most strange/weird films you've seen

[dunwich]

Outside Out

Colonel Bruce Hampton teaches a boy how to unlearn guitar

 

[ego_loss]

Sorry that I don't have the time nor care to give it a Siskel type review like I've seen you do many times with other movies.

How dare you.

Siskel was a hack. Ebert has always been the true genius of the duo. I thank you to never ever again compare me to Gene Siskel.

 

[Psychedelic Gleam]

Pink Flamingoes....totally.

I love John Waters the man just came to my school and I got to chat with him for a while, exchange trash film recommendations and revel in depraved trash art a bit with him. Plus he gave a great lecture.

 

[captainballs]

Originally Posted by IcebergSlim
Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom

'salo' is the most 'disturbing' film i have seen.

its my 'favorite weird film' because it was a very powerful experience watching it, a real 'eye opener'.

its hard for me to put into words... i am a big fan of horror movies and after watching 'salo' it made me realize something about the dark nature of humans and the innate capacity of evil we possess. by not 'sugar-coating' any of the scenes of 'torture, murder, rape, etc' in 'salo' the director reminds us that acts of violence should not be entertainment as they are in 'most' horror movies i enjoy, and reminds me how desensitized i am to violence be it in movies, or the news in real life.

the director accomplishes this fact extremely effectively in the final scene were the victims are being tortured and murdered while the captors take turns as a voyeur from inside the mansion and we watch with them through the view of their binoculars. the film attempts to equate our viewing of this film to their viewing of the executions, after all, we're watching these acts for 'entertainment', just as he is. and we distance ourselves from the acts in order to enjoy them, as he does by watching through binoculars far away. it's a savage and truthful attack, one that is impossible to deny.

a couple other reasons its my favorite is for being released in 1975 the director didn't give a fuck about being 'controversial' i respect him for going all out and possibly risking his life to stay true to his vision, as he was killed shortly before the film was released.

and LAST (finally) i put it in the 'weird' category because anyone watching this will be thinking 'WHAT THE FUCK' during its scenes of homosexual acts, or a feast on human shit, or its fucked up 'wedding' scene with the 4 male captors dressing up as women, it is very fucking weird!

and to anyone who hasn't seen it and decides to watch it, don't expect to have much of an appetite when its over.

the end

I watched this last night for the first time. It's a pretty good movie, with the whole fascist overtone thing. It was actually pretty disturbing, but I think he could have gotten his point across more subtely, with less violence and with better cinematography.

Implied violence can be more disturbing than actual violence, as it never fully manifest itself in a tangible way. Once actual violence is there, it can be measured and broken down. I'd rather a film with such heavy messages allow the most disturbing aspects to play out offscreen in the viewer's mind, but I suppose that to get general audiences uncomfortable and introspective he had to go for the overt disturbing things. Which is part of the whole package, I guess, and it's the director's choice. I just think he took the easy way out in this regard, regardless of what the rules of acceptability were back then.

In my opinion the elements that should have been the most disturbing were the characters. In this respect Salo fell short. I think that one of the themes of this film may have been the helplessness of a nation of poor people ruled by leaders who may or may not have sinister motives. In other words, the animal fear of never knowing what these apparent human beings have in store for you next, the key word being human because they walk, talk, smile, and act like humans as opposed to the typical robot-like bad guys that typically personify "evil." The director almost got this part right with the bad guys, but I think the "Signoras" could have had more clever outfits and make-up jobs. They simply weren't compelling and disturbing enough. The men, on the other hand, were pretty good, with the one aristocrat playing favorites with one of the male slaves in order to gain a sort of trust before eventually just cutting one of his eyes out after a brief flirt. This particular relationship (not the violence part) in the film personified what I think the film should have had more of.

It would have been much more disturbing to see the relationships between the Signoras and the captured girls. One thing that stood out in this film was how order in the house was maintained with relatively little force. People were sneaking out at night to fuck, everyone had a bed and pillow, there was a lot of down time. Seeing the Signoras manipulate the girls into feeling safe would have been nice, although in the film these tactics were only implied because I think it would have been more difficult to create that kind of atmosphere successfully.

There were some definite quotables in this film, very disturbing dialogue in general, but I think that this rabbit-hole should have been followed deeper instead of replaced by wanton and often anti-climactic scenes of violence.

 

[ego_loss]

I thought it was a fun movie. The kid was oblivious to everything,which made him partially responsible for the deaths of quite a few people,including his own dad.

The kid was freaking retarded. What kind of child really would be that oblivious to reality? In fact, the whole family must have had a touch of the Down's.

I liked the "Satan" character and his interaction with the kid. It was creepy and kind of enduring at the same time.

There wasn't a whole lot to the "satan" character. It could have been a monkey wearing the mask and it would have brought the same amount of depth and range to the role.

