The Top 10 most bizarre films of all time!
 

Pretty interesting stuff here.
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/30/105557.php

I'd agree with Mulholland Dr.

The only thing I understood in that movie was that the lesbian scenes were pretty good. ;) I have no idea what any of it meant, and I spend my time searching for metaphor and theme!

A Clockwork Orange wasn't very good compared to the book. I was sorely disappointed. Though, it does make sense to me, I guess.

and I've yet to see the rest of them.

Que? Not a one Terry Gilliam on the list. Almost every one of his films dip into that territory during the last half-hour.

Overall, seems like a solid list, although I've only seen half of them. Glancing at my own shelves, I'd nominate The Company of Wolves over Six String Samurai, which was relatively easy to follow.

id throw in Rocky Horror picture show as a honorary mention at the very least
i have only vanilla sky on that list and it wasnt all that bizarre atleast to me

I'd agree with Mulholland Dr if it were a top 10 worst films of all time list, lol, I personally thought the movie was a good 2 and a half hours or so of time I couldv'e spent watching something good, as for a lot of those movies, I think I should check a few of them out.

There is an endless thread about this on FARK, but I'll list some that I think should be included:

Wild at Heart
The Wall
Crybaby
Shake the Clown
Blue Velvet
Gummo

El Topo
The Holy Mountain
L'age D'or
Un Chien Andalou
Santa Sangre
Eraserhead

These are just off the top of my head...

The list provided above, with a few exceptions, is full of films that are barely worthy of being called Bizarre.

I think I would have to add "I heart Huckabee" on that list. I didn't like it at all and had to force myself to sit through it.

Also, I might add "Lost in Translation". I absolutely loved this movie, but I thought it was quite weird. But what isn't anymore with Bill Murray right?

Derwood,
Gotta agree with the David Lynch pics, but I do love them. Mulholland Dr. was BAKED though.
Gummo absolutely rules!

Speaking of Terry Gilliam, i would like to add Brazil to the list. Not only is it a brilliantly conceived, well thought out,immersive universe in the film, but it is also one of those rare films that repeated viewings not only further explain what you saw the last time(s) you saw it, but different aspects stick out.

A wholly remarkable film.

Pi is an excellent movie. One of the best I've seen in a while. I'm surprised Requiem for a Dream didn't make it on there. But I guess it's more mentally scarring than bizarre.

the listmaker probably hasn't seen...

requiem for a dream
blue velvet
trainspotting
apocalypse now

or...

fear and loathing in las vegas

however, the city of lost children was a good choice... didn't think anyone else had seen that one.

Heh.. I own 4 of them. City Of The Lost Children is definately one of my top bizarre movies. However, you can tell by the descriptions that this guy does NOT understand movies at all.

Evil Dead should be on the list. Great movie but certainly bizarre.

another giveaway would be citing vanilla sky as one of his top ten, where it's merely a remake of the film abre los ojos (open your eyes, also with penelope cruz), the latter being infinitely better than that piece of hollywood tripe.

interesting.

i would add and delete from the initial list--mulholland drive seems to me little more than cliff notes hamlet meets cliff notes freud. lynch has been on a steady downhill course since eraserhead, i think.

mi'ike is very strange: visitor zero, the audition....
herzog's even dwarves started small is quite a headfuck
harmony korine is a really interesting, really disturbing director: i would look at julien donkey-boy in addition to gummo. i think he has another film too, but i cant remember the title.
von trier--pretty much anything by him--elements of a crime, medea, the idiots, breaking the waves, dancer in the dark, dogville....

The key to understanding Mulholland drive:

Spoiler: Everything that happens up to when Betty opens up the mysterious box is an elaborate dream sequence/fantasy in which she reorders her messed up life to fit her desire for how she wants it to be. Everything after that is real.

Betty comes to Hollywood after winning a dance competition. She meets, falls in love with, and has an affair with Camilla. Her career tanks, while Camilla's soars. Camilla beats her out for a movie role they both wanted, and soon Camilla leaves her for the director of the movie. In a fit of jealousy, Betty hires a hitman to kill Camilla. When she comes home one afternoon to find the key on her living room table, she knows that the deed is done, and has a psychotic break, which leads her to the fantasy/dream we see in the first hour and a half of the movie, with people from her real life recast into parts for her fantasy. The guilt eventually overwhelms her, and she kills herself.

