Know a weird movie? Something strange that glued you to the screen with awe, amazement or reverence, while your more mundane minded friends left the room (or theater) in boredom, confusion or disgust? A movie whose omission from a list of the 366 weirdest movies of all time would offend you on a personal level? Something even I haven’t heard of or considered? There are potentially thousands of forgotten films, critically dismissed films, foreign or independent films that never got a proper release, or misplaced oddities hiding out there that may deserve a place at the table. One man can’t be expected to track them all down. Here is the place to mention those treasured curios that no one else seems to have even heard of. Nominate a movie in the suggestion box and I’ll move it up on my review queue, or at the very least, explain why I’m not going to review it.
NOTICE: The “Suggest of Weird Movie!” feature has become a victim of its own success. At the time of this update, we have about 250 reader suggestions (!) in queue. Since we can only do 1 or maybe 2 reviews a week, be aware there may be a huge delay—currently, possibly over a year!—between the time you make a suggestion and the point at which it’s actually reviewed. I considered shutting down the suggestion box as of 2011, but I decided to let you keep your suggestions coming (if nothing else, it tells us what types of movies readers are interested in seeing reviews of). Just be aware that when you make a suggestion, it may not receive the promptest of attention.
If you can’t wait for one of our staff to review your movie, why not review it yourself and submit it to us via the contact form? We can’t swear we’ll publish every submission we receive, but we want reader participation and we are fairly liberal.
To prevent spam, commenting require registration. We will not share your email with third parties. All serious suggestions will receive a response, as well as all most non-serious ones.
Here’s the review queue of reader suggestions that have yet to be reviewed, in alphabetical order. You can always see this list ordered according to intended order of publication in the weekly “What’s in the Pipeline” column (published on Sundays).
Be aware that, given the number of titles here, there will be a (long and ever-growing ) delay between suggesting a title and its eventual review.
1 (2009); 1Day; 3 Dev Adam; 3 Women; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao; 8 1/2; 2001: A Space Odyssey; 2012 Aficionado DVD Zine Issue #0; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Abnormal: The Sinema of Nick Zedd; The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension; The Adventures of Mark Twain; The Adventures of Picasso; L’Âge d’or; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Air Doll; Akira; Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams; Allegro Non Troppo; Alphaville; Amazon Women on the Moon; Amelie; Amanece, que no es poco; L’Ange; Angelus; Anguish [Angustia]; The Annunciation; La antena; Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters; Arrebato; At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul; Attenberg; The Atrocity Exhibition; Audition; Avida; Bad Taste; Barbarella; Battle in Heaven; Beauty and the Beast (1978); The Bed Sitting Room; Bernie (depending on availability); Big River Man; Birth of the Overfiend; Black Cat, White Cat; Black Devil Doll ; Bliss; Bloodsucking Freaks; Blue (1993, Jarman); Blue Velvet; The Bothersome Man; The Boxer’s Omen [aka Mo]; Brain Damage; Brain Dead (1990, d. Adam Simon); The Brave Little Toaster; Breakfast of Champions; The Bride of Frank; Britannia Hospital; “Broken Glass”; Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power; Bubba Ho-Tep; Buddy Boy (1999); Buffalo ’66; Buffet Froid; Cafe Flesh; Candy (1968); Careful; The Cars That Ate Paris; Casino Royale (1967); Cat Soup; Celine and Julie Go Boating; The Cell; “Charleston Parade”; Charly: Dias de Sangre; Un Chien Andalou; Chingsao the Clown; Christmas on Mars; Chronopolis; La cicatrice intérieure; Clean, Shaven; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; Color of Pomegranates; Conspirators of Pleasure; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Coonskin; Crash (Cronenberg); La Cravate; Crimewave; Cutie Honey; Dark Arc; Dark Waters; Daisies; Dark City; Decasia; Dellamorte Dellamore [AKA Cemetery Man]; The Devils; Django Kill!; A Dog Called Pain; Dogville; La Dolce Vita; The Doom Generation; Dororo; The Double Life of Veronique; The Drifting Classroom; Drowning by Numbers; Drunken Wu Tang; Dumplings; The Earl Sessions; Electric Dragon 80,000 V; Even Dwarves