagnosed as schizophrenic and medicated and seems to be doing well so her mother thinks she is cured, but of course she has a relapse and it is only late in the movie that the mother comes to the realization that her daughter will always be like this and she must learn to accept it and love her anyways.
I wanted to know the name so I can try to purchase it (if available) because someone I know has a daughter who is turning 20 and she has had sudden onset of these symptoms. Her mother keeps saying “snap out of it”, “stop it”, etc. and doesn’t seem to understand that this is never going to go away and that she (like the movie mom) needs to accept her the way she is and seek treatment to improve her daughter’s functioning in life (she is starting her sophomore year in college).
I thought that if she watched this movie it might make her realize, because she still thinks that her daughter just needs to “buck up” and stop acting crazy no matter what others tell her about this condition. If I could just remember the names of one of the two actresses then I could google their filmographies and sort out the name of the TV movie, but unfortunately I cannot seem to form a mental image of either actress. My guess is that it was an ’80s TV movie. Can anyone help?
Hi, the movie is called Strange Voices and stars Nancy McKeon and Valerie Harper. It is on Amazon video (free with prime). Good informative and sensitive portrayal of schizophrenia.
I am looking for a movie where a man was seeing people who weren’t there so he hired a man to live with him to help him determine who which people were actually real.
Would “The Uninvited” be in the list of movies about schizophrenia. And the “Secret Window”? In the uninvited the character believes her step mum is evil and killed her mum. She investigates with her sister. Later on you find out that the sister died in the fire too and that the main character was returning to the mental hospital.
The secret window, I haven’t seen in years, but from what I remember the character was an author, he started seeing this shadow/guy and the guy started killing people. You later find out that it was him.
Does anyone remember a movie where a woman suspects her husband of cheating on her, but in the end, she was the other woman she suspected her husband of cheating on with? Towards the ending, the husband heard his wife in the room with another voice of a woman who was supposedly the mistress. The wife and mistress were arguing behind the door and their was a shot. When the door finally opened, the wife was the only one in the room. She was schizophrenic.
Hi everyone, I’m looking for a movie where this young white guy is developing the symptoms. He hears running commentary type auditory hallucinations and gets really disturbed.
Where’s Fight Club (1999)? Black Swan (2010)?
I’m looking for a movie I saw a long time ago. I don’t remember much. There was a guy and a girl and they were getting haunted by their childhood bully who is threatening their lives and possibly killing people. The two main characters as kids remember locking the bully I’m a cellar for dead.
Throughout the movie they tell the police and have many encounters with the bully but the police never seem to make it in time. In the end the main character ends up having schizophrenia and the girl childhood friend and the bully are both people inside of his head. Please help. Been looking for years.
I’m not sure if this movie falls under this category… but I think it was called Red? With a man who keeps a prisoner in a warehouse and he imagines himself as a few different people and in the end wants to kill one of his imagined captives… who is actually himself. I think his name was Slater?? Not really sure… help???
Hi, theres this movie I am looking for. I am not sure it falls under schizophrenia but he does have hallucinations and he brings his baby girl home. He tries to leave his apartment and he’s afraid of what’s out there. It may have been on the list but probably not. Thank you.
There is a movie about a beautiful sweet faced blonde young woman who suffers from schizophrenia. She presents herself to be normal until a handsome man marries her, deceived by her stunning appearance. Once married she begins to fall apart and ends up in a psychiatric hospital.
Please, please try to locate this movie and email the name of it to me because one of my two daughters suffers from schizophrenia and also comes across as normal and beautiful until in a relationship when everything falls apart.
I think that I’m searching for the same… :(
Hi guys, I am trying to remember the name of a movie, but I don’t remember anything else, expect for the fact that the movie is about three different stories, and one of the includes something related to a mental disorder, one with a murder, or something like that. I also remember that the stories are presented by actually happening, and then you can see the characters talking about them.
Looking for the title of a older film. A mentally ill lives with a couple and films their live going so far to peep on the woman. The guy seemed not to like him. In the end the woman films herself having sex with the mentally ill with his camera and leaves after that. The film could be french, belgian or german.
