Irreversible was the only film to make me physically ill, then I found out about the sound they put in the opening club scene to help induce that. I hardly slept that night!
A Guinea Pig box was recently released over here too, I've been thinking of picking that up. I've heard the legends of Cannibal Holocaust but have not experienced it yet.
chris, guinea pig is a relentlessly harsh series of flicks. the first two are especially notorious. poor ol' charlie sheen called the FBI on account of he was convinced #2 was a snuff flick.
Irreversible had the same effect on me, and ditto the sound revelations. I watched it a couple nights later at my ex's (she as asleep, i had insomnia, so i brought a bollock-load of dvd's with me) with the sound next to muted, and the effect was totally different.
i have never, ever experienced the like of that first viewing, when i had to turn the damn thing off just after that fire-extinguisher carry-on. Much as it rattled me senseless, it was a hell of an experience. And i think, even though i didn't put it on again for a couple days, i enjoyed the sensation immensely...
I had ehard that about ol Charlie. I am not sure I wan to subject myself to them, but at the same time, I am so dang curious.
I have only been able to watch Irreversible that once. I have told people about it, but I always feel the need to warn them that they have to be ready for it, I went in cold and I think it was a bit of a mistake. I can take it, but there are curious friends who probably wouldn't be able to.
yeah, i went in knowing it was fairly harsh,but then i'd jsut picked up cannibal holocasut a couple weeks back. how harsh can it be?
much friggin' harsher, it turned out.
and G.P 1&2 are pretty much FX reels. a woman gettin tortured an dismembered for 40 minutes. especially nasty. but yeah, you like to say you've at least seen these things.
Mermaid... though is something altogether different. it's a piece of dazzling, grotesque art, is what i would announce to the world. One of those things that are somehow beautiful even as you can feel the vomit rising.
I'd say any of Rob Zombie's films qualify as a WTF?!? bizzare kinda film.
231 -
Danny Wright
May 03, 2005 at 12:46 am
I highly recommend "Santa Sangre" from Alejandro Jodorowsky. A very VERY strange film that haunts me. An older (60's) but offbeat film is "Micky One" with Warren Beatty. Both are an antidote to the summer glut of formula films.
Has anyone seen the unfinished Hwy., which was being made by Jim Morrison? I imagine that would qualify for the list, or perhaps the unfinished list.
It's about a killer on a road...
233 -
Eric Olsen
May 03, 2005 at 7:11 am
Duke and Chris, I freely admit I cannot comprehend in the slightest the aesthetic impulse to make or watch extreme horror: life is short, the birds are singing, there is an endless supply of real tragedy in the world.
And I understand the humor and kinetic rush of such obvious limb-lopping excess as in Kill Bill, for example. But you are talkign about something else entirely, as far as I can tell.
A post on such things might be very revealing to those so blinded such as myself.
234 -
daveg
May 03, 2005 at 8:12 am
The Holy Mountain by Jodorowsky is probably the most bizarre film available anywhere.
gee, sounds like a typical blogcritics political discussion!
;-)
241 -
Taloran
May 03, 2005 at 10:09 am
Just a few to add - sorry if any of them have been mentioned above.
Bagdad Cafe - Jack Palance, CCH Pounder and Marianne Sagebracht - even stranger that they made it into a short-lived TV show.
Liquid Sky - an undecipherable, though not unwatchable, mess about some androgynous and/or gay and lesbian folks and tiny aliens who get power when the humans copulate.
I Am Curious (two equally weird but different versions, "Yellow" and "Blue") - Two people have sex in odd places while speaking Swedish and researching a documentary. Either the subtitles are way off or it's completely incomprehensible. I'm not going to take the time to learn Swedish to watch it without subtitles.
Betty Blue (French title "Le Matin") - French-language film in which a sexually aggressive woman who spends most of the film nude meets a handyman, who cuts off his privates while talking to her on the phone. Different, to say the least.
