2) Perfect Blue (1997)
Celebrated director Roger Corman once described Perfect Blue as a cross between Disney and Alfred Hitchcock, but this bizarre comparison only just begins to scratch the surface. Before Satoshi Kon melted minds with the trippy Paprika, his debut feature Perfect Blue proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that animation is not just for children.
The story follows a Japanese pop artist called Mima who is stalked by a disturbed fan after leaving the world of music for television. As people begin to die, Mima slowly loses her grip on reality until she is no longer able to distinguish between the fantasy of show business and reality itself.
As if the complexity of themes such as identity and psychosis weren’t adult enough, shocking scenes of sex and violence ensure that Perfect Blue would be guaranteed a R rating if ever adapted into live action. Critics at the time of the film’s release questioned why Kon chose to work within animation to tell this story, so a live action adaptation would be a natural fit for Perfect Blue. Just don’t let the grandparents buy the kids a copy of this film by accident.