What is the strangest movie you have ever seen?

The Science of Sleep. Last winter I was so sick I felt like I was on death’s door… I went to the doctor, filled my prescription, and went to bed. It was a major blizzard, so the doctor’s visit took 8 hours of driving.. needless to say I was pretty whipped when I got home. I took my medicine and passed out. I woke up at 2am to the beginning of that movie… and until I saw it again a few months later, I wasn’t sure if I was having some cracked-up sick dream or if I’d actually seen that on the TV.

Beside the Classics Rockey Horror Picture Show and Harold and Maude?

Santa Clause Conquers the Martians

Lost Highway.

I really loved Harold and Maude and didn’t particularly think it was strange at the time, but I had also asked for a morbid humor recommendation.

@blastfamy: omg! one of my friends has that. We got it at the “movies you’ve never seen—and you’re probably thankful” sale!

Memento
Pi

@Judi: OMG. This is all thanks to my friend Adrienne (Mrs_Dr_Drank_N_Furter) that I am now obsessed with that movie. RHPS is like the greatest movie ever! we’re going to make a second one

Pink Flamingos and Across the Universe

@blasfamy the movie looks great for lolz.

@robhaya for some reason Across the Universe didn’t appeal to me at all. I think Partially because I hate Evan Rachel Wood, and also because I can’t stand beatles covers. I feel they never do any justice.

and pink flamingos is on my to-see list.

Un Chien Andalou (famous for the opening razor scene, but equally strange throughout)

Most John Waters movies: Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, Female Trouble, Pecker, Multiple Maniacs, Eat your Make Up, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket…i love them all…

Early Warhol Movies; Dracula, Frankenstein

Eraserhead, for sure.

Motel Hell is one of my faves…

House of 1,000 Corpses is wonderfully creepy…

Dead Alive….released in 92, I believe.

Hostel…another fave of mine….

There’s so many!

The old H G Lewis horror movies.

Cannibal Holocaust
Mulholland Drive
Tetsuo(seriously wtf?)
Pi
Memento
Ichi the Killer
Sars Wars
Mind Game (trailer)
Paprika(this ones a trailer)
Cat Soup (you can watch the full thing(only a half hour) on youtube 1 2 3)
The Wall

ive never heard of Pink Flamingos but i just looked it up on IMDB…..why is a plot keyword “anal gaping”? lol

Rhinoceros
Freaks

Gummo was exactly what I was thinking when I read your title. Then I see it at the top of your list.

I worship that film. Have you seen the rest of Harmony Korine’s films?

the one I found to be a bit strange was called The Dreamers. But Pi and Pink Flamingos are up there as well.

GIZMO!

THE GROOVE TUBE

My first response was Lost Highway. My son brought it home and we watched the thing and at the end my husband and I looked at each other and said WTF?
Here is another, The Cook , The Thief , His Wife and Her Lover. Helen Mirren was in it was why I rented it. Whew! Now that I think about it this one was way weirder than LH

@spargett I’ve seen Kids and I really really really want to see Mr. Lonely.

I’m not sure about Julien Donkey-Boy. Have you seen it? If you say it’s worth watching I’ll give it a chance.

@JackAdams I need to see Rhinoserous! Gene Wilder FTW.

I have seen Julien Donkey-Boy, and I’m surprised that I forgot to mention it. It is definitely strange, but also brilliant, at the same time.

It is worth seeing, but to really understand it and appreciate it, you should probably watch it 3 times.

@greeeengloves it really hurts that you didn’t like oldboy. One of my favorites. :D

1. The Room. Worst movie of all time. The dreamchild of an insane europeans dude named tommy wiseau. But certainly strange and by far the funniest 2 hours of my life.

2. Primer. Opposite of the room. Brilliant low-budget independent movie about two software engineers trying to invent an anti-gravity machine, that accidentally end up inventing something so much more revolutionary and groundbreaking for mankind, but they keep it a secret while they try to learn more about it, and it ends up ruining the both of them. Definitely weird, and a little complicated, but my hands-down favorite movie.

Ugh sorry for butchering the spelling of Rhinoceros honestly I think that may be the first time I’ve ever had to spell that word out.

