Please do not ask “what was that movie?” questions on this page. We set up an entire site here to answer those questions. This page is for suggesting movies to be reviewed.
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. (More than that since I last updated the page)! 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. The best you can really hope for at this point is to bring something to our attention that we might have overlooked. (Also note that although we prioritize the earliest nominations later suggestions may get reviewed before earlier ones if they receive a re-release on DVD or Blu-ray, or interest us for our own inscrutable reasons).
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.
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.
1Day; 8 1/2 Women; The 10th Victim; 2001: A Space Odyssey; 11:14; “2012 Aficionado DVD Zine Issue #0″; Abnormal: The Sinema of Nick Zedd; “The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes”; The Adventures of Mark Twain; The Adventures of Picasso; “Afraid So” from “The Films of Jay Rosenblatt, Vol. 2″; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Air Doll; Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams; “Alicia” (1994); Alien Alibi; All That Jazz; Alphaville; Amazon Women on the Moon; Amanece, que no es poco; An American Hippie in Israel; “Analog”; Anatomy of Hell; L’Ange; Angel in the Flesh: The Confidential Report on Mr. Dennis Duggan AKA The King of Super 8 (if it’s ever released); Angelus; Angst; Anguish [Angustia]; The Annunciation; La antena; The Appointment (1981); Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters; Arrebato; Ascension; As Filhas do Fogo; The Atrocity Exhibition; Audition; Avida; Bad Taste; Bad Timing (AKA Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession); Battle in Heaven; Beauty and the Beast (1978); Berberian Sound Studio; Bernie (1996) (depending on availability); The Beyond; Bhoner; Bibliotheque Pascal; Big Man Japan (official review); Big River Man; Big Time; “The Big Shave”; Birth of the Overfiend; Black Devil Doll; Blind Beast; Bliss; Blood for Dracula; Blue (1993, Jarman); Blue Velvet; Borgman; The Bothersome Man; The Boxer’s Omen [aka Mo]; Boxing Helena; Brain Damage; Brain Dead (1990, d. Adam Simon); Brain Dead [AKA Dead-Alive]; Brand Upon the Brain!; The Brave Little Toaster; Breakfast of Champions; Brick; Britannia Hospital; “Broken Glass”; “The Brothers Quay Collection”; Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power; Bubba Ho-Tep; Buddy Boy (1999); Buffet Froid; Burnt Offerings; La Cabina [AKA The Telephone Box]; The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; Cafe Flesh; Calamari Wrestler; Candy (1968); The Cars That Ate Paris; The Cat in the Hat; “Cat Soup”; Celestial Wives Of Meadow Mari; Celine and Julie Go Boating; The Cell; The Cement Garden; Chappaqua; “Charleston Parade”; Charly: Dias de Sangre; Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things; Christmas on Mars; Christ the Movie; The Chumscrubber; La cicatrice intérieure; Citizen Dog; City of Pirates; City of Women; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; Color of Pomegranates; Confessions; Confessions of a Dangerous Mind; Conspirators of Pleasure; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Coonskin; Crash (Cronenberg); La Cravate; Creating Rem Lezar; Creatures of Destiny; Crimewave; Criminal Lovers; Cube; Cutie Honey; Dance With The Devil; Dante’s Inferno (2007); Dark Arc; The Dark Side of the Heart; Dark Waters; Daughter of Horror; Daymaker; Day of the Wacko; Death by Hanging; Death Powder (1986); Decasia (second review); Detention; The Devils; Diamond Flash; Dirty Duck; A Dog Called Pain; La Dolce Vita; Dolls (2002); The Doom Generation; The Double Life of Veronique; The Drifting Classroom; Drowning by Numbers; Drunken Wu Tang; Dumplings; The Earl Sessions; Edward II; Edward Scissorhands; Electric Dragon 80,000 V; The Element of Crime; Emperor Tomato Ketchup; The End of Evangelion; Evil Ed; Executive Koala; eXistenZ; Eyes Wide Shut; The Fall; The Falls; Fando y Lis; Faust: Love of the