King of Hearts (Le Roy de Coeur) An English infantryman in WWI is sent to a town that the inhabitants have abandoned, but not before setting free the inmates at the local loony bin. A fabulous, strange, funny film.
And some of my favorite weird movies as mentioned above: Harold and Maude
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
Eraserhead
THX-1138
Why do people think The Wicker Man is weird? I'm very sorry to hear that it's being remade with Nicholas Cage - I can't see him playing Sgt. Howie anywhere near as effectively as Edward Woodward did. They'll probably Americanize it too.
When I was a kid, a bunch of people were into that Faces of Death tripe, which supposedly showed real executions, torture, even autoposies and all other manner of stuff.
regarding the extreme horror type shindigs, a lot of the tripe i have on dvd or have otherwise observed has been a result of nothin other than curiosity. i suposse when you're up to the teeth in movie speak all day you wanna see these things gettin discussed in however obscure an outlet.
In saying that, there is a sensation a fella feels when sittin down with Mermaid In A Manhole or something, the kinda feelin you ain't gonna be getting with the, admittedly fun, Cabin Fever. I'd still rather watch Manhattan of an evening, but that white-knuckle jaunt through the first half-hour of Irreseversible is somethin i enjoyed, even at some level so deep that it took about six months to realise i actually DID enjoy it.
It's the old thing about the rollercoaster. Terrifying and sickenin at the time, but exhilirating none the less, if done right.
an i have seen that faces of death pish, again, becuase i was reading a book at the time that referred to it a lot, and rather than take thier opinion i thought id see it and form my own. detestable pish, it turned out.
245 -
Taloran
May 03, 2005 at 10:18 am
'Scuse me - my French is out of practice. The French title for King of Hearts is "Le Roi de Coeur". See it in French with subtitles - save the poorly dubbed English-language version for a second run.
The fact that a movie does not have supernatural elements doesn't mean it can't be weird, so I wouldn't call Blue Velvet "hyper-realistic." It's a nightmarish wet dream.
I agree with The Duke regarding Lynch -- Eraserhead is the only thing I can sit through. And even that one is a bit tough for me, I'll admit.
Has anyone yet mentioned Pi? To me, that was a brilliant film as it was bizarre and a bit surreal, yet delivered on story. Buffalo '66 is another that falls somewhere close to that category for me.
If I were to do my own list, which would be tough as I've not seen many mentioned here, simply being "bizarre" wouldn't be nearly enough. It's easy to be bizarre (I should know -- I'm living proof everyday)... but can you deliver a good story? Ah... there's the rub.
As far as the hardcore horror stuff, I have watched some pretty whacked out stuff, but have not made it to the Guinea Pig or Cannibal Holocaust stuff, although I am willing to give it a shot.
As for why I like this stuff, I am not sure. I think it is part the adrenaline rush. When I was a kid my mom tried to shield me from horror, so I think that maybe it started as a rebellion sort of thing, but it is also curiosity. I am a bit of a dull kind of guy, so maybe it is the vicarious excitement I wouldn't get otherwise? not sure....
258 -
sverdlovsk
May 03, 2005 at 9:40 pm
I believe that Charade, with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn should definitely be in the top ten
259 -
Ja undt?
May 04, 2005 at 4:54 am
Donnie darko is bizarre
260 -
Taloran
May 04, 2005 at 10:24 am
re: comment 256
Dick did indeed write We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, the short story on which Total Recall is loosely based.
261 -
doot
May 05, 2005 at 10:49 am
I think "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" was actually made into several movies (including Bladerunner + Total Recall), but perhaps I'm mistaken.
Meet the Feebles (Peter Jackson...Yes, the same Peter Jackson)
Bad Taste (Again, Peter Jackson)
Jacob's Ladder (whether you buy the ending or not, it's a bizarre movie)
The Nineth Configuration (William Peter Blatty, if nothing else for the crazy kook doing auditions for a "Hamlet" production done entirely with dogs)
Pink Flamingo (can you have a bizarre list without it?)
