September 30, 2014

"The 50 Weirdest Movies Ever Made."

I've only seen 2 from this list.

"Liquid Sky" and "Even Dwarfs Started Small." Not sorry I haven't seen more of them, because I know those 2 tried my patience and were not fun to sit through. And I adore Werner Herzog.

Via Metafilter where somebody links to "366 Weird Movies." Not going to count how many of those I've seen, but I've seen many. They're including things like "Repulsion," "Persona," "Run Lola Run," "Altered States," "Being John Malkovich," etc. etc.

51 comments:

Known Unknown said...

I've seen a dozen of those.

Testuo is brilliant. Videodrome and Crimewave were '80s HBO staples.

Widmerpool said...

Agree on "Dwarfs" - and I like Herzog too.

The only other I've seen is "Dogtooth", which, as I recall, is plenty weird, but held my interest.

None of the others looked promising.

lgv said...

Which two, AA?

My two were Videodrome and Boxing Helena. Dogtooth looks interesting, but Sean Connery will never be the same to me any more.

Nonapod said...

I've seen Videodrome, Black Devil Doll From Hell, and Zardox.

I enjoy stuff by David Lynch and David Cronenberg even though it always seems like they're trying to hard to be weird.

FleetUSA said...

I've seen Black Moon and Boxing Helena. Unfortunately all 1* movies.

Revenant said...

I've only seen "Zardoz". It isn't really weird at all, though.

john said...

Had to read it twice to understand why Eraserhead was not on the list. Now I get it, as long as proper homage is made to the ultimate in weird.

Aria was pretty good, much more sad than weird.

furious_a said...

"...of Zeitlich Vergelter fame, often cited as Japan’s Einstürzende Neubauten."

Ummm, what?

Blue Ox said...

Liquid Sky was fantasticly weird.

Anne Carlisle in dual roles as the bi-sexual Margaret and Jimmy the heroin addict.

At one point in the film Carlisle (Margaret) gives "himself" (Jimmy) a blowjob.

Sam L. said...

I've seen Hands of Orlac, heard of two,and maybe a third.

Clearly, "Manos, The Hands of Fate" is not in this category. More of a Plan 9-type Bad Movie.

Julie C said...

Un Chien Andalou. Went on a Luis Bunuel kick after seeing That Obscure Object of Desire.

This was back in the stone age when independent movie houses showed older films.

MadisonMan said...

0 for 50.

At least I've heard of a couple.

PB said...

Zardoz and Boxing Helena are my only two and I never got through them.

I prefer "quirky" movies, not "weird".

lemondog said...

Maybe Zardoz but, if so, I don't remember any of it.

Pin looks like the guy in the WH sans hair and smaller ears.

Ben Calvin said...

I'm surprised you haven't seen Un Chien Andalou. It is really in a different class than everything else on this list.

Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's film invented a lot of the film grammar of surrealism and juxtaposition we take for granted today.

Besides, it's short and kind of funny.

Buñuel had a wonderful career, from Un Chien Andalou in 1929, though movies like Belle de jour with Catherine Deneuve, all the way though his last film, That Obscure Object of Desire in 1977.

His autobiography is a fun read too.

Freeman Hunt said...

I've seen Un Chien Andalou and Ebola Syndrome.

No desire to see any of the rest.

Lucien said...

I'd have thought "Marat Sade" would be on the list, but on reflection it's not weird enough.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

I remember Un Chien Andalou, and The Hands of Dr. Orlac. None of the others.

Ann Althouse said...

"I'm surprised you haven't seen Un Chien Andalou."

Yeah, I am too. It is one of those films that you're supposed to have seen. How to get to that point of having seen it? No way other than to actually watch it. That never seems to have happened to me.

I've seen "Blood of the Poet."

George M. Spencer said...

Spider, Naked Lunch, Crash, and existenz by Cronenberg are each weirder than Videodrome.

Scarlett Johanssen's recent "Under the Skin" was flipped out.

Secretary.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

The Sound of Music

rhhardin said...

Dinner for Schmucks is very funny.

An Inspector Clouseau, but a little understated for effect.

Julie C said...

I always thought Repulsion (Roman Polanski) was pretty weird. Beautiful but demented Catherine Deneuve.

Matt said...

I've seen 14 of these. Some are shorts.

Bad Boy Bubby is amazing. The filmmaker used a different cinematographer for each different section of the movie.

Sweet Movie is one of Jack Nicolson's favorites - and it's a pretty depressing film.

House in on Criterion Collection. Worth a look.

Uncle Boonmee isn't really too weird but it has some moments of oddity.

CWJ said...

hands of orlac
new York ripper
zardoz
Andulusian dog

CWJ said...

Julie C., Yeah where's Repulsion?

Oh well, the lists are always more about the list compiler than the list itself.

Matt, having seen 14 are you sure your were not a contributor?

Chance said...

I've seen four. Post Tenebras Lux, one of the newer films on the list, is really good. I'd highly recommend it (currently streaming on Netflix).

My favorite cult film, City of Lost Children, failed to make the list...

Uncle Boonmee isn't too weird? The woman has sex with a fish!

Curious George said...

None. I've never heard of any of them.

Of course I've never seen any of the Starwars, Batmans, or Spidermans either.

Joe said...

Not seen any, a few on purpose.

The Crack Emcee said...

I saw 7 of them.

Mainstream movies bore me,...

richlb said...

Seen Zardoz, Videodrome and Boxing Helena. Seen parts of a few others.

Missing from the list? Meet the Feebles by future Lord of the Rings auteur Peter Jackson. It's Avenue Q meets Pink Flamingos.

SteveR said...

Zardoz

Unknown said...

I own three of these, have seen thirteen.