Damned; Fear X; Feherlofia; Felidae; Fellini’s Cassanova; Fido; A Field in England; Fiend (1980); Fiend Without a Face; The Fifth Season; Finisterrae; Flaming Creatures; The Fountain; Four Rooms; The Fox Family; Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster; Frontier; Fudge 44; Funeral Parade of Roses; Gahjini; Galaxy of Terror; Genius Party; Gerry; The Giant Claw; The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai; Glen or Glenda?; The Godmonster of Indian Flats; Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell; Goodbye 20th Century; Goodbye Uncle Tom; Gorod Zero; Green Snake; Grendel Grendel Grendel; Haggard; Hair Extensions; Hanger; Happiness; Hard Candy; “Harpya”; Head (re-review); Heartbeeps; Heart of Glass; Heavenly Creatures; Homebodies (1974); Hugo the Hippo; I Am Here Now; Ichi the Killer; ID; Idaho Transfer; The Idiots; If…; I [Heart] Huckabees; The Illustrated Man; Incubus; I Never Left the White Room; In a Glass Cage; L’Inferno; Innocence (2004); In Search of the Titanic; Insidious (2010); I Think We’re Alone Now; I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse; Jack and the Beanstalk (1974, Japan); Johnny Aquarius; Junkie; Kárate a muerte en Torremolinos (depending on availability); Killer Nun; Killdozer; Killer Condom; The Killing Room; King Lear (1987, Godard); Koyaanisqatsi; Krysar (AKA The Pied Piper of Hamelin); Kung Pow; La Razon de Mi Vida; The Last Days of Planet Earth; Last Life in the Universe; The Last Sunset; Last Year in Marienbad; Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events; Leolo; Let the Right One In; Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; Liquid Sky (re-review); Litan; Little Deaths; Lo; Love Me If You Dare; Lovers on the Bridge; Lucky; Mad Detective; Man Facing Southeast; Marebito; Marutirtha Hinglaj; Master of the Flying Guillotine; Matador; Me and You and Everyone We Know; Meet the Feebles; Meet the Hollowheads; Memento Mori; Mermaid in a Manhole; Metropia; Midnight Ballad for Ghost Theater; Midnight Skater; “The Mighty Boosh” (TV show); The Million Dollar Hotel; Mind Game; Moebius (1996); Mom (1986); Monday (depending on availability); Monobloc; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Mood Indigo; Mr. Nobody; Multiple Maniacs; Murder Party; Mutant Aliens; My Dinner with Andre; Myra Breckenridge; The Mysterians; Mystics in Bali; Nails; Natural Born Killers; Neighbors; The Neverending Story; “Next Floor”; Nick the Feature Film; Nightdreams; Night of the Hunter; Night of the Lepus; Night on the Galactic Express; The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz; The Ninth Configuration; Nitwit; Noroi; Northfork; No Smoking; Nuit Noire; Of Freaks and Men; One Eyed Monster; “One Soldier”; Only God Forgives; On the Silver Globe; Organ; Orpheus; “The Ossuary”; Paperhouse; Parents; The Passion of Darkly Noon; Peeping Tom; Perfect Blue; Period Piece; Phantom of the Paradise (re-review); Phase IV; Piano Tuner of Earthquakes; Picnic at Hanging Rock; Pierrot Le Fou; Pink Flamingos; Pink Narcissus; The Pit; The Point; Point Blank (1967); Pola X; Porcile [AKA Pigpen]; The Pornographers; Portrait of Jennie; Possession (official re-review); “Premium” (if it can be found); The President’s Analyst; Príncipe Azul; “Prometheus’ Garden”; A Pure Formality; The Quiet Earth; Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure; Rampo Noir; The Real McCoy; Reflections in a Golden Eye; Reflections of Evil; Return to Oz (official review); Revolver; Riki-Oh: The Story of Riki; Rock n’ Roll High School; Roller Blade; The Room; Rubin & Ed; The Ruling Class (second review); Run Lola Run; 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; The Sea That Thinks; A Scanner Darkly; Schramm; Screamplay; The Sea That Thinks; The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb; “Serial Experiments: Lain” (TV show); The Shape of Things; The Shining; The Shout; The Signal; Singapore Sling (official review); Sir Henry at Rawlinson End; Sitcom; Skeletons; SLC Punk; Sleepaway Camp; The Slit [AKA United Trash]; “Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions”; A