A few people mentioned Memento and Pi, two of my favorite films, I thought they were different, I wouldn’t say “strange”. Yes, John Waters films are strange, and that’s by design, same with David Lynch films…stuff like Mullholland Drive and Lost Highway, well I consider myself to be a film afficianado and unusual doesn’t put me off in the slightest, but I just plain don’t “get” them…guess I’d call them “obtuse”. Strange is such a subjective term, some movies that are quite popular are also quite “strange” when you get right down to it. But my favorite strange movie, and definitely one of the strangest I’ve seen as it intentionally builds this sort of parallel existence for you, is called “The Dark Backward.”

Here’s the story, Marty (Judd Nelson), is a garbageman by day and an aspiring stand up commedian by night. His co-worker and accordion playing best friend Gus (Bill Paxton) encourages him, but has a few interesting characteristics that make him lucky to have any friends at all. For example, he appears to be rather sexually twisted in that rather than recoiling in horror at discovering a dead, naked woman on a trash heap, he instead decides to lick her body to attain some sort of cheap thrill. In another scene, we see him cavorting on a bed with 3 women, the smallest of whom had to weigh at least 500 pounds.

Marty isn’t exactly “funny”, his jokes by and large seem to fall flat (and for good reason). But one day, Marty wakes up and has a lump protruding from the middle of his back. He goes to Dr. Scurvey (James Caan) who puts a bandaid on it and sends him on his way. But the lump grows bigger and bigger and eventually forms into a third arm. Gus exploits Marty (despite his being dumb as Samsonite, he’s also rather devious), by hooking him up with a slick Hollywood agent, Dirk Delta (Rob Lowe), who gets him booked on a local variety show hosted by Jackie Chrome (Wayne Newton). And of course to fill out the weirdness, Marty’s girlfriend Rosarita is played by Lara Flynn Boyle.

After we see Marty continually exploited by Gus, when it comes time for the big time, Marty wakes up one day, and his third arm has disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared. In then end, Marty goes to the same open mic where he originally bombed, only to knock ‘em dead with his killer new routine about how he once grew a third arm.

If you remember the general feel of Robocop, where it was kind of like our world, only somehow darker….different…there was adverstising all over the place and catch phrases (I’ll buy that for a dollar), of products that weren’t exactly our products, but were every bit as familiar…a world that is simultaneously futuristic but where something clearly has gone not according to plan…that is the feel of this movie. It is bizarre, front to back.

But it’s extremely funny if you can get through it without being grossed out.

@eatmunkey I think that the overall “theme” of oldboy is not one i’m too keen on. Same reasons why the dreamers really bothers me in some points. I guess thats where my line is set. :)

All of David Lynch’s movies are strange. I think Eraserhead is the strangest though.

I liked Eraserhead, but I like almost anything that has Arnold Schwarzenegger in it.

I thought House of 1000 Corpses was weird. And also A Clockwork Orange (although at least this kind of had a point to it).

I thought the David Cronenberg’s Crash was seriously seriously disturbing.

@Megan64 Have you seen Inland Empire? Thats right up there with eraserhead. I liked Eraserhead because it was artistis and really well put together, Inland Empire was more of a confusing mess.

@Allie I think House of 1000 Corpses had the scariest charactor (Dr. Satan) of all the movies i know of/seen. I love the fact that Rainn Wilson is in that movie. Have you seen the Devil’s Rejects? That wasn’t all that bad.

The really strangest movie I ever saw, was of my buddy and his wife, on their honeymoon.

As part of the divorce settlement, he had to destroy the only copy of it, in front of her lawyer.

As least, they think it was the only copy.

(hee hee hee)

house of 1000 corpses is awesome….so is the devil’s rejects

Devils rejects is one of those rare cases where the sequel was a million times better than the original. I liked house of a 1000 corpses, but dammmmmmmmmmn devils rejects was just so awesome. I can no longer listen to free bird and not think of the final scene in that movie.

@uberbatman I love anything by rob zombie. his ‘halloween’ was excellent as well.

@uberbatman the soundtrack of that movie was really amazing. It changed freebird for me as well.

@Jackadams oh my! haha that reminds of what the ring would be like if it was turned into a porno.

Irreversible. Strange? Moderately. Abhorrent? Definitely.

@gadfly My boyfreind has seen irreversible and liked it a lot. I want to give it a try at some point.

OMG! You reminded me of the first time I watched The Ring.

Almost the instant the movie ended (I was watching it at home) my telephone rang.

