Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: Chris S on 15 July, 2008, 10:10:43 am

Title: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Chris S on 15 July, 2008, 10:10:43 am
I know, I know - one person's weird is another person's norm... but (inspired by a thread in another place) what are your top five films that red line your weird-shit-o-meter?

Mine:

1. Being John Malkovich
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. Vanilla Sky
4. The Matrix
5. Alien
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: tiermat on 15 July, 2008, 10:21:26 am
1) The Cube
2) Repo Man
3) The Big Lebowski
4) PathFinder
5) errr, can't quite make five I'm afraid.

Edit just thought of two more....

Naked Lunch
Jacob's Ladder
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Charlotte on 15 July, 2008, 10:24:23 am
1. Donny Darko
2. Alien v Predator
3. Gattaca
4. Time Bandits
5. The Sixth Sense

...all weird me out a little bit.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: токамак on 15 July, 2008, 10:26:02 am
1. Videodrome (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086541/)  by David Cronenberg
2. Idioterne (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154421/) or The Idiots by Lars Von Triers
3. Gummo (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119237/) by Harmony Korine
4. Cube (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/) by Vincenzo Natali
5. 200 Motels (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066732/) Frank Zappa
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Hot Flatus on 15 July, 2008, 10:27:57 am
1. Breaking the Waves
2. Koyaanasquatsis
3. Tetsuo
4. La Grande Bouffe
5.  Reqiuem for a Dream
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: andygates on 15 July, 2008, 10:36:13 am
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
Until The End of the World (Wim Wenders)
Videodrome (David Cronenberg)
...um

AvP is weird?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Charlotte on 15 July, 2008, 10:37:46 am
AvP is weird?

Maybe it's just me.  I thought it was.  Two genres bumping into each other, y'know...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Ian H on 15 July, 2008, 10:39:35 am
1) Eraserhead.
2) Blue Velvet

I can't think of any more weird films. Some of what's listed here as weird I'd list under bad.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: токамак on 15 July, 2008, 10:41:12 am
I gave 200 Motels as a weird choice - it is also the worst film I have ever seen, it's just completely shit, I couldn't watch it all in one go, it's too much.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 15 July, 2008, 10:42:24 am
1 French surrealist film set in the countryside where out of nowhere an assassin appears, gets shot, then the main characters shoot each other and fall off a bridge.

2 French film where older creep seduces Young Man, gets him to work as housemaid. Later on, Young Man's girlfriend turns up. Then Older man's ex-boyfriend who is now a girl. Older Man seduces all the women, Young Man commits suicide. Closing shot of transexual trying to break out of window while Older Man goes back to screw Young Man's girlfriend again.

3 Donnie Darko. Like an acid trip not quite going wrong.

4 Stink of Flesh. I haven't seen this. I watch the trailer. That was enough.

5 Jude (the obscure). Don't watch if you are depressed.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: bikenerd on 15 July, 2008, 10:44:09 am
Yeah, any David Lynch film.  Blue Velvet I saw first so affected me the most.  The Straight Story is weird in its family friendly cuddly-ness.

2) Human Highway by Dean Stockwell / Neil Young
3) 'cos it was on telly recently: Fitzcarraldo by Herzog
4) Naked Lunch by Cronenberg.
5) Society.  Can't remember who that was by.  IMDB time, Brian Yunza.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Ian H on 15 July, 2008, 10:45:16 am
3) Wickerman

Weird in a disjointed, half-arsed sort of way.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: andygates on 15 July, 2008, 10:51:01 am
Society is ace.  The Shunt!  Yay!

I'd forgotten Blue Velvet.  That's a trip...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: LEE on 15 July, 2008, 10:51:36 am
"Blackhawk Down" was bloody wierd and not what I expected at all.

Some lying tosser told me it was about a US Marine Rescue mission but in fact it was a load of cartoon rabbits fighting and arguing. Wierd.

Lovely haunting theme tune though, "Bright Eyes, burning like fire....."
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Woofage on 15 July, 2008, 10:53:15 am
1. Eraserhead
2. Eraserhead
3. Eraserhead
4. Eraserhead
5. Eraserhead
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: tiermat on 15 July, 2008, 10:53:58 am
"Blackhawk Down" was bloody wierd and not what I expected at all.

Some lying tosser told me it was about a US Marine Rescue mission but in fact it was a load of cartoon rabbits fighting and arguing. Wierd.

Lovely haunting theme tune though, "Bright Eyes, burning like fire....."


 :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: iakobski on 15 July, 2008, 11:04:23 am
1) Eraserhead.
2) Blue Velvet

Exactly my first two, then:

3) Pee-Wee's Big adventure
4) Un Chien Andalou
5) The Seventh Seal
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 15 July, 2008, 11:05:44 am
Many of mine already mentioned so I'll have to suggest these:

1. Zone Troopers.
2. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the Eighth Dimension
3. Baise Moi  Man Bites Dog
4. Birdy
5. Hardware
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: spindrift on 15 July, 2008, 11:07:34 am
The girl in Baise Moi died.

That wasn't really a strange film , just a crap one.

