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This list was originally sent in as a top 15 – but five of the items have featured on previous lists so I have culled it to a list of 10. Fortunately none of the movies on this list have appeared on the site so we are able to present 10 brand new crazy movies for your viewing pleasure. Be warned: there are spoilers herein.
Here is a list of previous film lists that are of a similar bent:
Top 10 Most Bizarre Videos
Top 15 Most Disturbing Movies
Top 10 Weirdest Movies
Plot: Niki Junpei (Okada) is an entomologist on an expedition to collect insects in some sand dunes. When Junpei misses the last bus out of town, the locals offer to allow him to stay in town for the night. They send him down a rope-latter, into a house at the bottom of a sand-pit, owned by a widow (Kishida). The widow has been tasked with digging sand to be sold to other cities, and with preventing the sands from destroying her house (if her house is destroyed, the other houses in the village will be threatened). When Niki tries to leave the next morning, the rope-ladder is gone, and villagers inform him that he will now be assisting the widow in her endless duties. Eventually, Junpei falls in love with the widow, and resigns himself to his fate…
Weird Moments: Niki comes up with a way to siphon water from sand; Niki gets a chance to escape, but doesn’t (granted, the widow is carrying his child by that point); Honestly, the plot is the primary weird-thing here… and everywhere on this list, pretty much.
Plot: In an elite setting, at a chateau, a man asks a woman a question. She says, “No.”, and they continue to talk, almost as if she said yes. A second man approaches, and the conversation ends in a weird way. This conversation is repeated over and over again, but in different places in the chateau, and utilizing different camera angles each time. The men also play games, like Nim. There are also ambiguous voice-overs, and random tracking-shots down corridors.
Weird Moments: The whole thing is one big weird moment!
Plot: Using a mixture of live-action and clay-mation, “Faust” is based somewhat on the story of “Faustus”, with some hints of Goethe, Chris Marlowe, Franz Kafka, Absurdism, and Modernism. Basically, a man sells his soul to the devil… for some reason (it really isn’t clear why he does in this movie).
Weird Moments: Everyman (Cepek) drills a hole in a full-size doll, and has sex with it; Everyman finds an egg, shell and all, baked into a loaf of bread; Upon opening it, all Hell breaks loose.
Plot: Somethings very wrong in the town of Kurouzu! It’s inhabitants begin a collective obsession with coils, swirls, and twirls. Before long, they begin to turn into said coils, swirls and twirls!…
Weird Moments: Shuichi’s father crawls into a washing-machine, in order to get a “POV” shot for his collection of spirals; Katayama begins moving like a snail, and only comes to school when it rains; Various students begin growing shells in their flesh; Kirie’s mother cuts off her hair and finger-tips, due to her fear of the spirals; A millipede informs Kirie’s mother, via a hallucination, that there is a spiral, deep inside her ear (she ends up killing herself); Clouds begin spiraling into whirls; Kirie’s dad impales himself in the eye with a drill; “Snail-people” are found inside of a tunnel; Sekino’s body becomes “devoured” by swirls; Shuichi becomes one big spiral.
Plot-Preface: Michael Corleone (Kaufmann; and no, it’s not the same character as the one in “The Godfather”) is the son of a struggling mafioso and a repressed, Jewish house-wife, who finds solace in making, reading, and watching cartoons. He’s playing pinball when we first see him, which then abruptly switches from live action to animation.
Actual Plot: Mike routinely visits a bar, which has a bar-tender named Carole. He gets free drinks from her, under the condition that he gives Shorty – a legless regular at the bar – samples of his art from time to time. Through a sequence of events, Mike hooks up with Carole, which engenders the racist-fury of his father, as well as his father’s envy regarding Shorty. Mike then moves out of his house, and tries to get work. He finally gets the opportunity to pitch a movie-idea to a movie-mogul, however, the story is so bizarre, that the mogul has a heart-attack. Ultimately, they are forced into the arena of crime to pay the bills. Mike is ultimately, killed…and the film returns to live-action. The real Mike sees the real Carole, and follows her. Then they fight. And then they dance. The end.
