A brilliant reworking of Alice in Wonderland by surrealist Czech filmaker Jan Svankmajer. Alice, the only human in the film, falls into a terrifying Wonderland populated by animated puppets and full of truily bizarre visuals; she changes size, becomes her own doll, when the White Rabbit loses his stuffing he simply secures his gaping chest with a safety-pin and eats the sawdust, eggs crack to reveal skulls, rolls sprout nails, steaks crawl..... but the very best scene is definitely the tea party find out more...

A rich fantasy and extraordinary visual film based on Angela Carter's novels (changing traditional fairytales to dark tales of sexuality and seduction). A young girl dreams of a magical world where she confronts her fears of sex and death, and is pursued by a handsome werewolf. Convincing and excellently done. find out more...

Hailed as the best film debut since Eraserhead, Donnie Darko's instant cult status and mainstream success are well deserved. find out more...

Hailed as the best film debut since Eraserhead, Donnie Darko's instant cult status and mainstream success are well deserved. find out more...

A young man is found in an abandoned, gothic mansion, with only scissors for hands. He is promptly whisked off to an even stranger world - the one where normal people live. Tim Burton laces a story that is tragic, fantastic and funny with his stunning visual style, complete with pastel bungalows, surreal shrubbery and grotesque outfits. find out more...

The highly eccentric and totally brilliant Alexandro Jodorowsky doesn't make films like anybody else. Directed, written by and starring the man himself "El Topo" is a violent, surreal, quasi-religious Western, if that makes sense (which like the film it doesn't). AJ plays the nomadic lone gunslinger of the title, mostly shooting people for the first half, before being reincarnated as the comedian-cum-holyman protector of a community of deformed outcasts. No doubt some would attempt to read all s find out more...

A truly remarkable adaptation of Woolf's novel. Tilda Swanton is enthralling as the androgenous and ageless Orlando seeking love in a 400 year odyssey; from the finery of Elizabeth the First's court, through the Civil War, the early colonial period, the literary salons of 1750, by which time Orlando is a woman, the Victorian era of property, and finally to the present day. Potter's direction adds a marvellous period feel. Superb, this is a magical story . find out more...

Cocteau re-works the Greek myth in contempory terms as Death, a beautiful woman, helps the poet Orpheus rescue his lover from hell. Imaginative, memorable, baffling and beautiful. One of the most poetic movies in the history of cinema. find out more...

Guillermo Del Toro's blockbusting tale of a young girl struggling to make sense of the violent world around her was a big 2006 arthouse hit. Continuing his exploration of the impact of the Spanish Civil War on his generation (it was also the backdrop for his excellent ghost story, The Devil's Backbone) Del Toro's fantasy mixes strong horror with fairytale-style aesthetics to great effect, making Ofelia's escape into an imaginary realm a poignant response to the cruel realities of her existence. find out more...

Using the framing story of a man who discovers how to craft and sell dreams to a series of anxious clients, Richter allotted each dream (seven in all) to various Surrealists/Dadaists; Max Ernst, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and Alexander Calder amongst others. For four decades one of the most influential members of the cinematic avant-garde Hans Richter's ‘Dreams That Money Can Buy', shot for just $25,000, went on to win the Venice Film Festival Award for the best original contribution to the progres find out more...