Badmovies.org Forum

Lately I have been developing an interest in seeing some of the most bizarre movies available. I know that this has been asked before on this board, but with the new crop of posters, I figured it should be asked again: What is(are) the most bizarre movie(s) you know of? If I may, let me set a few limits, though. (1) No movies whose "bizarrity" factor is based on characters who are drug addicts (plenty of these were named in nobody's thread from 7-20-04, but drug haze movies are not what I'm looking for). (2) While I'm not averse to gore movies, I'm also not looking for movies that are strange only because the killing being done is extra bloody or inventive. "Dr. Gore" is hilarious, but it's not really bizarre in the sense I mean here.

Maybe if I give a few examples, you might be better able to help me find some new movies. I already own "Brazil" (anything by Terry Gilliam fits my criteria except possibly "The Fisher King"--I really hate that the image of Robin Williams's silhouetted schlong bouncing in the moonlight has been burned into my retinas), "The Godmonster of Indian Flats" (featuring an eight-foot mutant sheep as the title character but which has little to do with the story and whose worst dastardly deed is to steal some hot dogs from a kid's party) and The Yokai Monsters trilogy (these barely fit here and not many people have seen them, but together they strike a nice monsters-that-are-feared-yet-which-protect-people-when-it-suits-them duality). I have just ordered "Barbarella" (again, it barely fits here, but the imagery in the movie is out there), "The Terror of Tiny Town" (the infamous all-midget western) and "The Forbidden Zone" (featuring the birth of the Knights of the Oingo Boingo).

Some movies that would fit here that I have enjoyed but don't own are "Naked Lunch" and "The Dark Backward." Sorry for the long post, but I tend to be very particular in my tastes for both bad and good (and bizarre) movies. So, can anyone make some suggestions?

World's Strangest?  How about "Un chien andalou" by Salvidor Dali.  It is by far one of the strangest films you will ever see.  I have a copy of it on DVD and it's amazing.  I can only imagine the reaction it recieved in 1929.

I'm trying to think of some different titles for you. You've probably scene them.

Eraser Head
Dead Man
Santa Sangre
Vampyres
Jungle Holocaust
Vampyros Lesbos
Blood Sucking Freaks
Last House on the Left
I Drink Your Blood

Santa sangre & El topo by jodorowsky
possession by andrej zulawski
element of crime&the kingdom by lars von trier
eraserhead by david lynch

k

k,

I'm surprised someone else has seen Von Trier's Kingdom.  As for "strangest".....wouldn't exactly say that.

well you're right not exactly the strangest but if you like bizarre sequences (i.e. the birth of the doctor at the end kingdom1) you'll like it.

and if you like terry gilliam definitly check out everything by Jan Svankmejer & the brothers quay. These things are strange and influenced gilliam alot.

I'm not familiar with Svankmejer or the Quays. But if they influenced Gilliam, they are worth a look. Thanks!

I've been curious about a few of these films, but, having a wife and daughter, some of these are out (Vampyres, Vampyros Lesbos, etc.) The wife doesn't appreciate the explicit movies. At least one of the films you list is a Troma flick (Bloodsucking Freaks). I don't have anything against Troma (used to love 'em), but they try too hard to be weird; it tends to come across as forced to me for some reason. That said, they do distribute what could be the single oddest movie I have ever seen, "Vegas in Space," a transvestite sci-fi comedy that I simply couldn't look away from (train-wreck style). But thanks; "Santa Sangre" sounds interesting (among others).

ZARDOZ is one that comes to mind. I personally do not like ZARDOZ but it definitely has it's adherents. I would agree with EL TOPO, but not for family viewing. VANISHING POINT (1971) is one that comes to mind. Another one not for family viewing though is NIGHT PORTER. With regard to BLOODSUCKING FREAKS (way not for family viewing), it is distributed by Troma but is not a Troma movie. It was directed by Joel M. Reed and released in 1978. Troma distributes a lot of movies they did not make, many of which they have bought. A good look at Troma's and Something Weird's catalogs should give you some titles.

