88Nine’s Justin Barney and Milwaukee Film’s Kristopher Pollard are buds, they like cinema—they’re Cinebuds. This week on the podcast, we're getting weird and talking about what makes a movie breathtakingly bizarre...and what our favorite straight-up strange movies are. Read more and listen to the full episode below.
We felt like celebrating the cinematically bizarre, odd cult classics, the psychedelic and the just plain weird movies that are out there in the universe. If you're wondering why we're doing this, try asking yourself, "why not?" instead...Then, you'll be in the right frame of mind to see some of these crazy films.
Discovering strange films will expand your taste in movies and change your idea of how imaginative movies can get. And, once you know something is going to be weird from the start, it gets a lot more fun.
Drawing from the films of The Greek Weird Wave and this list of 366 weird movies, here are our picks for the weirdest movies we've seen (so far).
"Chevalier"
This Greek Weird Wave movie directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari is about six men on a boat who are trying to decide who is "the best." They come up with a series of bizarre games and compete. The result is deadpan, slightly uncomfortable, funny and very "Lord of the Flies"
"Dogtooth"
It's always great when a film's premise creates it's own strange culture, with its own rules. That's what happens here. In "Dogtooth," a controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult children in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound where the weirdness festers.
"Taxidermia"
The screenshot above kind of speaks for itself. "Taxidermia" is a film that shows three generations of grossness: a pervert, a speed eater and an obsessive taxidermist.
"R100"
"R100" is a strange Japanese comedy is about a man who signs up for a mysterious club. It's basically a one year subscription for dominatrixes to randomly show up to beat him up, but he can't back out. They hilariously interrupt his everyday life with some weird kinky stuff.
"The Holy Mountain"
"The Holy Mountain" is some classic dystopian weirdness. In a corrupt, greed-fueled world, a powerful alchemist leads a Christ
"Swiss Army Man"
"Swiss Army Man" has been called the strangest movie that Sundance has ever seen. A man is stranded on a deserted island and ready to commit suicide, until he suddenly spots a man (Daniel Radcliffe) laying by the shore. Unfortunately, he is dead and quite flatulent. Using the gassy body to his advantage, Hank miraculously makes it back to the mainland. However, he now finds himself lost in the wilderness, and dragging the talking corpse named Manny along for the adventure. It's quite the ride.
"The Swimmer"
"The Swimmer" is probably the smoothest gateway to watching strange movies. It's pretty wholesome, but it's a strange concept: While commuting back from work, a man suddenly notices how many swimming pools are in his suburban neighborhood. He decides that he'd like to travel the eight miles back to his own home by swimming across every pool in town.
Hear more conversation about some freaky films and why we like them in the full Cinebuds podcast above.
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