Weird Movies That Will Make You Say, “WTF Did I Just Watch?!”
Some movies are ‘turn your brain off’ fun. Some movies are heartwarming tales of love and romance. And some movies…. well, are definitely not those things.
These come from across the globe and were made with extremely varying budgets. Share them with unsuspecting friends on your next movie night. It’ll be fun.
Swiss Army Man
A man (Paul Dano) finds himself lost in the wilderness but is not alone. He finds a corpse (Daniel Radcliff) to be his companion. During his quest for survival and meaning, the dead body proves to have bizarre uses that help him stay alive. Below the surface of the extremely weird premise is a story about the human experience. I promise.
Riget (aka The Kingdom)
This Lars Von Trier-led mini-series is many things—a medical drama, a black comedy, and a mystery. All existing within a supernatural horror with some body horror worthy of Cronenberg. It aired in Danish starting in 1994 and tells the odd tales of the neurosurgical ward of Copenhagen’s Rigshospitalet. There are ghosts living in specimen jars, doctors selling things on the black market, a demon baby played by Udo Kier, and much much more.
It used to be a near-impossible series to find, but you can now stream the full run on MUBI.
Mandy
Mandy is helmed by Panos Coamatos, who brought us the retro-futuristic Beyond the Black Rainbow. A couple—Red and Mandy—has found peace in a secluded forest home; their lives seem perfect. When a cult leader rips their existence apart, Red goes on a drug-fueled, gore-soaked journey to gain vengeance. It’s violent and utterly bonkers.
Holy Motors
Holy Motors has been described as a “lunatic’s odyssey.” It’s about show business. Audiences follow Mr. Oscar, an actor, as he stars in nine surreal scenes with fantastical characters. His roles range from mocap performer to gangster to dying man and musician. The journey is deranged, perverse, and will make you laugh.
Save the Green Planet!
A man is convinced his boss is an alien from Andromeda, kidnaps him, and interrogates and tortures him in ever more bizarre and violent ways. All in hopes that he’ll get the supposed alien to confess his crimes to humanity and stop the planned destruction of Earth before it’s too late.
The underlying story is that the exec’s company killed the guy’s mom in a pharmaceutical test, so this is all psychosis. Or not. It constantly wavers from “this guy is nuts” to “this guy is actually an alien” in a way that will have you questioning.
The Happiness of the Katakuris
In this farce from Takashi Miike, the Katakuri family buys a large house in the country. They intend to turn into a bed and breakfast to make their fortune. The place winds up being cursed—guests keep mysteriously dying. The family keeps having to bury the bodies behind the B&B. The dead guests keep coming back as zombies.
There’s claymation, musical numbers, dancing, dream sequences, and a karaoke-style sing-along. A shmorgishborg of genres guaranteed to please…. someone.
Rubber
The story of a sentient tire that kills things with its mind. Need I say more?
Killer Clowns from Outerspace
It’s fair to say that Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a cult classic. A spaceship that looks like a circus tent comes to a small town. This tent isn’t filled with family-friendly entertainment—it houses aliens that look like grotesque clowns—clowns who want to kill people with circus-themed weapons. It’s silly, strange, campy, and full of gratuitous corn syrup violence.
Enter the Void
Director Gaspar Noé takes the audience on a tour of life after death from the first-person point of view. Oscar, a drug dealer living in Tokyo, is shot and killed by police. The rest of the movie is a psychedelic head trip that follows Oscar’s post-death journey across his past, present, and future. He sees his parents, his sister, and his own autopsy. Not for folks who have issues with flashing lights or disorienting cinematography.
