Pat Tremblay is the director of the bizarre and sadly unreleased psychedelic experiment Heads of Control: The Gorul Baheu Brain Expedition (2006). His second feature film, the post-apocalyptic Hellacious Acres: The Case of John Glass, is currently on the festival circuit: it will be screening at the Oldenburg Film Festival in Oldenburg, Germany Sep. 14-18, followed by an appearance the Sitges Film Festival (in Spain) in October.
OK, I got asked by Greg (the mastermind behind this AMAZING website, from which I’ve discovered many gems I had never heard of) to do this top 10 weird movies and thought, yeah, I’d love to contribute, ’cause I like weird stuff, and I even like to do weird movies myself! But I realized that my memory often doesn’t serve me too well, and my choices might not be weird enough… Anyhow, this is what it came down too, and it could easily change, but this now and so is this list!
In no particular order:
1. I really like Harmony Korine and I couldn’t put down my finger on which movie I prefer between Gummo, Julien Donkey Boy and Trash Humpers… So I’m already breaking the rules already by assembling down those three into one whole bizarre package…
2. Although it’s a TV series and not a film, I really dig “Xavier Renegade Angel”, completely mental material that’s extremely funny. Trippy, surreal, 2-cent philosophy striking down your brain with a hammer of retarded genius. A must. From the guys who brought you the conceptual porn experiment Final Flesh and the extra-funny series “Wonder Showzen”.
3. Jodorowsky is up the ladder with The Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre, which I watched again just recently. It still holds up as a masterpiece, just as the former does.
4. A few weeks ago I saw Things (1989), recently re-released by Intervision. Wow, this is mind blowing z-grade amateurism that destroys and defies so many cinematic “rules” that it becomes this a total weird-ass entity of the 5th dimension, or something close to that! You can’t fake that. It winds up being a beautiful piece of outsider art in its uniqueness.
5. The ” Shaye St. John: The Triggers Compilation” DVD collection. Redundant madness, alienating patterns, crazy voices, wilder concepts, pure insanity.
6. Naked Lunch. Do we really need to say how wonderfully David Cronenberg encompassed William S. Burroughs‘ soul and essence? Impressive from start to finish.
7. Rubber’s Lover, a Japanese spiral of clashing neurons enveloped into a furious experimental soundscape that only that country could produce… Intense, violent, made to smack your face and senses. And it works.
8. A big David Lynch fan I am. So easy to say these days, but he deserves the credit plentifully. My fave, and what I consider his most lean and flawless film, is Lost Highway. But I cannot dismiss Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Mullholland Drive. It’s been eons since I’ve seen Eraserhead, but no doubt we can’t avoid mentioning it, either.
9. The “Jam” series by Chris Morris… Lynch is great, but damn, this kicks me right into what I love the most. Total deadpan humor blended with an assault of the senses in every kind of way. I HIGHLY recommend this.
10. Visitor Q. Been too long since I’ve seen it, but this Takashi Miike film is the true definition of going bonkers.
11. Damon Packard’s Reflections of Evil is simply pure dementia. The sound design is mega-wild and its relentless collection of fractured edits is bound to slap you left and right, above and beyond.
12. Szamanka. I only saw it once, but it left me trying to catch my breath every 5 minutes or so. Wow, this movie grabs you by the hair and drags you in insane, insane trails of psychological shattered pieces of glass. This is what I’m talking about. This movie really attacks the viewer like cerebral cinema should. Since mentioning Andrzej Zulawski’s work, I should definitely not leave out my favorite of his : Possession. Take my word. Just see it.
13. And what about Werner Herzog‘s Even Dwarfs Started Small… Hilarious, dark and otherworldly. Hard to beat. A truly fascinating exercise in strangeness.
I also dig Fernando Arabal’s I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse, and Luis Buñuel in general (but I want to stop expanding this list…!) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas could have made it here too, but I consider that movie to be in my top 10 movies of all time…
***If any of you are curious, you can check out the info on my latest feature entitled Hellacious Acres: The Case of John Glass. It’s definitely something different and has a nice dose of weirdness, too! The official site is www.hellaciousacres.com, and we also have a Facebook page.
Jesus i hate Harmony Korine….Trash Humpers- ….really? The guys a complete poser
I think its a bit harsh to judge a person by his tastes.
meh, I like Korine… Gummo and Julian Donkey Boy being my favs. He does what he does, you like it or hate it. It’s that sort of work, there’s no middle ground. He’s no more a poseur than any other, probably less so. He’s far from the best but that’s hardly a reason to knock him, for the US he does quite well, lol.
I knew Caleb would chime in on these selections. Judging from the trailers I think these would be right up his alley. What I can say is I really need to see some Zulawski. I’ve yet to see Possession and Szamanka looks absolutely insane.
Eric, I do hold a high curiosity to see Possession. Sadly, I just can’t seem to find a way of seeing it, considering that its currently out of print.
I will say, I do feel a bit happy he choose Even Dwarfs Started Smalls. Certainly the best movie with midgets ever. Just look at the little Hombre laugh! 😀
You can get Possession on a Region 2 DVD if your player can cope with those, though since the film was at one point illegal in the UK, there may be cuts. But given the re-release with minimal or no cuts of a great many films previously on the absurdly arbitrary “video nasties” banned list, it’s probably more or less intact.
PLEASE all be so careful USE FLAGTLISHHS NO CANDLES and LAW OFFICALS These foks have enough to worry about YOU CAUGHT WITH SOMETHING NOT YOURS HOME INVASIONS HAVE TO STOP.YOU DO TRIPLE TIME ..JUS SAYING prayers are with YOU ALL ..It can only get better ..keep a good attitude and WE WILL MAKE THIS TOGETHER .. PRAYERS TO ALL <3 ^!^
I liked Gummo & Julien-Donkey Boy but Korine keeps playing this tired shock jock, white-trash note.
Possession is completely bonkers.
“Lets not have a taco, let’s have a talk…ooohhhh” Xavier RA