Snake of June; Snow White and Russian Red; Society (official review); Something Weird; Space Is the Place (re-review); Space Thang; Spermula; Sphere; The Spirit; Spirited Away; Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds; Spirits of the Dead; “Star Maidens” (TV show); Static; Strange Circus; Strangers in Paradise; Stroszek; Suddenly Last Summer; Suicide Club (re-review); Surviving Life: Theory and Practice; Svidd neger (depending on availability); Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song; Symbol; Tales from the Quadead Zone; Talk to Her; Tampopo; Tank Girl; Tasher Desh; The Taste of Tea; Teeth; Teknolust; The Tenant; La Teta y La Luna; That Deadwood Feeling; Themroc; They Came Back; Things; This Filthy Earth; Thriller: A Cruel Picture; Thundercrack!; THX 1138; Time Masters; Titicut Follies; Der Todersking; Tourist Trap (1979); Tout Va Bien; Troll 2; “Turkish Star Wars” [Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam]; Twister (1989); The Twonky; Uncle Meat; Underground; Uzumaki [AKA Spiral] (official re-review); Vakvagany; Vanishing Waves; Vase de Noces; Vermillion Souls; Versus; Vigasiosexploitation; Visions of Suffering; Visitor of a Museum [Posetitel muzeya]; Waiting for Godot; The War Zone; Wax, or The Discovery of Television Among the Bees; We Are the Strange; Welcome to the Dollhouse; Where the Dead Go to Die; Wicked City (1992 live-action version); Wild at Heart; Wild Tigers I Have Known; A Woman’s Face (1940); Womb; Wool 100%; W.R.-Mysteries of the Organism; Yesterday Was a Lie; Yokai Monsters, Vol. 1: Spook Warfare [AKA Big Monster War]; Zachariah; A Zed and Two Noughts.
Another one is the Korean animated film _Aachi & Ssipak_. The basic premise involves a dystopian future where human feces are a prized natural resource used to generate electricity. Each citizen has a chip installed in their rectum that monitors defecation, and fecal production is rewarded by the government via highly addictive “juicy bars”. A gang of adorable blue cannon fodder mutants led by a much tougher-looking blue mutant with dreadlocks and nose ring are attempting to illegally bypass the government limitations on juicy bars and secure an unlimited supply. The title characters, wise guy Aachi and meat-head Ssipak, end up crossing paths with a porn actress targeted by the gang and… Words start to fail me around here.
The plot doesn’t really make much sense, but this bizarre film is a fun watch, with its heavy artistic stylization; creative and over-the-top action; smooth and attractive animation; playfully irreverent violence, profanity, and scatology; and overall penchant for absolute nonsense. Deserves a cult audience outside of South Korea, most def.
Another wholehearted recommendation is _Arise!_, eighty minutes of insanity from the Church of the SubGenius. The IMDB synopsis: “A brain-crushing collage of music and video presented in the form of a religious recruitment video. The topics covered (in deadpan narration) are basic psychology, the origin of the human race, spiritualism, religious dogma, UFO’s, the end of the world, and the group’s figurehead, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.”
This barely scratches the surface, as the film defies easy description. It is unflinchingly bizarre, and sitting through all eighty minutes is a psychological endurance test to be sure. At the same time, Arise! is lots of fun, satirizing organized religion, cults, and conspiracies with tongue-in-cheek aplomb, while exhibiting a playful affection for its own mythology and for the classic B-movies that heavily inspire the film’s presentation.
For a taste of what’s in store, the narration at one point tells us, “Do not attempt to flip the tape when you reach the end of side one, no matter what you are told by later instructions on the tape. There is no side two. However, if you do discover one, DON’T look at it.”
I love this! (Arise!), It certainly is weird, but I guess it intended to be weird rather than it just being weird unintentionally, if that makes sense?
But, thanks for submitting it, it’s a lot of fun!
