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The 15 Most Enigmatic Movies of All Time 11 JULY 2016 UNCATEGORIZED BY JOEY SHAPIRO

Not all great films end neatly. Many directors choose to end their films abruptly or with unanswered questions, forcing audiences to watch, rewatch, and obsess over them until they can make sense of it for themselves – and sometimes even then the film is still inscrutable. For a filmmaker to not reveal all their cards to the viewers is a bold move and, naturally, it doesn’t always work as planned (see: David Fincher’s tearyour-hair-out frustrating thriller The Game), but when it does work it can lead to truly stunning, mysterious films that deserve all the attention and acclaim they get.

15. Pi (1998, Darren Aronofsky)

Those who only know Darren Aronofsky from his writing/directing work on bible-reenactment-sans-melanin Noah might have gotten the wrong impression of the director’s intense style. Although his name has become big enough for him to be offered whitewashed religious blockbusters, he got his start with the brooding low-budget thriller Pi, which cost a mere $68,000: 1/1800th of the budget for raging-garbage-fire-set-to-film Noah. Pi is everything that movie isn’t: understated, intricate, and intelligent, it’s an independent film in the truest sense of the term. With a cast made up of primarily non-professional actors, Aronofosky crafts a detailed and compelling world within his film that draws the viewer in through clever filmmaking rather than expensive special effects. The film revolves around Max Cohen’s gradual descent into paranoia and obsession while studying a bizarre number that may have divine implications. Cohen, a man who can perform complex math functions in his head without breaking a sweat, becomes embroiled in both a wall street conspiracy as well as a quest for the religious and spiritual implications of the mysterious 216-digit number he discovered. Everything from Jewish kabbalah, sacred geometry, chaos theory, and the Japanese game of Go are discussed in depth, making for a dense but deeply fascinating thriller. Aronofsky asks a lot of his audience by taking on such heady topics, but the payoff is astounding; it’s easily one of the smartest thrillers of the ‘90s as well as a brilliantly idiosyncratic debut for a director who would go on to make many similarly dark and intense films (and one very, very bad biblical epic).

14. Gozu (2003, Takashi Miike)

One of the strangest films in Takashi Miike’s already bizarre filmography, Gozu is nonsense for the sake of nonsense and it’s all the better for it. It’s a disjointed rollercoaster ride of a movie, going from one comically surreal scene to another with little space to breathe in between. All this eccentricity is just barely tied together by a vague narrative about a yakuza hitman hired to kill his unstable mob boss in a small town that makes Twin Peaks seem normal.

It loosely connects to some Greek myths, with the title – meaning “cow head” in Japanese – referring to a minotaur that pops his head into the story in one of the most simultaneously hilarious and viscerally disturbing scenes of the movie. That said, it’s hard to tell that there’s any rhyme or reason behind the outrageous images; it seems far more likely that Miike was just aiming to confuse and provoke with the strangest imagery possible, with little consideration of structure or organization. As a whole the film is incoherent, crude, and possibly even pointless, but it’s also excessive in all the right ways. It’s a David Lynch movie if Lynch stopped caring and just threw all his ideas on paper without bothering to make sense of any of them. Takashi Miike’s best film this isn’t (see: 1999’s Audition), but in terms of joyful chaos and originality it’s hard to beat.

13. Zigeunerweisen (1980, Seijun Suzuki)

He’s best known in America for the jazzy yakuza B-thrillers he made in the ‘60s (Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter), but Seijun Suzuki’s more acclaimed work in his home-country of Japan is actually a late-career series of far more serious films: his Taishō trilogy, made up of Zigeunerweisen, Kagero-za, and Yumeji. All three films are deeply surreal ghost stories reflecting on the Taishō era of Japanese history, a period in the 1910s and 1920s during which Western culture became assimilated into Japanese culture. Zigeunerweisen, titled after a famous German violin composition of the same name, is the first entry in this trilogy as well as the most brilliantly idiosyncratic. Unlike Suzuki’s more playful early films, it’s got a deeply intellectual backbone and frequently refers to other art both directly and indirectly; among other things, Vertigo could be seen as a frame of reference, although the themes are communicated in wildly different ways. The film follows two men, a German professor named Aochi and his former student turned vagabond named Nakasago, who cross paths after decades apart and fall in love with the same beautiful geisha. They decide Aochi will marry the geisha and Nakasago will go off to find his own wife, but when Aochi meets the Nakasago’s new wife six months later he discovers that their spouses are virtually indistinguishable. Things only become stranger when they begin to hear whispering voices on Aochi’s recording of Zigeunerweisen and rumors of a very kinky affair start to swirl. The plot is made up of a series of loosely connected events that drift into each other rather than one continuous story arc, which can make it a challenge to follow, but giving in to the film’s strange atmosphere is well worth it come the eerie, creepier-than-creepy finale.

12. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul – often referred to in the Western world as simply “Joe” – is the most important director working in Thailand today as well as one of the foremost auteurs of world cinema in general. His slow, dreamy style is inseparable from his homeland, which can make his work alienating to non-Thai audiences simply because a basic knowledge of Thai culture and history is essential to the understanding of his work. His films can still entertain and enthrall despite this though, as can be seen in his greatest film yet, the Palme d’Or-winning drama Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. The basic narrative that ties the film together shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the title; Boonmee is a man on his death bed, spending his last few days of life with his family as he looks back and remembers the past lives he lived before he was reincarnated in his present body. It’s clearly a Buddhist film, as many of Joe’s films are, as well as a uniquely Thai one; Boonmee is an analog of Thailand, as his past lives all evoke the history, myths, and spirituality of his country. Understanding the meaning behind the surreal plot developments isn’t required to enjoy the film, however; it’s a stunning film that, regardless of the viewer’s prior knowledge, is hypnotic and overflowing with beauty and magic.

11. Berberian Sound Studio (2013, Peter Strickland)

While the golden age of the Italian horror sub-genre giallo surely left its imprint on the public consciousness – in particular by spawning the slasher film craze of the ‘80s – its legacy is harder to spot among more recent horror offerings. Berberian Sound Studio, a psychological thriller that flew under the radar of most horror fans, is one of the few recent films to wear that giallo influence on its sleeve. It’s far from a throwback or rehash of classic Italian horror films like Suspiria or Blood and Black Lace though: any and all allusions to those older films happen off-screen in the film-within-a-film. Timid British sound engineer Gilderoy (Toby Jones, in one of his most nuanced performances yet) is the sound engineer hired to work on the aforementioned fictional giallo film, The Equestrian Vortex. Gilderoy isn’t sure how or why he got hired for the grotesquely violent film, having only had previous experience with nature documentaries, but he accepts the part nonetheless. He quickly regrets that decision as the day-to-day routine of recording screams and stabbed watermelons – sound effects for The Equestrian Vortex’s countless murder scenes – wears down on him; he becomes increasingly paranoid and slowly but surely his sanity wanes, leading to a spectacularly hallucinatory third act that unnerves on a primal level, to say the least. The film is a slow-burner to be sure, but in taking its time it builds up an unbearable amount of dread that pays off in a big way. Like the giallo films to which it owes a stylistic debt, it’s not “BOO!” scary so much as it is profoundly unsettling and tense. Once the plot kicks into high gear, it doesn’t turn back; it’s a powder keg of terror that builds and builds until it reaches its unpredictable climax – then it takes it all a step further into uncanny territory. The creepy but gorgeous soundtrack by legendary indie electronic band Broadcast – their last official release before lead singer Trish Keenan’s tragic death – only adds to the suffocating atmosphere, perfectly complementing the uneasy mood of the film.