Nothing But Trouble definitely is beyond bizarre.  I love it, I don't care what anyone else says.

Maniac (1934) is pretty unusual, as is the Phantom of the Paradise.  And Return to Oz!  People always tell me it's a very frightening children's movie.  As a kid, it never scared me at all, but it has a very unusual atmosphere and really good special effects -- and a very creepy soundtrack, too.

Another favorite movie of mine is Clifford (1994) with Martin Short and Charles Grodin.  It is bizarre, but not in the way I think you're looking for.  Check it out anyway -- it's really underrated, in my opinion; you'll either really love it or really hate it, but what have you got to lose?  An hour and a half?

I couldn't deal with "Nothing But Trouble," though I could see how some would like it. I loved "Return to Oz" and thoroughly enjoyed "Phantom of the Paradise" when I saw it in the theater years ago (I've tried to watch it a time or two recently, but I keep getting interrupted). I haven't seen "Maniac." It's a possibility. Thanks.

A strangest movie a seen was a Japanese movie Gozu. A women gives birth to a full grown man. nuff said.

 You can’t give it, you can’t even buy it, and you just don’t get it!-Aeon Flux

Gozu.....isn't that Miike?

Tetsuo, The Iron Man - Japanese art film from the 80's about a guy who's body starts to change into metal after being cut by an electric razor. It's very surreal.

The Begotten - Bizzare and disturbing art film by Elias Merhidge. I'm not ashamed to say this one gave me nightmares.

That happened, to a degree, in WARLOCK 2 as well.

yes it is Skaboi.


 You can’t give it, you can’t even buy it, and you just don’t get it!-Aeon Flux

An odd little movie is INTO THE BADLANDS. A weird story anthology with a continuing storyline in an old west setting. It starred Bruce Dern, Dylan McDermott, and Helen Hunt. The year of release was 1991.

Master Blaster,

Begotten!  I was going to mention the film, but couldn't for the life of me remember the name.  As you said, incrediably nightmarish

Caligula due to its attempt to be both a movie and a porno intersplices what can be interpreted as surreal sex with a maniacal Malcolm McDowell. Not a family movie though.

Drunken Wu Tang with the Watermelon monster is pretty weird. So is Fritz the Cat, but that cartoon is classic.

Try any of the experimental films of the 60's that were exhibited in city arthouses at the time. Andy Warhol made some pretty weird stuff. If you can find it, there's a film of a couple (husband, wife) who followed their cat around for 4 months and made a film of it. Pretty weird.

Scott H.

http://haywired.com/megafury/weirdest/index.htm

I say Forbidden Zone is the craziest one I've seen so far.

dudeman wrote:

> http://haywired.com/megafury/weirdest/index.htm
>

Thanks! That web site offers selections that are close to what I'm looking for. I'm just more interested in the dreamlike weirdness than I am in the disturbing gore weirdness. I'll watch "Meet the Feebles" over something like "My Bloody, Gory, Hatchet-Wielding-Yet-Still-So-Alluring Valentine" any day. Well, maybe not; with a title like that, I might not be able to pass it up...  ;P

Other movies that have come to mind as further examples:
"Mom and Dad Save the World"
"Twice Upon a Time"
"City of the Lost Children"

It freaks my wife out so bad she would'nt even let me keep a copy of it in the house. Maybe it's because I kept watching it on a continuous loop.

If you havent seen it already Clive Barker's early film the Forbidden is another good art flick. He did it with some friends back in 78. Almost all of it is shot in negative. It's basically just different weird sequences. The copy I had also had his film version of Solome on it, which was god awful, but he was a kid when he made it I think. That's what fast forward buttons are for.

I've always wanted to see the surrealists films. Is "Un chien andalou" the one with the infamous eyeball slitting scene? So far all I've seen of Dali's was the dream sequence from the Hitchcock flick Spellbound. I heard he also started up a sequence of Fantasia for Disney but never completed it.

Sweet Movie is another strange one.

And hey, Forbidden Zone just came out on DVD last year--probably one of my favorite movies.  They did a really good job with the DVD.

