My Favorite Gore Verbinski Movies and Where to Watch Them

Gore Verbinski has directed some of the most entertaining, funny, mind-bending, and horrifying movies I have ever watched. After watching Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, I thought I should share some of the other movies by this awesome director that I found incredibly amazing.

The list runs the whole range of genres from nuanced horror and action movies to swashbucklers and action-comedy romances.

Hope you people like it!

My Favorite Gore Verbinski Movies

1. A Cure for Wellness 2016

One of the best movies of Verbinski to date, A Cure for Wellness 2016 is a worthy addition to the psychological horror genre. The lead actress in the movie has since gone on to make a name for herself in Hollywood through Pearl, X, and MaXXine, where she has acted in multiple roles in the same movie.

Where to Watch: Netflix ( Subscription )

Dane DeHaan as Lockhart, whom you would recognize from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, does an amazing job of playing the rightfully paranoid executive charged with the responsibility of retrieving his company's CEO from what is known as a "wellness center" in the Swiss Alps.

What follows is a winding path of interconnected mishaps, unexplained occurrences, and medical practices without any sufficient explanation. Then there are the worms in the movie that add to the horror factor and may or may not play a large part in the plot.

My favorite sequences involve DeHaan uncovering the secret of the wellness spa and how he almost becomes a victim of the whole conspiracy he came to unravel.

2. The Ring 2002

The Ring is an identical remake of the movie Ringu, which is again based on a novel. But does Verbinski do justice to the movie - Hell Yes! True to his name, there is a lot of horror and gore in this US remake of the Japanese horror movie.

Where to Watch: Prime Video ( Subscription )

Where to Watch Ringu (1998): Apple TV ( Rent )

With the lead of the movie played by Naomi Watts and her son, played by David Dorfman, the movie is a great homage to the original and truly scary and entertaining in the same vein.

The jumpscares in this movie are not random but well-placed and have a great style of storytelling, even if the story has been told before. My Favorite scene in this movie is the ingenious way the mother wards off evil from her son by sharing the story of Samara.

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3. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2003

There is a horror element to this movie that is based on a Disney theme ride, mostly when it comes to the origin of the Pirates of the legendary Pirate ship, the Black Pearl.

Where to Watch: Apple TV ( Rent )

Verbinski also gave us the iconic Jack Sparrow played by Johnny Depp over the course of several sequels, as well, and being popular enough to be parodied and memed on-screen and on the net. This is one of the most famous Pirate movies since Hook and has the right mix of acting talent, CGI wizardry, action, and intrigue.

Verbinksi went on to direct the first three movies in this reimagined genre that started off a whole subculture on-screen and in comic-cons worldwide lol.

4. The Lone Ranger 2013

One of the movies that I thoroughly enjoyed was an out-and-out critical and box-office failure due to various casting controversies and pacing issues.

Where to Watch: Apple TV ( Rent )

Armie Hammer delivers a great performance as a Ranger out to avenge his fallen brother alongside a native American who is abandoned/disowned by his tribe. Johnny Depp easily outshines Hammer as a character, a bit similar to Jack Sparrow.

I thought the action was great, the revenge angle was good, and the unlikely everyman hero trope was executed well. There are also great performances by William Fichtner, Helena Bonham Carter, and Tom Wilkinson, which still didn't manage to save this film.

This is the second flop after the 1981 version, and even the 1956 version didn't do that well, with the movie being listed as a moderate success.

5. The Mexican 2001

Where to Watch: Prime Video ( Subscription )

One of the better movies of Gore Verbinski, The Mexican is about a bagman for the mob who receives a deadline from his boss to retrieve a rare pistol named The Mexican, at the same time as his girlfriend demands he leave his employer.

There's plenty of physical comedy, some suspense, a healthy dose of action, and some lukewarm romance as well. My favorite scene is when Brad Pitt makes friends with an aggressive Mexican dog, but still needs to threaten the dog at gunpoint to get it to board the back of his pickup truck.

If you have watched and liked any other Gore Verbinski movies, feel free to share them with us!