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Here is my obligatory/traditional annual top 10 list of movies, ranked according to mainstream standards. In other words, weird movies are allowed on this list, but I attempt to rank the 2024 releases according to their general cinematic merit, intended for people who don’t specialize in the surrealer genres. We will announce our staff consensus top 10 weird movies of 2024 on this week’s Pod 366 released on Friday (print list to follow).

There are a fair number of films that might have made this list but for the fact that I didn’t have time to get to them in 2024, including, most notably, Sean Baker’s Anora and Robert Eggers‘ Nosferatu. I expect to see them, and maybe some other worthy movies I hadn’t considered, before awards voting season concludes in mid-January. Some of them may end up deserving inclusion here.

Before the official top ten starts, here are ten honorable mentions, in alphabetical order: Alien: Romulus, Animalia, Daaaaalí!, Juror #2, Kinds of Kindness, Megalopolis, Rumours, Santosh, Strange Darling, and The Wild Robot.

And now, the official list:

10. Hit Man: An undercover cop posing as a hit man falls for a woman who solicits his murder-for-hire services. Sounds like a fine film noir premise—and there is tension in the climax—but it plays out like a black romantic comedy. Solidly directed by Richard Linklater, but the discussion rightfully revolves around the performance of Glen Powell, who dresses up (at one point donning a Tilda Swinton wig) to portray a dozen or so individual killers. Briefly released to theaters in order to qualify for the Academy Awards, but most people who saw it did so on Netflix. (There is some controversy in the film world about Netflix’s recent failure to give their projects decent theatrical runs, preferring instead to use even their prestige pictures as digital inventory). Based (very loosely!) on a true story, in that there are no such things as killers-for-hire: they are all undercover law enforcement agents. Think about that when considering how you want to bump off your spouse (just another friendly tip from 366 Weird Movies!)

9. Challengers: Tennis prodigies Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist) meet the enchanting, and even more talented, Tashi (Zendaya) as teens; the trio’s careers take different paths as they form a love triangle over a decade, until Patrick and Art find themselves matched in the finals of a U.S. Open qualifying tournament for their first head-to-head meeting as professionals. The script serves up all the angles with these characters, and you can form a case for rooting for or against any of them. I side with audiences who find the inconclusive ending a bit disappointing, but it doesn’t undo all the good points that came before. The match sequences are thrilling, brilliantly edited and shot from unusual angles, Zendaya is scorchingly hot in a tennis skirt, and there’s a pretty obvious homoerotic subtext for those who dig that kind of thing. From Luca Guadagnino.

8. Mars Express: A pair of private detectives on terraformed Mars investigate the death of a cybernetics student, which (naturally) leads to a bigger conspiracy. The main draw to this French 2D animation is the believable hard sci-fi worldbuilding, with brain farms, cybernetic life-after-death, cloned prostitutes, and a different kind of jailbroken android than we’re used to. I wouldn’t mind seeing a big budget Hollywood live-action version of this. A surprise that popped up out of nowhere, it contributed to what turned out to be an amazing year for science fiction films. Despite being well-dubbed into English, this sadly failed to make much of an impression at the box office, and distributor GKids gave it no awards push.

7. Inside Out 2: Riley hits puberty and gains a whole new gang of emotions (anxiety, envy, embarrassment and ennui), as Joy and the old gang fight to preserve her childhood personality. Another clever script helping kids grasp the basics of developmental psychology by personifying emotions, wrapping the lesson in comedy and adventure. I’m more than a bit of an outlier in rating this higher than The Wild Robot, but I think the secular angle here is more suitable for children.

6. I Saw the TV Glow: Two misfit teenagers become obsessed with a paranormal TV show, leading them into delusions that persist into adulthood. Melancholy and increasingly disordered, with only hints of the harsh realities that drive the characters into their escapist schizophrenia; by the end, it echoes Videodrome. And while it serves as an allegory for gender dysphoria, it’s not in-your-face about it; it’s secondary to the film’s broader commentary on pathological fandom. Such mesmerizing purple; this one haunts you.

5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: Young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is kidnapped and orphaned by a warlord band led by Lord Dementus (a beguilingly depraved Chris Hemsworth); adult Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) rises in the ranks of a rival warlord, plotting revenge. Another masterwork from George Miller in the Western-meets-monster-truck-rally genre he essentially invented. Sadly, the film bombed, whether due to changing moviegoer demographics, or perceptions that it was another “woke” blockbuster, or simply because fans can’t wrap their heads around the idea of a Mad Max movie without Mad Mac. But was Max ever really the star of this series? In my view, he takes a distant second billing to the milieu.

4. A Different Man: A man with neurofibromatosis (Sebastian Stan) who wants to be an actor but has little talent undergoes an experimental procedure which reverses his facial disfigurement and makes him handsome. Later, he discovers a role in a play that was literally made with him in mind, but finds himself fighting for the part with a charismatic actor (Adam Pearson) who has an unreconstructed face, and is totally confident and happy about it. The ironic script reminds you of a modern spin on the classic doppelganger tales of Dostoevsky and Poe, it’s often very funny, and the acting is top notch all around. Director Aaron Schimberg obviously wrote the story specifically so he could cast Pearson again, and we’re rooting for the pair to make a trilogy (at least). An extremely-well made movie that will likely be overlooked at the Oscars (besides the makeup category) because of its odd story and limited exposure.

3. Hundreds of Beavers: Have you heard of this one?

2. Dune: Part 2: Hiding out in the desert, Paul Atreides bides his time seeking revenge against the Emperor and his Harkonnen lackeys, learning Fremen ways as he fulfills an ancient prophecy. The sequel turns up the epicness a notch and provides everything you could want in a blockbuster spectacle: battles, revenge, romance, dastardly villains, mysticism, marauding sandworms, Christopher Walken looking confused. Even at 2.75 hours, it’s obvious Denis Villeneuve had to cut a lot from the book: scenes sometimes end and pick up much later, a minor character is missing (Stephen McKinley Henderson’s Thufir Hawat). An extended/director’s edition might help secure the film’s masterpiece status, but Villenueve is on record saying he believes the final cut is the final cut.

1. The Substance: An aging actress (Demi Moore) is offered a mysterious “anti-aging” treatment with an injection regime that must be followed exactly, under penalty of Faustian irony. Sledgehammer satire about America’s superficial worship of youth and beauty, with horror movie effects out of the David Cronenberg school of body horror, ample nudity, an Oscar-caliber lead by Moore, a performance that make you remember Dennis Quaid still exists, Margaret Qualley convincing you she is the most perfect specimen of feminine beauty conceivable, and a grossout B-movie ending that should not be spoiled further. A perfect mix of arthouse and grindhouse sensibilities that never goes halfway when it could go to twice the length you expect. Director Coralie Fargeat will have a hard time topping this one, but let her try, please.

See you in 2025!