Started Small; Evil Ed; Executive Koala; Eyes Wide Shut; The Fall; The Falls; Fando y Lis; Fantastic Planet; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Feherlofia; Felidae; Fellini Satyricon; Fido; Final Programme; Finisterrae; Forbidden Zone; The Fountain; “Foutaises” (short); The Fox Family; “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life;” Freaked; From Beyond; Fudge 44; Funeral Parade of Roses; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Gahjini; Garden State (official review); Genius Party; Glen or Glenda?; The Godmonster of Indian Flats; Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell; Goodbye Uncle Tom; La Grande Bouffe; Grendel Grendel Grendel; Haggard; Hair Extensions; Happiness; Hard Candy; “Harpya”; Head; Heart of Glass; Heavenly Creatures; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Hell Comes to Frogtown; Horror Express; The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; I Am Here Now; Ichi the Killer; ID; The Idiots; I [Heart] Huckabees; The Illustrated Man; Innocence (2004); Insidious (2010); Institute Benjamenta; I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse; Jack and the Beanstalk (1974, Japan); Johnny Suede; Julien Donkey-boy; Killdozer; Killer Condom; Labyrinth; La Razon de Mi Vida; The Last Days of Planet Earth; The Last Sunset; Last Year in Marienbad; Leolo; Let the Right One In; Liquid Sky (re-review); Lisa and the Devil; Litan; Little Deaths; Little Otik; Lost Highway; Love Me If You Dare; Lovers on the Bridge; Lucky; Lust in the Dust; Mad Detective; The Magic Christian; Marquis; Master of the Flying Guillotine; May; Me and You and Everyone We Know; Meet the Feebles; Meet the Hollowheads; Memento Mori; Mermaid in a Manhole; “Meshes of the Afternoon”; Metropia; Midnight Skater; “The Mighty Boosh” (TV show);Moebius (1996); Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Mr. Nobody; Multiple Maniacs; Murder Party; Mutant Aliens; My Dinner with Andre; Mystics in Bali; Natural Born Killers; The Neverending Story; Nightdreams; Night of the Hunter; The Ninth Configuration; Noroi; Northfork; No Smoking; Nuit Noire; One Eyed Monster; On the Silver Globe; Orpheus; The Ossuary; Parents; Perfect Blue; Persona; Phantasm IV; The Phantom of Liberty; Piano Tuner of Earthquakes; Picnic at Hanging Rock; Pink Flamingos; The Pit; Porcile [AKA Pigpen]; Portrait of Jennie; “Premium” (if it can be found); “Prometheus’ Garden”; Prospero’s Books; The Quiet; The Quiet Earth; Rampo Noir; Rat Pfink a Boo Boo; The Real McCoy; Reflections of Evil; Repo Man; Return to Oz; Revolver; Robot Monster; The Room; Rubber’s Lover; Rubin & Ed; The Ruling Class; Run Lola Run; Russian Ark; Safe; The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea; Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom; Santa Claus(1959); The Saragossa Manuscript (official review); Savages; Save the Green Planet; A Scanner Darkly; Schizopolis; Schramm; Screamplay; The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb; Seom [The Isle]; “Serial Experiments: Lain” (TV show); Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; The Shape of Things; Sheitan; Shock Treatment; The Shout; The Signal; Sir Henry at Rawlinson End; Sitcom; Skeletons; Slacker; SLC Punk; Sleepaway Camp ; A Snake of June; Society (official review); Space Thang; Spermula; Spirited Away; Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds; “Star Maidens” (TV show); Strange Circus; Strings; Stroszek; Suicide Club (re-review); Svidd neger (depending on availability); Sweet Movie; Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song; Symbol; The Tale of the Floating World; Tales from the Quadead Zone; Tampopo; Tank Girl; The Taste of Tea; Teeth; The Ten; The Tenant; La Teta y La Luna; That Deadwood Feeling; Themroc; They Came Back; Things; This Filthy Earth; Three Crowns of the Sailor; Thundercrack!; Time Masters; Titicut Follies; Der Todersking; Tokyo Gore Police; Tourist Trap (1979); The Trial [Le procès] (1962); The Triplets of Belleville; “Turkish Star Wars” [Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam]; Tuvalu; “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Twister (1989); Uncle Meat; Underground; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (official review); Vase de Noces; Vera; Vermillion Souls; Versus; Videodrome; Visitor of a Museum [Posetitel muzeya]; Waiting for Godot; The War Zone; Watership Down; Weekend; Weirdsville; Wicked City (1992 live-action version); Wild at Heart; Wool 100%; Yesterday Was a Lie; Yokai Monsters, Vol. 1: Spook Warfare [AKA Big Monster War]; Zachariah; A Zed and Two Noughts; “Zombie Jesus” (if we can locate it).