Dogtooth is a minor classic, featuring a not to be missed version of the dance Jennifer Beals with many edits (another dancer intercut) performed at the end of Flashdance.

Gummo is a great film exploring lowlife Americana, with a young Chloe Sevigny and a great deadpan kid who eats spaghetti while sitting in the dirtiest bathwater of all time. Looks like this may end up the high point for Harmony Korine.

Videodrome stars James Woods and is right there as one of David Cronenberg's best films along with The Fly, Naked Lunch, Crash and probably others I'm forgetting. When James Woods pulls the gun out of his stomach -- very memorable cinema. May be the best role for Woods (along with Another Day in Paradise).

Sweet Movie is nothing special, though the nude girl in liquid chocolate makes an impression.

The Holy Mountain was Alejandro Jodorowsky's much less inspired follow-up to his classic midnight movie smash it El Topo, one of the best, most memorable Westerns of all time.

Multiple Maniacs is early John Waters. Extremely stylized, but not bad.

Nekromantik is a classic in some circles and spawned Nekromantik 2, which some slightly prefer. Made Jurgen Buggerheit (or whatever his name was) almost a household name. The heroine is empowered or something through transgressive alt-sex. There.

RecChief said...

I liked "Lola Rennt" (Run Lola Run) but I have a thing for german women. which is good for my wife

Unknown said...

I wouldn't call Marat/Sade weird in any way. Certainly it's one of the greatest musicals ever and hands-down the best musical dealing with the French Revolution. I learned how to play some of the songs on the piano years ago.

The full title is: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.

Patrick Magee does a pretty good version of the underappreciated philosopher -- though Daniel Auteuil is brilliant in the Benoit Jacquot film (simply called Sade). Isild de Besco as the innocent young woman whose mind Sade corrupts (or enlightens, as you will) is also great. Both won Lumiere Awards.

Marat/Sade also features the young Glenda Jackson, as Charlotte Corday, who murdered Marat in his bath.

Sigivald said...

I also saw two - Videodrome, and Tetsuo.

Tetsuo was pretty good, for what it was.

(Contra people above, I found Eraserhead more just plain "bad" than interestingly weird.

furious_a: Try this.)

David said...

I'm 0-50.

Freeman Hunt said...

I saw Un Chien Andalou at summer camp.

"What kind of crazy summer camps do they run down there in Arkansas?"

I dunno. Ones where you watch Un Chien Andalou.

Freeman Hunt said...

Other movies watched at summer camp: The Gods Must Be Crazy, Koyaanisqatsi, Ghost in the Shell, and a short one called Trevor.

I didn't know the name of that last one, but I found it by googling "gay boy likes diana ross scarf movie."

Farmer said...

Santa Sangre and Forbidden Zone ought to be on that list.

William said...

I saw Zardoz. I don't remember anything about it except that it was memorably bad. I expected more from a scifi flick starring Sean Connery than some cult weirdo shit.

Drew W said...

I saw nine, possibly ten, depending on whether I actually saw "Multiple Maniacs" or have it confused with another early John Waters flick.

tim maguire said...

I've seen the first 30 minutes of Rubber (should have been a short, not enough there for a full movie) and I've heard of a handful of others.

Fernandinande said...

Seen (none were very good):
The Hands of Orlac
Zardoz
Un chien andalou

Six of the six I looked for were on veehd.com:
veehd.com/video/4571558_Crimewave-avi
veehd.com/video/4792825_Funky-Forest-The-First-Contact-2005
veehd.com/video/4073560_Boxing-Helena-1993-nYx64
veehd.com/video/4507571_Werner-Herzog-Even-Dwarfs-Started-Small-1970
veehd.com/video/4706227_Dogtooth-2009
veehd.com/video/4117710_LIQUID-SKY-1982-Sci-Fi-Horror-7P-Vaults-of-Horrors-and-Wonders ("Liquid Sky")

theo said...

What no Guy Maddin?

This list is somewhat dubious without that fellow.

DanTheMan said...

1 for me: Zardoz
Connery gave up the Bond franchise to pilot a flying head around in his underwear?
What am I missing?

Titus said...

Yes, I am elite and educated, but I am also avant garde and dado.

I have seen all these movies.

Main Stream movies bore me.

Gummo's soundtrack includes Madonna's Like A Prayer.

Celebrate nothingness.

thank you and tits.

Titus said...

I was in Wigglesworth Hall during college (the poor dorm) and met the other misfits and we binged on John Waters movies. Desperate Living, Pink Flamingos, etc.

In the movie Multiple Maniacs Divine gets fucked by a Lobster....

tour de force.

I saw Divine live at Rod's in Madison during one of my summer breaks. I licked her tits.

tits.

Roger von Oech said...


Miss Cleo's DNA Test

jr565 said...

Not much by David Lynch on there. His last movie starring Naomi Watts had a bunch of disjointed and random scenes that made little sense. And it turns out it was planned as a miniseries but didn't pan out. So he compiled it as a feature movie and left it as is without bothering to explain the daimyo intend bits. Because really, they made no sense. What's interesting about it is the narrative when its cohesive. But they
N you are left trying to decipher the meaning of random images and there is no meaning. Its a con.

A lot of these movies maybe be weird, but they are also really bad. And sometimes people latch onto the weirdness as if that gives it merit.

jr565 said...

""I'm surprised you haven't seen Un Chien Andalou."
Got me a movie I want you to know
Slicing up eyeballs
I want you to know
Girl you're so groovy I want you to know
Don't know about you
But I am UN chien Andalusia
I am un chien Andalusia
I am un chien Andalusia
I am Un chien Andalusia
Want to grow grow up to be, be a Debaser.

Edde said...

Brewster McCloud