I didn’t answer it for the next 17 days.

NO SPOILER ALERT TO FEAR.

Being a huge fan of Japanese flicks, I have a disturbingly high tolerance for cinematic violence but Irreversible… pardon me while I shudder… in fact, I am just going to go curl into the fetal position in my closet for a while.

@JackAdams hahaha that was a really scary movie the first time around. It wears off, but it really got to me the first time.

The scariest movie I have ever seem was Noroi. It’s complexity was unsettling.

Actually as I speak Rob (boyfriend) and I are watching my old VHS copy of the shining (Kubric). We are really familiar with the movie but it seems that we BOTH are seeing a lot of new stuff this particular time.

Another really strange one, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavara:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307109/

kind of an homage to 50s B-movies…came out in 2001, but in b&w, and about a possessed skeleton who uses mind control…gotta be seen to be believed, very funny/very weird.

Oh, how about Reefer Madness? My favorite was the maniacal piano player.

Just saw Reefer Madness for the first time on Saturday night…it was playing on AMC…I too loved the maniacal piano player. I’m glad I never tried marijuana, I’d hate to end up on trial for murder.

LOL that movie is hilarious. THERES A NEW DRUG IN AMERICA ONE WORSE THAN HEROIN AND IT GOES BY THE NAME OF MARIJUANA!!!

I concur with others about Memento. Also, Pan’s Labarynth.

My benchmark for “weirdest film ever” is Mulholland Drive. I don’t care how many times I see it, it makes no damn sense to me at all. And it’s super weird.

I have to be honest.. I’m sort of dumbfounded that nobody else has mentioned Science of Sleep. It makes no sense! Am I the only one? am I stupid? :(

Seriously AlenaD im waiting for someone to be able to actually explain that movie to me. The first time i watched it i was like mannnnnnn this isnt confusing at all. Then it got to that blue box thing and all of a sudden…wait WTF JUST HAPPENED!?

Yeah.. my ex loves it and she tried explaining it to me a few times. The film is so random and weird.. she was trying to tell me it’s supposed to be a dream or something.. still, I say Eh, what??

@AlenaD are you reffering to Mullholland drive? If anyone tries to explain it to you that is just their opinion of what the movie means. Really anyone can make anything out of that movie, there is no real answer.

Ok, so above gave you two commercially available movies that were in line with your tastes, but now I will tell you about the strangest movie I have ever seen.

I was in film school and we were having screenings of the final films. A Fine Art Photo major got permission to display their final project to the film students, so right at the end of the day this guy walked in looking like Perry Farrell with a feathered boa and an entourage.

He went to the podium and just stood silently while the film started. All we saw were color bars and then he leaned into the mike and said, “This is the duct tape scene”

The color bars went away and there was a skinny guy with no shirt. He picked up a roll of duct tape and proceeded to wrap it around his waist until the whole roll was used up and he looked like he had a very tight girdle on that contorted his body into an hourglass. Then color bars.

“This is the eyeball scene”
Away go the color bars and we see an Extreme Close Up of an eyeball and hear some classical music, mostly violins i think. The eyeball moves around slowly if at all as we listen to the music, the very slowly a tongue comes into the frame and moves closer and closer to the eyeball. Eventually, it touches the eyeball. Then color bars.

“This is the shower scene”
Fade up to a guy laying in the shower, naked. Music playing. Music playing, guy still naked, no movement. Music playing, no movement. Music begins to crescendo, right on cue, naked dude pees on himself. Fade out. Then color bars.

This went on for about 30 minutes…

Fireside for the win.
Or, rather, Perry Farrell with a feathered boa and an entourage for the win.

definitely fireside ftw. LOL

@fireside what type of reaction did he get from the audiece ?

The original Wicker Man. I felt like I was watching Pete’s Dragon for grownups or something. It was just bizarre.

@greeeeeeeeeeeeeeengloves – 4 or 5 of the film students just tore into him; how dare he? and what did he think that was? and why should he have been allowed into OUR theater?

He just shrugged and answered calmly and quietly and then tipped his velvet purple pimp hat to the crowd, and walked out with his entourage and feathered boa.

When you enter into the world of film art (especially experimental filmmaking), “strange” becomes an unused term. Anything goes. The first foray I’d made into that world was watching some stuff by Martin Arnold, a guy who loves reworking older movies. For a very short clip from his most famous film, Alone: Life Wastes Andy Hardy, check this out.