Even if it’s not weird enough for inclusion here, I’d be curious to see if anyone has seen, heard of, or remembers a Japanese film called “Jun” by Hiroto Yokoyama (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079380/). It’s about an alienated young man who decides to devote his life to groping women on subways, which sounds both generally distasteful and like a set up for some kind of soft-core exploitation picture, but it’s handled in an elliptical, aestheticized manner, as though the director thought he was making “Pickpocket” or something. I haven’t seen it since it first came out in 1980 and I don’t recall it ever being revived anywhere or released on tape or dvd, but it’s stuck in my mind ever since and I’d love to see if it’s as genuinely odd as I remember.
Ian: Wow, that is an obscure movie. Jun came out more than 30 years ago and has less than 5 votes on its IMDB page. You are one of the (lucky?) few who has seen it. Honestly, I don’t think it’s worth it to put it in the queue; it will probably never be released and it may even be a lost film. But I think it’s extremely cool that this forgotten film touched someone so much that he still remembers it 30 years later. It’s a testament to the power of cinema.
Given the subject matter, I’m not sure “touched” is really the right word to use in this case …
Anyone suggested The Element of Crime yet? I was able to watch it last week, and it certainly left an impression. A radically different debut by von Trier, packing a story that seems to be a mix between Naked Lunch and Brazil(some of the scenes wandering through the decaying, over-industrialized offices of the Police station reminded me of the same junkyard feel of Brazil), involving hypnosis, post-WWII European decline, murders, and the way to perfectly catch a criminal? Also to mention is the completely gorgeous shots in sodium lights, giving an abstract, unique look to the film, and further adding to the morose offness about this world.
After watching it twice, now, and still chewing over just how much I enjoyed it (despite some obvious flaws and initial low expectations)– I’m a little surprised not to see Travis Betz’s Lo (2009) on the suggestion list. Like Ink, its imitations and inspirations are pretty obvious– but I personally think it outstrips Ink in a few key areas, never over-stepping its budget.
I found it a little more bizarre, too, in the way it takes a simple trope of a premise and reels continually between drama and dark comedy. I can’t remember the last time demons, or any bump in the night type nasties, were afforded an internal mythology that wasn’t ….. well, lame.
Caleb: No, you are the first I can recall to mention The Element of Crime. It’s a very appropriate suggestion and I’ll enqueue it.
Kat: Lo is one that kind of got away from us. I remember noting it when it came out, but then forgetting all about it. We should rectify that, but understand there’s quite a few titles ahead of it.
I’m searching for a movie and I can’t remember what it was because I last saw it when I was just a child. I remember the world was split or divided into a world of darkness and a world of light. The darkness world had landmines in the sky and it was always stormy and they looked like vikings. The day side of the world looked normal and the people still rode around in horse pulled carts. I remember the wife being killed to the song “I’m a little teapot” by one of the darkside people who invaded over the border of the two worlds. DOES anyone know what this movie was?
Hi Tess, I don’t know the answer but I copied your request onto the “What Was That Weird Movie?” page.
Just came across this site and I think it’s lovely! A film I want to suggest is called Rollerblade by Donald G. Jackson. May be known around these parts, but I am a big fan! Another film I think is very bizarre is called Basket Weave. It is one of those low budget films you’d find at a Dollar Tree (that’s where i found my copy), but it had a good premise and some good ideas. Thanks!
Hi Phoenix, at first I thought you meant 1975′s Rollerball, but now I see you mean Roller Blade, the 1986 sci-fi movie about roller skating nuns. Now, that sounds more up our alley! I’ll add it to the queue.
Hi Again
What about ‘The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes’ (1971)
by Stan Brakhage?
Hope im Helping?
Has anyone suggested either Mind Game or Survive Style 5+? Those are both incredibly weird Asian films from the last few years. Survive Style, IMO, trumps Funky Forest in weirdness to the extreme. It’s also one of my favorite films from the past decade. Also, Fever Night is another brilliant psychedelic horror film. Oh, and Reflections of Evil…Now THAT is weird, but also brilliant.
Hi Regicide, sure, that’s helpful. I am a little surprised no one mentioned anything by Brackhage before. Is he that forgotten? I will add ‘The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes’ (1971) to the queue and eventually consider others from him as well.