Blood Sucking Freaks isn't really a Troma film and the style is much different. Troma somehow got the rights to it and they put their name on it. With that being said it is definately one to see. Believe me because I don't like Troma films and never have. They are like artificial B-movies or something. Check out Blood Sucking Freaks.

NOTHING BUT TROUBLE and CLIFFORD are fun films. You might want to at CABIN BOY if you like those type of films.

Wish I could get hold of EL TOPO. Haven't seen it yet. I kinda liked the big ZARDOZ head.

GOZU sounds like a winner. Never even heard of it, but will put it on my list.

Tetsuo, The Iron Man was ok with the drill part and harsh in a weird way, but somehow I didn't like this film.

You can find EL TOPO on ebay. Some sellers have it available on a Region 0 NTSC DVD. You should be able to get one for $7 to $14 plus shipping. Xploited Cinema has several DVDs available for PAL and Region 2 NTSC from 29.95 and up. Here is a search for EL TOPO on eBay:

eBay/DVD and Movie/El Topo (http://search-desc.ebay.com/el-topo_DVDs-Movies_W0QQftsZ2QQsacatZ11232QQsatitleZelQ2dtopo)

The films of Guy Maddin:  "Tales of The Gimli Hospital" and "The Saddest Music In the World" are wonderful, extreme examples of Strangeness as its own genre.
I love the Jodoworsky & Dali stuff too --
Nobody has mentioned "Le Sangre De Poete" (Blood of a Poet) 1934, by Jean Cocteau, who also gave the world "Beauty & Le Bete"(Beauty and The Beast), 1946, and "Orphee"(Orpheus) ten years later.
 . . . a scene in space and time:  A small boy comes into a Renaissance courtyard, in the snow.  A band of bullies confront him and throw snowballs at him.  As the snowballs strike his body, blood appears, and finally a statue in the courtyard becomes an animate Negro Insect Angel, with fibrous wings, who comes and rescues him, bearing him back up the stairs to where he existed in the past as a 17th Century artist who created a statue whose mouth became part of his own hand . . .
Jean Cocteau is/was an amazing graphic artist as well, who also designed buildings and subway stations & wrote & created any number of Modernist ouvres.
He is also reputed to be the last recorded patron of the Priorie de Sion, the keepers of the "real" Sante Sangre (The Blood of Christ) in the personhood of the Merovignian royal bloodline, the alleged bloodline of Chirst.
Also, anything from Bombay qualifies as "Strange Beyond Words" . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

Pick one of those Italian horror movies from the 70's & 80's.  That's about as strange as you can get.

Kory brings up a good point. Many of the giallo movies would fall into the category of strange and surreal. Although they may be a little dark for what you are seeking.

Walkabout (1971) (http://imdb.com/title/tt0067959/combined) - A girl (Jenny Agutter) and her brother get stranded in the Australian outback. They meet up with an aborigine boy and wander around for days, trying to survive and find their way back to civilization. Along the way, they swim and cavort naked, there's sexual tension between Agutter and the aborigine, exploration of abandoned buildings, flashbacks/daydreams that make little sense, and no real sense of purpose.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) (http://imdb.com/title/tt0073540/combined) - Directed by Peter Weir. A group of school girls go to the country to have a picnic in 1900 and then one by one, they start to disappear. More like watching a dream than a normal film.

Master,

Yep, Un chien andalou is the film with the eyeball slitting scene.  Compared to what we've seen over the years, it's not that harsh anymore.  There is still something about that one scene that will give you chills though.  Well worth checking out.  

Looks like a new DVD version has been released for about 15.00.  I might have to pick it up, I have an old VHS copy.

Went looking through my DVD collection last night trying to find something that would be suitable for this thread.  I came across a DVD that I haven't watched in a while but still remains one of my favorites from the late 60s-early 70s.  

Daughters Of Darkness is a quite surreal and strange vampire movie, but not in the normal sense.  It is about two newlyweds who are staying at a grandiose european hotel.  While there, they meet the Countess Bathory and her "lady friend" who are actually vampires.

