In a recent journey through YouTube and Google Videos, I put together a list of the top ten most bizarre clips. The first video will give you nightmares. If anyone knows what the hell the second one is, let me know.
1. The Alphabet David Lynch Wikipedia
The Alphabet. This is the first film David Lynch recorded – based on a dream by the young sister of his then girlfriend. I really think this is first equal with the Artaud piece, but I had to pick one or the other. This is nightmare material. Make sure you watch to the end as the very last scene if horrifying. I promise you will have nightmares after watching this. A final note: Lynch’s girlfriend is the singer.
2. Homage to Artaud Antonin Artaud Wikipedia
Born in 1896 (died 1948), Artaud is one of the most unusual artists of the 20th century. He wrote poetry that was banned by the French government, assisted in some of the most bizarre films in history, and even wrote music. He had a small part in the film The Passion of Joan of Arc (hailed as the film with the most emotional performance ever captured on film by Maria Falconetti). I found this little excerpt with Artaud’s name attached. I have no idea what the hell it is supposed to be – but believe me, it is freakish and definitely earns top spot!
3. Rabbits and the Idol
This is a very strange animated short film. I think there is a moral to the story – I am not sure what it is!
4. Holy Mountain Alejandro Jodorowsky Wikipedia
The Holy Mountain is a 1973 cult film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky who also participated as actor, composer, set designer, and costume designer. The film was produced by Beatles manager Allen Klein of ABKCO after Jodorowsky scored an underground phenomenon with El Topo and the acclaim of both John Lennon and George Harrison (John and Yoko Ono put up production money).
5. Symphony Mechanique Georges Antheil Wikipedia
Antheil, an American composer, wrote this score to accompany a dadaist film. This piece of ballet music which is impossible to play in full, is set to a film by Fernand Léger (1881 – 1955). Strangely, it was not until the 1990s that the film and score were brought together. The film and music is a masterful example of the movement. It is hard to believe that this is from the 1920s, nearly 100 years ago. Here is the Ballet Mécanique (with plane propellers and various other strange instruments). This is Antheil’s most famous work.
6. Un Chien Andalou Salvador Dali Wikipedia
Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog) is a great example of surrealist film. Dali is well known for his art, but this is a film he was involved in with Luis Bunuel in the 1920′s. His foray into film was quite extraordinary and this film is very famous in surrealist art circles. Fabulously french music, fabulously odd cinematography. Watch for the scalpel in the eyeball – quite a feat for its time! Also note the rather obscene (for its time) handling of the ladies bosom. This the complete film (which has no plot).
7. The Dream Machine Brion Gysin Wikipedia
Gysin (born 1916, died 1986) was a great friend of William Burroughs. He invented the Cut-ups technique (1959). One of his most important discoveries was the dreamachine – essentially a spinning cylinder with various holes cut in to it which – when viewed with the eyes closed – caused one to see a variety of hallucinations. I should add that this was invented under the influence of drugs (are we surprised?) If you want to try it, here is a web based dream machine - click start and close your eyes.
8. Inland Empire David Lynch Wikipedia
Starring the gorgeous ladies from Mullholand Drive, (Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring), the Rabbits is a short excerpt from Lynch’s latest film Inland Empire. Nonsense dialogue, minimalist sets, and eerie music make this a truly unusual experience. Use this link to part 1 to see the rest of the rabbits (the last scene is not available online and can only be seen in the film). You must forgive my bias – David Lynch is my favourite director.
9. The Cut Ups William Burroughs Wikipedia
The Cut Ups is a film by Burroughs and Balch. It uses the cut-ups style invented by Brion Gysin but made famous by Burrous (especially in his masterful book Naked Lunch). I can’t even begin to describe this film – just believe me, it is weird. Hereinunder you get the full 20 minute short film by (perhaps) the greatest writer of the 20th century.
10. 4’33″John Cage Wikipedia
Cage is one of the most forward thinking composers of the 20th century. This is a video of a performance of the piece of music that is probably his most famous. It is called 4’33″ (ie, four minutes and thirty-three seconds). The idea behind this piece is that we are constantly surrounded by music in every day life. At the risk of spoiling the surprise, this is an orchestra playing silence in three movements for 4 and a half minutes. I won’t go into the issue of the pretention of the audience (watch it – you will see what I mean) but it is quite amazing to see an entire orchestra get paid to play nothing at all. Weird.
If you liked this article, you will probably also like the Top 10 Bizarre Disasters.
The dream machine kinda focked my head over a bit!
I think the moral of Rabbit and the idol is that good things can come from unexpected places, but don’t go greedy!
I’d love to see the Cage piece with yawns in stead of coughs. Not that it’s boring, but contagious.
the alphabet tho strange wouldn’t give me nightmares, but Eraserhead did.
#3=> the moral of the story is…if you want a new muff, get your dad to do the hunting. -_-”
what about salad fingers?
haha The Alphabet was about as scary as a Sesame Street episode, its the unfamiliarity that is frightening
I just love the rabbit and Idol one we watched with some friends and they just alla sat there mouth open saying What the f*** is that???
I believe the amazing ‘Svetlonos’ (‘the torch bearer’) by Václav Svankmajer should really take a place here. it’s more awsome then it is bizzare though..
Also, you can’t get the full on weirdness of Inland Empire without watching the whole thing.. prefferably in a movie theater.
how about this movie…
I protest!!
Rubber Jhonny should be among the top of the list.