10. Code Unknown (2000, Michael Haneke)

Austrian director Michael Haneke is one of the most underappreciated filmmakers working today, having crafted some of the most disturbing but intelligent and thoughtful films of the last 30 years. Code Unknown is not necessarily his best film – that honor belongs to Caché or Amour – but it’s without a doubt one of his most fascinating and unique works. The film is made up of a series of unedited long-takes, each one focusing on a different character, that all intersect to form an overarching narrative related to immigrants and racism. Each segment cuts away abruptly after a few minutes, often mid-sentence, giving the audience a peek into the lives of each character but always leaving key details of their story ambiguous. It’s a cinematic jigsaw puzzle, made up of numerous narrative fragments that the audience is left to piece together into a coherent whole on their own. To complicate things further, not all the segments seem to relate to the central narrative – that of a white teenager kicking off a chain reaction of tragedy after he publically humiliates a homeless Romanian woman. It’s a frustrating film by design, but it’s frustrating because it’s real. As an audience we’re trained to expect neat and fair resolutions to the stories we see on screen, and Haneke explicitly denies us this satisfaction in order to a communicate a real-world truth that has only become more relevant since the film’s release: xenophobia and racism is deeply ingrained into Western society and nothing can change until we each confront our own personal complicity in the hatred and violence.

9. The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick)

Two Stanley Kubrick films on one list may seem a little excessive, but the man knew how to end on an ambiguous note. The Shining is one of the few horror films to trust its audience enough to ask dozens of questions and never answer any of them by the time the credits roll. There have been countless fan theories about what it means, ranging from moon landing conspiracies to Native American genocide allegories to male fears of female sexuality – spoiler alert, that big ol’ bloody elevator is a vaginal symbol. A critically acclaimed documentary was even released a few years ago that served solely as a tool to collect and discuss the various interpretations behind the film. Very few of the interpretations hold up upon close inspection – one particularly ridiculous one is that the film was meant to be watched forwards and backwards at the same time, with the two images overlaid – but the film is so mysterious and vague in its meaning that it’s fun to entertain the various theories. The story of the Overlook Hotel and its ghostly inhabitants has remained in the cultural consciousness first and foremost because it’s flat-out terrifying, but also simply because it retains its mysteriousness to this day. Few perfect interpretations exist, and it’s unlikely that any interpretative breakthroughs are going to be made this far down the line. For better or worse Kubrick designed it to be unexplainable, and because of that it will likely remain in the public eye indefinitely as a filmic enigma.

8. Eden and After (1970, Alain Robbe-Grillet)

Alain Robbe-Grillet’s claim to fame is his post-modern, wildly unconventional novels as part of the Nouveau Roman literary movement in the 1950s as well as his collaborations with French New Wave stalwart Alain Resnais, and he carries that sense of unbridled imagination over to his stint as a director. Eden and After, his fourth film, is perhaps his most uninhibited and criminally underrated. Lying somewhere at the crossroads of an experimental film, a psychological thriller, and an S&M drama for people with too much self-respect to try E.L. James novels, it’s an anomaly that isn’t always easy to follow but is never less than gripping. The loose narrative concerns a group of French college students who, after being drawn into a charismatic stranger’s bizarre mind-games and consuming the mysterious “fear powder” he offers them, fall into a psychosexual nightmare that leads them from a Parisian café (the “Eden” of the title) all the way to Tunisia (the “after”). The film drifts from scene to scene on a sort of elliptical dream logic, never submitting to conventional linear storytelling or spelling out what it’s trying to say in simple terms. Instead we’re treated to a candy-colored cinematic puzzle on par with Grillet and Alain Resnais’ similarly mysterious yet far more widely recognized Last Year At Marienbad: bold, gorgeous, and unrepentantly surreal.

7. Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)

Persona’s status as the definitive foreign art film has surely led countless people to keep their distance in fear of pretension and boredom. Those fears couldn’t be less grounded in reality, however; Persona is definitely a film student’s film, but it’s also incredibly tense, creepy, and eminently enjoyable. Ingmar Bergman has acquired a reputation as a dry, academic filmmaker amongst some movie fans – which, in a sense, is fair considering that most of his output is about the nonexistence of God –, but his output, and Persona in particular, is often marked by emotional fireworks, tense interpersonal dynamics, and striking visual symbolism, making it anything but a bore. The film concerns two women: a stage actress who suddenly stopped speaking mid-performance and the nurse who is hired to take care of her until she regains her voice, played by Bergman muses Liv Ullman and Bibi Andersson respectively. Their interactions become increasingly fraught as their identities begin to blur together and merge, throwing the doctor/patient relationship into chaos. What begins as a fairly simple drama – although a bizarre framing device at the beginning makes clear early on that it’s far from an ordinary movie – escalates rapidly into an impenetrable and nightmarish psychodrama meltdown where traditional narrative techniques are thrown out the window and nothing is off-limits.

6. The Holy Mountain (1973, Alejandro Jodorowsky)

There really is nothing else out there like The Holy Mountain. Alejandro Jodorowsky, the man who literally invented the concept of midnight movies, hit his peak with this bizarre mystical odyssey by turns profound and hilarious. Featuring one indelible image after another – ranging from the Spanish conquest of Mexico reenacted by frogs and iguanas to a gun disguised as a menorah –, the film is a cinematic freak show loosely tied together by a fittingly convoluted narrative. Jodorowsky himself plays the alchemist at the center of the story who guides a Christ-like thief and seven other people who each represent a different planet of our solar system on a spiritual quest: they must all travel to Lotus Island to learn the secret of immortality from the nine masters who live atop the holy mountain. It’s all very typical of Jodorowsky’s modus operandi: filled with tarot symbolism, spectacularly surreal imagery, little to no narrative, and an absurd sense of humor beneath it all. Even among Jodorowsky’s work, however, The Holy Mountain is a treasure; it’s the Citizen Kane of cult filmmaking, a dazzling, messy marvel that towers far above every film that dared to follow in its footsteps.

5. Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Tarkovsky’s lone foray into pure genre filmmaking was marketed as the Soviet response to Kubrick’s 2001, but that doesn’t do either film justice. Yes, they’re both science-fiction movies that take place in space, approach three hours, and have deeply philosophical undertones, but otherwise they are radically different films; to paraphrase Roger Ebert, 2001 looks outward at man’s past, present, and future while Solaris looks inward at what makes us human. Telling a very personal story on a very large canvas, Solaris explores a scientist’s love, loss, and grief when he is sent to a space station orbiting Solaris, a planet that can create physical manifestations of humans’ memories. The planet creates a double of the scientist’s former lover aboard the ship, causing a whole lot of existential crises for both parties as they’re left unsure of whether or not to continue their passionate love affair despite one of them technically not existing. Tarkovsky explores this narrative from a variety of thoughtful angles, incorporating philosophy and a number of intertextual references to other works of art to get its themes across effectively; in other words this is a dense movie with a lot on its mind, far more than most other sci-fi movies, and because of that it can try the patience at times. Sticking with it yields rewards though, as Solaris stands as one of the most intelligent, uncompromised, and deeply moving films of Tarkovsky’s acclaimed career.