Sorry that I don't have the time nor care to give it a Siskel type review like I've seen you do many times with other movies. I liked the movie. You didn't. What else is there to say?

That you like shitty movies.

 

[IcebergSlim]

Implied violence can be more disturbing than actual violence, as it never fully manifest itself in a tangible way.

hey dude, im with you 100% on that.

thanks for sharing your thoughts on the film, i enjoyed reading your post in particular when u said...

I think that one of the themes of this film may have been the helplessness of a nation of poor people ruled by leaders who may or may not have sinister motives.

i never thought of it that way until u mentioned it and with the whole 'fascist overtone' of the move and the director's political views i think its safe to say you are correct in your assumption.

 

[Daisybabe]

Amelie isn't weird, whoever said that up there ^^!

My weird movie would have to be Dream With the Fishes. Who knew that David Arquette was so cool before Courtney Cox got involved?!

Arquette plays a guy who wants to kill himself. While attempting to jump off the SF bridge, he runs into a terminally ill man who really wants to experience life. They make a pact (DA is rich) where DA pays to help fulfill the dying man's fantasies (nude bowling, a hysterical acid-dropping sequence) and in return, the dying man will give DA Option A - his $50K life insurance or, Option B - will kill him.

I also thought Tideland was really weird, but good.

 

[dark light66]

UHF that movie is the shit or killer klowns from outer space

 

[ego_loss]

Amelie isn't weird, whoever said that up there ^^!

My weird movie would have to be Dream With the Fishes. Who knew that David Arquette was so cool before Courtney Cox got involved?!

You got it backwards. He He was cool UNTIL she got involved.

 

[Daisybabe]

^^lol, that's what I meant. He was awesome, and she came along and sucked it all right out of him.

 

[AmorRoark]

Oldboy might not be weird for Korean cinema but it was weird for me... and I LOVED IT.

 

[captainballs]

If anyone's on an "asian invasion" film binge, I highly recommend devoting a couple hours to this masterpiece. It's got an incredibly abstract story, and it actually makes you feel something - not a normal feeling, but almost a feeling/understanding of the world that exists in this film, with its circular reality that involves life, death, and an interesting picture of the afterlife.

Much like the effect a Lynch film has on me, after watching this I feel a kind of euphoria that I can't explain because it's not based on anything rational....

 

[IcebergSlim]

^ ill look out for that

speaking of 'asian' films, i thought someone would mention japanese director 'takashi miike' since no one has , i must cause he deserves an 'honorable mention' anytime the discussion of 'weird films' comes up.

interview clip of the man himself

 

[panic in paradise]

Liquid Sky "ima killer, i kill with my cunt."

Woman Chaser "to me!"

Punch Drunk Love "your going to Hawaii?!? ohh thats wonderful!"

The Cowboy and the Frenchmen(short film by david lynch) "what the hell"

Cremaster 3... not sure if that counts, weird to most...? "hisssss"

Juliet of the Spirits

Chow Manhattan

 

[Arzi]

vanilla sky

 

[panic in paradise]

^ that was an awsome fukn movie.

tom cruise is in too many good movies, it sucks how throwed off he is, i cant watch any films he is in with out thinking about that.

another favorite 'weird movie' that has the same pretenses to me is, Whats Up Tiger Lilly by woody allen.

 

[captainballs]

Tom Cruise is an awesome actor. I don't think he's any more unbalanced than anyone else, he's just more visible. Those images did kind of mess things up though. Funny how a little misbehaving can undermine a huge amount of quality work.

 

[Evad]

I agree with a lot of the suggestions before, Gummo is great, Korine's new film looks interesting as well.

Just saw a Belgian film that reminded me of it in some ways but had a lot more structure to it, I really enjoyed it and it definitely comes under weird/fucked up films. The film is Ex Drummer by Koen Mortier

here is a summary by the director

Every village has its band of fools, trying to get to the top, following their idols in drug habits, but staying losers till the end of their pathetic days. They all do this in the name of rock & roll. Three disabled rock musicians are looking for a drummer. Dries, a well known writer, seems the right guy for the job, were it not for the fact that his only handicap is that he can't play the drums. He joins the group as a perfect, but evil god walking down his mountain to play with the populace. With the arrival of this infiltrator, personal disputes and family feuds start to jeopardize the band's fragile future. Dries will manipulate them till they are willing to drink each others blood and their only future is written down in many Punk lyrics: "No Future"

The films pretty gritty and disgusting in parts but there's some great black comedy in it. The lead singer of the band is a crazy skinhead with a lisp and a penchant for beating women to death who when shown in his apartment is always walking on the ceiling...anyway, it's weird, I'd recommend it if you're into "that kind of thing."

 

[captainballs]

Ex Drummer sounds pretty badass.

 

[marcos98573]