I can't even begin to explain some of the strange situations in the film.  It does get quite trippy/dreamlike throughout.  Not very gory, but it is a beautiful film and one of the best in the vamp genre.

I own a VHS of "Cabin Boy" and really like it, but my wife hates Chris Elliot and would rather I not buy it on DVD (or at least she can't understand why I would want it). It is a strange movie, admittedly, but not exactly what I mean by "bizarre."

Kory wrote:

> Pick one of those Italian horror movies from the 70's & 80's.
> That's about as strange as you can get.

I'm no expert on Italian horror (never really exposed to it much). I enjoyed "Suspiria" when I saw it years ago, and it fits pretty much with what I would call "bizarre." The Giallo movies sound a bit too gory for all their strangeness; I've wondered about a couple of them, but the descriptions I've read always emphasize the "disturbing" nature of the films. At this point in my life (high stress time, working two jobs and such), I'd rather be entertained by a movie than disturbed by it. I don't mind intellectual challenge, but just flashing lots of horrific images on the screen isn't quite what I'm looking for right now.

Thanks for reminding me about "Suspiria" though.

The Maddin films sound interesting. I may try to rent those. The problem with foreign and/or art films in my area is that they are rarely available at rental stores and are just too expensive to buy unless I know I really want it. Maybe someday I'll hit the lottery (except for the little problem that I never actually PLAY the lottery)... *sigh*

Thank you for pointing out WALKABOUT JohnL. It has been something like 28 years since I saw that on late night TV. I never caught the title of it, but the film always remained in the back of my head. Now that I know the title, I will be checking it out again. Way Cool ( :

Deep Red Hatchet Murders is another good weird one from Argento. Not as weird as Susperia, but I enjoyed it. It's not as nasty as the title sounds either really. It's more of a mystery and a thriller than a horror film. I think the real name is "Deep Red" and "Hatchet Murders" was tacked on later to market to the Itallian splatter crowd.

A few recommendations, in order of general strangeness:

1) Fantasy Mission Force
2) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
3) Moulin Rouge

Max Gardner wrote:

> A few recommendations, in order of general strangeness:
>
> 1) Fantasy Mission Force
> 2) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
> 3) Moulin Rouge

I love Buckaroo Bonzai; I haven't seen the other two. I'll look into them. Thanks!

The Cost Of Milk, from New Zeland --
Elements of Maori fairy-tales intrude the "real" world in unexpected ways.  Peculiar doesn't begin to describe it.  Example:  One of the characters is an agorophobic dog, who runs around outdoors under a cardboard box.  You have shots of this barking box running across the Lord of the Rings landscape.  People crash their cars into one another and then sit among the wrecks, calmly chatting as friends.  No, it is not a cartoon.  Just see it.  I'm still giggling & shaking my head in disbelief
peter johnson/denny crane

>Thank you for pointing out WALKABOUT JohnL. It has been something like 28
>years since I saw that on late night TV. I never caught the title of it, but the film
>always remained in the back of my head. Now that I know the title, I will be

I hate it when that happens and you can't remember the title. :)

>checking it out again. Way Cool ( :

I believe it recently had a brand new DVD release with various extras.



Post Edited (01-20-05 23:16)

Thanks Menard. I've seen El Topo on EBay in the past, but I never want to spend to much on anything. Once in a while I'll spend some extra dollars, but generally I'm cheap.

Same here Scott. I originally got my copy of EL TOPO on VHS as a freebie from a seller on eBay because I bought a $2 video from them. Although the quality of the video is atrocious, sellers are now wanting a whole lot more for that same tape. If I really want something, I will spend the extra to get it. Most of the time though, I just hold out until I can get it real cheap.

Deep Red Hatchet Murders is actually a cut version of Deep Red.

I'll agree that 'Moulin Rouge' is a strange flick.  I, personally, didn't like it though.

I don't know if cartoons qualify, but the movies by Bill Plimpton are the strangest I've seen by a very long way. In Space Mutants, the president of the US gets crushed by a giant nose from outer space, and that is just the beginning!