The WordPress/JetPack writing prompt for today is:
What’s the weirdest movie you’ve ever watched?
‘Weird’ is subjective and transient. Something that feels weird at one time may not seem so another. Also, weird has a connotation of being disagreeable. Some films might be weird in an agreeable way.
So I don’t have a singular suggestion for ‘weirdest,’ I have a list of movies that would be on the weirder side, but most were enjoyable.
I’m going to mention this one up front and then dismiss it: The first time I saw Apocalypse Now (1979) was in a movie theatre, and I was quite drunk at the time. It is a weird film, but far from the weirdest I’ve seen. And it’s a lot less weird when you watch it sober.
That aside, I’ll start with a forgotten Robin Williams film: What Dreams May Come (1998). Visually stunning, this film deals with a man’s grief and guilt over losing his family in a car accident that he caused. He attempts to reunite his family in heaven. That’s the premise. And yet the film is about flowing colours, paintings coming to life and how near-death experiences can change our perception of reality.
Then there’s the films that intentionally play up their weirdness, looking for specific viewer or response. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) in which transvestite aliens throw a big party before murdering each other, would fit this bill. Note it’s a musical and very entertaining. Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1982) mixes live action and animation to explore the psyche of an drugged out rock star (played by Bob Geldof of Boomtown Rats and Bandaid/Live Aid fame) who’s lost touch with reality. While it’s built off the album of the same name, Alan Parker’s film is not really a musical, per se. Lastly, I’d add Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), a film (from the book by Anthony Burgess) explores anarchy and violence among disaffected youth in a dystopian England.
Sometimes ‘weird’ is based on high concept. There’s the animated film Heavy Metal, that links a bunch of disparate stories with a glowing orb and a narrator. Bubba Ho-tep (2002) posits that JFK and Elvis are both secretly living in an elder care facility being attacked by zombies. Mars Attacks and Spaced Invaders gives us two opposing, yet both weird, takes on Martians invading Earth. In Mars Attacks (1996), violence is extreme and played for comedic effect. In Spaced Invaders (1990), the Martians are rather dim, and having chosen to attack during Hallowe’en, are mistaken by Earthlings as children dressed up for trick-or-treating. Both are comedies about failed invasions by Martians, but that’s where any similarities end.
But the weirdest film, and by far the oldest on this list, is Un Chien Andalou (1929). I strongly recommend never watching this movie. Its most famous scene gave me nightmares for years. The fact that my film professor wanted to dissect that scene meant we had to revisit it repeatedly. Perhaps he thought doing so would lessen its impact on us. In my case at least, it didn’t.