Hi, guys. I’m looking for a movie that I watched quite a long time ago. I think the story also included mental health element. The story begins with a young medical student (white guy) go to a mental hospital to report for duty. When he arrived at the hospital, a woman doctor welcomes him and show him places around the hospital. The woman doctor also takes him to visit the critical schizophrenia patients rooms, which is located underground.
The woman doctor says, patients in the schizophrenia ward can’t be cured. The woman doctor also said, there was a case in the hospital that, one of the schizophrenia patient had escapes from the hospital and the patient still missing. The climax of the story is when the medical student found out that he is actually the schizophrenia patient that had run away from the hospital. He started to kill everyone in the hospital.
The end of the story is, the medical student (who is also schizophrenia patient) manage to escape for the 2nd time from the hospital. Hope you guys can help me with this. :( Thank you in advance.
I’m trying to find that exact same movie.
I think you may be thinking of Stonehearst Asylum (2014) with Kate Beckinsale. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772264/
Madhouse
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhouse_(2004_film)
Madhouse – this is your movie you mean.
Nora, Sounds a liiiitle bit like The Sweet Hereafter. You can give it a look and see. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120255/?ref_=ttmi_tt
How about Black Swan?
Hi, I’m looking for a movie: After wife catches cheating husband, she’s involved in an accident with the school bus and she loses her 3 children. She then imagines her children alive and all grown up dealing with lots of stuff, when those in fact are her fears. Anyone?
S. Darko… sequel to donnie darko.
Out of darkness with Diana Ross in 1994.
Hi, I’m trying to find a movie I watched a long time ago on TV. It’s a psycho-thiller about a lawyer who has a drug or alcohol addiction and ends up locked in a rehab or mental institute where he is induced to hallucinations with experimental drugs. His wife is having an affair with his best friend so she is willing to do everything so he stays there forever and I think she pays money to the institution authorities in order to keep him there.
One of the clients of the lawyer who happens to be a rapist and junkie guides him trough his drug trips until he finds out the truth about the affair, then he escapes and kill both. Well at least that is how I remember it. I think the mental institution is called Blackheart or something like that. Thanks for your help finding this awesome movie.
I think you mean this movie but it was a doctor not lawyer (where the truth lies 1996). Maybe? I’m not sure but that was good too..
I’m trying to find the name of a movie that I saw on T.V. a few months ago. I don’t remember exactly what mental illness he had. The main character was a black man. Not many other characters were actually shown in the movie because he hardly ever left his house. In the beginning he killed his mother (I don’t remember why) and then went out and buried her.
One of her friends continuously calls the house looking for her but he just keeps telling her his mom is sick. Also, he keeps calling a man who he says is his friend and I think they met in the military. He seems to be obsessed with him. He claims that he sets up plans to meet up with the man but every time he called, the mans wife answered and said that he didn’t want to talk.
He tried killing himself multiple times but he never actually went through with it and he would act like it never happened. He would go days and days without cleaning the house and then randomly get dressed up really nicely and clean everything up. Then he would freak out and throw tables and what not. At the end, police busted into his house. I hope this was a good enough description and someone can tell me what this movie is.
I’m not sure if this is the title you are looking for, but your description reminds me a lot of a movie called Nightingale (2014) starring David Oyelowo- probably best known in the states for his portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the film Selma (2014).
Paranorman (2012) could be a good one for this list. It’s for younger people but the kid does hallucinate ghosts/walls disintegrating and dissociates occasionally and has this delusion (that does end up being true) of the end being near. It deals a lot with the town’s treatment of him, bullying, and the lack of support from his family.
Is it primal fear?
She Had D.I.D. or Multiple Personality Disorder.
You forgot “Cybil” played by Sally Field.
Sybil is about multiple personality disorder, not schizophrenia.
There was a movie I saw on Netflix 4 years ago about a man who put his family in acid and then dressed up their skeletons and hallucinated they were alive. Anyone know what it is?
I need help with a movie as Well and hopefully you guys can help. It’s about a woman and a man trying to solve a string of murders, but he turns out to be the killer suffering from schizophrenia?
Did you ever find this movie? This is the same movie I’m looking for.