Gummo (just watch it)
264 -
reverend ken
May 16, 2005 at 2:27 am
Jesus Christ - Vampire Hunter
A kung-fu Jesus, hunting lesbian vampires with a leather-clad nun and Mexican wrestler with musical sequences.
265 -
massimo
Jul 28, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Hi all, this is my first comment on this post.
I found this post casually, I read through ALL the posts, and decided to write something.
I simply love Cinema in general, but in particular "bizarre" films.
i've always had problems with my best friends (film lovers) trying to explain the beauty of such films.
What exactly does Chris and all of you mean by Bizarre??
Dunno! But I know what I mean, and by the list made by Chris and by some others (not all) I see I'm not alone (AT LAST!!)
Bizarre directors for me are Cronenberg and Terry Gilliam and David Lynch and Caro/Jeunet and Bunuel.
I agree completely with Lost Highway, Naked Lunch and Brazil for example.
Also the City of lost children was astonishing and Donnie Darko.
Many films are Bizarre, it's easy to make bizarre films, but not GOOD and WELL made, that's a different matter.
Bizarre is like Chaos with an order.
Difficult to explain.
Has anybody seen Altman's Brewster McCloud?
imdb.com/title/tt0065492/
Or Tornatore's "a pure formality"?
imdb.com/title/tt0110917/
I think for most of you "L'ANNO PROSSIMO... VADO A LETTO ALLE DIECI", translated it's "next year i'll go to bed at ten",
imdb.com/title/tt0112375/
Italian will be difficult to find but I assure you it's bizarre.
Thanks for many of your posts.
I will start watching those films I never saw and let you know!!
Ah... in literature, Franz Kafka is according to me the most Bizarre of all.
Nobody has ever (although we have some attempt by Orson Welles, the process
imdb.com/title/tt0057427/
) managed to express his very weird atmospheres.
Ah, try reading The stranger (albert camus)
imdb.com/title/tt0062310/
or Beckett's "waiting for Godot"
Massimo
266 -
Joseph
Jul 29, 2005 at 5:19 am
What about Glen or Glenda by Edward D. Wood jr. That was, to say the least, strange.
267 -
Joseph
Jul 29, 2005 at 5:24 am
Also, Waking Life, The Sacrafice (Tarkovsky), Nakoyquatsi or the first of its trilogy Koyonisquatsi, Baraka, The Return, and many more that I can't presently remember. But tune in next week folks...
268 -
Derrick
Jul 29, 2005 at 10:55 pm
The Trial
Walkabout
Easy Rider
The Tenant
Altered States
Audition
La Vallee (Obscured by Clouds)
More
Zabriskie Point
The Discreet Charm of The Burgousie
Land Without Bread
Persona (c'mon people, Ingmar Bergman! This is more of a psychological film than anything, but I suppose it is bizarre to some extent as well so it deserves to be on the list)
Cries and Whispers (another fantastic Bergman film!)
...and I could seriously go on and on and on with this.
269 -
Derrick
Jul 29, 2005 at 10:57 pm
and oh yes...
How could I have forgotten:
Steppenwolf (!!!)
and
Duel
...
270 -
Derrick
Jul 29, 2005 at 11:00 pm
ok, last one:
Count Dracula (made-for-tv British film that stays as true to any movie based on Bram Stoker's classic book. Louis Jordan owns all Dracula actors with this classic)...
Unfortunately, it is very rare. If anyone is interested in checking it out then go here:
www.moviehunter.tv/
271 -
Derrick
Jul 31, 2005 at 1:02 am
This is seriously becoming a habit...