Denver: Reflections of Evil is already in the queue. Survive Style 5+ has been mentioned several times before. We have it in sort of a holding pattern. We’re hoping it will get a Region 1 release someday and if so we’ll review it immediately. Otherwise we’re going to keep it in the back of our minds; we won’t forget it. We can take note of Mind Game, but it looks unreleased as well. I’ll put it in queue as a reminder. Fever Night AKA Band of Satanic Outsiders (2009) is interesting. I notice that Amazon shows a “Fever Night” DVD set to be released in May of this year but I can’t swear it’s the same film. If it is we’ll be on it when it’s released!
Yup, that’s the one! After five years of craziness, it’s finally coming out.
Check out Dirty Duck, aka Down and Dirty Duck (1974)
http://www.videodetective.com/movies/dirty-duck/644451
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072882/combined
I can (and have) put Dirty Duck into the queue.
Matasari : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIsy7ZFmSGs
I’m afraid we’re unlikely to ever see that Romanian short film unless you can arrange to have someone send us a screener.
This is going to be a shot in the dark. I would suggest “Raggedy Ann and Andy A Musical Adventure”. Unless one is diehard fan of the doll and stories, this movie is very much unbeknownst to the general public and it’s one I’m regretfully watching over and over. Primarily being a box office flop and a financial failure, it nonetheless featured very catchy tunes by Joe Raposo (of Sesame Street fame) and superb animation by Richard Williams (Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Thief and the Cobbler). The reason why I would put this title down is how the surreal nature of the animation really tears kiddie friendliness a new a*****e. Where? What? For starters, you have two naked black dolls with white faces, Andy’s rubbery dance routine for “No Girl’s Toy”, hilarious hallucinations from the camel with wrinkled knees and a hauntingly bizarre self-consuming candy glob known as “The Greedy”. Everything else after that just falls downhill because the budget ran out (both on story and animation). Sound weird enough?
Morgan, kiddie movies gone wrong are a great source of untapped weirdness. I have heard horrified reactions to Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure before. I will enqueue it.
I don’t see it on the list, so I’ll recommend The Tin Drum.
ubermolch, I would have thought The Tin Drum was already on there, but I see it’s not. I’ll add it.
I just watched Taxidermia, and thought immediately of the Tin Drum… they felt similar somehow.
i cant believe i didnt see DARK CITY in there anywhere.that movie is great and definilty fits in with the rest.MAKE IT 367
You missed it Ian, Dark City is listed in the review queue above. And I agree it does fit in.
Dante’s Inferno 2007, it’s an updated version of the original novel but the entire movie is done with paper cut out puppet’s and beautiful hand painted paper back drops. It’s amazing and hilarious and totally ridiculous.
Also, The Battleship Potemkin 1925. It’s an experimental black and white Russian film that highly inspired the artist Francis Bacon who, if you’ve ever seen any of his painting’s, is totally nuts.
Dead Hooker in a Trunk 2009, its about 4 friends who find a dead hooker in the trunk of their car and have an insane, gorey’, violent, hilarious journey trying to get rid of the body. All the characters are known only by their personalities, “Bad Ass”, “Geek”, “Junkie” and “Goody Two Shoe’s”. It was made on a tiny budget by the Canadian “Soska Sister’s” who also star as 2 of the main characters.
Hi Leslie, remember we never accept back-to-back suggestions from the same reader (otherwise the queue would be even more ridiculously overrun than it already is)! We will enqueue the 2007 version of Dante’s Inferno, though; sounds right up our alley! But we’d pass on Battleship Potempkin anyway; it’s a great, historically important film, but it doesn’t strike us as a particularly weird one.
Bad Timing. I love Nicolas Roeg. I love this film. Art Garfunkel – Theresa Russell. The odd juxtapositions and time shifts. It’s a definite weird candidate. Give it a chance.
Bad Timing (AKA Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession) is an eminently reasonable suggestion for us to consider.
TROLLS 2
has absolutely nothing to do with the first trolls movie. in fact, they never even explicitly use the word “troll”
Carrie: Yeah, I would say Troll 2 (I assume not mean this infamous movie—I don’t know of a Trolls 2) probably qualifies as “weird”… I’ll add it to the queue.
hello again. Still love the site. Wanted to suggest Black Moon (1975) by Louis Malle. Something tells me it has been suggested before, but any movie that
****SPOILERS****
ends with a young woman about to breast feed a unicorn is worth mentioning again!
Phoenix: Yep, Black Moon was suggested, reviewed, and short-listed.