What was the haunted hospital one with Liam Neeson I think, and there was an incredibly weird moment when the surgeon's head started flapping from side to side?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: PaulF on 15 July, 2008, 11:13:04 am
1. Seventh Seal
2. Blue Velvet
3. Fire Walk With Me
4. Repo Man
5. Until the End of the World
6. Fantasia
7. The Man Who Fell to Earth

I know, I know there's seven but I feel better now
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Hot Flatus on 15 July, 2008, 11:13:14 am
The girl in Baise Moi died.
That wasn't really a strange film , just a crap one.

Seconded... the biggest bag of pointless shite I've ever seen.

I don't know if any of you have seen  'Irreversible'?  It's a french film and is absolutely compelling.  The events happen in reverse order, with an absolutely horrifying finale (which is, of course, the beginning chronologically)

I don't quite know what to make of it.  It is fantastic in some ways, but the ending is so utterly revolting that I can't recommend it.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 15 July, 2008, 11:14:02 am
That wasn't really a strange film , just a crap one.

Fair point.

'Man Bites Dog' then.

And almost anything by Terry Gilliam
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: nicknack on 15 July, 2008, 11:17:04 am
Not all especially weird but favourites in no particular order

Aguirre, Wrath of God
Stalker
Naked Lunch
Last Year in Marienbad
Anything by Jan Svankmajer

Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 15 July, 2008, 11:18:13 am
Not all especially weird but favourites in no particular order

Aguirre, Wrath of God

Forgot that one - "Come quickly, food is floating past"
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: токамак on 15 July, 2008, 11:29:47 am
I don't know if any of you have seen  'Irreversible'?  It's a french film and is absolutely compelling.  The events happen in reverse order, with an absolutely horrifying finale (which is, of course, the beginning chronologically)

I don't quite know what to make of it.  It is fantastic in some ways, but the ending is so utterly revolting that I can't recommend it.

I was thinking of that, but I'd say it's more disturbing than weird (rape and murder). The backwards narrative is a bit weird I suppose, but it's necessary for the film to work as it does, the same ploy as used in Memento.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: αdαmsκι on 15 July, 2008, 11:31:12 am
In no particular order (and yes, I know there's only four suggestions!):

Black Cat, White Cat (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118843/)
Walkabout (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067959/)
Heavenly Creatures (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110005/)
The Wicker Man (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: токамак on 15 July, 2008, 11:32:38 am
Black Cat White Cat! I'd forgotten about that - brilliant and mad.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: αdαmsκι on 15 July, 2008, 11:34:43 am
Black Cat White Cat! I'd forgotten about that - brilliant and mad.

I didn't realise how weird it would be and therefore didn't really enjoy it.  Maybe it would be better if I watched it again.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: токамак on 15 July, 2008, 11:37:15 am
The music is excellent too.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Woofage on 15 July, 2008, 11:38:05 am
Repo Man

Not on my weird list, but I would put it very high on my "cool" list ;D
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: nicknack on 15 July, 2008, 11:46:43 am
Black Cat White Cat! I'd forgotten about that - brilliant and mad.

Sadly, I've never heard of it but sounds worth a go. Especially as I see from imdb that it's one of Emir Kusturica's and I love his music (with The No-Smoking Orchestra - wonderfully bonkers).
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Really Ancien on 15 July, 2008, 01:09:58 pm
I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned The Wizard of Oz, probably because it is so familiar, but deeply odd.

Damon.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Greenbank on 15 July, 2008, 01:19:01 pm
I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned The Wizard of Oz, probably because it is so familiar, but deeply odd.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: nicknack on 15 July, 2008, 01:21:33 pm
That's just deeply awful.

Mind you, it does have rampling Charlotte in it...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: PaulF on 15 July, 2008, 01:23:13 pm
I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned The Wizard of Oz, probably because it is so familiar, but deeply odd.
Zardoz, totally forgotten about that! When I was at school Saturday night was film night for the boarders when we were shown a film. This was about the third one that I saw. At the age of 11. Suddenly being away from home didn't seem that bad :D
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: bikenerd on 15 July, 2008, 01:28:25 pm
That reminds me: Dark Crystal.  Now that is a scary film for a child!
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: gonzo on 15 July, 2008, 01:29:41 pm
Oh come on. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas people!

Quote
Hallucinations are bad enough. But after a while you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth.

I'd rate the polar express as up there too, but that could have just been a rubbish film!
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Ian H on 15 July, 2008, 01:30:46 pm
I've seen two films (can't remember the titles) that feature a special effect in which the screen flickers to a halt whereupon a black spot grows from the centre and turns into a white centred ring. The lights come up, everyone chats, then the lights go down again and the film recommences.

Then there was Superman versus the Stain. Seen in a Newcastle cinema many years ago. The screen was just white paint on the end wall. There was a thunderstorm, the cinema leaked, and the picture was gradually obliterated by a spreading brown stain.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: tiermat on 15 July, 2008, 01:41:54 pm
I've seen two films (can't remember the titles) that feature a special effect in which the screen flickers to a halt whereupon a black spot grows from the cntre and turns into a white centred ring. The lights come up, everyone chats, then the lights go down again and the film recommences.
That'll be The Ring, or Ringu then...