I've thought of others I neglected to mention:
Run Lola Run
&
Mahler
272 -
dani
Aug 25, 2005 at 4:54 pm
first off,i would like to say.i found this site by accident searching out bizarre movies,but this place has me quite perplexed and a bit irritated(and i dont get irritated easily, i believe live and let live, they will get theirs in the end.)(wink) at some of the childishness and lack of comprehension of what the author actually said and meant. i have found many, many movies that i did not know about and will look for and research out for myself,thank you for the info!)
it seems that like a few others have said, that you are confusing bizarre with stupid,worst,etc?
for instance manos:hand of fate is number one on the all time "worst" movies list? and baby genuises:2 is the 6th on the worst ever movies?
now the definition of bizarre is: (courtesy of webster, as good as any other dictionary i suppose)
markedly unusual in appearance, style or general character.whimsically strange. odd.
hmmm, i can only guess that some did not look up the meaning of the word before they typed or that they are testostorone laden young men without taste or...?
i do however think this was an excellent thread, amusing at times and have learned a lot. and no i am not "putting" anyone down, (before you get your knickers all in a bunch), these are just observations, questions, as i am not entirely sure of the answers for some of the movies picks on here. sorry for this in advance, and i do like to stay positive but yikes it was hard to do with some of the posts and you all know and we all know who you are. this is a forum to discover "good" (i would hope) bizarre movies. dani
Welcome Dani, Thank you for your thoughts and I hope you look around BC, we have lots of good stuff here!
274 -
dani
Aug 25, 2005 at 6:05 pm
i did an unofficial/informal count:
here are the results on this thread only.
eraserhead 11or 12 votes in favor
brazil 9 liked it
2 didnt
un chien andalou/andalusian dog 9 liked it
vanilla sky or abre los ojos
6 liked it
3 didnt
lost highway 6 liked it
irreversible 5 liked it
jacobs ladder 5 liked it
4 liked it votes for the following:
city of lost children
pink flamingos
happiness
delicatessen
naked lunch
Pi
japanese hell
audition
donnie darko
the following 3 liked it:
tetsuo
videodrome
oldboy
liquid sky
the qatsi movies
the legend of the 7 golden vampires
gummo
visitor Q
freaks
slaughterhouse5 (i think had three)
all others where 2 or less.
i do understand that a lot were repeated, but all that tells me is that they are the movies everyone likes.
so i have an idea of what to go and rent/or buy now. thanks! dani
if you can comment again on the movies as to what you liked or disliked about them that helps for folks to decide for themselves on what to watch.(hint)
dani
275 -
Bix Dugan
Sep 07, 2005 at 9:37 pm
I just read this entire thread, and have a lot of films to put on my Neflix Queue.
Ps. the guy who couldnt understand why Mulholland Drive was on any Most Weird list....
You are thinking of Mulholland Falls which starred Jennifer Connely.
also Piers Anthony wrote the NOVELAZATION to Total Recall ....PKD wrote the original short story...
Article comments
— go to most recent comments226 - Chris Beaumont
I found it at Best Buy for $20.
Irreversible was the only film to make me physically ill, then I found out about the sound they put in the opening club scene to help induce that. I hardly slept that night!
A Guinea Pig box was recently released over here too, I've been thinking of picking that up. I've heard the legends of Cannibal Holocaust but have not experienced it yet.
227 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
chris, guinea pig is a relentlessly harsh series of flicks. the first two are especially notorious. poor ol' charlie sheen called the FBI on account of he was convinced #2 was a snuff flick.
Irreversible had the same effect on me, and ditto the sound revelations. I watched it a couple nights later at my ex's (she as asleep, i had insomnia, so i brought a bollock-load of dvd's with me) with the sound next to muted, and the effect was totally different.
i have never, ever experienced the like of that first viewing, when i had to turn the damn thing off just after that fire-extinguisher carry-on. Much as it rattled me senseless, it was a hell of an experience. And i think, even though i didn't put it on again for a couple days, i enjoyed the sensation immensely...