Gandu – The Loser http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1841611/
Thundercrack
My weekly batch response:
Andres aria: I believe Pixote is an excellent movie, but I’m not sure how “weird” it is. As I understand it, it’s a work of gritty realism. Given the large number of suggestions we have, I’m not going to add Pixote to the queue unless someone seconds it.
sunspotbaby: I think that happens occasionally, people don’t suggest something obvious because they assume it’s already been suggested.
Jessy: Paperhouse is a good suggestion. It’s already in the queue.
Reichu: I will add The End of Evangelion to the queue. Your observation is exactly the concern I have about this movie: can it be appreciated on its own by people who aren’t familiar with the rest of the series? I’ll also add Arise! since Thomas seconded it (we were going to do it someday anyway).
Gandu: I’ll add Gandu. 😉
And finally, Barry: Thundercrack! is already in the queue.
G. Smalley: If you were to watch _The End of Evangelion_ without seeing the TV episodes, I don’t reckon it would make one iota of sense. I can understand how watching a 26-episode show simply in preparation for a movie review would be inhibitory… but, as a very biased person, I think it would be worth it. :3
For those who can look beyond Eva’s prosaic “teenagers with robots” trappings, the entire show has much to recommend itself to connoisseurs of the strange and unusual. The show begins by placing the viewer into a false sense of security. For those who came to the show expecting safe escapism and loyal adherence to standard genre tropes, Eva gives the audience enough leeway to believe what it wants — at first. At the halfway point, pretenses are dropped one after another, the focus becomes increasingly psychological, and the style increasingly experimental. The pillars of the status quo are cut down one after another. It’s a downward spiral toward self-destruction and apocalypse from which there is seemingly no escape.
The show deteriorates into madness and desolation, breaking one central character after another in a quartet of rather insane episodes, and the plot getting increasingly incoherent even as it escalates. Then the show manages to break itself: for the last two episodes, plot is essentially dropped, and the main characters are put under literal spotlights and forced to explore their deepest existential dilemmas. (Some found this ending somewhat unsatisfying, so The End of Evangelion was made to provide a proper conclusion to the story.)
I know some people who might be qualified to write up a treatment for 366 Weird Movies (I don’t consider myself fluent enough in film to do so), so I may just look into that next time I see them.
We would love it if someone volunteered to supply a primer on the confusing Evangelion landscape. Just use the contact form if you have something for us!
In the meantime, we’ll eagerly be waiting to see what the fourth Evangelion reboot movie has in store.
love the list but surprised to not see:
Fellini’s Casanova!
Donald Sutherland wear a crazy candle crown, seduces a doll, and the costumes and sets are surreal and gorgeous!
Fellini’s Cassanova is in the review queue (look at the top post on this page). This is one we’d sure like to see get a Criterion-quality DVD release (but we aren’t holding our breath).
My suggestion is 1983 made for public television movie “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank”, starring Raul Julia.
The movie, shot on tape, features a dystopian world run by a group called Novacorp, Fingal’s brain being put in a baboon (leading to scenes of animal footage borrowed from a nature documentary), a bizarre reenactment of “Casablanca” in a digital world, and lots of weird pixelation effects as the digital world becomes corrupted.
My favorite scene is when Fingle is randomly given two 10 Commandments-style tablets with the message “Thou shalt not screw around with things thou doest not understand,” “Thou shalt not meddle in Novacorp hardware or Novacorp shall hold thee responsible,” “Thou shalt not break out of the HX368,” and “Thou shalt not program.”
It might be a little hard to find an original copy of the movie to watch, but there is an MST3K version available if you don’t mind the riffing.
The movie is terrible, but is also so weird and unique as to be entertaining.
Maybe the weirdest movie MST3K ever did. It’s a good idea to check it out and see if it stands up without the riffing. I’ll put it in queue.
Has this film been released on DVD, without MST3k? I’m just not a fan of that show but would love to check out the film.
The unedited version appears to be only available on VHS at the present time.
If you don’t mind a low quality upload, it’s on youtube.
you should totally check out “Crystal fairy” with Michael Cera.
I liked Crystal Fairy (particularly the performances by Cera and Gaby Hoffmann) and considered reviewing it last year, but ultimately I didn’t think it was weird enough to feature on the site. Anyone who disagrees can always submit their own reader recommendation.