Weird Moments: Snowflake, the nympho-transvestite, gets beat up by a drunk; The bullet that kills Mike enters his head in slow-motion; Mike’s movie-pitch (Wikipedia states the pitch better than I could: “In the distant future following a nuclear war, the world is covered with garbage. Most of humanity has been either destroyed or mutated, though the men are still horny, and apparently horny enough that they don’t care what they hump. A pile of garbage comes to life, as a result of a man humping it, and is worshiped as a religious figure, becoming known as ‘Mother Pile.’ The last living human female, Wanda The Last, becomes a sort of side-show attraction and tours the land with her duck-billed mutant manager, Warren. One night, God speaks to Warren, asking Warren to let Him have sex with Wanda. Warren obliges, and Wanda gives birth to the new ‘Messiah.’ Throughout His son’s life, Mother Pile searches for him, and although she crucified many men, not one of them gave her his location. Meanwhile, God gives His son lessons of ‘The Truth.’ The story ends after the son spends roughly three months meditating in a cave. After a shout of ‘I’ve got the Truth, Pop!,’ he shoots God in the head, who in turn topples over and crushes Mother Pile. The Messiah then comes out of the cave, looks over at God’s corpse, and says that the truth he received was that God had been conning them the whole time.”).
Plot: A girl (Hyodo) is the keeper of a mysterious egg in a post-apocalyptic world. She collects strange fossils and artifacts in a dead-city. Then, a man (Nezu) walks into town with a cross-shaped weapon on his back. In the mean-time, apparitions of coelacanths (a type of fish) appear within the town, and the statues of people [in the town] come alive, and begin to hunt the massive fish. The man then tells her a story, and waits for her to sleep. He then breaks her egg. Filled with anguish, the girl drowns. The end.
Weird Moments: The fish, of course; The statues hunting the fish with spears; Air-bubbles coming from her lungs during her death in the water become eggs.
Plot: The plot is divided into four acts (NOTE: There are SO many weird moments in this one, that most of the plot is going to be in the “Weird Moments” section!):
Act I: Fando and Lis, a paraplegic embark on their journey to the mythical city of Tar. They begin in a desolate city. A group of aristocrats have a party in the midst of this desolation. Fando gets paid for something, but he throws away his money, picks up Lis, and leaves the city.
Act II: The couple finds a dead-end, but they find their way to a marsh. They have a falling-out, but go their separate ways, although they find each other and leave shortly afterward.
Act III: Lis and Fando come across various characters in the desert.
Act IV: Fando once again grows weary of Lis. They get into a scuffle over various things, and Fando ends up killing Lis. Fando lives unhappily ever after…
Weird Moments: Where to begin? Lis is lured by a puppeteer (Jodorowsky) in a flash-back; The duo is guided out of the dead-end by the Pope; Old ladies play a card-game, with the winner being able to suck fruit-juice out of a young-man’s mouth; Fando runs-and gets ambushed by-into a gang of women armed with bowling-balls; Fando’s father comes to life, and puts Fando in his tomb; The couple paint each-others’ names on the walls of a room; They throw buckets of blood on the walls and on each other; A father and son begging for blood; Towns-people cannibalize parts of Lis’ skin after she dies; Fando gets covered in ivy, while sleeping next to Lis’s grave.
Plot: A simple businessman and his girlfriend accidentally run-over a man who loves metal a bit too much (Tsukamoto), and they cover up the crime. Needless to say, that was the wrong thing to do…and they pay for their actions, with a vengeance.
Weird Moments: Every once in a while, a TV-screen pops up with a man inside of it who giggles like Alvin the Chipmunk; The girlfriend grows a 7- or 8-foot-long metal penis. A lady in the subway goes bat-crap insane after touching what looks like a seagull corpse covered in metal, and attacks the businessman; A diode comes out of the businessman’s cheek, and he pops it like a zit; A TV-screen that pops up randomly, showing the couple making love; The fetishist shoves a piece of rebar into his knee-cap; Pictures of what appears to be Jesse Owens are posted all-over the fetishists’ “lair”; The couple have “hugging-sex”, where they just hug each other while they make “O-faces”.
Plot: Yakuza member, Minami, is looking for his brother, Ozaki. The plot is somewhat of a mess, structurally, but it parallels the episodic quests of Greek mythology.
