Weirdness for the Cinephile
by sneaker-peeker | created - 16 Jul 2013 | updated - 17 Jul 2013 | PublicTwisted, bizarre, surreal or plain odd are just a few names that could describe these films which sole purpose is to break the boundaries of conventional filmmaking and storytelling, pushing the art form into the experimental territory. From noir cinema to cyberpunk, filmmakers continue on their quest to put on screen something nobody has ever seen before, even if this makes no sense at all to the spectator. It might seem like the people behind these productions just got high and came up with some crazy ideas, and if that’s so then keep them tripping because these are the kind of movies that are quite an experience to attend. The following are some of the weirdest films I’ve been able to see:
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1. Un chien andalou (1929)
Not Rated | 16 min | Short, Fantasy, Horror
Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil, Luis Buñuel, Pancho Cossío
Votes: 53,815
2. Eraserhead (1977)
Not Rated | 89 min | Fantasy, Horror
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 127,535 | Gross: $7.00M
3. 8½ (1963)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama
A harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale, Sandra Milo
Votes: 125,235 | Gross: $0.05M
4. The Holy Mountain (1973)
16+ | 114 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
In a corrupt, greed-fueled world, a powerful alchemist leads a messianic character and seven materialistic figures to the Holy Mountain, where they hope to achieve enlightenment.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horacio Salinas, Zamira Saunders, Juan Ferrara
Votes: 48,069 | Gross: $0.06M
5. Donnie Darko (2001)
R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne
Votes: 850,339 | Gross: $1.48M
6. Naked Lunch (1991)
R | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands
Votes: 56,685 | Gross: $2.54M
7. Dreams (1990)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Fantasy
A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
Directors: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda | Stars: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada
Votes: 29,196 | Gross: $1.96M
8. Magnolia (1999)
R | 188 min | Drama
An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 328,605 | Gross: $22.46M
9. Being John Malkovich (1999)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star John Malkovich.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich
Votes: 353,438 | Gross: $22.86M
10. Pi (1998)
R | 84 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman, Pamela Hart
Votes: 186,485 | Gross: $3.22M
11. The Bothersome Man (2006)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
In a strange city where every person seems content beyond reason a new man arrives in town and stirs up trouble by asking too many questions.
Director: Jens Lien | Stars: Trond Fausa, Petronella Barker, Per Schaanning, Birgitte Larsen
Votes: 18,072
12. Little Otik (2000)
TV-14 | 132 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
A childless couple passes off an anthropomorphous tree stump as their baby, but things get out of hand when the monstrosity comes to life and demands to be fed.
Director: Jan Svankmajer | Stars: Veronika Zilková, Jan Hartl, Jaroslava Kretschmerová, Pavel Nový
Votes: 6,877 | Gross: $0.12M
13. Taxidermia (2006)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
Three generations of men, including a pervert that constantly seeks for new kinds of satisfaction, an obese speed eater and a passionate embalmer.
Director: György Pálfi | Stars: Csaba Czene, István Gyuricza, Gina Moreno, Éva Kuli
Votes: 18,636 | Gross: $0.01M
14. Goodbye, 20th Century (1998)
83 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
In the year 2019, after global destruction and descent into savagery, the immortal Kuzman discovers his destiny. As he enters the whirling circles of time, he discovers the blasphemy of our century, and how it is to close its circle.
Directors: Darko Mitrevski, Aleksandar Popovski | Stars: Lazar Ristovski, Nikola Ristanovski, Vlado Jovanovski, Dejan Acimovic
Votes: 752
15. Spiral (2000)
90 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.
Director: Higuchinsky | Stars: Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Shin Eun-kyung
Votes: 8,992
16. Tuvalu (1999)
Not Rated | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In a desolate and colorless landscape stands a dilapidated bathhouse run by a puffed-up blind man, his long-suffering wife, and their son Anton, who does all the work. He's lonely and ... See full summary »
Director: Veit Helmer | Stars: Denis Lavant, Chulpan Khamatova, Philippe Clay, Terrence Gillespie
Votes: 2,805 | Gross: $0.41M
17. The Science of Sleep (2006)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is love-struck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Miou-Miou, Alain Chabat
