Kinda collating two questions together, I have a "James Ellroy writes an occult thriller" recommendation: Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez is a 700-page horror saga set during the Argentinian dictatorship. It has everything anyone could ask of that prompt: a European cult, Guarani folk horror, political commentary, love, sex, paranoïa, and a bit more horror. Check it out, everyone, I don't know anybody who has read it and not absolutely loved it (though I'm talking French translation, in our case). Also, cheesy American cover, don't mind it, check the Argentinian cover for a better sense of the tone.
Fincher’s The Game isn’t technically occult, but probably close enough for the prompt. (Also happens to be the best Philip K Dick film not actually based on any PKD source material.)
For good mellow occult thrillers I recommend the Order, a 2003 Heath Ledger movie that failed at the box office and is currently rocking a 10% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie--not to be confused with The Order (2001), a bonkers Van Damme vehicle that includes a chase through Jerusalem's old city with Van Damme dressed as a Hasidic Jew--is much better than its dismal reputation. It's quiet, moody, and wonderfully strange, including a bizarre decision to visualize "sins" with bad CGI and a memorable nightmare visit to the Black Pope. I suppose it's not "good" exactly, but it stuck in my mind the way good cult misfires do. And I think it fits the bill on mellow & occult & thriller. A lot of poring over old books, a lot of quiet anguished conversations as the dusty pieces clack into place.
Also if the original Wicker Man qualifies as mellow it should be at the top of any list.
John Bellairs was wonderfully warping/formative when I was a kid. I'm looking forward to introducing my daughters to his books when they're older.
I feel like the Nicholas Roeg/Donald Sutherland/Julie Christie film Don’t Look Now might qualify.
Thanks for mentioning Cast A Deadly Spell, I loved that weird little HBO movie. Apparently they made a sequel with Dennis Hopper(?!?) taking over the lead. May have to track that down this holiday weekend.
In The Mouth of Madness seems like it could qualify, although it is also a little bit rougher than what the question seems to be looking for. Great list, in any case.
Only if you're Stalin. And probably not even then because you either get overthrown at various points, unpersoned and shot or you lose a giant war.
If you mean a collective farming simulator - you would not enjoy running a Ukrainian farm during the Holodomor. Now a Brezhnev-era or Gorbechev-era collective farming simulator - that I could see.
If you just want to be the Russian equivalent of Steve Bannon, you should play Dungeon Keeper, assuming you can get it running.
elm
does 'children of the damned' count as an occult thriller? 'the birds?'
The Stone Tape - a BBC TV film from the 1979s that's available in full on YouTube. Spooky but not really scary story of science and the occult set in a creepy old castle.
Kinda collating two questions together, I have a "James Ellroy writes an occult thriller" recommendation: Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez is a 700-page horror saga set during the Argentinian dictatorship. It has everything anyone could ask of that prompt: a European cult, Guarani folk horror, political commentary, love, sex, paranoïa, and a bit more horror. Check it out, everyone, I don't know anybody who has read it and not absolutely loved it (though I'm talking French translation, in our case). Also, cheesy American cover, don't mind it, check the Argentinian cover for a better sense of the tone.
Fincher’s The Game isn’t technically occult, but probably close enough for the prompt. (Also happens to be the best Philip K Dick film not actually based on any PKD source material.)
Sci Fi with cryptocurrency/NFT's/VR/distributed governance:
Stealing Worlds by Karl Schroeder
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41447722-stealing-worlds
For good mellow occult thrillers I recommend the Order, a 2003 Heath Ledger movie that failed at the box office and is currently rocking a 10% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie--not to be confused with The Order (2001), a bonkers Van Damme vehicle that includes a chase through Jerusalem's old city with Van Damme dressed as a Hasidic Jew--is much better than its dismal reputation. It's quiet, moody, and wonderfully strange, including a bizarre decision to visualize "sins" with bad CGI and a memorable nightmare visit to the Black Pope. I suppose it's not "good" exactly, but it stuck in my mind the way good cult misfires do. And I think it fits the bill on mellow & occult & thriller. A lot of poring over old books, a lot of quiet anguished conversations as the dusty pieces clack into place.
Also if the original Wicker Man qualifies as mellow it should be at the top of any list.
John Bellairs was wonderfully warping/formative when I was a kid. I'm looking forward to introducing my daughters to his books when they're older.
I feel like the Nicholas Roeg/Donald Sutherland/Julie Christie film Don’t Look Now might qualify.
Thanks for mentioning Cast A Deadly Spell, I loved that weird little HBO movie. Apparently they made a sequel with Dennis Hopper(?!?) taking over the lead. May have to track that down this holiday weekend.
Film recs: kuroneko, onibaba, mother Joan of the angels, and a bit of a time commitment but I love Tarkovsky's stalker
Brotherhood of the Wolf is good fun....
Sam Raimi's The Gift from 2000 is worth checking out. I can't remember how intense it gets, though.
In The Mouth of Madness seems like it could qualify, although it is also a little bit rougher than what the question seems to be looking for. Great list, in any case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlugldzO9zY
I'm here to scratch your "Sci-Fi about Crypto" itch:
http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/horatius-and-clodia/
From 2007 -- so OLD SCHOOL
The Name of the Rose? And I guess to combine the occult vibe sesh with artist/art wishlist, how good could a PT Anderson "Foucault's Pendulum" be?
"S: a Stalinism Simulator could be fun"
Only if you're Stalin. And probably not even then because you either get overthrown at various points, unpersoned and shot or you lose a giant war.
If you mean a collective farming simulator - you would not enjoy running a Ukrainian farm during the Holodomor. Now a Brezhnev-era or Gorbechev-era collective farming simulator - that I could see.
If you just want to be the Russian equivalent of Steve Bannon, you should play Dungeon Keeper, assuming you can get it running.
elm
does 'children of the damned' count as an occult thriller? 'the birds?'
The Stone Tape - a BBC TV film from the 1979s that's available in full on YouTube. Spooky but not really scary story of science and the occult set in a creepy old castle.