Weird Moments: A very small dog is believed to be a “Yakuza attack-dog”; That very same dog is beaten to death; An innkeeper sells her breast-milk…straight from the tap, if you will; Minami awakens to find a man with the head of a cow in his room; This “minotaur” proceeds to lick him in the face, covering Minami in gooey saliva; A yakuza boss uses a ladle to stimulate his anus…
Plot: A farmer – who may or may not be the last man on Earth – lives on a farm in Belgium and falls in love with a big sow. After bonding with her in some very strange ways, he decides to consummate the relationship. Consequently, the very unlucky pig gives birth to a litter of human/pig baby/piglet-hybrids. He attempts to feed them all, but they only seem to want their mother’s attention. The [most stereotypical] farmer [in the world] becomes jealous and feels unwanted, so he kills all of the “hybrids”. When the sow hears of this, she commits suicide by drowning in a small pool of mud. The farmer-overcome with sadness (or because of the fact he JUST SCREWED A PIG), buries her, and even tries to bury himself along-side her. When this fails, he becomes furious, wrecks his house, and commits suicide via hanging.
Weird Moments: The farmer drinks tea made out of his own excrement; He fastens the heads of dolls to the heads of pigeons; He beheads a chicken for no good reason; The “couple” roll in the mud together, in order to bond; He collects strange materials in jars (which he destroys at the end of the movie).
Notable Extras: Inland Empire, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, Visitor Q, Rubber Lover, 964 Pinocchio, Videodrome, Asparagus, Blood of A Poet, Un Chien Andalou, The Exterminating Angel, El Doctor, Joy Street, A Snake In June, Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive, Twin Peaks, A Clockwork Orange, Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Organ, Ido, Ichi The Killer, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Any Pee Wee Herman movie or TV-show, Nosferatu, I Stand Alone, Brazil, The City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, Koyaanisqatsi, Big Fish, Monkeybone, Repulsion, Edward Scissorhands, Being John Malkovich, Many of Betty Boop’s cartoons, Santa Sangre, Blue Velvet, Akira, Ghost in the Machine, The Devils, Lair of the White Worm, The Big Lebowski, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:32 am
THIS IS GREAT!!
July 28th, 2009 at 1:35 am
I keep imagine the producer making pitches for some of these; who thought it was a good idea?
July 28th, 2009 at 1:35 am
awesome list, only seen 2 of these
July 28th, 2009 at 1:36 am
never mind I’ve seen none of these
July 28th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Haha that was awesome!
I really love the way it’s written. It made me laff.
Great list!
July 28th, 2009 at 1:46 am
I don’t think I’ve seen any of these, but they all sound pretty bizarre. Another crazy movie is a French musical called “Huit femmes” (8 Women). Basically, the father of the house is murdered, and his two daughters, his wife, his sister, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and two servants are snowed in and must figure out who the murderer is. Pretty standard Agatha Christie plot, right? Nope… because they sing at the most inappropriate times. And a couple of the women become lesbians all of a sudden- no explanation is given, and no one thinks this is strange, which in itself is strange, given that one of the women has just had her husband murdered. Also, the one daughter is pregnant. By her father. But he isn’t really her father. But she didn’t know that when she got pregnant. Again, no one finds this disturbing. Oh, and the father isn’t really dead. He enlisted the help of his youngest daughter to fake his death in order to expose his family members for what they really were. But when his young daughter opens the door in the big reveal at the end, he kills himself in front of her. No explanation. They sing. The end.
This movie is so ridiculous that it is funny for the entirely wrong reasons. Watch it.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:53 am
@msulli22 (6): that sounds brilliant – I am definitely going to check it out!
July 28th, 2009 at 1:54 am
I want to kill myself after seeing this list
July 28th, 2009 at 2:00 am
…to each his own.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:09 am
And yet none of these appear to have been hits at the box office… I wonder why… lol
July 28th, 2009 at 2:15 am
@Bel (10): I think the best films never are
July 28th, 2009 at 2:28 am
LOL any movie made in New Zealand is bizarre as I can’t understand those awful accents haha
July 28th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Never seen any of these…..and probably never will! Great list though, I love the ones with ‘bizzare’ in the title, i Know it’s going to be a great read!
July 28th, 2009 at 2:43 am
@Aus_Josh (12): you better avoid Australian movies then – it is almost the same accent but rougher and ten times louder and nasal. Nasty
July 28th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Woman In The Dunes is a terrific movie, i seen it years ago and it still sticks in my memory. I would nominate the rocky horror picture show, vampire transexuals from outer space?
July 28th, 2009 at 2:48 am
All of these appear to have a certain appeal to………
And on a lighter note we bring you………..