4. Repo Man (1984, Alex Cox)

How does one describe Alex Cox’s offbeat cult masterpiece Repo Man? Well, for starters, it’s Emilio Estevez’s career peak; forget The Breakfast Club, his role as punk-turned-grocery-clerk-turned-repo-man Otto is indisputably his best and most iconic. Harry Dean Stanton is equally flawless as the repo man who lures Otto into his unique line of work, which in turn draws them both into a bizarre FBI conspiracy involving a Chevy Malibu with expensive (and deadly) extraterrestrial cargo in the trunk. Otto aside, the movie itself is – and this is a technical term – punk as hell, thanks in large part to a near-perfect soundtrack featuring everyone from Circle Jerks to Iggy Pop to Black Flag. Brilliantly innovative use of a shoestring budget only adds to the DIY aesthetic; it’s a cheap movie at a meager budget of $1.5 million, but that money goes a long way. The low-budget special effects, particularly in the unforgettable final scene, are reminiscent of sci-fi B-movies from the 1950s, but none of those movies were half as clever and biting as this one. Alex Cox’s satire is aimed squarely at consumer culture, cold war nuclear fears, and conservative society in the age of Reagan, filled with unbridled rage even in its funniest moments. Ultimately, in its own strange way, Repo Man is a protest movie, albeit one of the most eccentric and purely fun ones in recent memory.

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)

It’s no mystery why 2001: A Space Odyssey is widely seen as one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made. Stanley Kubrick’s excursion into outer space is boldly ambitious, visually stunning, and original through and through; it pushed the medium to its most awe-inspiring limits and set the stage for countless other films that aimed to tell bigger stories and ask harder questions of its audience. In terms of scope, Kubrick didn’t exactly aim low; the film traces the entire scope of human history from our primate origins to our space-faring present and, eventually, our haunting encounters with other intelligent life. So while it’s plainly clear why the film has earned so much acclaim, what is less clear is what any of it means. While the entire nearly-three-hour film is filled with strange images and questions left unanswered, it’s the last half hour that stands out as the most baffling. Without spoiling anything, the film goes out of control in spectacular fashion towards the end, seeming to defy all narrative logic and injecting the plot with some heavy symbolism that alters the meaning of everything that came before it. Make no mistake, this more confounding final segment is the only way to end a film this ambitious and it’s far from a misstep; it stands as one of film’s greatest mysteries, seemingly impossible to decode and all the more fascinating because of it.

2. The Tree of Life (2011, Terence Malick)

Terence Malick doesn’t have a lot of fans anymore, and unfortunately that’s for good reason: his more recent films have without a doubt lost the charm and power of his early masterworks Badlands and Days of Heaven. Instead they just retain the frustrating moodiness and self-conscious artiness that was peripheral to those films’ success; in other words, he’s fallen into self-parody and it’s unclear if he’s going to bounce back anytime soon, if ever. His sole triumph of the new millennium is The Tree of Life, which backs up the occasionally frustrating quirks of his style with extraordinary emotional depth. The arty posturing is there, but for once it actually fits and works effectively in the context of the film. Filmed in an impressionistic style that throws linear storytelling to the curb in a big way, the film is experiential in that the events of the plot aren’t necessarily shown as they actually happened, but rather how one of the characters might look back and remember experiencing them. The elliptical editing frequently jumps around in time between each scene to the point where the film borders on montage in many sequences. As anyone who’s already seen The Tree of Life can tell you, there is in fact an actual, full-blown montage and it’s a doozy: the film, which opens on the grief felt by a mother after losing her son, cuts away from this story about a third of the way in to briefly depict the creation of the universe and the dawn of the dinosaurs. The whole sequence initially comes off as jarring to say the least, but it’s all very carefully thought-out. Malick chose to juxtapose an incredibly intimate story of death and loss – the death of a child – with one of birth and creation – the big bang. In Malick’s own convoluted way, he’s inserting some hope and wonder into a story that would have otherwise been bleak and tragic. Like Malick’s other recent films, The Tree of Life strives to be an art film with a capital A, which can make it a bit daunting for viewers not used to his ethereal, hands-brushing-against-fields-of-wheat-for-fifteen-consecutive-minutes style. Get in the right mood to watch it, however, and this is one of the most flat-out beautiful films of the last decade.

1. Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch)

The career of David Lynch is a long and strange one filled with films that seek to disturb audiences through oppressively dark atmosphere and an avant-garde sensibility. Inland Empire is both his most recent film and the most extreme manifestation of his experimental tendencies; the plot, concerning marital infidelity and two actors (Laura Dern and Justin Theroux) who literally become lost in their parts and lose touch with reality, becomes secondary as Lynch establishes a stranglehold of intense dread that never lets up. The film seems to exist solely in those tense few moments before a big scare in horror movies: there’s always a sense that something is lurking around the corner in every shot, but rarely does anything actually burst out from the shadows. It’s the cinematic equivalent of experiencing a nightmare in slow motion: a different, much more effective kind of terror than horror movies tend to employ.

Needless to say it’s easily the creepiest film David Lynch has directed, as well as his most challenging in many ways. The entire film is shot using a handheld digital camera, giving it the shaky, amateurish look of a snuff film at times, and the narrative becomes so abstracted as the film progresses that it borders on incomprehensible. So yes, it’s impossible to make sense of, but it’s also wildly rewarding for fans of his previous work. This is David Lynch at his most alienating and unnerving; a decade later it’s unclear if Lynch plans on making another film, but if Inland Empire ends up being his final work then he surely went out with a bang. Author Bio: Joey Shapiro is a film student at Oberlin College in scenic Northeast Ohio, the cornfield capital of the world. His dream date would be watching all thirty Godzilla movies in a row.

20 Weird Movies from Around the World You Might Not Have Seen 19 SEPTEMBER 2016 UNCATEGORIZED BY NIKOLA GOCIĆ

Whether it’s accidental or intentional, meaningful or just there for its own sake, weirdness is one of the reasons that make certain movies taste sweet, pleasantly sour, exotic, lasting or never-to-be-forgotten. Sergei Parajanov, David Lynch, Guy Maddin, Terry Gilliam, Andrzej Żuławski, Takashi Miike, Mamoru Oshii and Shinya Tsukamoto, amongst the others, could be certified as famous directors able to activate their audience’s weird-radar with great ease. But, as the title suggests, this list is composed of lesser-known pieces by the authors who are not widely recognized (in most cases). In order to make it as diverse as possible, different genres, periods, countries and mediums (both live-action and animation) were taken into consideration. The entries’ order is chronological, which means it doesn’t necessarily reflect their quality.

