# The Best Wierdest Film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436 "2008-09-20T14:56:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Labor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Labor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labor)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/61 "2008-09-22T15:29:43Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > [Freaks](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/) (considering it was released in 1932…) > > **Blue Velvet** is another one. **Freaks** is the one movie I have seen that truely disturbed me. I am also suprised that only one post mentions it. Southern Yankee, you are a film genius. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/62 "2008-09-22T15:31:29Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > [Sukiyaki Western Django](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyaki_Western:_Django), directed by Takashi Miike. > > How can you possibly go wrong with a movie that’s best described as spaghetti western meets samurai epic, filmed with an all-Japanese cast reading in John-Wayne-style phonetic English, plus the ultimate fanboy cameo by Quentin Tarantino? 🙂 Not so far removed from _regular_ spagetti westerns, though. 😉 I mean - Yijombo, or a Fistful of Dollars? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/63 "2008-09-22T15:39:33Z")
If you liked Moulin Rouge, try Strictly Ballroom. Same director, just a much smaller budget. If you watch Dancing with the Stars, a bit askance, you will freaking love this movie. Freaks is wonderful. I love the fact that I bought my DVD at Target. City of Lost Children I love the siamese twins doing the dishes or smoking. Time Bandits One of my favorite movies. Actually watch anything directed by Terry Gilliam. The Fisher King, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Von Muchausen, and 12 Monkeys. Super Troopers Imagine a cop saying into a bullhorn “Bear Fucker! Do you need assitance?” Harold and Kumar go to White Castle didn’t see the sequeal, but this was fantastic. Amelie is a delightful mix of real and surreal. A Very Long Engagement, (same director and star) is one of the best movies ever made bit only slightly off kilter. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/64 "2008-09-22T16:06:38Z")
[**The Magic Christian**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064622/), adapted from the Terry Southern novel by Southern, Joseph McGrath, Peter Sellars, Graham Chapman and John Cleese, and featuring the Rosetta Stone equivalent of 60’s British comedy, with [ex-Goon] Peter Sellars, [current Beatle] Ringo Starr, [ex-Goon] Spike Milligan, and [future Python] John Cleese in a small part. The plot, such as it is, has a wealthy eccentric aristo [Sellars] formally adopting a young homeless man [Starr]; together, they embark upon a series of anarchistic public stunts and pranks… it’s anti-Establishment performance art, basically. The highlights include these indelible scenes: respected actor (and sex symbol) Lawrence Harvey taking his kit off on stage in a pranked-up production of **Hamlet** ; Cleese as a snooty auction house employee who tries to retain his composure when confronted by Sellars’ vandalizing a priceless painting; a French restaurant skit that seems to be an incompletely realized Ur-version of the one that crowned the later Python film **Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life** ; a hungry black panther in canine drag running amok at the Cruft’s Dog Show; Raquel Welch as “Priestess of the Whip,” commanding the scantily-clad crew of female slave rowers on a cruise ship that has aggressively homoerotic waiters and a vampire captain [Christopher Lee, in a nice turn of stunt casting]; and bowler-hatted, Saville-Row-suited execs in London’s financial district wallowing in filth for some dirty, dirty cash. Look for cameos by John Lennon & Yoko Ono (blink and you miss 'em) and, more substantially, Roman Polanski as a barfly. It’s not uniformly brilliant – the movie has some decidedly clunky bits and dead spots – but there’s enough great material, featuring enough pop icons and cult performers, to justify its status as a cult must-see, especially for anyone with an interest in the 60’s, Sellars, the Beatles, or Monty Python. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/65 "2008-09-22T17:18:20Z")
_Donnie Darko_ is the standard answer, but for something completely different you’ll have to see [Gummo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119237/). Compared to _Gummo_ most of the stuff already listed in this thread is weak tea. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/66 "2008-09-22T18:10:54Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Not so far removed from _regular_ spagetti westerns, though. 😉 > > I mean - Yijombo, or a Fistful of Dollars? Pretty accurate comparison, actually - if those two movies were to give birth to a brain-damaged bastard love child after a night of LSD-induced crazy monkey sex, it would be _Sukiyaki Western Django_. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/67 "2008-09-22T18:29:07Z")
Another movie that left me completely creeped out was _Chuck and Buck_. It left me with that “eeeew” feeling for the rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/68 "2008-09-22T18:38:08Z")
How about [Trainspotting](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/)? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/69 "2008-09-22T18:40:45Z")