Salo:120 Days of Sodom- hours of fake shit eating
Pink Flamingos- two minutes of real shit eating. Also kidnapping women, impregnating them, selling the babies to lesbian couples, and eggs
Cannibal Holocaust- rape, murder, arson, cannibalism, real animal killings, director had to be brought to court to prove he didn’t really kill actors
Mysterious Skin- Joseph Gordon Levitt is a male prostitute, also pedophilia, also alien abduction.
I Spit on Your Grave- thirty minute rape scene, mutilation, revenge
Most of those suggestions sound like they belong in the “shock” genre rather than the weird genre. Salo and Pink Flamingos, however, are already in the queue. I have passed on Cannibal Holocaust before, and I will also pass on I Spit on Your Grave (disturbing, but not weird). However, I will accept your suggestion of Mysterious Skin, which just came out on Blu-ray, and which I was hoping to review anyway.
Sorry for all the shock suggestions, I kinda group shock and weird together and am a sucker for exploitation films
No need to apologize, there is a lot of overlap. We just want to keep our focus narrowly weird.
Ok im not sure if someones already suggested this i looked but couldnt find anything.the movie Dude Where’s My Car. Its a comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Sean William Scott that involves evil ostriches, a severely repetitive drive through worker, two rival alien groups after the main characters,a wacky cult,a very special rubiks cube and more that I cant remember, and it happens all in one day just unraveling the mystery of what happened to their junker car i cant do it justice trying to explain it. I found it a little strange watching it as a kid but funny and I think it still holds up pretty good today. More of a over the top stoner flick but still pretty wierd.
I’m going to have to ask for someone to second that recommendation before I accept it. I haven’t seen Dude Where’s My Car, but it looked like it was aimed squarely at a mainstream youth audience. Maybe I’m wrong.
Dude Where’s My Car is mostly conventional stoner humor and is packed with misogyny and transphobia.
‘Hukkunud Alpinisti’ hotell
Estonia at its weirdest.
The title translates as “Dead Mountaineers Hotel,” and it does indeed look like a weird film. It may be hard to find a copy in English but I’ll add it to the queue nonetheless.
Save the Green Planet!, a delusional (or is he?) young man kidnaps a business man believing him to be an alien.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Green_Planet!
Thanks for confirming my suspicions about Dude Where’s My Car (above), E. L. Save the Green Planet is already in the suggestion queue, though.
The film Excision. I just watched it and it was amazing! It has Malcolm McDowell, John Waters, and Traci a Lords in it. It’s about a girl who is psychologically disturbed and is turned on by blood and death and believes she will one day be a surgeon and I don’t want to ruin the ending, or really any other major details because you can’t imagine where the plot goes. Definitely recomend.
Yeah, that summary sucks but I promise you a bizarre and interesting movie.
Hi Tori, I will add Excision to he queue. We were interested in it (largely because of the cast) but didn’t catch it when it was out.
Was originally going to suggest Midnight Ballad of Ghost Theater, but see it’s already suggested.
I’ve seen a lot of Asian horror films and a few of them I definitely think deserve to be on a list of weird. A few that stuck out to me as being particularly weird that I haven’t seen mentioned yet.
Unholy Women [2006] (three short horror stories, the second one about a guy who wants his co-worker to date his sister, who’s a potato sack, is particularly strange).
Survive Style 5+ [2004] (Almost every character in this film is insane and it makes the whole film incredibly strange to watch. From a salaryman who thinks he’s a bird to a British assassin (in a Japanese film) who overly complicates his mission by debating the function in society the people he’s killing are and if they’re worth being dead, to a murderous ad director, it’s amusing and odd all the way through).
Three… Extremes [2004] (A horror director from Japan, Korea, and China came together and made three short stories for a horror film, however each of them is really weird. The first short is actually the short that inspired the movie Dumplings, which is already on the list, it’s basically the film Dumplings but shorter and with a different ending. The director decided to take the short and turn it into a full movie after it appeared in this film. The second is about a man who lives in a house that’s identical to a film set he has as a director, and one of his previous extra actors comes back to take vengeance on him for being a better person that he is. Last short is surrealistic tale of a circus told extremely abstractly.)