It’s seven and red candy because I’m in …………
July 28th, 2009 at 2:55 am
I knew there would be at least one Takashi Miike film. He’s just so outlandish, it might be possible to do an exhaustive “Most Bizarre Movies” list comprised *exclusively* of his works. That said, I still have to understand what the hell Gozu was about; perhaps the Italian subtitles were inadequate, most probably I’m not smart enough. Or insane enough. Bummer.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:57 am
JFrater, you should definitely check out Le Portrait de Petite Cossette. It’s actually a 3-part OVA anime series, but can be found as a single film. I’d go into detail with the plot, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Definitely a very bizarre film and worth checking out.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:16 am
Firefox blocked a pop-up, don’t tell me Listverse has joined the dark side. Please don’t start loading pages with pop-ups.
As for the list, awesome. Gotta love a film that messes with your head.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I loved these kind of movies, but I hate it when you can’t understand what is happening and no matter how you try you really cannot understand. Just like novels with a lot of plots and characters. In such cases I just soldier on, not bothering to remember all the characters with the hope that I will understand at or towards the end.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:18 am
weird
July 28th, 2009 at 5:28 am
I can’t beleive Even Dwarves Started Small has not made it onto any of these lists.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:33 am
I think some people might have too much time on their hands. I may be referring to the author of the list, but I am certainly referring to the producers, directors, cinematographers, screenwriters etc etc etc of these movie (who on some of them may be the same person).
I haven’t seen any of these movies, and this list hasn’t inspired me to, despite the author’s best attempts at advocacy.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Great list, I’ve never seen any of them, but maybe I’ll check some of them out (not all:-)). Oh, maybe you should check “Goodbye, 20th Century!”, a 1998 Macedonian movie. Spoilers: A man named Kuzman, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world can’t die and finds out that the only way he could erase his immortality is to have sex with his sister; A wedding goes bizzare and violent for a similar reason; On New Year’s Eve 1999, a man’s funeral in Santa’s home turns into a bloodbath.
Crazy!
July 28th, 2009 at 5:58 am
I’ve seen Woman in the Dunes and Uzumaki. I might try out Gozu but the rest might be beyond even my taste of bizarre.
Good list, WebbheadGreg.
July 28th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Not sure why Blue Velvet was mentioned in the end among the notable extras. I love that movie too much to think it would fall under the incredible or bizarre categories. Possibly David Lynch’s best work.
Interesting choices in this list (as well as some mentioned in the comments). Will definitely try to get hold of these.
July 28th, 2009 at 6:09 am
You could have saved some of those notable extras for another list
July 28th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Eraserhead just not strange enough? i mean seriously, watch it again
July 28th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Greetings. Well, just when I thought all the bizarre movies had been covered – here comes a whole new bunch. I knew Jodorowsky would be on here somewhere – althought I still (STILL!) haven’t gotten my arse around to seeing El Topo and The Holy Mountain. Not sure if these would be my taste or not….. suppose I’ll just have to watch one and see.
@jfrater (11): The best ones never are eh? Yeah, but you do have a reputation you know!? Tell you what – as it’s your birthday next month, why not give us another list of your all-time movie favourites? Yeah??
@muzli (20): A group of us went to see the latest Harry Potter last week – and one guy had never seen the films or read the books. Imagine how he feels! [him] “So who is Sirius Black?”. [person 1] “He’s a werewolf”. [person 2] “He’s the godfather”. [person 3] “He’s dead”. [him] “Oh… and is he in the film?”, [us] “NO!”, [him] “Oh….???”. LOL
@astraya (23): The word of the day is… advocacy. You now have 24 hours to use that on as many people as possible – starting now – GO!
July 28th, 2009 at 6:45 am
I know what I have to do the next week. Thank you !!!
Great list.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Low budget crap!
July 28th, 2009 at 7:19 am
From #10 “They send him down a rope-latter”
What the hell is a latter?