Meet The Feebles - it is a cross between the Muppets, a triple xxx film with lots of pointless but funny violence thrown in.

Here is what one reviewer thought about it:

The Feebles -- the creatures which populate this movie -- are a cross between the Muppets and the monsters from Return of the Jedi. But the denizens of Peter Jackson's dark, puppet demesne are not cute and cuddly. To the outside world, the stars of "The Fabulous Feebles Variety Hour" television special are celebrities worthy of adoration, but those who spend time behind-the- scenes know the real story. The Feebles are engaged in every kind of depravity imaginable, from pornography to homicidal shooting sprees. In brief, there's Harry the hare, who thinks he's infected with a terminal sexually-transmitted disease; Bletch the walrus, who runs a XXX video business on the side; Sebastian the fox, who writes and sings a song called "Sodomy"; Trevor the rat, who deals drugs and sounds like Peter Lorre; Heidi the hippo, the aging, overweight star attraction; and Wynyard the frog, a Vietnam Vet with a heroin habit.

The stories of these and a few other characters are told in a disgustingly graphic, obscenely offbeat, and caustically funny manner. Meet the Feebles is for those with a strong stomach and a seriously warped sense of humor. The film is so off the beaten track that it makes Monty Python seem mainstream.

Equilibrium
An excelent movie but such a weird plot
I liked it a lot

meet the feebles? wow someone else whom has seen it. i quite enjoyed it, sheerly for its bizarreness.

and naked lunch as mentioned in the opening post, wow, what a fucked up film.

Has anyone here seen Happiness of the Katikuris? It's a crazy blend of a bunch of different genres. Kind of a very, very strange horror musical. I was very confused after watching it. Not because it didn't make any sense (it didn't), but because I couldn't understand what would possess someone to make such a movie.

No mention of "Tetsuo"? By far one of the most bizarre movies I've seen. My understanding is that is was also the inspiration of the Nine Inch Nails' "Happiness in Slavery" video.

Has anybody ever seen Salo? I heard it is one of the most bizarre and controversial films ever made. It contains extreme violence, torture, and sexually explicit scenes, so I'm guessing this movie is not for everyone. It's been out of print for a while now. I need to get my hands on a copy as I'm curious to see what the fuss is about.

I'll have to check out some of the titles you all have mentioned too.

Salo

http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/70/59/30m.jpg

Tetsuo and Tetsuo 2 are great examples of bizarre films... I had completely forgotten about them...

I would also add something like Peter Jackson's Meet the Feebles... not so much a mind fuck (not at all really) just really odd... a slasher muppet film.

Finally, someone who mentioned the FEEBLES. You have NOT seen this film, you have NOT seen a bizarre movie. Its really fucked up! Fantastic!

V.

seems like the films listed are not overly bizarre, just out of the ordinary. yeah, his descriptions are pretty weak. vanilla sky is not a thinking man's total recall. i guess they dont have lost highway at every last blockbuster in the country, but it's hardly rare.

satyricon is a very weird movie. the scenes have almost no continuity. and what about peter greenaway's movies...that guy takes pretention to another level.

satyricon--no continuity? you should see it again. i had a parallel experience the first time i watched it--but the second time, it was like seeing a different film. i blame the monkey chant.

greenaway's films at least tkae chances--with the result that when the tank, they REALLY tank--but the cook the thief his wife and her lover is lovely, i think. so is the draightman's contract. the tempest was ok--but i really really did not like pillow book.

i agree there is a progression (and even a sort of resolution) to satyricon. it is a "journey" told with several gaps. the remaining pieces seem independent...an unknown amount of time has elapsed between them.

in theory greenaway should make awesome movies, but i haven't been blown away. i have not seen the draightman's contract, though. i've only seen the others you mention and 8 1/2 women. i've never heard a good critical analysis either, so i'm sure i'm missing something.

I really consider mulholland dr. to be one of the least bizarre of Lynch's movies...but it's still pretty fucking bizarre. I too nominate Tetsuo:Ironman, Brazil, and Delicatessan. I think this list mixes up "bizarre" and "obscure".

Lynch's least bizzare films are Elephant Man and Dune... those are almost completely lacking in his oddness (not that it doesn't creep in around the edges).

Miike's Izo is a pretty greatly bizarre film.
Seijin Suzuki's stuff is pretty great, especially his 2001 film Pistol Opera.

Not sure how you can miss the movie Brazil.