1. Eggshells (Tobe Hooper, 1969) / USA Weirdness of the hippy kind

Prior to “fathering” one of the most iconic horror figures in cinema history, Tobe Hooper has created something quite different from the rest of his oeuvre. Considered lost until 2009, his full-length debut was digitally restored and released in 2013, as a bonus on a blu ray edition of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Being an authentic representative of its era, it could be categorized as cinéma vérité hippy docu-drama with (debatable?) SF elements. If there’s a story in Eggshells, it is about a “crypto-embryonic hyper-electric presence” (sic!), that manifests as a “half organic light bulb” in a basement of a small Austin commune’s house and plays with tripped out inmates’ minds. A couple is preparing for the wedding, while occasionally discussing communism in a bathtub; their beat poet friend has a violent outburst toward his own car, and a young artists, seemingly unnoticeable by everyone, crosses swords with himself and finds true love in a balloon-infested grove.

Whatever Hooper’s intention was (aimless artistic self-indulgence or an attempt at portraying the fragility of reality), his film provides a great lesson on (hectic) editing, bringing the abundance of brilliantly framed shots. He demonstrates a keen sense for the sequences’ rhythm, exploring the hand-held camera possibilities. Grainy images ennoble the most mundane scenes in the same way the exotic instruments complement a groovy atmosphere of dreaming under the plexiglass bubble.

2. The Death of Maria Malibran (Werner Schroeter, 1972) / West Germany Weirdness of the avant-garde kind

Mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran (1808-1836) was one of the most renowned opera singers from the early XIX century. Contemporaries describe her as a temperamental girl, whose dramatically intense performances earned her the admiration of many composers of the time. A restless daughter of a celebrated tenor Manuel García, she personified the spirit of Romanticism and served as an inspiration for modern day divas, Maria Callas and Cecilia Bartoli. Her untimely death was the result of a horse riding accident. Out of great love, Werner Schroeter perpetuated her in a film which could be regarded as a companion piece to his equally strange debut Eika Katappa. The Death of Maria Malibran (Der Tod der Maria Malibran) is not a biopic, but rather a flamboyant collage of emotional, strikingly beautiful tableaux vivants that act as campy postcards. Portraying fatal passion, dolorous yearning, delirious fervor or cold indifference, Schroeter brings together the art of the early Renaissance, Baroque and Pre-Raphaelites, fairy-tales and ancient myths, Shakespearean soliloquies, fashion photography and avant-garde theatre. Beside classical music, he weaves the threads of pop, jazz, cabaret and country into the sonic tapestry, pointing at his sense of self-irony. Intentionally off lip-sync (of many actresses that take turns at the character of so-called La Malibran) creates the mood of “umlauted” bel canto dream.

3. I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse (Fernando Arrabal, 1973) / France Weirdness of the satirical kind

In his sophomore feature, Fernando Arrabal merges together (a sort of) bromance and satire on modern society into a dizzying, misanthropically intoned adventure, at the same time sublimely beautiful and revolting as hell. His “panic surrealism” spares absolutely no one and the result of a bold experimentation is an uncompromising and brutally honest film. A cynical story focuses on firstly platonic, and later spiritual love between a runaway bon vivant Aden Ray and enigmatic hermit Marvel, whose powers include turning the night into the day and vice-versa. It is an incessant tirade about a hypocrisy of “civilized” people, who epitomize aggression, fanaticism, pollution, intolerance and exploitation. Arrabal’s profane sermon consists of metaphorical and often fetishistic imagery, that tear down many taboos, shocking and provoking the viewer. Nothing can prepare you for the creative, profound and all-consuming madness of bizarre fantasies and disturbing episodes from Aden’s deranged life (not to mention a visceral epilogue).

4. Desires (Rafael Corkidi, 1977) / Mexico Weirdness of the Jodorowsky-esque kind

Have you seen the complete Jodorowsky’s opus? If your answer is “yes”, than you’re probably looking for something like his DP Rafael Corkidi’s last film shot on 35mm. Experimental melodrama Desires (Deseos) is a loose adaptation of Agustín Yáñez Delgadillo’s novel The Edge of the Storm (Al filo del agua). Censored for seven years, and forgotten today, it appears as a torn episode of a soap-opera, whose “intestines” are connected by the barbed wire of eroticism, religious references and esoteric symbols. Following the non-sequitur prelude and an announcement by the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse is a fragmented narrative about the fall of Timoteo Limón’s family, featuring Virgin Mary’s performance under the Noah’s Ark leftovers. It’s hard to put into words, let alone understand all of the details of this idiosyncratic portrait of sins, amorous reveries and human hypocrisy. Flirting with the poetry of the absurd and finding inspiration in the art of surrealism, Corkidi molds an iconoclastic phantasmagoria that periodically transforms into an avant-garde musical. Impressive “ruin porn” sets serve as the enhancers of the film’s otherness.

5. The Medusa Raft (Karpo Aćimović-Godina, 1980) / Yugoslavia Weirdness of the YU-Dada kind

The Medusa Raft (Splav meduze) is certainly one of the most distinctive, attractive and cultivated Yugoslavian films (and the tamer predecessor of Mladen Đorđević’s The Life and Death of a Porno Gang).

Subtly provoking and sophisticatedly decadent, this “soppy comedy” follows a failed cultural revolution, borrowing its title from Théodore Géricault’s painting. In the aftermath of frigate Méduse’s wreckage, Godina sees YU-society’s tragedy, which is constantly repeating itself while leaving only the echo of lost generations’ shriek. Set in the 20s of the last century, a twisted tale of the travelling troupe of “zenithists” is sliced into tiny pieces – sweet, bitter, sour or hot, sometimes all together, but always infinitely delicious. The screenplay by Branko Vučićević (Makavejev’s cooperator on Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator) is authentic, in spite of quoting Croatian Dada poetry, and it brings likeable characters with a doomed mission. Suggestive thespian ensemble breathes life into those young idealists with great believability and grace, whereby Godina’s helming is assured and precise, with his raft floating against the waves. We also learn that it is “healthy to drink electric milk”.

6. Electric Angel (Thanasis Rentzis, 1981) / Greece Weirdness of the amorous kind

Electric Angel (Ilektrikos angelos) is a funky, Dadaist kaleidoscope of wild imagery and intoxicating cacophony of sounds, that describes affection between fictitious cosmic phenomena, gods and goddesses, man and woman, hand and genitalia, mother and child, old woman and her cats, the sky and bare treetop. Bizarreness, Impudence and Phantasmagoria are its first, middle and last name. It feels like watching Gilliam’s animations for Monty Python’s Flying Circus and documentary of architecture and kitsch art, while Dušan Makavejev, disguised as florist, arranges artificial bouquets and sings distracting renaissance madrigals during the downpour of old, hand-tinted photos… At times, one gets the impression that Rentzis parodies romance, or rather its idealized version from romantic movies, giving himself a full artistic freedom. He’s like an unstoppable anarchist, whose chaos inspires, or a six-handed dream-weaver, who draws you into the web of perverse hallucinations. His experiment would have been even more successful, if it had been a few vignettes shorter. Nevertheless, it is quite interesting as it is, twisted and absurd, suitable for wall projections at some postmodernist installations exhibition. Only for the bold and adventurous, who prefer their Eros silly.