228 - Chris Beaumont
I had ehard that about ol Charlie. I am not sure I wan to subject myself to them, but at the same time, I am so dang curious.
I have only been able to watch Irreversible that once. I have told people about it, but I always feel the need to warn them that they have to be ready for it, I went in cold and I think it was a bit of a mistake. I can take it, but there are curious friends who probably wouldn't be able to.
229 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
yeah, i went in knowing it was fairly harsh,but then i'd jsut picked up cannibal holocasut a couple weeks back. how harsh can it be?
much friggin' harsher, it turned out.
and G.P 1&2 are pretty much FX reels. a woman gettin tortured an dismembered for 40 minutes. especially nasty. but yeah, you like to say you've at least seen these things.
Mermaid... though is something altogether different. it's a piece of dazzling, grotesque art, is what i would announce to the world. One of those things that are somehow beautiful even as you can feel the vomit rising.
230 - -E
I'd say any of Rob Zombie's films qualify as a WTF?!? bizzare kinda film.
231 - Danny Wright
I highly recommend "Santa Sangre" from Alejandro Jodorowsky. A very VERY strange film that haunts me. An older (60's) but offbeat film is "Micky One" with Warren Beatty. Both are an antidote to the summer glut of formula films.
232 - Eric Berlin
Has anyone seen the unfinished Hwy., which was being made by Jim Morrison? I imagine that would qualify for the list, or perhaps the unfinished list.
It's about a killer on a road...
233 - Eric Olsen
Duke and Chris, I freely admit I cannot comprehend in the slightest the aesthetic impulse to make or watch extreme horror: life is short, the birds are singing, there is an endless supply of real tragedy in the world.
And I understand the humor and kinetic rush of such obvious limb-lopping excess as in Kill Bill, for example. But you are talkign about something else entirely, as far as I can tell.
A post on such things might be very revealing to those so blinded such as myself.
234 - daveg
The Holy Mountain by Jodorowsky is probably the most bizarre film available anywhere.
235 - Mark Saleski
i'm in eric's camp on this...i saw a tv thing about horror movies and they played just a bit of the japanese movie "audition".
yech...that was enough for me.
236 - Eric Olsen
we are delicate souls, Mark!
237 - Mark Saleski
this reminds me a little of the mini-discussion that dawn was a part of...about how she doesn't see what other see in death-type metal.
part of what i like about it, even if there's no groove, is the sheer adrenaline rush of the thing.
this is probably what folks who like extreme horror draw from it (among other stuff, no doubt).
i just can't take it! a horror movie wuss for sure.
238 - Eric Olsen
yes, I not only "can't take it," but I can't imagine why anyone would want to take it - that's what my question is about
239 - Rodney Welch
You want weird? I'll give you weird.
240 - Mark Saleski
gee, sounds like a typical blogcritics political discussion!
;-)
241 - Taloran
Just a few to add - sorry if any of them have been mentioned above.
Bagdad Cafe - Jack Palance, CCH Pounder and Marianne Sagebracht - even stranger that they made it into a short-lived TV show.
Liquid Sky - an undecipherable, though not unwatchable, mess about some androgynous and/or gay and lesbian folks and tiny aliens who get power when the humans copulate.
I Am Curious (two equally weird but different versions, "Yellow" and "Blue") - Two people have sex in odd places while speaking Swedish and researching a documentary. Either the subtitles are way off or it's completely incomprehensible. I'm not going to take the time to learn Swedish to watch it without subtitles.
Betty Blue (French title "Le Matin") - French-language film in which a sexually aggressive woman who spends most of the film nude meets a handyman, who cuts off his privates while talking to her on the phone. Different, to say the least.
King of Hearts (Le Roy de Coeur) An English infantryman in WWI is sent to a town that the inhabitants have abandoned, but not before setting free the inmates at the local loony bin. A fabulous, strange, funny film.