Terror of Tiny Town—an all midget (yes, that’s how it was billed) western

More of a general cult/weird movies list for you, leaning towards the strange stuff…

*Even Dwarves Started Small by Herzog. (Even Dwarves Started Small counts as literally one of the strangest films I have seen.)
*El Topo, The Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre by Jodorowsky
*Mind Game, an amazing anime film not available in the States (referred to above)
*I Stand Alone and Irréversible by Gaspar Noé
*Anything by Bunuel
*Strange and bad though watchable: The Apple
*Less bad though strange: Zardoz
*Forbidden Zone
*Angel’s Egg, another anime you can’t legally get in the States
*Head, the Monkees movie
*Palindromes
*Possession, the early ‘80’s art horror film, not the other recent one
*Orlando
*Savages, the early ‘80’s comedy, not the other recent one
*The Seventh Continent and some of the other works of Michael Haneke
*The End of Evangelion, though you have to have seen the television series Neon Genesis Evangelion to appreciate it

I almost exclusively watch this kind of movie.

@Ria – Great! I’m going to add some of those to my “to watch” list. Thanks!

forgot Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and Taxidermia which, again doesn’t have an official US DVD release.

Pink Floyd The Wall
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Jacob’s Ladder
Memento

Blue Velvet is another bizarre and freaky movie.

KILLER CLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE

Killer Klowns was a GREAT movie! Kinda like Body Snatchers…with clowns.

more I remembered: May and Sweet Movie. the latter about as strange as they come.

@bluefreedom—rocky horror? That’s a classic!

Very true, it is a classic but I still think it was a little bizarre.

You have to admit, this is somewhat abnormal. :o)

Being John Malkovich

@bluefreedom—I actually saw part of Rocky Horror on regular TV the other night (I was surprised it was being aired) and have to amend my previous reply.
Yup, it’s strange.

There’s a lot I don’t understand, so it’s repetitive for me to list movies that made no sense to me.

As for goriest, though, I still haven’t seen anything to out-gore: Dead Alive (1992), a really fun watch if you ever get the chance to see it. I highly recommend.

I just watched Dead Alive for the first time shortly before Halloween and was totally delighted. This was what I said in my mini review:

Oh, PJ. What is wrong with you? Freud would come in his pants. Please, never ever change. I may never eat again—that was possibly the single most gory movie I have ever seen—but how freaking much did I love this movie? It was so joyfully, unapologetically over-the-top that instead of just being gross, it was really funny. Of course, that’s PJ for you. He does everything as big as possible and wishes he could’ve done it bigger. He’s like a little kid, holding up his drawing for you to see, with a shit-eating ear-to-ear grin on his face. I definitely don’t recommend this to anyone with a weak stomach but if you think you can keep your dinner down and you like some horror in your comedy and/or some comedy in your horror, then this is for you. Just keep in mind that it is not a big-budget srs bzns Hollywood movie. It is icky and camp and it delights in that. [Rating: ****]

The Pee Wee Herman Sex Tape.

It does exist.

@atilla: that does sound strange.
and extremely intriguing, but I just am not sure if I want to ruin the happy peewee i know and love

there was this indie movie, i think it was called Rocket Science? it was pretty strange. i liked it, but it was soooo weird. i can’t remember much about it except that through half the movie i was like “why am i watching this, again?” and then at the end i was like “MAN that was good!”.
then there’s always Rocky Horror <3
Mysterious Skin was strange, but definitely not the strangest, just a little weird. i liked it a lot.
MONTY PYTHON. the meaning of life is my favourite, but the first time i saw any of them i was just like “what is this amazing, effing weird movie?”
for some reason i feel like i’m missing a really big one.

As a kid, I was used to seeing The Monkees on MTV as the fun, ripoff version of the early Beatles, as they were meant to be.

And then when I was 16, I saw Head. Weirdness galore.

Having seen neither, I can’t say definitively, but my understanding is that the Screech sextape is definitely aeons weirder than the PeeWee tape (and includes a Dirty Sanchez to boot).

The Adventures of Mark Twain, the first feature length claymation movie featuring an angel named Satan and a heaven full of 3 headed slug orgies.

Tank Girl and Pi.