July 28th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Jan Svankmajer’s alice in wonderland is also really weird but has some unique stop motion animation. One of the weirdest movies i’ve ever seen is a French Canadian film cal Leolo about a boy who was conceived when his mother fell into a box of tomatoes that had recently been masturbated on
July 28th, 2009 at 7:58 am
This list sucks, I wish I could have the few minutes of my life back that I spent reading it
July 28th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Angel’s egg is one of the most interesting films I’ve seen. watch the whole thing on youtube
July 28th, 2009 at 8:11 am
“Meet the Feebles” comes to mind when I think of bizarre movies. It was directed by Peter Jackson in his earlier days. It’s about a demented children’s show with puppets (parodying Sesame Street) in which the puppets commit the vices of humans. It might fall under the category of “disturbing movies”, but it’s pretty damn bizarre. I’m sure there are some clips of it on Youtube.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:14 am
they’re not horrific nor are they action-packed… they’re just plain old weird, which means I wouldn’t want them in my DVD / CD collection ever!
July 28th, 2009 at 8:33 am
I absolutly love Uzumaki! It’s a manga you know, thats what the movie is based on. The manga is just as weird, if not weirder. But that movie is def creepy, I love it!
July 28th, 2009 at 8:47 am
i have never seen any of these…but i do wana check out #3, #5 & #10
July 28th, 2009 at 8:54 am
If I had to nominate a movie for this list it would be “Desperate Living.”
If you’ve never seen it look it up!
July 28th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I remember, when I was in grade school, our music teacher made us watch that Yellow Submarine movie like twelve million times. I don’t mean to offend any Beatles fans, but that movie was like an acid trip and a half lol.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Pretty much any movie made by Alejandro Jodorowsky (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423524/) should be on this “bizarre movie” list! The guy can make a good film, but they’re always BIZARRE! The ending of “The Holy Mountain” is one of the COOLEST endings ever, though. Basically, he shows the film apparatus just outside the frame (i.e. cameras, microphone, lights and crew) and instructs everyone (including the audience for the film!) to leave the holy mountain. “Real life awaits us,” he says. The screen fades to pure white. CLASSIC.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:13 am
pookie- I love the Beatles, but that movie is almost painful to watch the whole way through (unless you’re on acid at the time, possibly). It was a movie featuring the members of The Beatles, but they didn’t even use their real voices, aside from the songs.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I forgot to add one of the weirdest films that I have ever seen. It was called “B C Rocks”. It was animated film but beyond weird. (Not safe for kids, however) I felt that I needed to be on something just to get a part of that movie. Practically no plot. Anyone else see this one?
July 28th, 2009 at 9:49 am
I think The World’s Greatest Sinner should be added to this list.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Ive never heard of any of these. Anyone seen video drone? pretty weird. Also i wish this list didnt have so many spoilers (or at least had a warning.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:03 am
The Uzumaki manga was incredible but the movie kind of stunk :\
July 28th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Oouchan I’ve seen “B C Rock”, I have a copy of it somewhere, and you are right, it is one WEIRD movie!
The best part of “B C Rock” has got to be the fire farting dragon voiced by Bill Murray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v6J6TrzgFI WARNING! Lots of naughty words in this clip!
July 28th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I’m a bit surprised that The Tin Drum (based on the Günter Grass novel) hasn’t made it onto any of the bizarre movie lists yet. It’s one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever watched.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I didn’t think Edward Scissorhands [mentioned in the extras] was that weird. But that might be because Johnny Depp played so convincing…
And A clockwork orange is definitely strange, but let me tell you that the movie makes much more sense than the book does. To me, anyway.
As for the actual list… don’t even know 1 of them.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:59 am
has anyone ever seen memento? that was a pretty bizzare movie-if not in the way that most of those movies were bizzare. if some one hadn’t explained to me how it was filmed before I watched it I wouldn’t have gotten it until the film was over. It’s deffinetly a mind bending movie. its one of the ones you have to watch over and over again because you’re never quite sure what they said happend was what really happend.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Great list. Has anyone ever heard of hedwig and the angry inch? Now that’s an odd movie too.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:46 am
I’ve seen Uzumaki. Its awful. Read the manga by Junji Ito instead.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
ugh!was glad i haven’t seen any of those!
truly bizarre!
July 28th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Mmm – I will stick to The Sound of music on this one !
July 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I saw Woman in the Dunes twice in college in two different classes – Japanese Religious Thought and Religion in Cinema. It’s a wonderful movie, but be sure to have lots of water with you, it makes you really thirsty seeing all that sand!
July 28th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Emir Kusterica’s Arizona Dream. Seriously. Look it up, one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen.
Good, but f***ing bizarre.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Emir Kusterica’s Arizona Dream. Look it up, its quite bizarre.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
How about Emir Kusterica’s Arizona dream. Look it up, its pretty bizarre.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
darn it. it kept saying that i the comment hadn’t gone through. can somebody erase the extra comments? Sorry.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Thanks so much for this list!