And some of my favorite weird movies as mentioned above:
Harold and Maude
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
Eraserhead
THX-1138
Why do people think The Wicker Man is weird? I'm very sorry to hear that it's being remade with Nicholas Cage - I can't see him playing Sgt. Howie anywhere near as effectively as Edward Woodward did. They'll probably Americanize it too.
242 - Eric Berlin
When I was a kid, a bunch of people were into that Faces of Death tripe, which supposedly showed real executions, torture, even autoposies and all other manner of stuff.
Now that I really don't get!
243 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
regarding the extreme horror type shindigs, a lot of the tripe i have on dvd or have otherwise observed has been a result of nothin other than curiosity. i suposse when you're up to the teeth in movie speak all day you wanna see these things gettin discussed in however obscure an outlet.
In saying that, there is a sensation a fella feels when sittin down with Mermaid In A Manhole or something, the kinda feelin you ain't gonna be getting with the, admittedly fun, Cabin Fever. I'd still rather watch Manhattan of an evening, but that white-knuckle jaunt through the first half-hour of Irreseversible is somethin i enjoyed, even at some level so deep that it took about six months to realise i actually DID enjoy it.
It's the old thing about the rollercoaster. Terrifying and sickenin at the time, but exhilirating none the less, if done right.
244 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
an i have seen that faces of death pish, again, becuase i was reading a book at the time that referred to it a lot, and rather than take thier opinion i thought id see it and form my own. detestable pish, it turned out.
245 - Taloran
'Scuse me - my French is out of practice. The French title for King of Hearts is "Le Roi de Coeur". See it in French with subtitles - save the poorly dubbed English-language version for a second run.
246 - Rodney Welch
The fact that a movie does not have supernatural elements doesn't mean it can't be weird, so I wouldn't call Blue Velvet "hyper-realistic." It's a nightmarish wet dream.
247 - Mark Saleski
freakin' lynch...eraserhead was one of the few movies i've seen where i was glad it was over. as in: "man, i'm glad i've seen it...never again!"
248 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
and a sickening, vile one also.
249 - Mark Saleski
actually, i loved the bizarreness of the first part of the movie, the claustrophobia, the chicken, etc...
...but then that gaddamn 'baby' came home and my discomfort level went through the roof.
250 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
ah, sorry mark, comment confusion. i was referring to blue velvet. your comment hadnt appeareard on my side yet.
Eraserhead is one of the handful of Lynch films i actually think is amazing.
251 - Mark Saleski
i've been tempted to watch it again...but then i remember the baby-thing.
(shudder)
i s'pose i'd rather see it again than Audition.
252 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
ah come now, Audition was brilliant!!
heh, i always think of The Dead Kennedys when musing on Eraserhead. "You bawl like the baby in Eraserhead" hollered Jello in Too Drunk To Fuck.
God bless that man.
253 - Eric Berlin
I agree with The Duke regarding Lynch -- Eraserhead is the only thing I can sit through. And even that one is a bit tough for me, I'll admit.
Has anyone yet mentioned Pi? To me, that was a brilliant film as it was bizarre and a bit surreal, yet delivered on story. Buffalo '66 is another that falls somewhere close to that category for me.
If I were to do my own list, which would be tough as I've not seen many mentioned here, simply being "bizarre" wouldn't be nearly enough. It's easy to be bizarre (I should know -- I'm living proof everyday)... but can you deliver a good story? Ah... there's the rub.
There's the magic bit.
254 - Eric Berlin
Just noticed Pi is on the original list. Word up!
255 - Mark Saleski
absolutely loved Pi.
also, Zabriskie Point...though all i can remember about it was a buncha people having sex outdoors...and then a house blowing up.
256 - grintwin
To whom may care:
PKD didn't write "Total Recall"
It was an old bird named Piers Anthony.
257 - Chris Beaumont
Audition was brilliant!
As far as the hardcore horror stuff, I have watched some pretty whacked out stuff, but have not made it to the Guinea Pig or Cannibal Holocaust stuff, although I am willing to give it a shot.