Quote
Then there was Superman versus the Stain. Seen in a Newcastle cinema many years ago. The screen was just white paint on the end wall. There was a thunderstorm, the cinema leaked, and the picture was gradually obliterated by a spreading brown stain.
Is that what they call "Immersive Cinema"?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: bomber on 15 July, 2008, 01:44:05 pm
1.  A Scanner Darkly

Can't think of any more :P
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Nienke on 15 July, 2008, 01:51:19 pm
Delicatessen
Dancer in the dark (and what's the other von Trier one with the wedding? and Dogville! god that was boring)
Dogma
anything by Tim Burton
O brother where art thou

which reminds me that I want to watch fargo
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: токамак on 15 July, 2008, 01:51:54 pm
Oh, I just remembered the weirdest EVER - Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremaster_Cycle), 5 films in a series. I went to see all five in one hit at the Ritzy in Brixton. We smuggled in some illicit substances and it was easily the weirdest time I've ever had in a cinema.

Here's a still, to give you some idea: (slightly NWS)
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: jellied on 15 July, 2008, 01:52:18 pm
Then there was Superman versus the Stain. Seen in a Newcastle cinema many years ago. The screen was just white paint on the end wall. There was a thunderstorm, the cinema leaked, and the picture was gradually obliterated by a spreading brown stain.

Reminds me when I was watching a vampire film in Sunderland during a rain storm. Some one had put their soaking wet coat to dry on the edge of the inner circle, during a particular horror scene it slipped and landed in the stalls. The noise and panic of a large wet black flappy thing landing on half a dozen Wearsiders was so intense they stopped the film
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Mrs Pingu on 15 July, 2008, 01:58:53 pm
anything by Tim Burton (but especially
O brother where art thou

which reminds me that I want to watch fargo
Don't you mean the Coen Brothers???
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Nienke on 15 July, 2008, 02:00:20 pm
Oops.

I did mean Tim Burton, I just forgot to finish my sentence after I'd decided that they were all weird so there should not be an 'especially'
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Ian H on 15 July, 2008, 02:03:11 pm
Being bored in grim, rain-swept Preston, I went to the Ritz Cinema and paid 1/6 for a stalls seat. 2001, A Space Odyssey was on: tiny scratchy picture in the distance, the smell of damp raincoats around me. It came to the scene where the astronaut is trying to close HAL, the computer down. HAL started singing Daisy, Daisy and I heard quavery voices striking up around me. A scattering of OAPs had also sought shelter from the rain, and were singing along with the music.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Notsototalnewbie on 15 July, 2008, 02:13:20 pm


'Man Bites Dog' then.



I was wondering if anyone would mention Man Bites Dog...I found bits of that quite funny, in a dark kind of way.

In the hotel the other day, there was a cartoon film on the telly, about an old woman with a dog whose grandson was a cyclist in the Tour de France, and he got kidnapped. 'The triplets of Belleville'. I only started watching it cos it had cycling in it...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: rafletcher on 15 July, 2008, 02:30:12 pm
Save the Blue Planet
Old Boy
Secretary
Crash (the one with disfigured people in it)
Mulholland Drive
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: harrumph on 15 July, 2008, 02:31:37 pm
any James Bond film
any "Romantic Comedy"  :sick:

both of which also qualify in the Crap category, as does any film with Hayden Christensen in it...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: bikenerd on 15 July, 2008, 02:34:28 pm
Old Boy

I wish I'd never seen Old Boy.  It's the kind of film I just don't need to have in any corner of my mind.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 15 July, 2008, 03:12:00 pm


'Man Bites Dog' then.



I was wondering if anyone would mention Man Bites Dog...I found bits of that quite funny, in a dark kind of way.

In the hotel the other day, there was a cartoon film on the telly, about an old woman with a dog whose grandson was a cyclist in the Tour de France, and he got kidnapped. 'The triplets of Belleville'. I only started watching it cos it had cycling in it...

The English title is Belleville Rendesvouz
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Zoidburg on 15 July, 2008, 05:38:31 pm
The Road To Wellville

Running With Scissors

The Prestiege

Japanese Story

Life Force

This isnt a top 5 - just a few examples as I have seen far to many weird films







Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: TimO on 15 July, 2008, 06:13:21 pm
Oh, I just remembered the weirdest EVER - Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremaster_Cycle), 5 films in a series. I went to see all five in one hit at the Ritzy in Brixton. We smuggled in some illicit substances and it was easily the weirdest time I've ever had in a cinema.

Quote
The full series was released in a limited series of 20 sets of DVDs, sold each for at least $100,000 ...

OK, so not something I'm going to be able to get from Play then. ;D
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Flying_Monkey on 15 July, 2008, 06:20:13 pm
Hmm. Maybe it's just me, but for me, quite a lot of what's been mentioned isn't weird at all - except the Cremaster Cycle - but then Matthew Barney calls himself a sculptor not a film-maker. Lucky bastard also goes out with Bjork - I am going to find him and kill him!  ;)

I reckon some of the earliest films are the weirdest, and not just because of the dislocation you get by being so far from the culture in which they were made - look at most of German expressionism - The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, for example, with its shadows and paper city. And The Beast with Five Fingers...

There's plenty of weird mainstream too - Herzog and Lynch, who have been mentioned, and of course, Nicholas Roeg are pretty odd. But what about all those 60s and 70s paranoia/conspiracy films like Blow Up or The Parrallax View?

More recently there was, yes - Donnie Darko and Eternal Sunshine - neither of which were quite as weird as they thought they were, but Being John Malkovitch, which really was - as were Pi and Primer, which was made for about the cost of a cup of coffee...

However for really weird you have to go underground... Vampire Hookers, Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power and other really messed up things. Then seriously odd stuff too like Ben Hopkins' Simon Magus or The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: TimO on 15 July, 2008, 06:29:41 pm
You lot have managed to already post most of the weird ones I can think of, here are my five weirdest after many of those (these are mostly only a little bit weird):

Kung Fu Hustle (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373074/)
Bad Taste (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092610/)
Shaolin Soccer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286112/)
Goodbye Pork Pie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082464/)
I Hired a Contract Killer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099818/)

Also Lexx (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178149/), but that was a TV Series, not film, so doesn't count.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: CathH on 15 July, 2008, 08:04:55 pm
Until The End of the World (Wim Wenders)
I love that film!  Went all-out to get the Director's 6 hour special - it's fantastic.
The Navigator (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095709/) - this film is like, well, remember watching late-night telly and being just on the edge of sleep and your mind starts to make up the plot?  Well, it's like that.

The Others (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230600/)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Gus on 15 July, 2008, 08:53:14 pm
Drowning by Numbers

Cité des enfants perdus or "The City of Lost Children"

"Riget" or "The kingdom" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108906/) another Lars Von Trier production
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Hot Flatus on 15 July, 2008, 08:57:32 pm
Cité des enfants perdus or "The City of Lost Children"

Been watching this today, one of my favorite films.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Gus on 15 July, 2008, 09:13:54 pm
Cité des enfants perdus or "The City of Lost Children"

Been watching this today, one of my favorite films.

Mine too, but it's still weird.  :thumbsup:
I tend to like weird films rather than mainstream, they have so many more layers in them.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Bluebottle on 15 July, 2008, 09:16:31 pm
I was going to say Django Kill but I've realised that I am confusing it with Jodowosky's fantastical El Topo.

Considering that El Topo features a blind man with the voice of a woman that lives in a tower and wears only a thong, and that the tower is guarded by a man with no legs sitting on the shoulders of a man with no arms clibming a ladder, it is an easy mistake to make.

Crippled hedgehogs, anyone?

Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Martin on 15 July, 2008, 09:25:55 pm
1Eraserhead natch
2 Dead Ringers (slit your wrists depressing too
3 Mr Darko (and I've got the dvd)
4 Event Horizon (super scary too)

5 The Draughtsman's Contract

Dead Man? is that the b/w one with J Depp I fell asleep after 10 min?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: TimO on 15 July, 2008, 09:26:48 pm
Considering that El Topo features a blind man with the voice of a woman that lives in a tower and wears only a thong, and that the tower is guarded by a man with no legs sitting on the shoulders of a man with no arms clibming a ladder, it is an easy mistake to make.

The traglines from IMDB say

Quote from: [u][color=blue]IMDB[/color][/u] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067866/taglines)
See the naked young Franciscans whipped with cactus. See the bandit leader disemboweled. See the priest ride into the sunset with a midget and her newborn baby. What it all means isn't exactly clear, but you won't forget it.

Which is hardly less weird. :-\
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Flying_Monkey on 16 July, 2008, 12:14:52 am
ah, El Topo, now that really is weird.  ;D

Of course you can't really talk about weird without mentining Un Chien Andalou, or L'Age D'Or - surrealism may have been self-consciously weird and lots of the elements have been pastiched to death, but these are still really quite disturbing but watchable.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Craig on 16 July, 2008, 01:04:59 am
Has anyone mentioned The Science of Sleep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Sleep)? It is definitely weird, and rather happy. Same director as Eternal Sunshine (Michael Gondry), but even stranger. I liked it anyway.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 16 July, 2008, 08:43:31 am
Dead Man? is that the b/w one with J Depp I fell asleep after 10 min?
I'd forgotten that one! Absolutely brilliant, but you have to get past the train journey without falling asleep.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: harrumph on 16 July, 2008, 09:45:43 am
Goodbye Pork Pie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082464/)

Goodbye Pork Pie, weird? Weird.

The Quiet Earth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/) is a little bit weird, I'll allow. And Utu (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086497/) has a tincture of weirdness, mostly emanating from Anzac Wallace and the whole New Zealand spaghetti western schtick. It's fucking brilliant, though - I must have seen it a dozen times, and still look forward to next time :)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: TimO on 16 July, 2008, 09:53:17 am
Goodbye Pork Pie, weird? Weird.

Well, I'd argue that it's not normal, who does a road movie with a mini! ... and I only claimed a bit of weirdness for my list. ;D

People had already got in with the really weird stuff.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: harrumph on 16 July, 2008, 09:55:43 am
Has anyone mentioned The Science of Sleep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Sleep)? It is definitely weird, and rather happy.

Weirder than Waking Life (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243017/)?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: αdαmsκι on 16 July, 2008, 10:35:00 am
Oh, a film that I'd forgotten about is Russian Ark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark).  It's set in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg & involves someone walking around the palace and meeting people from history.  I saw this at the cinema and was sooo bored as it's just this guy talking to people & there's no obvious storyline or anything.  I wasn't the only person that was bored because there were people walking out of the cinema.

Another film that isn't that weird, but is certainly different is Atanarjuat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanarjuat), which is an Inuit film. 

Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: geraldc on 16 July, 2008, 12:16:30 pm
At uni the first film I saw at Film Soc was Ai No Corrida (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074102/), it actually had people walking out of it. Now that's a weird film. I think the first scene was kids throwing snowballs at a drunks exposed genitals.

Freaks (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/)


Deliverance (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/) For a film that would be our ultimate nightmare, we spend rather too much time discussing it (well according to the girls anyway)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: токамак on 16 July, 2008, 01:37:16 pm
At uni the first film I saw at Film Soc was Ai No Corrida (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074102/), it actually had people walking out of it. Now that's a weird film. I think the first scene was kids throwing snowballs at a drunks exposed genitals.

It also features close up fellatio with cum shot and sexual violence.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: mattc on 16 July, 2008, 04:18:49 pm
Being bored in grim, rain-swept Preston, I went to the Ritz Cinema and paid 1/6 for a stalls seat. 2001, A Space Odyssey was on: tiny scratchy picture in the distance, the smell of damp raincoats around me. It came to the scene where the astronaut is trying to close HAL, the computer down. HAL started singing Daisy, Daisy and I heard quavery voices striking up around me. A scattering of OAPs had also sought shelter from the rain, and were singing along with the music.

That sounds REALLY creepy!
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: clarion on 16 July, 2008, 04:24:40 pm
Being John Malkovich

Eraserhead

The Masseur

Donnie Darko

Drowning by Numbers*


* I haven't seen The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Uncle Tom Cobbley And All yet
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Ian H on 16 July, 2008, 04:31:04 pm
...

Drowning by Numbers*


* I haven't seen The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Uncle Tom Cobbley And All yet

Ah yes, Peter Greenaway films. Refreshingly different.

I'm also reminded of the two Warhol/Morrissey films I've seen: Chelsea Girls, and Flesh.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Woofage on 16 July, 2008, 05:00:05 pm
Anyone seen Salo (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073650/)? I can't recommend it; as well as being weird it is deeply disturbing.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Chris S on 16 July, 2008, 06:06:25 pm
I might have added The Wall to my list. Very odd.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Flying_Monkey on 16 July, 2008, 11:02:40 pm
Is anyone else watching the Norwegian film that's on BBC4 now - The Bothersome Man? Now, this is weird. The last ten minutes was just the protaganist being run over by subway trains again and again and again... it is all very woozy and deadpan but really quite messed up.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: tonycollinet on 16 July, 2008, 11:05:33 pm
1. Eraserhead
2. Eraserhead
3. Eraserhead
4. Eraserhead
5. Eraserhead

seconded, thirded, forthed and fifthed.

No-one has seen weird until they've seen Eraserhead.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Tiger on 17 July, 2008, 04:01:55 pm
Eraserhead
Blue Velvet
Cube.

Cube has given me disturbing dreams for the last 10 years. It is mind poison of the highest order and shoudl not be watched after a spliff.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Flying_Monkey on 17 July, 2008, 05:24:09 pm
Cube's just your standard 'trapped in a maze' story, isn't it?  Good though...

You're probably right about the drugs though - I saw Jacob's Ladder on speed once. That was really not wise.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: bomber on 17 July, 2008, 05:28:54 pm
Cube's just your standard 'trapped in a maze' story, isn't it?  Good though...

You're probably right about the drugs though - I saw Jacob's Ladder on speed once. That was really not wise.

Never really done the whole drugs and films thing* :P  Am I missing out?  Are there any must see/take combinations I've missed out on?

*I did get mildly stoned once and watched Cool Runnings ;D
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: redshift on 17 July, 2008, 08:46:05 pm
THX1138 doesn't seem to have been mentioned, which is pretty remiss for a forum full of Star Wars geeks.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: bikenerd on 17 July, 2008, 08:51:07 pm
THX1138 doesn't seem to have been mentioned, which is pretty remiss for a forum full of Star Wars geeks.
I was going to mention it (and I don't even like Star Wars!) but I don't think it's any weirder than Logan's Run, is it?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: redshift on 17 July, 2008, 08:52:29 pm
No, but then there's a whole load of stuff in the list that I don't think is at all weird...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Tiger on 18 July, 2008, 06:48:08 pm
In the late 70's there was a French film called (I think) La Grande Bouffe that I saw several times. In it three posh French gourmands and a rent a house and prostitute and eat themselves to death on gourmet food and drink. Brilliant.  They used apple sorbet spooned gently down by the tart to finish themselves off.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Tiger on 18 July, 2008, 06:58:03 pm
Anyone seen Salo (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073650/)? I can't recommend it; as well as being weird it is deeply disturbing.
Yes I saw it in 77 in Old Compton St. It was truly disgusting and got banned I recall soon after.  The coporophilia with glass was gross. As was the childs bottom inspection/selection. 
Interesting that thirty years on similar stuff is being done by the chapman Bros and sells for millions as art.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: woollypigs on 20 July, 2008, 12:56:22 pm
You are wall wrong !! All the films you are listing here are brilliant :) There is a few that I haven't seen, I'm off to see if I can find them, thanks for the heads up.

In the late 70's there was a French film called (I think) La Grande Bouffe that I saw several times.
I think you got the title right and yes it is a top movie :)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: TimO on 20 July, 2008, 12:58:08 pm
I don't think being weird is incompatible with being brilliant, in my opinion many of the films listed are both. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: rafletcher on 21 July, 2008, 03:48:48 pm
Hmm, watched 3-iron a couple of nights ago, distinctly odd. Also Korean. They make some interesting films.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: pcolbeck on 21 July, 2008, 03:57:48 pm
Cube's just your standard 'trapped in a maze' story, isn't it?  Good though...

You're probably right about the drugs though - I saw Jacob's Ladder on speed once. That was really not wise.

Never really done the whole drugs and films thing* :P  Am I missing out?  Are there any must see/take combinations I've missed out on?

*I did get mildly stoned once and watched Cool Runnings ;D
LSD and 2001 was pretty much de rigour in the 70s.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: clarion on 21 July, 2008, 04:53:31 pm
And of course Withnail & I with copious quantities of alcohol....
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Ian H on 21 July, 2008, 04:57:04 pm
I don't think being weird is incompatible with being brilliant, in my opinion many of the films listed are both. :thumbsup:

Yes. My lists didn't include what I thought was rubbish.

Just remembered the original Hairspray.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Flying_Monkey on 21 July, 2008, 05:33:50 pm
Hmm, watched 3-iron a couple of nights ago, distinctly odd. Also Korean. They make some interesting films.

From one of my favourite directors Kim Ki-Duk (who also made the awesome Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring). I thought it was really quite moving.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Really Ancien on 22 July, 2008, 05:09:19 pm
Chicken Run. not weird in itself until you think about it. It is in essence a Holocaust movie, with elements of Animal Farm. The holocaust allusions are stronger if we consider Himmler's origins as a chicken farmer. It is also strongly rooted in a sense of place; Lancashire between the moors and the mosses. If this is your home area then the message is amplified. So we have a film which blends 'The Great Escape', 'Schindler's List' and 'Animal Farm' with the whimsy of Wallace and Grommit. Amazing to think they pulled it off.
Bohème Magazine Online (http://www.boheme-magazine.net/php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=814)

Damon.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: rogerzilla on 22 July, 2008, 07:06:03 pm
1. Donnie Darko
2. 2001 - A Space Odyssey
3. Something by Peter Greenaway
4. Something by Peter Greenaway
5. Something by Peter Greenaway

All good stuff though.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: rogerzilla on 22 July, 2008, 07:10:26 pm

Drowning by Numbers*


* I haven't seen The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Uncle Tom Cobbley And All yet

You've mentioned the two most accessible Greenaway films (DBN is my favourite film.  TCTTHWAHL suffers IMO from its one-set staging, although there are some marvellous tracking shots).  The Baby of Macon is, apparently, a very bad experience indeed, and I haven't seen it, but Prospero's Books is good if you're not interested in plot.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: andrewc on 22 July, 2008, 10:15:21 pm

Drowning by Numbers*


* I haven't seen The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Uncle Tom Cobbley And All yet

You've mentioned the two most accessible Greenaway films (DBN is my favourite film.  TCTTHWAHL suffers IMO from its one-set staging, although there are some marvellous tracking shots).  The Baby of Macon is, apparently, a very bad experience indeed, and I haven't seen it, but Prospero's Books is good if you're not interested in plot.

Drowning by Numbers was excellent (and has Juliet Stephenson in it...)   Cook, Thief, Wife is good and even better if you like Dutch/Flemish painting. Richard Bohringer is a bit wasted in it though.

I saw "Baby of Macon" at our local art house. I thought it was beautifully done. Lots of people walking out midway though and my neighbor even wrote a letter of complaint to the management.  Something to offend everybody I think...

Not a film but there was a TV series that scared me badly as a child. All I could remember about it was a boy & girl trapped in a house surrounded by rocks with glowing eyes  :o 

It wasn't until a few years ago that I found it had been called "Escape Into Night", since filmed as "Paperhouse"
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Jaded on 23 July, 2008, 12:15:10 am
1) Eraserhead
2) Crash (the one with crashes in it)
4) Fitzcaraldo
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Martin on 23 July, 2008, 12:23:11 am
And of course Withnail & I with copious quantities of alcohol....

Richard E Grant is teetotal

Can we have a most overrated films thread?

1. Highlander
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: rogerzilla on 23 July, 2008, 06:43:40 am
I didn't know anyone rated it.

The Blair Witch Project.  The mockumentary shown before it was released was better than the film.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Mr Larrington on 23 July, 2008, 09:52:05 am
The Blair Witch Project.  The mockumentary shown before it was released was better than the film.

 :thumbsup: +1  When TWFKAML and I saw it, as the end credits rolled a large Mockney Geezer stood up and shouted "BOLLOCKS".

We applauded.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: PaulF on 23 July, 2008, 10:16:31 am

The Blair Witch Project. 


I too was disappointed. I was expecting an in depth documentary about the then Prime Minister's wife's good works...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: clarion on 23 July, 2008, 10:19:01 am
I forgot Blue.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Greenbank on 23 July, 2008, 10:48:11 am
And of course Withnail & I with copious quantities of alcohol....

Richard E Grant is teetotal

But the director forced him (Grant) to get absolutely shitfaced once before filming as he thought it would be impossible for him to play the role without experiencing drunkenness or the resulting hangover. Grant said he found the experience "deeply unpleasant".

Can we have a most overrated films thread?

1. Highlander

Ah but; "There should only have been one!"
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Ian H on 23 July, 2008, 11:12:13 am

Can we have a most overrated films thread?

1. Highlander

Anything by Spielberg.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Martin on 23 July, 2008, 11:15:27 am
I didn't know anyone rated it.

The Blair Witch Project.  The mockumentary shown before it was released was better than the film.

I found it very worth watching having not paid good money to see it at the cinema

Blair Witch II; well ratings don't go that low yet
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: mattc on 23 July, 2008, 11:46:33 am
The Blair Witch Project.  The mockumentary shown before it was released was better than the film.

 :thumbsup: +1  When TWFKAML and I saw it, as the end credits rolled a large Mockney Geezer stood up and shouted "BOLLOCKS".

We applauded.
"The Blair Wit" (as my ticket stub declared) really must be the Marmite of Movies. I thought it was very good (although hardly top 10 ever material) - I was genuinely scared in places, which never happens in "proper" horror movies.

MR L's story is similar to the cinema I was in - several young geezers stood up and declared their views on the movie. But 90% of the crowd were rooted to their seats. And I think it's telling that of those geezers, not one had made a single sound for the previous 90 minutes - how often can you say that at the movies?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: rogerzilla on 23 July, 2008, 04:40:12 pm
As we walked out the predominant words from the crowd around us were "crap", "shit", and "bollocks".

To be fair to Martin-aka-Zoom, it looks better on TV because it was apparently shot on non-HD video equipment.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: mattc on 23 July, 2008, 05:06:26 pm
As we walked out the predominant words from the crowd around us were "crap", "shit", and "bollocks".
What do they normally say in Swindon?
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Zoidburg on 23 July, 2008, 05:44:31 pm
As we walked out the predominant words from the crowd around us were "crap", "shit", and "bollocks".
What do they normally say in Swindon?
"Homeless and hungry, please help?"
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Mr Larrington on 24 July, 2008, 10:00:12 am
A friend opined that "TBWP" is probably a lot scarier to Leftpondians, as The Woods over there are generally rather bigger and full of things which bite.  Being lost in Epping Forest isn't quite the same.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: peliroja on 26 July, 2008, 12:20:03 pm
La Ardilla Roja (the cutting of the cheek with scissors is a less-weird part)

Entre Tinieblas (nuns on drugs keeping tigers and prostitutes)

Divine Intervention (female Palestinian suicide bombers with wings)

Matador (necrophilia-lite with Antonio Banderas)

Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del monton (housewives being peed on)

I've seen a lot of rather weird films. I blame the Spanish.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: bomber on 18 October, 2009, 09:34:23 pm
I can't believe this thread reached 8 pages and no one mentioned Taxidermia!  Now there's a weird film if ever I saw one!
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Hot Flatus on 18 October, 2009, 10:07:35 pm
I'll say it again, since nobody has picked up on it...

Tetsuo


It's a film I've used on more than one occasion to get rid of dinner guests who have outstayed their welcome  ;)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Tim Hall on 18 October, 2009, 10:55:28 pm
Buggered if I can remember the name, but it's set in an American Country Club. The members then turn into giant flesh eating slugs.

So not really weird, just deeply crap.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: andygates on 18 October, 2009, 10:58:08 pm
Society?  I loved that.

Jim Jarmush's Dead Man has to go on my list. 
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Jaded on 18 October, 2009, 10:58:35 pm
I'll say it again, since nobody has picked up on it...

Tetsuo


It's a film I've used on more than one occasion to get rid of dinner guests who have outstayed their welcome  ;)

Shit.

That's why I've seen that film 4 times now.  ::-)
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: rogerzilla on 20 October, 2009, 07:57:13 pm
Channel 4's "Banned" season all those years ago included  wr: Mysteries of the Organism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.R.:_Mysteries_of_the_Organism) which is the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Mike r on 20 October, 2009, 08:01:08 pm
I love John Boorman's  Zardoz.
What was Sean Connery when he agreed to the knee high boots and red 'sumo' underwear??
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: hubner on 20 October, 2009, 08:33:31 pm
Did anyone see "The Damned" on BBC2 last week?

It's a Hammer film made in 1961 but released in 1963, directed by Joseph Losey.

The film mixes two stories together: the first is of a delinquent biker gang who beat up and rob tourists in Weymouth, and the second is about a top secret military establishment and some weird f**ked up experiment involving some kiddies.

Oliver Reed plays the leader of the motorbike gang, and there's a song with the  lines:
Black leather, black leather, smash smash smash
Black leather, black leather, crash crash crash

And to top it all off, the sculptures in the film are by Elisabeth Frink.

It was on BBC2 in 2007 as well but apparently before that it hasn't been on TV for 25 years.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Flying_Monkey on 20 October, 2009, 08:36:52 pm
And to top it all off, the sculptures in the film are by Elisabeth Frink.

Blimey, I remember meeting her when I was about 11 - she came to open our school's new art department as she was a friend of the teacher. Amazing woman. I will have to see this movie!
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: andrewc on 20 October, 2009, 09:00:46 pm
Tetsuo was damn weird, though I may have been drunk when I saw it. 

Did anybody but me ever watch "Artemis 81", or at least stick with it until the end ?

I saw "Oh Lucky Man" on late night TV when I was in my early teens, quite a few scenes stuck in my memory, one with Helen Mirren  :P and this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oL7XP0ROvk&feature=player_embedded# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oL7XP0ROvk&feature=player_embedded#)  which really gave me the shivers  :o

Peli mentioned Matador & Pepi Luci Bom upthread, I've seen both of those   Another Spanish weirdy was "La Cabina", which was also shown on TV sometime during my youth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NBiIfZwTek (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NBiIfZwTek)  not one for the claustrophobes...
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Valiant on 21 October, 2009, 01:40:27 am
1. Irreversible
2. Anything by Almodover
3. Fantasia
4. Hyper Cube
5. Donnie Darko

If you lot think Cube was bad, steer clear of Hyper Cube.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Hot Flatus on 21 October, 2009, 09:31:31 am
Did anybody but me ever watch "Artemis 81", or at least stick with it until the end ?

Yep, when I was 12.  I didn't geddit.  Sting was in full pretentieux mode.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Hot Flatus on 21 October, 2009, 09:33:09 am
1. Irreversible

I think it is an amazing film.  Totally gripping....   but that last scene is so utterly utterly disgusting that I have never recommended it to anyone.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Valiant on 21 October, 2009, 09:37:07 am
It is amazing. It's also weirds me out very much. I even told wosshername it.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: clarion on 21 October, 2009, 09:38:27 am
1. Irreversible

I think it is an amazing film.  Totally gripping....   that last scene is so utterly utterly disgusting that I have never recommended it to anyone.

It is an astonishing film, like being in a car crash in slow motion. 
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 21 October, 2009, 10:14:27 am
"water on burning rocks"

Wierd. Quite depressing.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: vorsprung on 21 October, 2009, 10:21:00 am
A lot of films I like are outside of the normal run of what might be considered "normal".  For instance "The taste of Cherrys" is a great Iranian film about a man trying to commit suicide that I like.  if you are going to tell a story then it's no use telling a story that is mundane
It's a bit more difficult to work out which films are weird

Kumonosu-jou  or "Throne of Blood" is a Japanese film version of Macbeth

Tampopo, another japanese film about food.  Includes a sex scene with Eggs

maybe I just don't appreciate Japanese culture and think of it as "weird"
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: clarion on 21 October, 2009, 10:33:32 am
The Colour of Pomegranates.

It may be because I saw it in the middle of the night, and was tired, so not taking it all in, but it seemed to make hardly any sense at all.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Valiant on 21 October, 2009, 09:57:27 pm
I'll add Crash (Ballad/Cronenburg), strangely beautiful though.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: alexb on 22 October, 2009, 05:20:09 pm
I offer you Tideland - just read the Parental Guide on IMDB for a taste of this: Tideland (2005) - Parents Guide (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410764/parentalguide)

It's a Terry Gilliam film that I'd never heard of, so I bought it when I was in France. The cover description makes it sound like a kids film, so I watched it one evening just to check. Boy was I glad I did.

I don't think I've ever watched a film where I've had to stop it, get up and check the box to ensure it's a legit film. At one stage it was so deeply weird and bordering on obscene that I really had to check that somehow I wasn't laying myself open to watching somethong that could get me put on the sex offender's register.

It features a young girl (11-ish I'd guess) whose only friends are a series of tatty doll's heads.
She regularly cooks up heroin for her father.
There's a brain-damaged adolescent who refers to french kissing the little girl's grandma when he was a child and tries to demonstrate this to the girl.
The adolescent's mother has one eye, pays for groceries by letting the delivery boy have sex with her.

The little girl and her father leave town when her mother dies of an overdose.
They move to their grandmother's house and find it empty and falling down.
The father dies of a heroin overdose sitting in an armchair on the first night.
The little girl pretends he's still alive and sleeps curled up on his lap and makes jokes about how bad he smells.
After the adolescent's mother finds out that the father and little girl are in grandma's house, she comes over, finds the dead father, skins him and stuffs him (I kid you not).
The little girl then sleeps with her dead (stuffed father) in a bed upstairs.

It goes on and on, there's so much weird shit I don't even know where to stop.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the executives who funded it got to see the final cut.

I'll happily lend this to anyone who wants to see it.

As for my other films:
Big Fish is pretty far out there, but Tideland tops everything I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of stuff mentioned here.

Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Zoidburg on 22 October, 2009, 05:24:17 pm
Spanking the Monkey (1994) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111252/)

Boffing your mom is never a comfortable on screen subject.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: Valiant on 22 October, 2009, 05:45:59 pm
Can't believe I forgot about Tideland lol, yes thats one messed up film.
Title: Re: Your top five weirdest films
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 23 October, 2009, 10:45:39 am
Tideland is *brilliant*, absolutely loved it.

A major plus point to it must be that it creeped out our 21-year-old, who loves films like Saw. <snicker>.