The Forbidden Door [2009] (It starts off seemingly normally in an art museum, until our character discovers a secret society in the city he lives in that watch live streams and video recordings of extremely messed-up things and add them to a growing collection for members to watch. It only gets weirder from there.)
Robo Geisha [2009] (Women’s body parts are functioned into weapons, and soon the downfall of Japan begins as the plot twists and turns. Everything from armpits with katanas in them to breasts that double as milk canons.)
Tomie (This is actually a series of films, based off of a horror manga. It’s about a girl, who comes wrapped in a bag, and outside of being absolutely insane, has a weird ability to make people, either men or women, fall completely in love with her. Forcibly so. Many end up hating her and despising her, but somehow the more they hate her, the more they love her. First film is very slow though. One thing that helps the oddness of the films is an unforgettable soundtrack the movies have, that are undeniably weird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBesG7ie4tg )
What I can think of off the top, hope some of these catch interest.
Gamer, out of those I’ll enqueue Three… Extremes. Survive Style 5+ is currently in our “hope this gets released on Region 1 DVD” holding pen, while we do have a reader review of Robogeisha up. Both of those will eventually get looked at again, and we could hit the others you mention, as well. Asia (Japan in particular) does have a natural affinity for the weird.
May I suggest Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural(1973) and Jesus “Jess” Franco’s Venus in Furs (1969).
Possibly also the Paul Schrader remake of Cat People, which was actually marketed as a mainstream horror film. It’s more like David Cronenberg’s reimagining of Dogtooth.
Was going to suggest The Ninth Configuration, but you’ve got that on the list (But five words — all-dog production of Hamlet).
Not sure if anyone has recommended this one yet:
Borgman http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954315/
Sounds interesting, people have been making the claim that it’s very surreal. While I’m at it, let me just say I love your site, I check it almost daily. Keep doing what you’re doing.
I just saw A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1828124/) at the Wisconsin Film Festival. The trailer was too good for me to pass up seeing it. It consists of three acts. During the screening I was at, three people left during the first act, five people left during the second, and six people left during the third. Cinema Scope did a great interview with the directors Ben Rivers and Ben Russell, though in truth you should probably watch it with as little prior knowledge as possible. http://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-magazine/tiff-2013-cinema-scope-56-preview-ben-rivers-and-ben-russell-on-a-spell-to-ward-off-the-darkness/
Long story short, it’s not for everyone, but I enjoyed myself quite a bit.
Takeshis’, by Takeshi Kitano
Sorry for being away from this thread for so long.
Holly: I will put Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1973) in queue, and point you to our review of the Cat People remake (which is still technically alive for the List).
Peter: we’ll be reviewing Borgman when it is released on DVD here in the States.
Blizard: I’ll add A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness to the queue. We’ll keep an eye out and see if it gets a DVD release.
F.D.: I’ll add Takeshis’ as well, although I think it may be hard to find a copy.
Om Darbadar is one film from India that should fit in this category. It’s a 1988 Indian Postmodernist film directed by Kamal Swaroop. The film, about the adventures of a school boy named Om along with his family, employs nonlinear narrative and an absurdist storyline to satire mythology, arts, politics and even philosophy. The movie was described by its director as a story of Lord Brahma, and it sprouted from the idea that in Hinduism, although Lord Brahma was considered the father of the entire universe, strangely no one ever worshiped him. The director also said that the film’s script was written based solely on dreams and images that he had and claimed he “cannot think in words.” The movie features songs such as “Babloo Babylon Se…” (Babloo is from Babylon) The song is sporadic and choppy and doesn’t make any logical sense. (Info taken from movie’s Wikipedia page).
Here are some lines from the film:
‘If one Om is 17 years,how many Oms is one light year? This question is out of course.’
‘When I got lost inside Babli during the reverse journey of my genetic memory, I came across terrorist tadpoles and the emperor of frogs, the computer, who ruled over his subjects.’ (Absurd line with no apparent meaning)
‘World War is imminent. We need to prepare a sacrificial fire.’