As for why I like this stuff, I am not sure. I think it is part the adrenaline rush. When I was a kid my mom tried to shield me from horror, so I think that maybe it started as a rebellion sort of thing, but it is also curiosity. I am a bit of a dull kind of guy, so maybe it is the vicarious excitement I wouldn't get otherwise? not sure....
258 - sverdlovsk
I believe that Charade, with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn should definitely be in the top ten
259 - Ja undt?
Donnie darko is bizarre
260 - Taloran
re: comment 256
Dick did indeed write We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, the short story on which Total Recall is loosely based.
261 - doot
I think "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" was actually made into several movies (including Bladerunner + Total Recall), but perhaps I'm mistaken.
The Brothers Quay(sp?)
262 - Vitaly Friedman
In my opinion, several movies SHOULD be in this list:
Amores Perros (2000) (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu); Brazil (1985); Following (1998) (Christopher Nolan); Intacto (2001); The Qatsi Trilogy: Koyaanisqatsi (1983), Powaqqatsi (1988), Naqoyqatsi (2002); Das Weisse Rauschen (2001).
With warm greetings from Saarbruecken, Germany,
Vitaly Friedman,
http://www.alvit.de/vf
263 - Jody O'Donnell
My addition:
Meet the Feebles (Peter Jackson...Yes, the same Peter Jackson)
Bad Taste (Again, Peter Jackson)
Jacob's Ladder (whether you buy the ending or not, it's a bizarre movie)
The Nineth Configuration (William Peter Blatty, if nothing else for the crazy kook doing auditions for a "Hamlet" production done entirely with dogs)
Pink Flamingo (can you have a bizarre list without it?)
Gummo (just watch it)
264 - reverend ken
Jesus Christ - Vampire Hunter
A kung-fu Jesus, hunting lesbian vampires with a leather-clad nun and Mexican wrestler with musical sequences.
265 - massimo
Hi all, this is my first comment on this post.
I found this post casually, I read through ALL the posts, and decided to write something.
I simply love Cinema in general, but in particular "bizarre" films.
i've always had problems with my best friends (film lovers) trying to explain the beauty of such films.
What exactly does Chris and all of you mean by Bizarre??
Dunno! But I know what I mean, and by the list made by Chris and by some others (not all) I see I'm not alone (AT LAST!!)
Bizarre directors for me are Cronenberg and Terry Gilliam and David Lynch and Caro/Jeunet and Bunuel.
I agree completely with Lost Highway, Naked Lunch and Brazil for example.
Also the City of lost children was astonishing and Donnie Darko.
Many films are Bizarre, it's easy to make bizarre films, but not GOOD and WELL made, that's a different matter.
Bizarre is like Chaos with an order.
Difficult to explain.
Has anybody seen Altman's Brewster McCloud?
imdb.com/title/tt0065492/
Or Tornatore's "a pure formality"?
imdb.com/title/tt0110917/
I think for most of you "L'ANNO PROSSIMO... VADO A LETTO ALLE DIECI", translated it's "next year i'll go to bed at ten",
imdb.com/title/tt0112375/
Italian will be difficult to find but I assure you it's bizarre.
Thanks for many of your posts.
I will start watching those films I never saw and let you know!!
Ah... in literature, Franz Kafka is according to me the most Bizarre of all.
Nobody has ever (although we have some attempt by Orson Welles, the process
imdb.com/title/tt0057427/
) managed to express his very weird atmospheres.
Ah, try reading The stranger (albert camus)
imdb.com/title/tt0062310/
or Beckett's "waiting for Godot"
Massimo
266 - Joseph
What about Glen or Glenda by Edward D. Wood jr. That was, to say the least, strange.
267 - Joseph
Also, Waking Life, The Sacrafice (Tarkovsky), Nakoyquatsi or the first of its trilogy Koyonisquatsi, Baraka, The Return, and many more that I can't presently remember. But tune in next week folks...
