Breaking the fourth wall has become a fairly commonplace practice in film and television over the years. Acknowledging the audience or referencing that something is indeed a movie or show has become a major part of storytelling. Fourth wall breaks usually make a moment more entertaining or shocking, and it almost always warrants laughter. Having a character look directly at the audience or speak directly to the audience is more often than not for comedic effect.
Deadpoolis perhaps the most recognizable example of a movie that continuously breaks the fourth wall to both move the story forward and get a laugh out of the audience. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) talks to the audience frequently, plainly states that he’s a comic book character in a movie, and makes references to Reynolds' real-life filmography. It is always done for comedic effect inDeadpool, but not every movie that has fourth wall breaks is done to be funny.
Some movies include fourth wall breaks to unsettle the audience, to make them uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s in line with the behavior or personality of a character. There are times when it is simply to remind us that the story we just heard was part of a movie. Fourth wall breaks are not always done to amuse the audience, there may be a deeper meaning behind them. With that being said, here are 11 movies that aren’t comedies that break the fourth wall:
How to Properly Break the Fourth Wall in Film
To break the fourth wall in film, you may’t just have characters stare into the camera and speak. There are endless elements of nuance at play.
11GoodFellas (1990)
Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese’s crime biographyGoodFellasis often considered one of the greatest gangster movies of all time, if not the greatest. It tells the story of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his life in the mafia, his relationship with his wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco), and his work with mob partners Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci).
Liotta’s Henry narrates the film off-screen for the majority of the run-time, but at the very end, he does directly address the audience face-to-face for the first time. He gets up from his seat in the courtroom’s witness stand to look directly into the camera and starts conversing with us. He ends his speech by saying “And now it’s all over.” Which is then followed by a shot of Henry picking up a newspaper in front of his new Witness Protection home, where he gives the camera a sad little smile.
Stream it on AMC+
10Crank (2006)
The Jason Statham-led action filmCrankfollows professional assassin Chev Chelios (Statham) after he learns that his rival has injected him with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops. To deter the effects of the deadly toxin while searching for an antidote, Chev must participate in any activity he can to keep his heart rate up. By the end of the movie the poison, fights with criminals, and constant activity have begun to take their toll on him, and Chev starts to unravel.
The movie very cleverly breaks the fourth wall by having a stranger’s subtitled dialogue appear reversed on-screen, and then float in front of Chev. He looks at it with confusion, and the reality of the movie’s world starts to crumble along with Chev’s mind.
Stream it on Netflix or Prime Video
9Lord of War (2005)
Lord of War
The 2005 crime dramaLord of War,starring Nicolas Cage, centers around the rise and fall of arms dealer Yuri Orlov. It follows him from the beginning of his career in the early ’80s when he sold guns to mobsters in his neighborhood, to his partnership with an African warlord in the ’90s, all while being relentlessly pursued by an INTERPOL Agent and his own inner demons that made him question his morals.
Orlov breaks the fourth wall by giving viewers detailed information about arms trafficking throughout the film. He does so in a way that makes it seem like he’s letting the audience in on a secret, which makes the viewers feel like they are part of his journey.
Stream it on the Roku Channel or Pluto TV
8The 400 Blows (1959)
The 400 Blows
Francois Truffaut’s classic French crime dramaThe 400 Blowsmay be one of the earliest examples of a movie breaking the fourth wall. It follows a troubled 14-year-old boy named Antoine who constantly gets in trouble at school and lives with parents who are always bickering. One day, he decides to skip school and begins a downward spiral into a life of crime. He is eventually sent to a juvenile detention center but ends up running away from there too.
The freeze-frame ending is the only fourth wall break in the film. Antoine looks directly into the camera to look at the viewer, with his facial expression up for interpretation. The purpose was to have Antoine attempt to convey his feelings to the viewers without giving a definitive answer.
Stream it on Max
Best Movies Where Characters Break the Fourth Wall, Ranked
What’s better than being directly addressed by a film’s main character? Here are 12 movies where characters break the fourth wall.