Votes: 70,897 | Gross: $4.66M
18. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,758
19. Gummo (1997)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.
Director: Harmony Korine | Stars: Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Lara Tosh, Jacob Reynolds
Votes: 38,262 | Gross: $0.02M
20. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shin'ya Tsukamoto
Votes: 25,940
21. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
R | 118 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Michael Lee Gogin
Votes: 301,607 | Gross: $10.68M
22. Waking Life (2001)
R | 99 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A man shuffles through a dream meeting various people and discussing the meanings and purposes of the universe.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater, Wiley Wiggins
Votes: 66,942 | Gross: $2.89M
23. Lost Highway (1997)
R | 134 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Anonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, John Roselius, Louis Eppolito
Votes: 153,261 | Gross: $3.80M
24. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Rain, Park Byeong-eun, Kim Byeong-Ok
Votes: 25,908
25. Crash (1996)
NC-17 | 100 min | Drama
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger
Votes: 66,400 | Gross: $2.04M
26. Fando and Lis (1968)
Not Rated | 93 min | Adventure, Fantasy
Fando and his partially-paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Tamara Garina, Sergio Kleiner, Diana Mariscal, María Teresa Rivas
Votes: 6,366
27. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Socially frustrated Barry Egan calls a phone-sex line to curb his loneliness. Little does he know it will land him in deep trouble and will jeopardize his burgeoning romance with the mysterious Lena.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Andrews
Votes: 177,543 | Gross: $17.84M
28. Alice (1988)
Not Rated | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
A surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.
Director: Jan Svankmajer | Stars: Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power
Votes: 13,992
29. 964 Pinocchio (1991)
97 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Pinocchio 964, lobotomised cyborg sex slave, is thrown out onto the street by his owners because of his inability to maintain an erection. He is befriended by a criminally insane, ... See full summary »
Director: Shozin Fukui | Stars: Haji Suzuki, Onn-chan, Kôji Ôtsubo, Kyoko Hara
Votes: 2,321
30. Leolo (1992)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
The story of a young Canadian boy who tries to escape mentally from his disturbed family thanks to his fantasy and imagination.
Director: Jean-Claude Lauzon | Stars: Maxime Collin, Ginette Reno, Gilbert Sicotte, Julien Guiomar
Votes: 7,337 | Gross: $0.61M
31. Dogville (2003)
R | 178 min | Crime, Drama
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town she finds out that their support has a price.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall, Harriet Andersson
Votes: 158,711 | Gross: $1.53M
32. House (1977)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Horror
A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ôba, Ai Matsubara
Votes: 33,746
33. Spun (2002)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A drug dealer introduces one of his customers, a 'speed freak', to the man who runs the meth lab. A crazy three-day adventure ensues.
Director: Jonas Åkerlund | Stars: Jason Schwartzman, John Leguizamo, Patrick Fugit, Brittany Murphy
Votes: 40,753 | Gross: $0.41M
34. Faust (1994)
97 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
An ordinary man is lured into a strange puppet theatre by a map and finds himself embroiled in a production of the Faustian legend.
Director: Jan Svankmajer | Stars: Petr Cepek, Jan Kraus, Vladimír Kudla, Antonin Zacpal
Votes: 4,297
35. Gozu (2003)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A yakuza enforcer is ordered to secretly drive his beloved colleague to be assassinated. But when the colleague unceremoniously disappears en route, the trip that follows is a twisted, surreal and horrifying experience.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Yûta Sone, Kimika Yoshino, Shohei Hino, Keiko Tomita
Votes: 12,737 | Gross: $0.05M
36. Micmacs (2009)
R | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A man and his friends come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié, Yolande Moreau
Votes: 31,269 | Gross: $1.26M
37. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man and his telepathic dog wander a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Director: L.Q. Jones | Stars: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton, Tim McIntire
Votes: 19,233 | Gross: $6.90M
38. The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A family moves to the country to run a rustic mountain inn when, to their horror, the customers begin befalling sudden and unlikely fates.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Naomi Nishida
Votes: 10,028
39. The Canterbury Tales (1972)
NC-17 | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, History
Pasolini's artistic, sometimes violent, always vividly cinematic retelling of some of Chaucer's most erotic tales.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti
Votes: 8,232
40. Reconstruction (2003)
PG-13 | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A young man who thought himself already in love with a nice girl is drawn into a literary drama when he is captured by a deep and stimulating love affair.
Director: Christoffer Boe | Stars: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Maria Bonnevie, Krister Henriksson, Klaus Mulbjerg
Votes: 7,618 | Gross: $0.07M
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