268 - Derrick
The Trial
Walkabout
Easy Rider
The Tenant
Altered States
Audition
La Vallee (Obscured by Clouds)
More
Zabriskie Point
The Discreet Charm of The Burgousie
Land Without Bread
Persona (c'mon people, Ingmar Bergman! This is more of a psychological film than anything, but I suppose it is bizarre to some extent as well so it deserves to be on the list)
Cries and Whispers (another fantastic Bergman film!)
...and I could seriously go on and on and on with this.
269 - Derrick
and oh yes...
How could I have forgotten:
Steppenwolf (!!!)
and
Duel
...
270 - Derrick
ok, last one:
Count Dracula (made-for-tv British film that stays as true to any movie based on Bram Stoker's classic book. Louis Jordan owns all Dracula actors with this classic)...
Unfortunately, it is very rare. If anyone is interested in checking it out then go here:
www.moviehunter.tv/
271 - Derrick
This is seriously becoming a habit...
I've thought of others I neglected to mention:
Run Lola Run
&
Mahler
272 - dani
first off,i would like to say.i found this site by accident searching out bizarre movies,but this place has me quite perplexed and a bit irritated(and i dont get irritated easily, i believe live and let live, they will get theirs in the end.)(wink) at some of the childishness and lack of comprehension of what the author actually said and meant. i have found many, many movies that i did not know about and will look for and research out for myself,thank you for the info!)
it seems that like a few others have said, that you are confusing bizarre with stupid,worst,etc?
for instance manos:hand of fate is number one on the all time "worst" movies list? and baby genuises:2 is the 6th on the worst ever movies?
now the definition of bizarre is: (courtesy of webster, as good as any other dictionary i suppose)
markedly unusual in appearance, style or general character.whimsically strange. odd.
hmmm, i can only guess that some did not look up the meaning of the word before they typed or that they are testostorone laden young men without taste or...?
i do however think this was an excellent thread, amusing at times and have learned a lot. and no i am not "putting" anyone down, (before you get your knickers all in a bunch), these are just observations, questions, as i am not entirely sure of the answers for some of the movies picks on here. sorry for this in advance, and i do like to stay positive but yikes it was hard to do with some of the posts and you all know and we all know who you are. this is a forum to discover "good" (i would hope) bizarre movies. dani
273 - Chris Beaumont
Welcome Dani, Thank you for your thoughts and I hope you look around BC, we have lots of good stuff here!
274 - dani
i did an unofficial/informal count:
here are the results on this thread only.
eraserhead 11or 12 votes in favor
brazil 9 liked it
2 didnt
un chien andalou/andalusian dog 9 liked it
vanilla sky or abre los ojos
6 liked it
3 didnt
lost highway 6 liked it
irreversible 5 liked it
jacobs ladder 5 liked it
4 liked it votes for the following:
city of lost children
pink flamingos
happiness
delicatessen
naked lunch
Pi
japanese hell
audition
donnie darko
the following 3 liked it:
tetsuo
videodrome
oldboy
liquid sky
the qatsi movies
the legend of the 7 golden vampires
gummo
visitor Q
freaks
slaughterhouse5 (i think had three)
all others where 2 or less.
i do understand that a lot were repeated, but all that tells me is that they are the movies everyone likes.
so i have an idea of what to go and rent/or buy now. thanks! dani
if you can comment again on the movies as to what you liked or disliked about them that helps for folks to decide for themselves on what to watch.(hint)
dani
275 - Bix Dugan
I just read this entire thread, and have a lot of films to put on my Neflix Queue.
Ps. the guy who couldnt understand why Mulholland Drive was on any Most Weird list....
You are thinking of Mulholland Falls which starred Jennifer Connely.
also Piers Anthony wrote the NOVELAZATION to Total Recall ....PKD wrote the original short story...