7. Son of the White Mare (Marcell Jankovics, 1981) / Hungary Weirdness of the fairy-tale kind

Allegorical fantasy Son of the White Mare (Fehérlófia) is one of the most impressive evidences of Marcell Jankovics’ wizardry. Rooted in nomad tribes legends, it touches on the topics the Hungarian author is usually concerned with, such as a fairy-tale symbolism, comparative mythology, sacral art, ethno astronomy, religious and popular beliefs. It follows the trials and tribulations of a young man, born of a white mare and adorned with superhuman strength, in a cyclical and universal story. Relying upon hyperbole and numerology, it contains recognizable motifs, such as unintentional release of evil force. Before rescuing the three princesses from their monstrous captors, a titular hero must face a mischievous dwarf with a magical beard, as well as a gryphon who has to eat twelve oxen and drink twelve barrels of wine, amongst the other obstacles. Narrative elements and conventional structure are implemented in an unusual way, whereby the modern and the traditional constantly intertwine, tear or supplement each other. Via a healthy dose of humor and irony, and driven by dream logic, Jankovics speaks of trust, bravery and determination, while communicating an anti-war message and pointing out the negative aspects of computerization. His precise direction is accompanied by top-notch voice-acting, outlandish mix of space rock and electronica and mind-blowing visuals. Fehérlófia is like a fluorescent tapestry, that comes to life with all of its vibrant colors, pulsating textures and elusive shapes.

8. The Forest Song. Mavka (Yuri Illienko, 1981) / Soviet Union Weirdness of the mythological kind.

Arthouse fairy-tale The Forest Song. Mavka (Lesnaya pesnya. Mavka), a loose adaptation of Lesya Ukrainka’s play, could be comfortably classified as one of the most unusual Soviet flicks. Following Parajanov, whom he worked with as a DP on Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Yuri Illienko turns to the past and spins his own version of a tragic-romantic tale of a titular forest nymph. Mavka falls for a young piper Lukash and appears before him, in spite of her “brothers and sisters” warnings. Their love is born in spring, ripens through summer and dries during autumn, and in winter, she desperately tries to breathe life into its rotten corpse. Don’t let the breezy “hippy” prologue fool you – as the narrative progresses, The Forest Song becomes gloomier, which is reflected in the heroine’s looks, a mirror of her soul. Illienko’s dialogues are sparse, but he is brilliant at portraying what’s invisible to the eye, using the language of symbols – water, leaves, fire, fog, snow, rocks, wheat… His exquisite visual compositions are drenched in mystery and melancholy, often in saturated colors as well, evoking the spirits of the ancient Slavs, through the symbiosis with ethereal score. In a lyrical story, he presents all the humans as antagonists, accentuating their inability to achieve perfection, i.e. to understand the divine. The empathy is redirected towards supernatural entities, presented as mystical, esoteric and modern at the same time. Pure magic.

9. Karagoez catalogue 9.5 (Angela Ricci Lucchi & Yervant Gianikian, 1983) / Italy Weirdness of the documentary kind.

Swimmers. Japanese woman. A masquerade. Penguins flock. Underwater fauna. Exotic dancers. Naughty girl. Laboratory experiment. Turkish shadow theatre… These could be the titles of micro-chapters that form the silent docu-fantasy Karagoez catalogue 9.5 (Karagoez catalogo 9,5, with the number representing the tape format).

It is a 45-minute long and completely silent anthology of archive footage from the early XX century, found, slowed down, edited, tinted and transformed into a fascinating film-mosaic by a painter Angela Ricci Lucchi and her partner, the architect Yervant Gianikian. The directing duet explores facial expressions, figures and movements of their “protagonists”, takes us back to the time when the seventh art was in its infancy and allows us to peek into the most hidden corners of life in those days. Magical in their “outworn” beauty, seemingly unrelated images form a sort of an associative chain, that doesn’t break at the sudden end, but extends to infinity. It is not quite clear whether there are some hidden meanings to it or if the helmers are interested in gestures and physiognomy only, but that doesn’t matter much, given that Ricci Lucchi and Gianakian leave a lot of space for contemplation.

10. The Pointsman (Jos Stelling, 1986) / Netherlands Weirdness of the (pseudo) romantic kind

In the middle of nowhere, a well-groomed lady gets off the train and meets an unsophisticated pointsman, the only man to be found around. Her disgust and arrogance, as well as his unkindness and disinterest metamorphose into something akin to love. A cryptic depiction of the two strangers and their odd relationship is characterized by twisted humor and almost complete absence of dialogues, compensated by strong physical presence of the starring Stéphane Excoffier and Jim van der Woude. Nameless protagonists couldn’t be any more different, but for that very reason, they are a perfect couple in the world built upon a dream logic. Van der Woude reminds of a deadpan combination of Charlie Chaplin, Jerry Lewis and nonprofessional actor from some East European rural drama, while Excoffier looks like a classic film-noir femme fatale. Their romance seems impossible and yet, as it develops, sexual tension between the beauty and “the beast” intensifies, becoming more obvious and destructive. The growth of their passion’s flame is stressed through the use of red color, which portends blood-spilling epilogue. Three more men appear, one of them being the pointsman’s rival, changing the dynamics of this minimalist and bittersweet dramedy in the process. And the sleepy scenery of Corrour railway station (in Scotland), where the shooting took place, plays the part of a remote and preposterous land.

11. Mirror of the Planet (Jytte Rex, 1992) / Denmark Weirdness of the Aleph kind

Inspired by Borges’s short story The Aleph, experimental drama Mirror of the Planet (Planetens spejle) is a blurred portrait of a fictional astronomer Adam Morgenstern. Fragmented narrative about everything and nothing seems like a continuous stream of consciousness, dreams and hallucinations of the protagonist, who is trying to grasp the eternity and return to pristine darkness, only to become the (voluntary?) prisoner of one point of his (non)existence.

Jytte Rex identifies a futile quest for the secrets of the universe with the process of facing the fear of death, blurring the borders between the tangible world and the abstract realm. Via poetic monologues and philosophical dialogues, as well as meditative declamations of a mysterious Heraldess, she raises many questions, but leaves you – mesmerized – without the precise answers. On a steep road towards the ultimate truth, she is accompanied by a Danish literate Asger Schnack, as co-writer. Rex’s painter sensibility is mirrored in every frame, while she and her characters strive to discover whether life goes on behind black holes, dubbed as “the presence of the God’s absence” by one of Adam’s colleagues. Architectural elements are treated as metaphors and the space they define becomes the meeting place for the rational and the spiritual, the meaningful and the nonsensical.

12. The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (Dave Borthwick, 1993) / UK Weirdness of the eeky kind

Tom Thumb, a bald boy with a fetus-like head, is a product of an accident caused by an insect in artificial insemination factory. Wretched as he is, he’s accepted and loved by his parents, but their “painful joy” is short-lived. The government’s agents take him away to Laboratorium, a science institute for experimenting on the “freaks of nature”, eliminating Mrs. Thumb. Helped by a mechano-reptilian creature, Tom reaches a settlement built on a landfill and inhabited by miniature people. Their leader, an occultist Jack, assumes custody over the tot and tries to reunite him with his father, who finds solace in a local pub. As the title implies and synopsis confirms, Dave Borthwick takes lots of liberties with adopting a famous folk fairy tale. Borrowing from the legends about Jack the Giant Killer and drawing inspiration from Kafka’s writing, Švankmajer’s animations and Lynch’s Eraserhead, he delivers a dark, cruel and dirty fantasy with heavy and sticky atmosphere. Replacing the dialogues with growls, groans, mumbles and only a few understandable words, he narrates through a nightmarish imagery of a discomforting, mutant-filled world.