I have always wanted to see #10 Woman in the Dunes, because I’ve heard from certain people that it’s the best film they’ve ever seen. That piques my interest, but also, I know the film score is written by Toro Takamitsu, and I pretty much adore his music. Thanks for reminding me that I need to see this one.
#9 – Reminds me of James Joyce: “Solitary hotel in mountain pass…. For my taste, this period and style of expression hasn’t stood the test of time. It feels so overwrought and pretentious to me now. (The MOVIE, not Ulysses)
#8 Faust. I’m not gonna lie. I laughed my ass off while watching this clip. “Come and explore MY cuntry!” LOL!
It has it’s appeal though, I want to see the whole thing.
Heavy Traffic was a staple of my youth. I remember thinking it was clever and funny.
Fando y Lis just looks pretty darn disturbing.
Iron Man, Vase de Noces, same deal. These kinds of movies, IMHO, have little redeeming artistic value, but have appeal to certain fetishists, and therefore, are useful.
@msulli22 (6): Thanks, want to see it.
Anyone ever seen The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, directed by Peter SellArs, with an (I believe,) uncredited film score by John Adams? It’s wierd. I liked it.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Good list, some disturbing stuff in here. People have probably mentioned this b4 in some of the other weird movie lists, but if anyone is planning on making a 3rd movie list, Taxidermia should definitely be in there.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I have to go with The Happiness of the Katakuris. It’s a zombie musical that includes claymation and a volcano.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Big Lebowski in the notable extras? what tha?!
July 28th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
The lack of Zardoz disappoints me.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
@lifeschool (29): “@astraya (23): The word of the day is… advocacy. You now have 24 hours to use that on as many people as possible – starting now – GO!”
I am teaching English at a language college in Sydney. Sometimes a student will use a very unusual word that I haven’t used or even heard in years, but still recognise. Last week one student used “flummox”, so I dubbed that the word of the week. Last night a student (possibly the same one) used a word which I called the word of the week, but I’ve forgotten what it was.
Another student wanted to know what “flummox” meant. I prompted one student to say that the closest ordinary word was “confused”. I added that another word was “perplexed”. Earlier in the lesson I’d ask question based on “Have you ever …? eg “Have you ever fallen asleep, woken up and not known where you are?” One of the South American students reported doing that after a drunken party. I said “Confused is when you wake up after a party not knowing where you are. Perplexed is when you wake up after a party not knowing where you are and you’re wearing no underwear. Flummoxed is when you wake up after a party not knowing where you are and you’re wearing women’s underwear.” (Most of my class members are male. I was looking at the males as I said that.)
July 28th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
@astraya (66):
hahahaha, an apt description, sir.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
WOW!!where do people come up with these effed up ideas?? and furthermore, where do they get the people to act in these effed up movies?
i’m sorry, all those movies sound like useless senseless crap and i wouldnt waste my time on any of them
just my humble opinion, and i’m so entitled.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I’m still surprised Eraserhead hasn’t made it to these lists. I guess it’s too well known.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I actually read about Uzumaki last night, after I had read one of the creator’s short mangas, it seemed really awesome, albeit a bit long for a single movie…
July 28th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Haha I have Vase de Noces on my laptop.
It is one strange film indeed.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Gosh, FINALLY “Gozu” made one of these lists. On the other lists I kept thinking, “Why isn’t “Gozu” on one of these lists? It’s up there with “Eraserhead”!” Well, finally my question was answered. And yes, it is INCREDIBLY bizzare.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
My Dad used to rent weird movies when I was a kid. I remember sitting behind his recliner watching Tetsuo with him one otherwise uneventful afternoon when I was about seven. It has seriously stuck with me these past twenty years- particularly a scene involving a phallic drill in action. One might question his parenting skills (and they should) but I think I turned out alright.
Another one from around that time, can anyone help me with this? All I remember is it was an Asian film, it involved a woman (oh, good, at least I can be specific), there was at least one scene in an orchard that was strewn with huge banners of red silk billowing in the breeze. I still dream about that scene to this day.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
“a man asks a woman a question. She says, “No.”, and they continue to talk, almost as if she said yes.”