Girl Interrupted
Hey I am trying to find the movie about a white male who is in prison I believe and is being questioned by detectives and he thinks he is sane. But he is talking to a lawyer he doesn’t have and it showed the detectives walk out of room and say he is insane because he is talking to someone who isn’t there. I only seen a clip on YouTube a few years back I believe the movie is very recent. Thanks a lot.
Hi, I’m looking for this movie I’ve watched last year and I don’t know it’s title but it was really interesting. It circles around a short, blonde american girl at the age of 25? She lives in a peculiar apartment, dark, kind of abandoned, and people there are also unusual. She keeps on writing on her wall and there’s like voices around. Please help :C
I think the movie you mean might be “the scribbler”. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2396721/
I really can’t remember the name, but this movie is awesome. Help me out, please. Is not too old. Is about a man that comes out of a psychiatric center and sees a woman, they go to eat and then they go to film his old house, they put cameras and they believe that what he saw a years ago isn’t wrong. So they keep on filming and they have a series of hallucinations, like the scene when the woman bit an Apple and then realized it was a light bulb and all her mouth was full of blood. I can’t remember what happened then but the movie ended with the guy getting arrested, I remember the name like “Delusions” but I’ve searched it and I don’t find it, help me please. :C
That lightbulb scene….
Oculus (2014)
TRIANGLE!!! (2009)
I’m trying to find a movie I only saw a few scenes of. The protagonist is female..long dark brown hair. She has hallucinations that she is another person in another world. The delusion persona might be Indian or a primitive culture….and she was either a warrior woman or perhaps a shaman. The camera shifts from view of her in the real world when she’s having the hallucinations…eyes rolling back, slack jaw….and from views inside her fantasy, showing what she sees. I believe she may be in an asylum. I saw only a few bits and I’ve been trying to find the movie for years. It’s old…more than…15 years?
Is it the 1977 movie “I never promised you a rose garden”? Honestly…read the book. I know its cliche to say that the book is better, but as a sufferer of this illness, I highly recommend the book over the movie. Hope I helped!
Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Ayee. This film is also about Schizophrenia and it depicts about how Rahul Roy deeply fall in love with Pooja Bhatt despite having a mental disorder.
Devrai (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451702/) is an Indian film in Marathi. Very sensible and sensitive storytelling, dealing with schizophrenia. Kindly include it in your list.
If you consider “Drop Dead Fred”, then what about “Play It Again, Sam” where Woody Allen imagines Humphrey Bogart is giving him advice?
Hi I’m looking for a film. I think it involves schizophrenia. It’s about a woman who goes to investigate a mental home and she finds out she’s really a patient and the home encourages people to act out their delusions.
I am looking for the same movie…anyone? Help please^^ (from Corsica, France)
I think you may be thinking of Stonehearst Asylum (2014) with Kate Beckinsale. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772264/
Roman Polanski’s 1965 film Repulsion is the best and most chilling portrayal of schizophrenia I have ever seen.
Secret Window with Johnny Depp playing Mort Rainey an author who moves in his weekend house in the forest after he caught his wife with another man. Suddenly he’s addressed by a stranger that accuses him of plagiarism. In the hunt to find proofs clearing him of the suspicion it becomes evident that he is facing a lot more serious problems…. Don’t want to write more but this movie to me explains schizophrenia best.
Fight Club – the main charater hallucinates Tyler Durden, but is Multiple Personality Disorder when he becomes Tyler Durden
True Romance – Christian Slater is given advice by Elvis, who he is hallucinating, to kill his girlfriend’s pimp.
There’s a British movie about a guy who has Schizophrenia where he drops in and out of fantasy, it’s amazing, what is it? Can’t remember… He’s an ex-soldier and his father is trying to find him because he has a gun and is dangerous…
I believe the movie you are looking for is called “Franklyn.”
I am also suffering from this disease, thank you for listing all the movies.
I was cured of the disease with niacin and vitamin C 45 years ago. I don’t get portrayals as in “A Beautiful Mind,” where the hallucinations are solid, fully formed people. My experience was organic, shifting shapes and colours that I could tell weren’t real but along with the audio and physical hallucinations interfered with my ability to function in society. Paranoia as well. Hard to believe I went through that. Thank you Dr Hoffer. I’m writing my own movie about it.