I’ll second “the Reflecting Skin.” One of my favorite movies, [Prospero’s Books](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102722/). The premise is that it is a retelling of Shakespeare’s _the Tempest_ as if it were being written by the main character - the powerful sorceror Prospero - and being made real as he’s writing it, and magically willing it into existence. For my money, the best ever realization of an alien (albiet magical) world ever is the initial scene showing Prospero simply strolling through his kingdom of supernatural, mythical fairy creatures. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/70 "2008-09-22T18:49:03Z")
I’ll have to keep an eye on this thread – most of my favourites ( **El Topo** , **The City of Lost Children** , **Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter** among them, which I’ll heartily second or third or nth now) have already been mentioned, so I could probably do worse than check out the ones I don’t know. Something more absurd than weird, [Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100519/), film adaptation of the play of the same name, centering on the two characters from Hamlet trying to come to grips with their strangely scripted existence. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/71 "2008-09-22T19:04:17Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > Pretty accurate comparison, actually - if those two movies were to give birth to a brain-damaged bastard love child after a night of LSD-induced crazy monkey sex, it would be _Sukiyaki Western Django_. Perhaps some Morricone music played on traditional Japanese instruments seals the deal. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/72 "2008-09-22T20:07:37Z")
**Mulholland Drive**. Seriously, you won’t regret it. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/73 "2008-09-22T20:24:19Z")
**Paprika** …bizarro anime about a girl who travels around other peoples dreams. **Wrist Cutters (A Love Story)**…absolutely awesome movie about purgatory for suicide victims, where the world is just like the one they were trying to get away from only slightly shittier. I adore this movie. **Vulgar** …it’s got clown rape. And I’ll never, ever, ever watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/74 "2008-09-22T20:30:26Z")
I’ll second **Adaptation**. I need to see it again to catch the stuff I must have missed the first time around. New ones: **Real Genius**. I more or less lived that movie in college, but I suspect it is weird for most people. **Deathstalker 2.** The first was a pretty standard boob and barbarian movie, but the second was one as if written by Firesign Theatre. And speaking of Firesign Theater, **Zachariah** , a head western, was weird but not particularly good. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/75 "2008-09-22T20:48:39Z")
The Pillow Book, haunting, disturbing, gorgeous ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/76 "2008-09-22T20:52:18Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > I’ll second “the Reflecting Skin.” Wow. I think you’re the first person outside my family who’s seen this movie. It’s the first Viggo Mortenson movie I’ve ever seen. I don’t understand why it hasn’t reached cult notoriety. ---
**Author:** ![RMutt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@RMutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RMutt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/77 "2008-09-22T21:35:25Z")
No Fellini yet? Hard to believe. How about [Fellini Satyricon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyricon_(film)), a bizarre movie about the Roman empire. Another one, harder to find, is a short called [Toby Dammit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoires_extraordinaires) which is filled with strangeness and weird visuals. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/78 "2008-09-22T22:15:01Z")
I’ll second **Dr Caligari**. I loooove this film “My feelings are like filthy prayers. I wanna scream in your face!” “Your wife is disturbed.” “Disturbed upset or disturbed insane?” “I want his boy thing!” “The smell of burning flesh always brings back memories.” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/79 "2008-09-22T22:34:08Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Wow. I think you’re the first person outside my family who’s seen this movie. It’s the first Viggo Mortenson movie I’ve ever seen. I don’t understand why it hasn’t reached cult notoriety. Neither do I. Not only because of Mortenson, but because it is very reminiscent of the style of David Lynch and the Coen brothers, each of whom have legions of fans. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436/80 "2008-09-22T23:30:46Z")
> [@RMutt](#): > > Another one, harder to find, is a short called [Toby Dammit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoires_extraordinaires) which is filled with strangeness and weird visuals. The full movie was distributed by AIP as "Edgar Allen Poe’s Spirits of the Dead’ and occasionally ended up on late night “Creature Feature/Chiller Theatre” TV shows in the 1970’s. Alas, I was maybe in my young teens when I saw it &, being a Universal/Hammer/Price-Poe-AIP horror fan, my reaction to it at the time was more WTF?, though I remember it did have some creepy moments. Kinda like SCTV Count Floyd’s Monster Chiller Horror Theatre skit where he showed a Bergman-parody. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-wierdest-film/464436.md?page=3)