My list of some weird ass movies

Yorkist · Mar 28, 2012

I'm not one of those folks who watches weird movies for the sake of watching weird movies (fortunately my spouse is, so I've got him mining diamonds for me out of coal mines filled with crap, hehe), but two of my absolute favorite films, relatively unknown and with low budgets and without broad commercial appeal:

Primer, about the accidental discovery of time travel by a couple of office drones and its real-world uses and implications, and The Wild Hunt, about roleplay/LARP-ing and what it means about our culture's search for meaning, on both the individual and collective level, and the potential consequences therein.

My descriptions aren't doing those two films justice, but I heartily recommend them for anyone who even remotely likes SFF or literary fiction, and not necessarily weird movies. They're the kinds of films I can watch twice in one day (and have).

J.S.F. · Mar 28, 2012

Yorkist said:
I'm not one of those folks who watches weird movies for the sake of watching weird movies (fortunately my spouse is, so I've got him mining diamonds for me out of coal mines filled with crap, hehe), but two of my absolute favorite films, relatively unknown and with low budgets and without broad commercial appeal:

Primer, about the accidental discovery of time travel by a couple of office drones and its real-world uses and implications, and The Wild Hunt, about roleplay/LARP-ing and what it means about our culture's search for meaning, on both the individual and collective level, and the potential consequences therein.

My descriptions aren't doing those two films justice, but I heartily recommend them for anyone who even remotely likes SFF or literary fiction, and not necessarily weird movies. They're the kinds of films I can watch twice in one day (and have).

---

Primer is an excellent example of what you can do with a lot of inventiveness offsetting a $1.98 budget. Clever and thought provoking.

I'm a fan of the old 'B' movies, and love Edgar Ulmer's stuff. Catch Detour if you can. It's on YouTube and in the Public Domain. Not a great movie by acting standards but the direction is offbeat and well done. Bluebeard (1944) has the same excellent direction and the mise-en-scene is superb. Unfortunately, the print has been damaged by time, but John Carradine gives probably his finest performance.

SirOtter · Mar 28, 2012

J.S.F. said:
I'm a fan of the old 'B' movies, and love Edgar Ulmer's stuff. Catch Detour if you can. It's on YouTube and in the Public Domain. Not a great movie by acting standards but the direction is offbeat and well done. Bluebeard (1944) has the same excellent direction and the mise-en-scene is superb. Unfortunately, the print has been damaged by time, but John Carradine gives probably his finest performance.

Ulmer did remarkably well on shoe-string budgets. There's more style in Bluebeard than in most MGM musicals, and all for a budget of about $48.27. And Detour is the definitive film noir. His Black Cat may be the best non-series film from Universal's first horror cycle, and The Man From Planet X is an underrated little SF picture that doesn't get its rightful due, IMHO. Even a piece of dreck like The Amazing Transparent Man is almost tolerable in Ulmer's hands, much better than any of his peers on Poverty Row could've done.

J.S.F. · Mar 29, 2012

SirOtter said:
Ulmer did remarkably well on shoe-string budgets. There's more style in Bluebeard than in most MGM musicals, and all for a budget of about $48.27. And Detour is the definitive film noir. His Black Cat may be the best non-series film from Universal's first horror cycle, and The Man From Planet X is an underrated little SF picture that doesn't get its rightful due, IMHO. Even a piece of dreck like The Amazing Transparent Man is almost tolerable in Ulmer's hands, much better than any of his peers on Poverty Row could've done.

--

Agreed, although The Amazing Transparent Man showed none of his style. Daughter of Dr. Jekyll is just confusing but it does have a couple of his trademark scenes. The Black Cat is just sick...but good, and way ahead of its time Some of his 'ethnic' films are quite good, both in terms of story and direction. He had a great quote. "I am looking for absolution in everything I do." (I think that's it). An excellent book is 'King of the B's' but I can't remember the author's name. Highly recommended.

maxmordon · Mar 29, 2012

You want weird movies? Come no further than Mexican's children movies from the 50's. Check out those English dubs done by K. Gordon Murray (like Santa Claus, el Santo movies and the Aztec Mummy from MST3K).

Just check out Red Little Riding Hood And The Monsters:

http://youtu.be/JSNj_gv9mQ4

Other weird children's movies: Santa Claus And The Ice Cream Bunny and Dr. Seuss' only directorial work: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

LongWave · Mar 29, 2012

haha, I thought Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil was fun.

One of my favorite weird movies is Pan's Labyrinth.

UrbanAmazon · Mar 31, 2012

Some good movies being mentioned in here, but I can't pass up an opportunity to mention my own top picks.

Undead - This is hands down the weirdest zombie movie I have ever seen. Not really disturbing or horrifying, just hilariously weird. It starts with a meteor shower, and at one point, makes a Matrix parody. And that's not even the weirdest moment in the whole thing.

and Sphere - Just... weird. I think part of it may be the fault of the incredibly late hour at which I attempted to watch it, but... wow. That one was distractingly weird.

My list of some weird ass movies

Yorkist

J.S.F.

Red fish, blue fish...

SirOtter

Il Cavaliere Marino

J.S.F.

Red fish, blue fish...

maxmordon

Penúltimo

LongWave

UrbanAmazon

It must be Thursday.