13. The Roe’s Room (Lech Majewski, 1997) / Poland Weirdness of the autobiographical kind

Even within the constraints of a low-budget TV production, Majewski achieves miracles. Film-opera The Roe’s Room (Pokój Saren) focuses on his memories of adolescence, poeticised and split into four seasons, all marked with death’s presence. Working not only as a director, but librettist and composer as well, he turns the scenes from everyday life into a stupendous ceremony. What initially seems like an ordinary drama, save for the unconventional approach, slowly transforms into an inspired work of magical realism.

A water flows from the tabletop; the walls crumble and bleed; a tree grows and flourishes in the middle of the apartment. Religious allusions and ambiguous symbols are interwoven into a tale of life’s cycles and transience. Deep shadows of de Chirico reproductions, serving as decor, are the perfect counterpart to mystified semi-darkness of mother, father and son’s daily routines. Macrocosmic changes happen in the microcosm of their home. Deliberate camera movements make dreamlike and melancholic pictures from Majewski’s altered past to remain in your memory long after you’ve seen them.

14. Monobloc (Luis Ortega, 2005) / Argentina Weirdness of the feminine kind

“You take the mask off to often. And you know what they say about that…” Five women and not a single man in sight. Perla loses a position as Minnie Mouse mascot in an empty Luna Park, whose proprietress is her “best friend”. On daily basis, she visits unpleasantly white hospital, run only by a mysterious nurse, in order to cleanse her putrid blood. Her daughter Nena, born with one leg shorter, sells her body to (illusory?) clients for two gold coins. Madrina, their neighbor, finds solace in drinking wine and filling in prize tickets from bottles, hoping to score and depart… The wondrous world of Monobloc is rife with nostalgia, depression, endless idleness and warped emotions, while unstoppably fading away. Which brings the question: Do the gals really exist or are they just their former lives’ echos, persisting between decrepit walls of the apartment block and sticking to the surrounding wasteland? Their conversations hang at the edge of the absurd, as the evidence of their unreality, penetrating the zone of superconscious, impossible to rationalize. With splendid photography of hypnotizing browns, reds, oranges and yellows, Monobloc is pleasent to watch, while the gentle sobbing of strings caresses the ears.

15. Vocal Parallels (Rustam Khamdamov, 2005) / Kazakhstan Weirdness of the Kazakh kind

A few parallels could be drawn between Khamdamov’s career and the cursed Polish film from Inland Empire. His debut was never finished, with parts of it banned, and afterwards he made only two features – Anna Karamazoff, starring Jeanne Moreau, and the one hereinafter, dubbed “concert film” by director himself. Set in (some alternate version of) Kazakhstan, Vocal Parallels (Vokaldy paralelder) is a surreal, female-centric “extravaganza”, with euphonious operatic arias interconnected by strange dialogues and soliloquies, signed by Renata Litvinova. Although it’s almost impossible to figure out its plot, this “musical fantasy” is, simply put, fascinating.

Rarely you see and hear sheep, horses and soprano in the same place, and as if that mélange wasn’t weird enough, there’s a dress made of tulle, newspaper and music sheets. Not to mention Degas’s influence, a clash of old and new in a yurt and a murder with apples that happens at one moment. Oh, and those beautiful Litvinova’s mannerisms. Nonpareil, not even with previously discussed Majewski’s and Schroeter’s entries.

16. One Night in City (Jan Balej, 2007) / Czech Republic Weirdness of the black humor kind

Another stop-motion gem follows a series of absurd and surreal parables, inspired by bohemian district of Žižkov in Prague. Usually unrelated, yet effective, “short stories” develop through one night, as the title suggests. From the circus show with dead insects, through the ants sniffing scene and all the way to the giant breast attack, Balej amuses us with his deformed, yet superbly crafted marionettes, and demonstrates a twisted sense of humor at every turn. Episodic structure is built upon grotesque visuals of dirty colors and textures, and all the talk is replaced by mumbling, as in Barta’s The Pied Piper. Great cinematography is credited to Miloslav Špála, who worked alongside Švankmajer on Darkness Light Darkness and Conspirators of Pleasure, while Tadeáš Věrčák brings whimsical score to the table. Whether their delirious game has a meaning or it’s just a test of audience’s patience is of no matter, as soon as you enter the home of donkey admirers. We can only speculate whether Balej’s fragmented nightmare mocks human depravity, reveals the secrets no one would tell, or just comments decaying society. One thing’s for sure – those disturbing, pale-faced caricatures are what many people are hiding under their deceptive masks.

17. The Herb of the Rat (Júlio Bressane, 2008) / Brazil Weirdness of the rodent kind

Two people meet at the graveyard. She faints, and he helps her and takes her to his home. Once there, he learns that she is a teacher, who has recently been released from a prison and has no place to go, since her father died. Their “dating” starts with a cup of herbal tea, continues through the game of dictation and notation, only to culminate with photo-sessions and the involvement of a rat. From the fateful encounter at the beginning to the last shot, that is more like a question mark than a full stop, one gets the impression those two lost souls don’t belong to our reality. It is almost as if they exist in time and space not subjected to the laws of logic, somewhere at the margins of a perverse and dead dream. With the rodent’s appearance, already supremely odd “romance” between the nameless ones becomes even more strange. The exploration of malefemale relations is conducted through a series of enigmatic proceedings, leading to a darkly humorous finale. Dimly lit and claustrophobic “Lynchian” interiors are perfect environment for Bressane’s artistic experiment. Bizarrely erotic, exquisitely acted and well directed, The Herb of the Rat (A Erva do Rato) is a minimalist psychological drama that constantly bewilders and mesmerizes a viewer with its lethargic rhythm.

18. Vermillion Souls (Masaki Iwana, 2008) / Japan Weirdness of the butoh kind

One should not judge the book by its cover, but in the case of Vermillion Souls, there’s an extraordinary film hiding behind a poetic title, and nonetheless directed by an elderly butoh dancer. Inspired by the tragic death of Iwana’s wife, the writings of Osamu Dezaki and Shuuji Terayama’s oeuvre, this genre-defying drama is a unique viewing experience. Surreal narrative is set in post-WWII Japan and it follows young boy, whose dreams and realities collide in an old mansion, inhabited by a bunch of porphyria-stricken people. Iwana speaks of body and soul symbiosis able to make the impossible possible, while building his own system of symbols out of the shattered religious allegories. How the eccentric characters fit into it is revealed through their names and pseudonyms. Ever ready to take a risk, Iwana takes a few idiosyncratic “forays”, like that hand penetration, in accordance with the butoh philosophy, grounded in taboo, absurd, extreme and grotesque. Spellbinding black and white cinematography, dilapidated locales adorned with peculiar details, and gloomily etheral soundscapes make for a superb audiovisual design. A dance performance by the frozen lake – unavoidable, given the author’s background – stands out as one of the most striking scenes.