‘I didn’t swallow your diamonds. You’re still dreaming.’
I remember a scene of this American movie but I can’t remember the name or the actors. The scene is of old times where two strangers, a guy and girl are staying in this room on rent with all these other women and the only reason they got that one room was because they told the landlord that they were brother and sister but then i think they get kicked out because others heard them on enight doing something that a brother an disaster shouldn’t be doing and then i think in the end they participate in this race of some sort where they have put a flag pole on the a piece land which will make that land theirs. I really want to see his movie again but I just can’t get the name right. Does anybody know of this movie?
Hi debashish, Om Dar-B-Dar does indeed look weird. Like most Indian movies, we may have trouble tracking down a DVD copy but I’ll be happy to add it to the queue.
swaris1, I’m afraid I don’t recognize that movie–try asking here.
The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb is EXTREMELY strange. It also helped to pioneer a type of animation called pixilation, where live actors are animated in a stop motion style (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixilation). The effect is bizarre. On top of that, it was commissioned by the BBC as a CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! The history and production techniques surrounding this film give it significance beyond its weirdness. I know it has already been suggested, but I guarantee it will make the list.
I have shown this film to people and ended up with them in a rage at me, demanding why I was showing them something so strange. Really, I had to endure an extended interpersonal conflict because of this movie.
Good suggestion Baswenaazhi, but Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb is already in the queue above.
I hope that it isn’t too early to make a suggestion for Lars von Trier’s latest film, Nymphomaniac.
I think it deserves at least some consideration on the sole merits of a.) being the most ambitious work by von Trier as of yet, and b.) being possibly the most cinematically dense, poetic and staggering work yet, teeming with an encyclopedic litany of digressions, archival clips, allusions to a broad and disparate range of academic fields and possibly some of the most humorous dialogue that von Trier has written since “The Boss of It All”.
I’ve been going back and forth on whether we should cover Nymphomaniac, Caleb. On the one hand, von Trier is a major figure ’round here; on the other, not all of his work is particularly weird, and I hadn’t heard that this one was. If you’re interested in it, however, I think that should tip the movie(s) into the “we should cover it” bin.
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention Live Freaky! Die Freaky! It’s a stop-motion animation musical comedy about the Manson Family murders starring some famous musicians. Pretty terrible, but incredibly weird!
Also, what about Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story? It might just be the dolls, but it definitely weirded me out.
Hi Sam, I will add Live Freaky! Die Freaky! to the queue.
The main issue with Superstar is that due to the Carpenters’ lawsuit, it can never be legally exhibited—which doesn’t mean we’d never cover it, it just means that it’s more of a curiosity piece than a real contender for the List.
Enemy by Denis Villeneuve is very weird. It’s got many weird things: layered, spider-imagery, doppelgangers, eery atmosphere.
Already on it: Enemy.
There’s this movie where a girl leads another girl up the staircase where a group of guys are waiting and they ultimately end up raping her. Turns out the girl hates her and told the boys to rape her once she got her up the staircase.
Zardoz (1974)
“The Gun is good! The Penis is evil! The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the Gun shoots Death and purifies the Earth of the filth of Brutals. Go forth, and kill! Zardoz has spoken.”
Speaking of Zardoz…
Saw the trailer for Mécanix (2003). Seems to steal some Quay elements with sloppy stop motion, but it appears to be all shot on film!
Hausu directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. About a group of young girls and the house that eats them. Shocking but also goofy and unsettling and psychedelic.
I’m not sure it’s been mentioned yet but the unintentionally (perhaps) weird and genuinely terrible “After Last Season” would be nice to see reviewed.
Hi Morgan! OK, we can add Mécanix (2003) to the queue, I’ll worry about how to find it later.
Landon: Hausu.
Dylan: After Last Season.
Check out this: http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Dead_Bart
This is a “hoax” Simpson’s episode entitled “Dead Bart”. It’s not a film or entire television episode, but it could be considered a short based on a tv series. Regardless, I believe the short created by Creepypasta is very strange and surreal and not to mention incredibly morbid. Even though its not a legitimate episode…I feel it could be included in the shorts section or television/web series section. I would love to even personally write up a review myself…I was wondering if you could check out the link and tell me if it’s even worth my time? Thanks! Love the site, keep up the awesome work!