7Funny Games (1997)
German director Michael Haneke’s horror thrillerFunny Gamesfollows two seemingly polite young men, Paul (Arno Frisch) and Peter (Frank Giering), as they visit their vacationing neighbors to use some eggs. They seem fine at first, but their true intentions are quickly revealed as they keep the family imprisoned in their vacation home and force them to participate in brutal or embarrassing games.
The movie is known for claiming thatthe viewers share some complicity in the violent actsthat are committed against this innocent family, and also for never giving us a reason as to why the young men are doing what they’re doing. The movie famously has Paul grab a remote and rewindFunny Games itself after Peter is accidentally killed, effectively changing the outcome of the movie. The movie finally ends with Paul giving the audience a knowing glance, confirming that we were complicit in their games.
Stream it on Max or the Criterion Channel
6A Clockwork Orange (1971)
A Clockwork Orange
Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of the crime/sci-fi novelA Clockwork Orangefollows protagonist Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), an extremely violent youth in futuristic Britain. After being arrested and convicted of murder, he learns of an experimental program where convicts are programmed to detest violence. If he agrees to the experiment, he’ll be back on the streets sooner than expected, but his sadistic antics are far from over.
The movie opens up immediately with a fourth wall break by having Alex stare unblinking at the audience for about 20 seconds, which perfectly sets up the unnerving dystopian world of the movie.
Rent it on Prime Video or Apple TV
5Psycho (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock’s horror masterpiecePsychois often regarded as not only one of the best horror movies of all time, but one of the greatest movies of all time. The black-and-white psychological horror follows disturbed motel manager Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who is under the domination of his commandeering mother, Norma Bates. Norman is, of course, much more disturbed than the movie initially lets on, but so is his mother.
The end of the film is one of the most iconic movie endings and also the most unnerving shot in the movie. We see Norman looking directly at us with a creepy, knowing smile. A skull is also brilliantly superimposed over Norman’s face.
Rent it on Prime Video or Apple TV+
4Fight Club (1999)
Fight Club
When thinking about movies that break the fourth wall,David Fincher’sFight Clubis probably one of the first movies thought of. The Narrator (Edward Norton) breaks the wall so frequently to the point that the breaks seamlessly flow through the movie. You almost forget that he is speaking directly to you.
Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden breaks the fourth wall frequently too, and it is these constant fourth wall breaks that allow the audience to learn more about the Narrator and Durden. It’s the direct conversation with the audience that lets us slowly piece together what may or may not be happening with the two of them.
3The Ring (2002)
The American remake of the Japanese horror filmRinguis often considered one of the scariest films of the 2000s and one of the horror films that traumatized the Millennial generation.The Ringcenters on a cursed videotape that leads its viewers to their death seven days after viewing it. Journalist Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) decides to investigate the tape after her niece’s death and ends up in a race against time to save her son’s and her own life.
The movie breaks the fourth wall by having the audience watch the same tape that the characters watch. By watching this cursed tape, the movie suggests that we might be next. It suggests that the audience has become involved with both the tape and Samara’s story.
Stream it on Paramount+ or MGM+
2Sinister (2012)
According to Science of Scare Project, which conducts studies on audiences to determine which movies scientifically scare people the most, Scott Derrickson’sSinisteris the 2023 recipient of the scariest movie of all time. It’s an unsettling, creepy film that centers around true crime novelist Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) after he moves his family into the house where a horrific crime took place without telling them. He begins researching the house to write a book about the crime but instead finds a series of disturbing Super 8 home videos depicting brutal murders of different families.
The story is grounded in the world of the movie and never breaks the fourth wall until the very end. After another tragic family murder, the demon Bughuul makes an abrupt appearance and stares directly at the audience through the camera. It is explained earlier in the film that he begins haunting his victims when they start watching the videos, so his look into the camera suggests that we are next, since we have now watched each of the home videos.
