Movies Similar to Creating a Monster

An Uncountable Number of Threads(2023)

Travel films have an established format with their own conventions, history and baggage. It is a medium that has all too often sought to control, define and dictate perceptions of ”other” places. Comprised of footage shot while travelling on group excursions across Russia in 2019, An Uncountable Number of Threads is an attempt to draw out the ethical restrictions of a travelogue, while questioning how (and why) to make one. At times there is an awkward tourist-gaze, aware of its outsider position. But as a self-reflexive work that considers its own creation, it ultimately unravels, as the artist rationalises themselves out of a particular way of working, inviting the viewer into their uncertainty.

Honeymoon in Oak Ridge(2024)

A filmmaker embarks on a poignant journey with his parents to the secret city where they unknowingly contributed to the creation of the first atomic bombs.

Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh(1997)

In 1951, a woman died in Baltimore, U.S.A. She was called Henrietta Lacks. These are cells from her body. They were taken from her just before she died. They have been growing and multiplying ever since. There are now billions of these cells in laboratories around the world. If massed together, they would weigh 400 times her original weight. These cells have transformed modern medicine, but they also became caught up in the politics of our age.

Better Off Dead?(2024)

A documentary on assisted suicide, authored by actor and disability rights activist Liz Carr.

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On(1987)

Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, sets out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives to find the truth behind atrocities committed while the Japanese garrison was surrounded, in particular the unexplained killing of two Japanese privates in his unit.

Divine Pig(2010)

The pig is unclean to some, tasty or sweet to others. The pig Dorus grows up in the backyard of free-range butcher Gerard Zwetsloot. They walk around the village together and are local celebrities. After two years, Dorus is ready for slaughter and Gerard is faced with a difficult choice: the pig or the meat. A story about a pig and a butcher that shows how ambiguous our relationship with animals can be.

The Light Bulb Conspiracy(2010)

Once upon a time... consumer goods were built to last. Then, in the 1920’s, a group of businessmen realized that the longer their product lasted, the less money they made, thus Planned Obsolescence was born, and manufacturers have been engineering products to fail ever since. Combining investigative research and rare archive footage with analysis by those working on ways to save both the economy and the environment, this documentary charts the creation of ‘engineering to fail’, its rise to prominence and its recent fall from grace.

Rat Brain

Rat Brain is a documentary that highlights Dr. John D. Douglass and his team's research at Seattle Pacific University on chronic stress' neurological impact, striving to uncover its link to suicidal behavior. Their work navigates ethical dilemmas while aiming to showcase vital insights into mental health and suicide prevention.

Do You Trust this Computer?(2018)

Science fiction has long anticipated the rise of machine intelligence, and today a new generation of self-learning computers has begun to reshape every aspect of our lives. Will A.I. usher in an age of unprecedented potential, or prove to be our final invention?

Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement(2013)

"Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement" questions commonly held beliefs about disability and normalcy by exploring technologies that promise to change our bodies and mind forever. Told primarily through the perspectives of five people with disabilities, a scientist, journalist, community organizer, bionics engineer and exoskeleton test pilot, FIXED takes a close look at the implications of emerging human enhancement technologies for the future of humanity.

Secrets of the Tribe(2010)

What happens when western anthropologists descend on the Amazon and make one of the last unacculturated tribes in existence, the Yanomami, the most exhaustively filmed and studied tribe on the planet? Despite their "do no harm" creed and scientific aims, the small army of anthropologists that has studied the Yanomami since the 1960s has wreaked havoc among the tribe – and sparked a war within the anthropology community itself.

The Natural History of Destruction(2023)

Is it morally acceptable to use the civilian population as yet another tool for waging war? Is it possible to justify death and destruction for the sake of supposedly lofty ideals? The question remains as pertinent today as it was at the beginning of World War II, and it is becoming increasingly urgent to answer, as countless tragedies have been caused by unethical political decisions.

Intercept: A Century of Signals Intelligence(2023)

A thought provoking documentary feature film providing a comprehensive exploration of the evolution of signals intelligence over the past century. Whether you're intrigued by the secretive world of intelligence agencies or concerned about the implications of digital surveillance, this film will leave you with a deeper understanding of the role signals intelligence plays in society.

Hechos probados(2021)

The Pervert's Guide to Ideology(2012)

A journey into the labyrinthine heart of ideology, which shapes and justifies both collective and personal beliefs and practices: with an infectious zeal and voracious appetite for popular culture, Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek analyzes several of the most important films in the history of cinema to explain how cinematic narrative helps to reinforce prevailing ethics and political ideas.

DIYSEX(2019)

DIYSEX is a film that reflects on the use of the image and the language of mainstream pornography, and wonders how far this use can transcend when making your porn film.

Hard to Believe(2016)

A documentary that examines the issue of forced live organ harvesting from Chinese prisoners of conscience, and the response - or lack of it - around the world. It's happened before: governments killing their own citizens for their political or spiritual beliefs. But it’s never happened like this. It’s happened so often that the world doesn’t always pay attention.

Walter: The secret life of a victorian pornographer(2000)

The story of the sexual memoirs of a Victorian gentleman who revealed himself as Walter. He documented his liaisons in a frank series of journals which ran to eleven volumes and 1.5 million words, titled 'My Secret Life'. Within the journals he documented details of his liaisons, the names of the women, their social standing, and their conversation. For a century, this material was considered obscene, its publication illegal. Today, however, it's seen as a unique insight into Victorian social and sexual mores, providing valuable information on class, gender, marriage, fidelity and morality. This film looks at the dark life of 'Walter', and examines the way his journals have shaped contemporary understanding of Victorian society. The film also examines the mystery that has surrounded this story - who exactly was 'Walter'? The film asks whether he could have been Henry Ashbee, a wealthy London gentleman who was obsessed with sex and attained a pornographic library of over 15,000 volumes.

La cravate(2020)

Bastien is twenty years old and has been an activist for five years in the main extreme right party. When the presidential campaign begins, he's invited by his superior to commit even further. Initiated into the art of decking himself out like a politician, he starts to dream of a career, but old demons surge forth...

Ethics, has anyone seen it around?(1991)

The documentary deals with the different definitions of ethics in the daily lives of Brazilians in the early 1990s.