Sounds like last Friday night at the bar… whah whah…
July 28th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
This is a great list, but missing my favorite strange movie, a japanese film called visitor Q. All I can say is necrophelila, incest and LOTS of lactating….
July 28th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
The movie Pervert! should be on here.
A clay-mation penis running around penetrating people.
A hillbilly father in love with his own son.
The fact that said clay-mation penis is a female…
Confusion.
But a truly bizarre film.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
#49
I second that – The Tin Drum is totally out there.
Another wierdo film is “The Dark Backward”
July 28th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Strange how most of these movies are Japanese. I’m half Japanese and I still can’t figure out why Japan has so many movies that are just so bizarre/disturbing.
And I’m glad Gozu finally got mentioned. I watched that movie years ago and the opening scene is still very vivid to me today. Also the ladle part was very disturbing. I think the best way to describe it is to liken it to a really bad nightmare that is completely void of reason.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
#5 looks pretty cool. Umm I saw a movie a while back, I can’t remember the name, but it was animated an had huge blue people(think opposite of Smurf) had humans (I think called “Om” or “Ohm”) as pets. That movie was pretty weird. Could anyone tell me the name, please?
July 28th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I am only saying this because I could not find a “contact” area. There are many of these lists that need checking. This list rocks because it is all about how each person will view it. The other lists I have been looking at need a serious mind. The extinct list is not proven. Many creatures mentioned in there have been seen as recent as of 2008. Just because a group says it is extinct doesn’t meant it is. We “people” are still finding other tribes out there. Some of these tribes are of the Mayan, Aztec, and Anasazi people. Wow! Don’t believe everything people say. I love all creatures big and small “except snakes they can stay away” and would not hurt them. For the most part it is a GREAT GREAT GREAT site but it just needs somme checking into on the lists. Oh and JF you might wanna equip this site with a spell-check that is right on the page cause it’s paine otherwise. Love the site just saying.
Red_Man
P.S. Keep up the excelent lists and destroy those that aren’t. Wiki should no be used as a source. If anyone is gonna reply my email is dingodadog@gmail. I will ignore rude people as many of you think I am.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Lard Nick—it was Fantastic Planet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Planet
I forget—did any of these bizarre movies lists include Hausu?
July 28th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Havent seen any of these but have seen a few on the bonus list.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
…nothing by ed wood?
July 28th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
at #4
This film debuted in Acapulco at the Film Festival and is famous for having incited a full scale riot there, requiring that Jodorowsky be smuggled out in a limousine.
July 29th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Isnt Faust one of the more famous German novels?
July 29th, 2009 at 4:43 am
I saw Faust years ago but couldn’t remember what it was called. But I remembered the bit when he had sex with the doll. Also seen Tetsuo. The second one was less weird.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:17 am
@Joy Grenade (81):
thanks, i saw that movie a while ago, an have been tryin to find out what it was called for so long!!
July 29th, 2009 at 8:07 am
No sweat.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Thats all Great…….
July 29th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Wonderful list. Has anyone ever seen “Singapore Sling” or “Sheitan”?
July 30th, 2009 at 3:10 am
YOU FORGOT GUMO!!!
July 30th, 2009 at 10:29 am
@jfrater (14): lol Not everybody in Australia sounds like Dave Hughs
@EAL (36): I think “Meet the Feebles” is actualy parodying “The Muppets”. Also if u thought that was you should see some of Peter Jackson’s other early stuff, I think his “Bad Taste” is even weirder.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
@AlexL. (91): ‘GUMMO’ (with TWO g’s, mind you) was already featured on a list.
i was personally a little disappointed by this list. i’m trying to remember if the past lists were about ‘bizarre’ movies or ‘disturbing’ movies. maybe there was both? anyway, the disturbing movies mentioned on previous lists were intriguing, but gruesome to the point that i had to do some research on them before deciding if they were things i really wanted to see – i like weird, but some of the reseach made me end up changing my mind. these all sound pretty tame in terms of gruesomeness.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
after reading the last list i thought it was missing last year at marienbad, b/c it was the strangest film i had seen.
the next list could include the mysterious geographical adventures of jasper morello – another odd one.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
@astraya (66): That was great! I love playing word games. I didn’t know you were/are a teacher… best not mention one of my favourite words: bamboozled.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
@Lifeschool (95): best not mention one of my favourite words: bamboozled.
I have great fondness for: bailiwick.