Man Bites Dog

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

It was one of those “arthouse” type of films but it was the wierdest and stupidest thing I have ever seen . Every single part of it was totally strange, but not in a good way. I would be surprised to meet anyone ever who enjoyed it or would want to watch it again.

OTOH there was Eating Raoul—very strange but really really funny I’ve watched it several times. That’s one you’ll like.

And then there are Zardoz (with Sean Connery) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.

Also, I can’t remember the exact title, but there was one with Bruce Willis playing a flying cab driver in a futuristic world and a girl with orange or green hair——does anyone else remember it??
Pretty strange in a good way.

Bruce Willis playing a flying cab driver in a futuristic world and a girl with orange or green hair

The Fifth Element. I love Gary Oldman so much.

@Mac Bean Ditto on Gary Oldman and the memory of Romeo is Bleeding—also a rather strange movie but so terrific. If anyone wants a really good movie in which to become immersed, they should get this one asap.

I love his ability to submerge himself into the characters whom he plays. He tends to turn up where you least expect to see him. The Professional is also an offbeat Oldman film even though the leads are played by Jean Reno and a very young Natalie Portman. That was a terrific film also and you never quite know where it’s going.

Oldman is one of those actors whose name in the credits will automatically always get me to watch a movie even tho I know nothing else about it. I have yet to be disappointed.

most disturbing is probably “feed” and “teeth” but weirdest and scariest has to be “jesus camp” creepy

The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb. Seriously messed up live action/claymation. You can watch it all on youtube. I also like Dead Again for fun weirdness.

@MacBean Wicker Man 1973 or 2006?

@wildpotato: 1973. The shitty remake was just stupid, not strange.

@MacBean Dang, that looks like a crazy flick. I’ll check it out. It’s description reminds me of one I forgot, too: Battle Royale.

Oh, and Breaking the Waves! It’s insane! God is/speaks through Emily Watson!

Fritz The Cat!

Teeth

A teenage girl discovers she has teeth…there.

@evil2 Jesus Camp made me feel icky all over!

I think the strangest movie I’ve seen is The Tin Drum. It was also the strangest book I’ve ever read, so I guess I should have expected as much when I rented the film.

Eagle vs Shark

This NZ movie is strange, as in quirky strange, great fun if you appreciate a quirky sense of humour. Flight of the Conchords fans will be interested to know that Jermaine Clements is one of the main actors.

@Augustlan Horses for courses eh, I thought Pan’s Labyrinth was a fabulous film. I have recommended it to many.

Trying to judge the question and the answers here for the definition of strange that you want. I agree that films like Pi and Momento are disorienting (and I happen to love them) they are pretty coherent and wouldn’t fit my definition of strange. I guess I’ll just throw stuff out.

My favorite movie of all time that I don’t completely understand is Barton Fink. I love that movie but I don’t think I quite get it.

Audition is one the most disturbing films Ive seen but perhaps not the strangest.

A lot of Goddard films- but for a particularly strange one check out Alphaville. I would throw in Weekend but I actually find it pretty coherent and I like it a lot- I generally don’t like very strange films that much.

Most Bunuel films as someone mentioned are pretty stange- I enjoyed the bizarreness of That Obscure Object of Desire. “La Chien Andalou” has been pretty influential to surrealists- I know Lynch talked about the film in relationship to Blue Velvet. I find most David Lynch films to be pretty strange as you seem to as well.

it’s funny but as I think about it I’m realizing that most of these films only scratch the surface of strange. They seemed strange when I watched them but in retrospect not so much. I think maybe I need to see more straightforwardly experimental films.

Definitely see Barton FInk and Alphaville.

That I didn’t hate becaue it confused me; Cache and Tideland.

maybe Magnolia… I love that movie.

@gravity – Best. Movie. Ever.

Let the Right One In, the Sedish version and the original which was remade into the American version Let me In

“A Clockwork Orange” (1971). I not only found it bizarre, but I didn’t like it one bit. Violent, strange, and stupid.

@uberbatman I just saw Cat Soup – I found it endearing and lovely.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir yea it really is a great movie. I love how much they are able to convey without the use of any words.

@uberbatman Yes, definitely.

Donnie Darko
Punch Drunk Love

Definitely films not to watch while you’re high. They’re hard enough to understand sober.

All these answers and nobody mentioned The Human Centipede?!?!