# Strangest Movie You Ever Saw? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616 "2019-05-07T14:50:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/101 "2019-05-09T01:19:19Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Zardoz. you said it!! ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/102 "2019-05-09T01:27:50Z")
_Funky Forest_ was slightly weird. Also _Wax_. And good old _Eraserhead._ I’m not worried about that stuff ever becoming mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/103 "2019-05-09T02:14:59Z")
**Drowning by Numbers** (1988) Quoting Wikipedia: “The film’s plot centres on three married women — a grandmother, her daughter, and her niece — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses, each woman successively drowns her husband.” “In _Drowning by Numbers_, number-counting, the rules of games and the repetitions of the plot are all devices which emphasise structure and symmetry. Through the course of the film each of the numbers 1 to 100 appear, the large majority in sequence, often seen in the background, sometimes spoken by the characters.” And that’s the easy part. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/104 "2019-05-09T03:09:18Z")
[El topo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Topo) by Jodorowski. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/105 "2019-05-09T03:15:14Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > For “mainstream” movie I might nominate _Being John Malkovich_. > > For arty movie, I’ll nominate [_El Topo_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Topo) (“The Mole”), an utterly surreal “acid western” by Mexican director Alejandro Jodorowsky. [The trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGxMeF_Rx28) only gives the merest hint of how genuinely bizarre and deeply disturbing this film is. I see I’m not the only one. However, I didn’t find it disturbing, just bizarre (although maybe I have forgotten disturbing things). ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/106 "2019-05-09T03:32:41Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve never seen “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover” nor have I seen it mentioned here until now. Has anyone here seen it, or will admit to it? When it came out, and for several years afterwards, THAT seemed to define “strange movie.” I’ve seen it, or at least most of it. I remember it being stranger than I expected, and also less interesting than I expected. It didn’t leave me with any lasting impression. I vaguely remember the plot, and that’s about all. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/107 "2019-05-09T03:40:11Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > There are a lot of interesting films mentioned here, so I won’t repeat any of those. > > For a film that really hit me as strange and unforgettable, even though the director may not have been aiming for that, I think that “The Double Life of Veronique” by Krzysztof Kieślowski, is in a class of its own. I am less affected by the strangeness when it is clear that it is the intent of the director, I just enjoy the ride (as in “Brazil”,for instance). I loved this movie (pretty much everything Kieslowski did, in fact. He’s, with Kubrick, the only director whose death I regretted). I wouldn’t have thought of it as “strange”, even though the story it tells is. It’s a beautiful movie, and [with a haunting music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJNfjQ6QstI). Now, I’d like to see it again. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/108 "2019-05-09T03:42:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’d also like to note that the Pier Paolo Pasolini is not getting nearly enough love in this thread. What, is [Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073650/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_13) too normal for you? It’s easily the most outrageous movie I’ve ever seen, but I don’t think it really qualify as “strange”. It’s pretty straightforward, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/109 "2019-05-09T03:44:19Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Memento[/INDENT]\* > Of these, _Memento_ is the one I’d recommend. I like time travel movies, but this is in a sense _opposite_ to time travel! And, instead of science fiction, experts say it presents anterograde amnesia realistically. Memento is quite difficult to follow, very dark in tone but it’s among my preferred movies. I’d definitely recommend it too. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/110 "2019-05-09T03:46:05Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > It would be hard to beat _Rubber_. > _Fantastic Planet_ A French cartoon movie. Enough said. I discovered it only last year. The art is strange, but contrarily to many movies listed in this thread, the story is pretty simple and easy to follow. I really liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/111 "2019-05-09T12:45:53Z")
The weirdest movie I ever saw that was trying to be weird was _The Holy Mountain_, the whole thing is so unrelentingly bizarre that by the time you get to an old dude squirting milk from his own jaguar-head breasts, you don’t even blink. The weirdest movie I ever really liked was _Jisatsu Circle (Suicide Club)_. The same director (Sono Shion) also did _Tag_, which is another major head trip that works pretty well, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/112 "2019-05-09T13:48:15Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Mmm, for me it’s a tossup between _Head_ (starring the Monkees!) or the all-star mess that is the 1967 _Casino Royale_. Sorry, didn’t see your post before I did mine. (BTW: The good _Casino Royale_ is hardly a “mess”. It’s the way movies should be made.) ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/113 "2019-05-09T13:56:53Z")
I’d like to mention **[The Loved One](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059410/)**. Rod Steiger and Liberace are both so over the top here. Recommended. ---
**Author:** ![mako88sb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@mako88sb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mako88sb)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/114 "2019-05-09T18:44:00Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve seen “Pink Flamingos”. Need I say more? 😛 That was going to be my choice. A friend of ours with unusual taste in movies convinced us to go saying he seen it before and how great it was. I managed to force myself to fall asleep so fortunately missed the real disgusting parts but what I saw was definitely the weirdest movie. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/115 "2019-05-09T19:40:37Z")
My choices: Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, The Dark Backward, Fantastic Planet, and Eraserhead. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/116 "2019-05-09T19:44:36Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Eraserhead. This. So, so much this. I was in college when I saw it with a friend. After we were done we decided to get stoned and watch it again. Big mistake. Such a bizarre, disturbing movie. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/117 "2019-05-09T19:45:13Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I’ve tried a couple of times to watch _Magical Mystery Tour_, but the weird factor is just a bit too much for me. I think Magical Mystery Tour was just plain bad. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/118 "2019-05-09T19:50:35Z")
btw, I think _Persona_ is a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/119 "2019-05-09T20:07:32Z")
[Acción Mutante](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106215/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_24). Alex de la Iglesia is one of those people who simply don’t do normal. > [@Colibri](#): > > For arty movie, I’ll nominate [_El Topo_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Topo) (“The Mole”), an utterly surreal “acid western” by Mexican director Alejandro Jodorowsky. [The trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGxMeF_Rx28) only gives the merest hint of how genuinely bizarre and deeply disturbing this film is. Chilean, and also writer of some of Moebius most hallucinogenic comics (Moebius as in “Jean Giraud doing weird”, not as in the mathematician). ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616/120 "2019-05-09T21:24:19Z")
_Come and See_, a USSR movie about Belorussian partisans on the Eastern Front of World War II. It doesn’t put the Nazis in a flattering light. It has some weird off-putting scenes as the main character tries to come to grips with Nazi cruelty. It’s almost like Spielberg saw this movie and said “I have an idea for Schindler’s List, but let’s tone it down”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strangest-movie-you-ever-saw/833616.md?page=7)