From biting satire to bloody chaos, here are 8 twisted gems that serve the same deliciously dark flavor.
There’s something oddly satisfying about watching pretentious elites get their comeuppance. Especially when it’s plated with precision, laced with pitch-black humor, and served with existential dread.
That’s exactly what made The Menu (2022) such a breakout hit. Its sharp satire, social commentary, and sinister flair carved out a new space in genre filmmaking—part horror, part comedy, part critique of capitalism and culture. If you walked away craving more chaos in carefully curated environments, we’ve got you covered.
Here are 8 movies that scratch that same satirical, subversive, genre-bending itch.
1. The Hunt (2020)
Streaming on: Prime Video, Peacock
Twelve strangers. One forest. Zero context. The Hunt drops its characters into a bloody, politically-charged survival game—echoing The Menu’s “rich play God” conceit but with a sharper focus on modern tribalism. What starts as a straightforward thriller morphs into a brutal commentary on polarization, privilege, and performative morality. Also: Betty Gilpin gives a lead performance that’s equal parts badass and batshit.
2. Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Streaming on: Netflix
The art world eats itself—literally. This satire of high-end galleries and vacuous critics imagines what happens when haunted artwork begins murdering its exploiters. Like The Menu, it skewers an elite class obsessed with taste, value, and image. But here, every pretentious monologue risks being your last.
3. The Square (2017)
Streaming on: Prime Video, Kanopy
Winner of the Palme d’Or, this Swedish satire makes The Menu look subtle. The Square skewers the art world’s contradictions through the story of a museum curator whose carefully crafted public persona starts to unravel. It’s awkward, intense, painfully funny—and features one of the most uncomfortably brilliant dinner sequences ever filmed.
4. Ingrid Goes West (2017)
Streaming on: Hulu
Take The Menu’s critique of culture and aim it at social media. Aubrey Plaza plays a lonely woman who becomes obsessed with an Instagram influencer, eventually worming her way into her life. It’s an eerie portrait of curated identities, parasocial obsession, and the dark side of digital validation—served with millennial pink frosting.
5. Cheap Thrills (2013)
Streaming on: Tubi, Plex
You know that feeling in The Menu when things go too far, and then keep going? Multiply that by 10. Cheap Thrills follows two broke friends who get roped into a series of escalating dares for cash. What begins with harmless fun devolves into something deeply twisted, raising questions about desperation, dignity, and just how far people will go for a payday.
6. Piercing (2018)
Streaming on: AMC+, Shudder
A businessman checks into a hotel with plans to murder a sex worker. But things don’t go as planned. Piercing is slick, stylish, and completely unhinged—filled with psychological tension and role reversals that mirror The Menu’s game-of-wits structure. It’s violent, theatrical, and far smarter than it looks.
7. The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
Streaming on: Prime Video
Jesse Eisenberg joins a dojo to feel more “masculine” after a mugging—and ends up knee-deep in culty chaos. This dry, deadpan black comedy dissects toxic masculinity with a scalpel, much like The Menu deconstructed the myth of the tortured genius. It’s as stylized as it is surreal, and every punch lands.
8. Spontaneous (2020)
Streaming on: Paramount+, MGM+
Teenagers start exploding—literally. No one knows why. Amid the carnage, two students fall in love. Part horror, part rom-com, Spontaneous explores mortality, adolescence, and the absurdity of trying to live while waiting for something to end you. A chaotic energy match for The Menu, with more heart but just as much bite.
Why These Picks Work
What ties all of these films together isn’t just gore or satire—it’s the tension between control and collapse. Each one dissects social rituals, status dynamics, or performative personas. They’re stylized, yes—but never surface-level. Like The Menu, they lure you in with aesthetics… and then serve you something much darker.
Final Course
If The Menu left you hungry for more genre-bending, expectation-defying chaos, this watchlist is your dessert. But be warned: these films bite back.
Stay tuned to Screendollars for more curated watchlists, deep dives, and film recs that go beyond the algorithm.
