OUR FOURTH READERS’ CHOICE POLL: PICK TWO FILMS TO MAKE THE FINAL LIST OF 366 WEIRD MOVIES!

At 145 of an eventual 366 movies approved, we’re about 40% of the way through the List of the Best Weird Movies ever made. Along the way, some movies got onto the List on a first screening, but we nominated many others as “List Candidates.” Sometimes they’re lovable classics with powerful imagery, but they’re only a little bit weird. Sometimes they’re amazingly bizarre, but utter crap. Sometimes the reviewer was in a bad mood when they screened it and didn’t give it a fair chance. And, although we’d never admit it, sometimes a movie was good enough to make the List on the first ballot, but we were too busy to write up a full Certified Entry that week and dashed off a List Candidate review instead. The end result is that any of the films listed below could have been placed on the List of the 366 Best Weird Movies, but we chickened out and made each of them “List Candidates” instead.

Although these movies arrived at this point by different routes, they’re all in the same boat now. They all need your help to ensure their rightful spot on the List! Please select one candidate from Group A (pre-1990 films) and one from Group B (movies from 1990-present). You can vote once per day. Voting closes at midnight (EST) on August 8, 2012.

You can also choose to “rescue” one film that we so overlooked so blatantly we didn’t even make it a List Candidate. We’ll make that movie an official Candidate and add it to our next contest. So remember to scroll down for that third poll!

Past Reader Choices that made the List were Alice, Visitor Q, Pink Floyd: The Wall, Trash Humpers, The American Astronaut, and Dead Ringers.

Comments are encouraged: maybe you can sway others to vote for your favorite?

You may vote once per day until the poll ends on June 26, 2013.






7 thoughts on “OUR FOURTH READERS’ CHOICE POLL: PICK TWO FILMS TO MAKE THE FINAL LIST OF 366 WEIRD MOVIES!”

  1. Hmm, not entirely easy but I’ve managed to reach a decision in the first two polls.
    In the first poll I am voting for The Exterminating Angel. I won’t mind terribly if The Hourglass Sanatorium wins which seems to be the current best prediction. It is undeniably weird but it somehow just didn’t do it for me. It is rather like a Zulawski movie without the extreme intensity of the madness which in my mind is what makes Zulawski’s style work, e.g. if Isabelle Adjani had been calmer in her ravings about sister chance and sister faith Possession would have lost much of its bizarre beauty. Sweet movie is also undeniably weird, but to unpleasant. Teorema I just don’t remember as being that weird. La Jetee might be a rather good candidate but I agree with the review that its being a short is a minus. I must admit that I haven’t yet seen L’Age D’Or (shame on me). Nothing else has received any votes yet.

    In the second poll I agree with the majority so far that Fire Walk With Me is the best candidate. I respect the argument that it only makes sense if you have seen the Twin Peaks TV series but many weirdophiles will probably have seen that and those who haven’t probably should. Besides, not having seen the series wont make FWWM any less weird and you can appreciate its special atmosphere even if you can’t follow the story. That and I just want to see something Twin Peaks make the list.

    Regarding the capsules, I agree with the reasons for not including them on the list given in the reviews for almost all of the ones I have seen (which includes everything that has received more than one vote at this point). The one possible exception is Baron Munchausen which I remember as being weird even for a fantasy movie. I’ll have to rewatch it to be sure though. I should also watch At Midnight I’ll Take your Soul before making a decision since that has been on my to watch list for quite a while.

  2. Really hard choices, to say the least…

    In Group A, I voted for Sweet Movie. About Teorema, I think one weird movie about a dysfunctional family (Visitor Q) is enough for the List (same goes for Julien Donkey-Boy). Film is also a great one, but I think movies made from purely original ideas (when a director makes a movie of his own weird vision) should be preferred over literary adaptations (when a director takes a writer’s weird vision to screen) – I mean, in the case of weirdness, and not in the case of quality! And maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t enjoy The Hourglass Sanatorium that much… And, of course, the films of Buñuel… I’ve seen all four, and I love them each, but I also saw that two of them were called must-sees here, and the other two got the “Weirdest!” tag, so, I’m almost sure they will all make the List anyway. However, Sweet Movie was called “a really bad movie”, which I strongly disagree with, but I also can understand why would one think that. It’s really disgusting at times, but I think there’s a strong message behind the images. It’s similar to Taxidermia, both in theme and realization, and if that movie made the List, this one also could, and I’m glad it’s currently at the top spot.

    In Group B, it was even harder to decide. For example, Twixt is indeed weird, but I didn’t like it at all. Also, I don’t think Amélie should make the List since I saw the movie Mood Indigo, which is pretty similar in its whimsical tone, but it’s also more weird (and it also stars Audrey Tatou). Maybe Adaptation haven’t made the List so far because it’s one of the less-weird works of Charlie Kaufman, and if it was his only weird movie, maybe it would make the List easily. The same may be true regarding Guy Maddin and Keyhole. So, perhaps I would vote to FWWM, which is one of my favourite Lynch films, but it’s a runaway winner already. So, my vote goes to 1 instead; I’d like to support this brilliant, but not too well-known movie.

    In the third poll, I chose That Obscure Object… Its case is similar to Keyhole’s: maybe it’s not weird enough knowing Buñuel’s standards, but what if we try to separate it from his other movies. It has two actresses playing the same character for no real reason; a professor of psychology who is a dwarf; terrorist attacks as completely common happenings, etc. So, it has at least a little bit of that typical Buñuel-style of weirdness. Also, personally I even found it a bit more weird than Belle de Jour, which has been Certified Weird. Also glad that it seems to be the winner.

    That’s a long one, sorry…

  3. My nomination is definitely going to Sweet Movie(nothing against the many other great candidates offered here), I just simply disagree with your dismissal of it being a bad shock movie with art pretensions. I think it deserves its place alongside some of Goddard’s most provocative and iconoclastic work, and my opinion was only strengthened more when watching WR: Mysteries of the Organism. But perhaps my viewpoint is somewhat slanted in bias: I do often find myself more fascinated with movies that actively cause discomfort and revulsion.

    Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, is going to get on the list, I’m almost sure of it.

  4. The people have spoken, and the two movies that will be added to the List of the 366 Best Weird Movies of all time are:

    1. Sweet Movie (1974). Not really a surprise. No movie in Group A came anywhere close to it. Although I don’t personally like this movie, that’s one of the main reasons we periodically run this poll: to make sure other people’s preferences are represented and editorial peculiarities don’t unreasonable dominate.

    2. Keyhole (2011). Won by a razor thin 79-77 vote margin over Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. This one was a surprise, since Twin Peaks jumped out to a massive early lead. It would be hard to complain about adding anything by either Guy Maddin or David Lynch to the List.

    And the movie that we initially passed over that will now become an official candidate for the list: That Obscure Object of Desire (1977).

    Just because your vote didn’t make it this round doesn’t mean it’s off the List for good. We like to take stock of people’s preferences and a strong showing in these polls may be persuasive down the road when it comes time to fill out more spots on the List.

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