Abre Los Ojos [Open Your Eyes) (1997)
Also, sorry I didn’t mention this in my above comment, but have you guys ever considered 28 Days Later? I didn’t see it in the queue. I could have overlooked it, not sure. It’s not only a great often overlooked “zombie” film, but it has incredibly strange moments. It’s not over the top strange like something like Return of the Living Dead, but it holds its on strangeness in a bleak realistic setting. Great film. Thanks guys!
Josh: I kind of assumed Open Your Eyes was already up there; I see that it’s not. I’ll add it next time I update.
Brad: You can write up whatever you want and submit it as a reader review! (Unless you’re the author, that is, and you’re faking a positive review.) So, you could submit a reader review of the fake Simpsons episode if you like, or 28 Days Later. I don’t think we will be doing 28 Days Later so feel free to try to sell us on why it’s as weird as the other movies on the List, and maybe we’ll consider it.
Cannibal Woman in the Avocado Jungle of Death, 1989
Pizza Man, 1991
Both directed by J.F. Lawton.
I would like to suggest two additions to the TV series category.
Wild Palms – Oliver Stone’s very weird TV miniseries from the 90s involving various odd dream sequences involving rhinoceros’
Kingdom – Lars Von Trier’s two season miniseries that explores a Stephen King book about a somewhat haunted hospital
Brad: I’ll add Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death to the queue (actually I thought it was already there, but it appears not).
Adam: I’ll add “Wild Palms” as it’s worthy of a footnote. “Kingdom” might make it eventually, too.
A old movie I saw as a child, I’d say back in 1980’s ghost in basement and something to do with the ghost would always be in the kitchen with a hatchet when someone was in the kitchen. The house was by the ocean. At the beginning of the movie a boat sank right of shore and at end of movie the boat floats back up out of the water and there is a captain of the boat aboard. I remember there being a boy and girl and and a little brother or sister that for some reason, that I can’t remember, go to a old grave area. I do remember it not being a scary movie. Please help me figure this out cause its been driving me nuts for the past 30 yrs trying to figure out the name of the old movie lol..
Im thinking I saw it back in 1980’s but could of been also very late 1970’s
There’s a Indian movie called ‘Lucia’ (released in 2013) that’s pretty weird. Though the narrative style is inspired by Christopher Nolan’s ‘Memento’, its plot/story is entirely different from Memento. Here’s an extract from the movie’s Wikipedia page:
‘The plot is non-linear, and the end scene of the film shows the real beginning of the story. There are two main roles, one that is played out in the dream, and the other one in reality, and can be called Nikhil and Nikki-2. The plot starts with the protagonist being in a state of coma and continuing only on life support. The film, from the beginning, tells two stories of same person, one in colour and other in black and white.
Sanjay, a detective from Bombay crime branch starts investigating the incident that caused the protagonist’s current state. Sanjay going through his belongings stumbles upon some scribbled notes and a mysterious pill. Meanwhile police capture two suspects and interrogate them for information.
Nikki is working as an Usher/“torch-shiner” in a movie theatre owned by a guy named Shankranna. Nikki suffers from insomnia and yearns for a companion. On one of his sleepless nights Nikki is contacted by a drug dealer who gives him Lucia pills as a solution to his sleeping problems. This drug is said to have the capability to help one dream the life they want but has the side-effect, that on discontinuation the same dreams shall turn into a nightmare.’
Che strano chiamarsi Federico (How Strange to be named Federico: Scola narrates Fellini)
greeneyes: I’m afraid you posted in the wrong thread (this is for review suggestions). Might I suggest that you post your question at our sister site, irememberthismovie.com?
debashish: Lucia (2013) does look like the sort of movie we’re after. Like most Indian movies it’s difficult to find on DVD in the US, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Brad: We love Fellini, of course, so the allegedly experimental documentary Che strano chiamarsi Federico (2013) would be something we’d want to cover. Of course it’s not available in the U.S. yet but we’ll be keeping an eye out for it.
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer.