# Obscure Movies That You Love? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136 "2003-01-07T11:25:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/1 "2003-01-07T11:25:53Z")
Everybody has at least one minor, hard-to-find film as a personal favorite, one that their friends haven’t heard of and Blockbuster probably wouldn’t stock their shelf with. Mega-epics like _Lord Of The Rings_ are cool, indeed…but there is something sublime about discovering those obscure, little-known movies that have to succeed or fail on the basis of their chutpah and storytelling, not their 40 million dollar advertising budgets and McDonald’s tie-ins. My faves: \*\*Christiane F. \*\* German-made 80’s film about a 14-year old girl who becomes a heroin addict and eventually a homeless prostitute. Great, grimy, realistic filmmaking that first gives the viewer a touching, otherworldly picture of teenage life and then hammers the viewer with images of degradation and misery. \*\*Ms. 45 \*\* Arthouse exploitation film about a mute garment worker who is raped twice in the same day by two different attackers and goes on a vigilante spree against slimeballs. **Flaming Creatures** Surrealistic-depressive art porno film from the 60’s that was busted for obscenity several times. \*\*The Mystery Of Rampo \*\* Japanese film about a novelist so immersed in his fiction that he begins to live in it. \*\*Opera \*\* Dario Argento-helmed horror/mystery that plays out purely on the level of irrationality…mood, atmosphere, and image take priority over story and plot, and the result are suspense sequences and setpiece bloodletting that is fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Harry\_Lime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Harry\_Lime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harry_Lime)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/2 "2003-01-07T11:28:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Keith Berry \* > \*\*Ms. 45 \*\* > > Arthouse exploitation film about a mute garment worker who is raped twice in the same day by two different attackers and goes on a vigilante spree against slimeballs. Abel Ferarra’s debut, I believe. Excellent example of small-budget film making. I love her body disposal methods 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/3 "2003-01-07T11:36:28Z")
**Wild Zero** , Japanese punk rockers vs. zombies and space aliens with a great love story as well. **For Y’ur Height Only** , a Philipino midget spy movie, and the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. **Liquid Sky** , about a bisexual fashion model and the heroin eating space aliens who live on her roof. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/4 "2003-01-07T12:07:55Z")
**Keith** , _Rampo_ is excellent! A good companion-piece to Cronenburg’s _Naked Lunch_, and _Kafka_. Have you ever read any of his work? Long before the movie came out, I found a couple of volumes of his short stories. (I loved _The Human Chair_ Creepy as hell.) I’m ashamed to admit it, but it was a long time before I “got” the pun in the psuedonym of Edogawa Rampo – even with the broad hint in the title of _Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination_ :smack: One of my favourite obscure movies is a Japanese Star Wars rip-off (I like the _Magnificent Seven_-like closure of the circle, there,) called [_Warlord_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0095643). (In Canada, anyway.) Surreal and beautiful. And the “Robo-Ninjas” are the coolest thing, ever. Alejandro Jodorowski’s [_Holy Mountain_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0071615) is waaay up there on my list of favourite movies, but it’s definitely not for everyone. [_Mahler_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0071797) is one of my favourite Ken Russell movies, second only to _Performance_. It irks me that it’s not commonly known. I guess the snobbier classical-music lovers found it offensive, and folks who don’t have a clue a Mahler didn’t give it a chance. I sure would have liked the opportunity to sit down and have a long discussion with Philip K. Dick about what _he_ made of that movie. Speaking of Philip K. Dick, the only thing there ever (in my opinion,) came close to being a faithful adaptation of one of his novels is a french movie – [Confessions d’un Barjo](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0104003). (From _Confessions of a Crap Artist_.) It’s bizarre, but it feels much more like PKD than any of the other adaptations, even in french. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/5 "2003-01-07T15:01:43Z")
**Fandango**. It was written by Kevin Reynols about his college experiences at my alma mater and is an enjoyable right of passage tale with plenty of comedic twists. Costner and Judd what’s his name from the brat pack do a nice job as it’s still too early in their careers for them to be overly arrogant. It’s consistently quotable throughout and enjoyable even in it’s 30th showing. “Does this mean I get my fondue set back?” ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/6 "2003-01-07T17:18:24Z")
**Local Hero** , with Peter Reigert (Animal House) and Burt Lancaster. One of my favorite “small” movies. **Highway 61** , about a Canadian barber and trumpet player who’s conned into driving a woman to New Orleans with a corpse she claims is her brother, which is full of cocaine. The scene at the border is excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Kiting\_Illini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Kiting\_Illini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiting_Illini)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/7 "2003-01-07T17:46:57Z")
My fave is **Escanaba in da Moonlight** with Jeff Daniels. It is a thoroughly pointless slap at the people of Michigan’s Upper peninsula, and generally unflattering characterization of Michigeese in general, but it is **hilarious** and Jimmer McGominy from Menominee provides enough obscure film quotes to last a lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![okielady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/fbc32d/32.png) [@okielady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/okielady)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/8 "2003-01-07T18:07:26Z")
**Anna to the Infinite Power** , a story about cloning Saw it on HBO many years ago and haven’t seen anything about it since. I know a few other Dopers have heard of it, but no one I know around where I live has. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/9 "2003-01-07T18:23:25Z")
Babette’s Feast – I LOVE this movie. Diva == Jean-Jacques Beinix (sp?) ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/10 "2003-01-07T18:24:20Z")
Maybe not so obscure, but Carny with Gary Busey, Robbie Roberston and Jodie Foster. Saw it on HBO years ago, seems to have dissapeared w/out a trace. ---
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/11 "2003-01-07T19:08:40Z")
_I Wake up Screaming_ - Betty Grable’s only non musical - a gripping noir. _Children of Fate_ - documentary set in a Sicilian ghetto. _The Dark Backward_ - not too obscure, but still hard to find. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/12 "2003-01-07T19:12:48Z")
Ahem. Hudson Hawk. I have no idea whether this was a big picture at one point, but no one I’ve ever asked has heard of it. I still love it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/13 "2003-01-07T20:46:30Z")
You mean the “Hudson Hawk” that starred Bruce Willis? My favorite: Heaven, a documentary by Diane Keaton. It is her interviewing people about that they think heaven is like. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/14 "2003-01-07T20:52:04Z")
[Cemetery Man](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/CemeteryMan-1071809/) (Dellamorte Dellamore). Creepy and weird and beautiful. Very fun to watch. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/15 "2003-01-07T21:44:42Z")
I’m also not sure how obscure these are considered but here you go… Donnie Darko: Mentally unstable teen with visions of a demon bunny rabit who warns of approaching doom. The Loan Star State: Comedy about a nice guy has who has to save his girlfriends slow witted brother from a bunch of moronic drug selling gangsters - Freakin’ Hillarious! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/16 "2003-01-07T22:14:25Z")
_Paperback Hero_, an Australian independent film starring Hugh Jackman as a trucker who writes romance novels on the side under a feminine penname. When one of his novels hits the bestseller list, he is… very embrassed and asks a friend to pretend to be him… er, her, er, the author and make celebrity appearances, etc. Romantic comedy ensues. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/17 "2003-01-07T22:22:38Z")
Oh, crap, I forgot one of my faves, and it’s as obscure as they come: [_Crimewave_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0088963). There are a _lot_ of movies with this title, but this one is by far the best. (Yes, even better than the one by the Cohen Brothers-- and that’s going some!) One of the most original movies ever made. The action is set in the early 60’s and revolves around an aspiring screenwriter who’s trying to write a noirish crime movie. He’s an “aspiring” a screenwriter as ever lived. (He is a boarder in some nice nuclear family’s _garage_, and an object of considerable mystery and admiration to the familiy’s pre-teen daughter.) He’s got a few quirks, too. Foremost is his inability to write under any light but that of a streetlight which filters in through the garage window-- He sits there, poised at the keyboard, staring at that light and waiting for it to come on so he can get to work. When it does, we see that he has some other limitations, too. He can only write beginnings and endings. He can’t quite figure out how it is that people get from A to B. Did I mention that he doesn’t utter a single line in the entire movie? And of course, things in the ‘real’ world begin to spiral out of control for our hero. One of the things that knocks you out about this film is its unique look: It was shot entirely on expired Kodak 16mm colour film. The colours! Oh my god. And lots in in-jokes for film-geeks, too. Find this movie! You’ll be glad you did. There are lots of nice pics from _Crime Wave_ at [this page](http://www.angelfire.com/movies/CrimeWave/index.html). (Beware of Popups, it’s hosted at Angelfire.) God, I wish I still had a copy of this one. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/18 "2003-01-07T23:23:29Z")
**The Delicate Art of the Rifle** , a surreal comedy about a sniper on a college campus featuring a cameo by author Bruce Sterling as a weatherman discussing chaos theory. ---
**Author:** ![fiztig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@fiztig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiztig)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/19 "2003-01-07T23:24:43Z")
_The Red Violin_ is a great Italian/Canadian/British film that draws you into the story of the owners of a particular violin over 3 centuries or so. It was so good that my husband, who usually runs shrieking from foreign language/subtitled films, was suckered by it as well. I’m not sure if it would be considered obscure (certainly not in Australia and it received an Oscar Best Pic Nomination), but _Picnic at Hanging Rock_ is also an old favourite that tells the story of three girls who go missing in the Australian bush during the 1800s. Although with this one, we never find out where the girls went missing to, or why one student who returned saw something so dreadful that she went barking mad. Some people loathe these kinds of stories where the audience is left guessing as to what actually happened, but I find this film quite fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136/20 "2003-01-07T23:30:32Z")
**Shall We Dance** , a Japanese movie about an ordinary Japanese businessman who takes up ballroom dancing, in part because the instructor’s so beautiful. The closest thing to profanity in the movie is “Your dancing creeps me out!” in the subtitles. The original Japanese isn’t any worse, but it tells a very moving and interesting story. It also turns out the finale is set in a dance hall in Blackpool, England, where my father, as he put it, “misspent part of his youth.” I’ve also borrowed **Eddie and the Cruisers** from the local library. I haven’t seen it in years, so I don’t know if I’ll love it as much as I used to, but it’s about a rock band whose lead singer was supposed to have been killed twenty years earlier. Or was he? Finally, does **Brassed Off** count as obscure? I’m also the granddaughter of a horn player in a top British brass band, so I’ve always liked it, even if I don’t play horn, and, what’s worse, I don’t know anyone who looks like Ewan McGregor.☹ CJ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-movies-that-you-love/147136.md?page=2)