As of this year, I’ve begun watching more movies in different genres. During this time, I’ve seen some very good movies, and some very strange movies- sometimes both at once. Here are five of the most odd, interesting films I’ve seen recently:
5. Bad Taste
The first film ever by a guy you might know named Peter Jackson, this one put the director on the map. Shooting over the course of years on weekends with a shoe-string budget, Jackson and his friends created a film about a small group of rebels fighting off an alien invasion intent on making humans into fast food. Highlights include aliens eating vomit, and a guy replacing part of his own brain with part of a dead alien's brain. The movie begins slow, but once it picks up, it never stops.
4. Bad Chicken
Strange that two films in a row begin with the word 'bad', huh? Anyways, this one is about a group of fraudulent reality show producers tricking a couple into going out into the desert with them for mysterious, nefarious purposes. The catch? The producers are all chicken puppets. This is one absurd, dark comedy trip that really shouldn't be missed.
3. Spirited Away
A young girl is whisked away to a magical land; this is the setup for a number of films, like The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland. Still, this movie by the famous Studio Ghibli stands out. Most movies of a similar type don't have friendly radish beasts visiting saunas, or parents turning into pig people, or witches whose heads are bigger than the rest of their entire body combined- and that's some of the more tame stuff! A real classic among animation fans, though.
2. Eraserhead
A black-and-white horror film shot by none other than the infamous David Lynch, this one was destined to be weird from the start, and it seriously delivers. The movie follows the plight of a new father, who must raise a deformed monster baby on his own. The whole thing feels surreal and nightmarish. Really though, so does most everything by Lynch.
1. We Are The Strange
Available for free on YouTube, this is an incomprehensibly bizarre, video-game-inspired indie project about a blue woman, a baby doll, a ninja, and a piece of folding paper fighting a CG-I demon man. It rarely makes coherent sense, but it's beautiful and it's mesmerizing. Watch it in the right mindset, and you'll love it. Watch it in the wrong mindset, and you'll be left utterly disoriented. Either way, this one is a guaranteed mind mixer.