I realize your life would not have been complete unless I told you that, so consider it my gift to you.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Someday I would like to have a large collection of films like these… would make for great parties. But it wouldn’t be so great for my dating life. Maybe I should reconsider… nah, what the hell.
July 30th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I always thought “The Cell” was a rather bizarre and somewhat disturbing movie, maybe that’ll make the next one…
July 30th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Poor Piggy!!!
July 30th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
me and a few friends sat down and watched ‘heavy traffic’ and drank everytime we didnt understand what the holy hell was going on, wow i only made it halfway through, and the cow licking gozu scene, unintentional hilarity
July 30th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Gozu’s hilarity is intentional. The director just has a weird sense of humour.
Also, I can’t believe that The Holy Mountain isn’t on that list. It’s not even in the list of notable others. It’s much weirder that anything on this list.
July 31st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Most of these sound like weird ass disturbing fetish flicks or something. They are all fucking strange…
July 31st, 2009 at 6:28 pm
I never thought I’d feel sorry for the guy who made a list, but this one, ouch. I can’t imagine how hard it was having to watch all these “movies”. Thank you for warning us.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:51 pm
As hard as it may be to imagine, there are plenty of us who actually enjoy movies like these.
August 1st, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I remember seeing a Japanese movie about 6 years ago where all the kids in school were committing suicide because it was the cool thing to do. The movie starts out with a whole bunch of kids jump in front of a train in the subway. At 1 point some girl hops off a building and lands on her boyfriend. Really wild stuff.. forgot the name of it.
August 2nd, 2009 at 4:35 am
I predicted Uzumaki to be on this list. Remember my comment on the list “another 10 incredibly bizarre deaths” about Uzumaki? (comment 120 in that list)
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
# 1 deserves that position. Really weird. That’s really a sad sad story. How can people even think of such plots?!!
I was thinking of Edward Scissorhands and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Good that they are mentioned in the omissions.
Nice list!
August 4th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Bizarre? Most of this movies actually mainstream. I saw a lot of movies much more bizarre than this. But for most hollywood-fed viewers this movies will be shocking.
Maybe this is the time to start watching REAL CINEMA.
“I was thinking of Edward Scissorhands and Pink Floyd’s The Wall.” – LOL! )))
August 5th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
You think these are weird? You really must look up the trailer for “Robo Geisha.” It’s coming out this year, I think. It’s absolutely INSANE! The Japanese have such vivid imaginations =]
August 6th, 2009 at 7:23 am
@Chrystian, the movie is called Suicide Club. Been trying to get my hands on a copy. Dying to see it…
August 7th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Tideland is by far the most bizarre movie ever made. I’ve seen 8 of these and none even come close to how fuckin nuts Tideland is.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
EVERY movie you’ve ever recommended on this site seems so intriguing. You’ve taught me a lot of new pop culture must-sees… thank you so much!
August 15th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Jodorowski is simply fantastic!
August 16th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
GOZU THE BEST MOVIE EVERRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 21st, 2009 at 9:07 am
Don’t forget The Holy Mountain, Izo and Week End
August 23rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Okay, the movie Pi directed by Darren Aronofsky, a very strange film, you should check it out.
Also, how is the Big Lebowski on the notable extras?
That’s my favorite damn movie
September 10th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter is the weirdest movie I have ever seen.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Awesome list! I researched all of the omitted ones too and will rent a lot of them!
I don’t know how much I agree with the Big Lebowski being in there though!
Also- two of my favourite American weirdos- In The Mouth of Madness, and The People Unger The Stairs!
Thnx for the list!
January 21st, 2010 at 5:46 am
I am truly fascinated by this list! Never heard of any of these movies, before…
January 29th, 2010 at 1:00 am
If you like these, please check out “El Topo”, AKA “The Mole” directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, by far one of the strangest films of all time and quite hilarious if you have a twisted sense of humor.
Here is the wiki synopsis:
El Topo (The Mole) is a 1970 Spanish language allegorical, cult western movie and underground film, directed by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky. Characterized by its bizarre characters and occurrences, use of maimed and dwarf performers, and heavy doses of Christian symbolism and Eastern philosophy, the film is about the eponymous character – a violent, black-clad gunfighter – and his quest for enlightenment. For many years the film could only be seen at midnight screenings, in arthouses and via partially censored Japanese laserdiscs and bootlegged videos until its official DVD release on May 1, 2007.