Did anyone try the web based dream machine? I’m too scared to lol. Cause it said it can cause Photosensitive epilepsy in some people, depending on the frequency chosen. >_____________>
I wanna know what it’s like though. ;-;
galadriel: it is not so bad – you can stop it quickly if it makes you feel weird – remember to keep your eyes closed when watching
wow, all of these are great,
i watched the dream machine for like… 5 minuites… nothing happened… just flashy lights. BO-RING!!! haha, anyone have cool expieriences with it?
First video? Nightmares? Are you serious?
THIS it’ll give you nightmares
how about this one?
“Max Headroom WTTW Pirating Incident – 11/22/87″
Alex, I have a dream machine here at home, a modernised version , there’s a tube to blow through to make the innards spin as it’s right up against the face and when used it blocks other sights out. I’ve never hallucinated with it. I have become dizzy but think it’s because I’ve run out of puff.
i hate Artaud his poetry is so f*cking grotesque!
@londonafter
Having never read Artaud’s poetry, if it is freaky as his short film then I don’t think I want to! Scary as!
hahaha if i were the audience in 4′ 33″ i’d go ‘chuck norris’.
Another creepy video(s) is the Salad Fingers series on youtube…especially the second episode. Just go to youtube and type in salad fingers episode 2
#81 Richmyman – Salad Fingers is a creation of David Firth, and is by no means his creepiest work. By all means its pretty out there, but his website http://www.fat-pie.com contains many more flash animations that are, in my opinion, stranger than Salad Fingers (also a better reference for his work than YouTube
)
My personal favourite: the Spoilsbury Toast Boy series…I believe it is episode 2 of that series that blew my mind. Very bizarre. Also check out “The Milkman”….weird.
Warning: David Firth’s flash animations contain some graphic violence and *****ual references, and should not be consumed when under the influence of stimulants (even if they are just animations
)
i think these videos are bizare and really freaky not that i get scared easily i also think they are pretty awsome
a really messed up thing..
Tears of callie. its a movie. its really weird.
I’m completely taken by David Lynch. The Silencio scene from Mullholland Drive with the Hispanic chick singing Roy Orbison’s “Crying” is probably my favorite song in the world. Thank you for the replay. It was a moving experience and isn’t David Lynch always an experience?!
…un chien andelou was a weird film indeed..that eye was nasty haha! (ive heard many versions of how they did that…the most common version was that they placed a cows eye over the actress’s eye and sliced that…another was that they just sliced her eye…i dont know)
are you being facetious, fruitypeebils – i’d say that’s pretty common knowledge though i don’t think it could be classified as a “hallucination”but just messing with your optics.
how in the ***** could you call Burroughs “(perhaps) the greatest writer of the 20th century”? are you 12? honestly i liked this page a lot until you said that.
#10- Very noisy and was not played in synchronicity.
You know what video really freaks me out? Peanut vendor. The animation is just so crude, but the music is pleasant which makes it the even more freaky.
love the videos
Check these videos out theres some freaky sh*t on there
http://havefunwatchvideoshangout.blogspot.com/
4’33” was also meant as a statement that silence is important in music and it was way better when John Cage accually played it because the crowd thought he was going to play so they got confused and mad and they accually became the music.
i just put AC/DC on over 4″33 to make it better.
number 1 is so so scary, i will definitely get nightmares.
Phew, i watched number one and two (3 was removed) and 1 wasn’t realy that scary, except for the abc in the beginning, which kinda creaped me out.
………so creaped out………I am so easily scared, I have no idea why I watched those!!!
All of these videos seem like just horrible acid trips. They are freaky, but I didn’t think they were that creepy. It seems like too many artists try to do these weird things to freak people out.
pffff….watched #9 before bed….
yes…hello…yes…hello
I love John Cage’s 4’33″ and enjoyed the video. I saw it first mentioned with no hint as to what it was on an NPR list of top music. I actually found a copy to download and could not figure out why it would not play until I lucked on an article about it.
In hindsight, I am both amazed and rather bemused by the fact you can download the MP3 of it!
I clicked on the first one, fully expecting to be freaked out. Meh….I don’t get it.
My dog went nuts though. She was ramming her head under my laptop trying to get her ears closer to the speakers.
She has the same reaction to a puppy crying….it was odd….Ill give you that.
Yes? Hello
I don’t even know what to say about this clip:
Viewed with eyes closed…how does that work? I mean, I would assume the light would be seen, but still, it doesnt make a lot of sense…
He says: I NEED *****
These are all the products of pretentious douchebags with no talent and no ability to create a coherent storyline. David Lynch has to be one of the most overrated, worthless hacks in the history of film.
Is “Street of Crocodiles” too mainstream?… Very moving… very weird.
Phew… We humans are strange creatures…
David Lynch always makes the creepiest *****. Anyone seen the Dumbland cartoons?
And here’s something else. It’s not really disturbing, kind of at all, but it amazed and freaked me out the first time I saw it :p
John Cage 4’33″ is a very interesting and compelling piece of work. Why shouldn’t the surrounding ambience caused by the audience be classed or defined as music? Its a apocryphal belief to think that it was intended to be silent. This piece is very boring of course if have reflective impotence!
@Benjy [110]: “if you have reflective impotence”
I think this is the perfect video for this:
The Sci-fi film nSpace,
from the Dovin Melhee story:
http://www.amazon.com/nSpace-Dovin-Melhee/dp/0557221889/
this :3
how does one 'view with the eyes closed'?
I think the most disturbing part of the first one was not the end, but rather somewhere in the middle. The audio sounds like some animal is being tortured and crying, but the pitch is turned up to sound more cartoonish, but its still disturbing.
Obedece ala Morsa should’v been on here.
lmfao, “as a final note, Lynches girlfriend is the singer.” david lynches girlfriend was a man??? hahaha!
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