Calamari Wrestler, being a Japanese film, is pretty weird.
WD, the way you phrase your recommendation almost suggests that we need to consider every Japanese film, but I trust that Calamari Wrestler is odd even by Nipponese standards. I’ll add it to the queue.
Death Powder is pretty weird.
I’ll have to do some research on the very obscure Death Powder (1986), but I can go ahead and put it in the queue for now.
What about the movie, Big Man Japan, Im not sure if this has been suggested yet or not, but I think it deserves to be recognized as wierd.
D’mitri: We do have a reader recommendation review for Big Man Japan, but I haven’t made time to go watch it and say a final yea or nay to putting it on the List of the Best Weird Movies ever made. I’ll put it in queue for an official review.
I’ve had troubles attempting to track down the short films of Dennis Duggan, a man who shot all of his films in Super 8. He did, however, shoot a full length movie right before his death entitled “Dark Street”. All in Super 8. If one does come across his work, I think it would be beneficial to the site. The documentary “Angel in the Flesh: The Confidential Report on Mr. Dennis Duggan aka The King of Super 8″ is also hard to come by, despite is long title!
Yeah, Morgan, I can’t find anything of Dennis Duggan’s available anywhere. IMDB doesn’t even list him as a director (although they are aware of him as an actor in upscale porn films like The Ribald Tales of Canterbury)! I suspect that the documentary was never released on video, though it did play at a film festival or two. If I come across anything else I’ll let you know.
Update for Morgan: check out http://marcellogarofaloblog.blogspot.com/, that appears to be the site of the documentary’s director. I left him a post there asking him to contact me.
Static (1985) is a weird one
Wormhead: Yes, it is. I believe it has never been released on DVD and it may never be, as director Mark Romanek considers it an embarrassment in his career. It is on VHS so we can put it in the queue nonetheless.
I suggest another film by Miike Takashi, Ichi The Killer.
Gruntz: Yep, Ichi is an appropriate film to consider.
Lost Highway – Can’t believe I didn’t see this David Lynch movie on the list, it’s one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen and even after seeing it a good 20+ times over the years I still haven’t the faintest clue what’s really going on lol.
Neil–Lost Highway is listed in the review queue at the top of the page.
Hello
And Thanks for ‘The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes’ but tell me off if im repeating myself but did ‘The Big Shave’ by Martin Scorsese get in for its 6 min self-mutilation as a metaphor for the self-destructive involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War?
Thankyou
Incubus – Illogical and confusing plot; William Shatner; all dialog spoken in the “universal language” of Esperonto; nuff said…
Hello, admin. I thought Un Chien Andalou and The Phantom Of Liberty weird, and of course two most influential works by Luis Bunuel.
W.R. – Misterije organizma (1971)
Sorry for being away from this thread for a few days.
Regicide: No, we haven’t mentioned “The Big Shave” yet. Are you just asking or would you like it added to the queue?
Eric: Incubus. Shatner, Esperanto, yuck… OK I’ll do it but you owe me one!
Gruntz: Those two Bunuel films are right up our alley, but they’re already in the queue.
Dodl: W.R.-Mysteries of the Organism is a perfect suggestion that somehow has escaped mention so far. In the future please don’t link to full-length versions of copyrighted material, however.
I see, so you listed the request on queue, I didn’t notice. I suggest Japanese movies Marebito (2004), Survive Style 5+ (2004) and Tokyo Police Gore (2008). Weird movies not necessary good, right?
Gruntz, no, the movies don’t have to be good… have you seen some of the titles that made the List (like The Beast of Yucca Flats or Skidoo)? As for the ones you suggest, Tokyo Gore Police is already in the review queue (see top post on this page). Survive Style 5+ is mentioned often and it’s on our watchlist; it’s not available on Region 1 DVD right now but we’re hopeful it will appear at which time we’ll cover it as a new release. That leaves Marebito, which I don’t believe anyone has mentioned before. I’ll add that to the queue.
I probably mentioned it already, but I think The Appointment (1981) with Edward Woodard might be a considerable film. In what appears to be a family melodrama throughout the film, it begins with an eerie opening and leads into a chilling accident sequence, one that had me muttering “W…T…F…….”
Truly a visual wonder.
Morgan: Well, the featured user review on IMDB complains “the movie is confusing and makes absolutely no sense at all,” so I guess we have to consider it, don’t we? I’ll add The Appointment (1981) into that huge queue.