19. Finisterrae (Sergio Caballero Lecha, 2010) / Spain Weirdness of the spectral kind

Melancholic euphoria – sound strange, but it best describes the feeling of watching Caballero Lecha’s “wicked”, mind-twisting debut. In the mélange of absurd dramedy, phantasmagorical road-movie and after death mystery, one might acknowledge either transcendental ideas that only appear in a flash, or an elaborate joke. Two ghosts (guys under white sheets with eye openings) follow St. John’s Path, because they’re bored with roaming the purgatory. One of them goes on foot, the other occasionally rides a horse or a wheelchair, that randomly appear and disappear. The characters’ appeal to the invisible Oracle of Garrel is the clear indicator of the director’s main role model – Philippe Garrel’s Inner Scar (La cicatrice intérieure). At the same time, Finisterrae is a well-intentioned parody of that 70s cult film and a silly beast of its own, that demonstrates an effectively ascetic approach to filmmaking.

Not once is it made clear whether Caballero mocks “artsyness” or if he’s deadly serious in applying it, while refusing to give any easy answers. Limiting dialogues to a bare minimum, while spicing them up with some deadpan humor, he puts you in a lightly meditative mood. And with a keen eye of his DP Eduard Grau by his side, he’s got many beautiful shots at hand.

20. Another Trip to the Moon (Ismail Basbeth, 2015) / Indonesia Weirdness of the pagan kind

Deeply rooted in Indonesian legends of yore, Basbeth’s enigmatic feature debut deals with the universal theme of striving for freedom, but that doesn’t diminish its exotic nature. It sedates you with its long, predominately static takes, veiled in symbols and metaphors. Gorgeous tableaus are submerged into a cocktail of ambient noise, soothing absence of words and delicate non-verbal chants, creating an intoxicating atmosphere. Additionally, the scenes from everyday life are raised to the level of a spiritual fantasy. A primitive life of a heroine suggests that the story is set far in the past. However, a TV screen, mechanical rabbits and, later, modern vehicles, are not just random anachronisms. Those very objects that reflect the period of XX or XXI century serve in the process of gradually blurring the borders between the exuberant nature and confining civilization. Basbeth acts as a medium in a reality-dreams relation and applies the “less is more” principle, transforming his film into a deliberately paced ritual. Author Bio: Nikola Gocić is a graduate engineer of architecture, film blogger and underground comic artist from the city which the Romans called Naissus. He has a sweet tooth for Kon’s Paprika, while his favorite films include many Snow White adaptations, the most of Lynch’s oeuvre, and Oshii’s magnum opus Angel’s Egg.

The 10 Best Surreal Horror Movies of All Time 11 OCTOBER 2016 UNCATEGORIZED BY MATTHEW BENBENEK

The horror genre is one of the most widely varied film types in the medium. The slasher films are perhaps the most popular of the horror sub-genres while tales of hauntings are the most classic format. Due to the fact that the basic requirement of horror is to instill fear, it can be applied to virtually any setting. Some of the unexpected horror combinations that have sprung up throughout film history include science-fiction horror, romance horror and even comedy horror. While horror has been one of the most popular genres, it has a bad reputation due to the large number of low quality films that are churned out every year. Some visionary directors, however, are attracted to the genre or more than its typical cheap thrills and stretch its boundaries into the surreal.

The inventive directors of the films in this list do not settle for jump scares or mindless gore but use the horror setting to analyze the psychology of the characters and explore deeper, more complex themes. Although some of these film may be more unsettling and disturbing than the common horror film, if you can stomach their bizarre nature you will find them more rewarding.

10. Tetsuo the Iron Man (Shunya Tsukamoto, 1989)

This brief but incredibly memorable cult film is one of the most energetic and bizarre movies ever made. The film’s scattered, fantastical plot starts when a “metal fetishist” gets hit and killed by a businessman and his girlfriend in a car. They dispose of the body but the fetishist’s spirit comes back to torment the businessman. The businessman begins to grow metal from inside his body until eventually he becomes a walking pile of scrap metal. After accidentally killing his girlfriend, the businessman flees and is confronted by the fetishist’s spirit and the two merge in an extremely stylized, psychedelic climax. Even the previous summation of the film’s plot cannot do justice to the surreal oddity that is film. A cyberpunk version of a Cronenberg horror film, interlaced with hints of anime style and a thumping industrial soundtrack, saying that Testuo is a wild ride is an understatement. The film’s one of kind aesthetics have understandably given it a large cult following and a reputation as one of the most significant underground films of its time.

9. House (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977)

One of the most jarringly weird films on this list, this Japanese haunted house picture switches up the common haunted house scenario by infusing it with goofy, dated special effects that were popular in Japan at the time. The film follows a young girl named Gorgeous who visits her aunt’s house with her three school girl friends. Things start out normally until one of the girls goes go missing. When they go looking for the missing girl, one finds the girl’s decapitated head, which promptly flies across the room and bites her on the rear.

Things only get weirder from here. The girls try to escape the house but become stopped as the house has come alive and throws everything at them. Some of these traps include violent mattresses, pianos that bite and possessed spirits. While the film does not offer as much intellectual content and nuances as most of the other surreal horror films on the list, its exaggerated style and unique atmosphere elevate it above the common horror pack.

8. Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981)

Andrzej Zulawski’s cult masterpiece stars Sam Neill as Mark, an international spy, whose life shatters when his wife, and the mother of his child, asks him for a divorce. He separates himself but keeps visiting for the sake of his son. Mark begins to notice his wife acting more and more bizarre, sometimes leaving their child alone for hours. He becomes obsessed with her behavior and begins following her, but cannot figure out where she spends all of her time. Eventually, Mark hires a private investigator to track her down, making a horrifying discovery. Without giving away the film, I will try to explain its strengths. The plot and twist of the movie are not what make Possession special, but rather the unnerving way in which they are carried out. The supernatural events that occur in the film are displayed with such abruptness that the supernatural feels eerily realistic. Combining that with the sudden, brutal violence that is interspersed and the creepy atmosphere, Possession is an utterly unique psychological horror film that should be searched out by horror fans.

7. The Serpent and the Rainbow (Wes Craven, 1988)

From one of the most influential master of horror, Wes Craven, The Serpent and the Rainbow is one of the most original horror films to come out in 1980s Hollywood. Bill Pullman stars as Dennis Alan, a botanist who is hired by a pharmaceutical company to investigate a drug that is used by the Voodoo doctors in Haiti that is said to induce zombie-like symptoms. Haiti is undergoing a revolution, and to make matters worse the government is aggressively suggesting he leave. After drawing suspicion from with doctors, Dennis is beaten badly, but instead of fleeing the country, determines to stay and uncover the secret of the drug. On its surface, the film does not seem to be of the horror genre, but it in fact has a frightening atmosphere. The surreal nature of the Voodoo culture that Dennis surrounds himself with is filled with mysticism and the unknown that an air of unpredictability surrounding the plot makes the viewer second guess everything they see. Most terrifying are the hallucinogenic dreams that occur when the Voodoo drugs are ingested. This underrated gem deserves a wider audience and is a bright spot in the great director’s career.

6. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Weine, 1920)

One of the very first horror movies and an integral piece in the development of German Expressionism, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a must see classic for all students of film due to its brilliant artistic design. The plot follows a young man, Francis, who is telling a story of his past grief to an older man. Frances’s carefree life was interrupted when, during a town festival, a mysterious man named Dr. Caligari takes the stage with his somnambulist partner, Cesare, who magically answers the crowd’s questions while asleep. Frances’s friend asks Cesare how long he will live, and gets the response that he will only live until dawn. Indeed, that night an intruder sneaks into the friend’s room and kills him, leading Frances on an investigation of the killer and the mysterious Dr. Caligari. The film is important for many reasons as well as being one of the first horror films. German Expressionism is in full force here, with kaleidoscopic sets, wacky camera angles and extensive use of shadows to convey fear and other emotions. The film is also notable for implementing a great twist ending, that has been copied countless times since. Even if horror movies are not your cup of tea, the artistic expression in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and its innovation of the craft make this a must see for film lovers.

5. Santa Sangre (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1989)

Santa Sangre, translated “Holy Blood,” is a masterpiece by director Alejandro Jodorowsky. The surreal auteur, who cemented his visionary status with the cult hits Holy Mountain and El Topo, packs this film with as much bizarre symbolism and memorable story arcs, crafting one of the most intriguing horror films ever. The story, which flips between flashbacks and the present, follows a troubled man named Felix who has been traumatized by the murder of his mother a circus performer, at a young age. After escaping from an insane asylum, Felix explores the city, becoming involved in many surreal situations, until he finds his mother who quickly takes over his life. There are many other subplots that play into the overall structure of the story, and these violent, bizarre occurrences make the film one of the most interesting and unpredictable horror films ever. Santa Sangre’s twisted plot and visuals, combined with a jiving mambo soundtrack, sum up to be a must watch for the fans of the weird.

4. In the Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter, 1995)

Another maven of Hollywood horror, John Carpenter, took on this unusually complex project, filled with psychological twists that leave the viewer wondering what in the film is real. Sam Neill, in his second appearance on this list, plays John Trent, an investigator who is hired by a publishing company to look into the disappearance of the popular horror writer Sutter Cane. To make the case more complex, Trent discovers that Cane’s novels have been known to drive their reader’s into a state of paranoia and sometimes worse. Trent, joined by an agent from the publishing company, venture off to a remote town that they are led to by hints from Cane’s novels. In the town, the two immediately begin experiencing bizarre incidents and the situation only gets more threatening as their stay persists. This underrated metafictional horror film, is one of Carpenter’s most ambitious films, venturing into more daring territory than most of his typical films. Led by Neil’s terrific performance, In the Mouth of Madness is a must see mind-bending horror movie.

3. Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)

Roman Polanski’s second film, and first in the English language, stars Catherine Deneuve as Carol, a bored manicurist in London who lives with her sister. Carol is seemingly disinterested in everything, and has a great impatience for men, including her sister’s boyfriend and her many suitors. When her sister goes on vacation, Carol becomes even more isolated than before, hallucinating and losing her grip on reality. Polanski shows Carol’s descent into insanity with dark, surreal imagery, eventually leading to her acting violently towards men. This chilling tale of psychological torment and sexuality is one of Polanski’s most effective works, frightening as well as commenting on women’s limited role in society. Deneuve is also one of the strong points of the film, delivering one of the best performances of her career as the emotionally devoid beauty. Repulsion is the first of three horror films by Polanski that take place in small apartment buildings, the other two being Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant. While the other two are good in their own ways, Repulsion stands above in its ability to instill psychological horror and uncertainty in the viewer.

2. Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)

David Lynch’s iconic debut that spurred one of the most interesting careers in film history is a landmark in underground horror films. Reviled by many critics upon its debut, Eraserhead’s reputation has increased greatly over the decades as Lynch began earning his spot as one of the most original voices in film. The film’s plot follows Jack Nance as Henry Spencer, a man living in an industrial wasteland. He discovers that his girlfriend has become pregnant with a child, but that the child resembles more of a monster than a human. Torn between many external voices, Henry Spencer becomes a deeply conflicted individual,, receiving veiled advice from entities like a woman in his radiator and a mysterious man who pulls strings in Henry’s reality. There are many aspects of the film that have led it to become one of the most unique films of its time. Its often disturbing visuals, as well as the distorted soundscape of an accompaniment, combine to make one of the most convincing wasteland settings ever shown in film. Some might debate the classification of Eraserhead as a horror film because it is not scary in a conventional sense, but the grim and disturbing events that pervade Henry Spencer’s existence are certainly terrifying. Any fan of film who wishes to explore beyond the conventional into the experimental should start with Eraserhead.

1. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)

The same year that Eraserhead came out, a very different surreal horror film was debuted in Italy. Dario Argento, the king of Italian horror and the Giallo movement, was already internationally renowned due to his slasher masterpiece Deep Red but changed the game with this next horror film. Unlike anything that had come before it, Suspiria was a surreal, high tension thriller, filled with as much gore as psychological horror. The plot follows a young American girl, Suzy, who moves to Germany to study at a renowned dance school. After a series of disturbing and violent events, Suzy discovers that the school is run by a coven witches who have been killing students and staff to protect themselves and survive. Although the plot is considerably more interesting than a lot of Argento’s previous works, the true greatness, like all of his films, lies in the stylization of the events. The surreal nature of the movie, similarly is due to the dreamlike atmosphere that surrounds the film. The juxtaposition of the beautiful dancers and movements with the cackling witches and vibrant violent attacks creates a unnerving environment for the viewer. On top of this, Argento adds in his stunning, colorful shots as well as an unexpectedly effective soundtrack by the band Goblin. Even for those who are not fans of Giallo horror, Suspiria is in a category of its own, as one of the most dynamic and creative horror films ever made. Author Bio: Matthew Benbenek is an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has a passion for film, music and literature and, when not watching movies, is an amateur director and violin player.

20 Cult Dystopian Movies You May Have Missed 01 SEPTEMBER 2016 UNCATEGORIZED BY RAUL J. VANTASSLE

The term dystopia basically means the opposite of utopia. A utopia is deemed to be a perfect society, one with perfect or near perfect qualities. Some scholars have associated it with democracy and egalitarianism, with principles that promote equality and fairness within the society. The word and concept was first used in Sir Thomas More’s 1516 book titled Utopia. Dystopia is the polar opposite, a society that is frightening and unjust. It is often associated with controlling governments, the dehumanization of its citizens, radical environmental changes, and other issues that may be associated with a society that is spiraling out of control. While it can cross all genres and subgenres, a dystopian film tends to fall into the science fiction category and often takes place sometime in the future. One of the earliest that falls within the subgenre is the German expressionist masterpiece Metropolis (1927). Since then, there has been at least one movie from every decade that has addressed this theme and the potential political, societal, and environmental issues that have been of public concern. With the greater special effects capabilities and the popularity of science fiction, the subgenre has produced a vast number of pictures since the 1980’s including popular ones such as They Live, 12 Monkeys, Battle Royale, Blade Runner, Brazil, and Escape From New York. This list contains a little bit of everything and at least one from America, Italy, France, and Australia. It is a varied collection of cult films and trashy pictures; all ranging between being critically hailed, being exploitative and controversial, and being considered so bad that they are great. [Author’s Note: This list is not meant to be an all inclusive list or a best of list; it is simply twenty cult movies that may be worth your time.]

1. 1984 (1956)

“Will Ecstasy Be a Crime …In the Terrifying World of the Future?” [1]. This future dystopian setting has the world divided into new countries, where one is run like a fascist police state. The citizens are closely monitored and not allowed to keep diaries or fall in love. When Winston Smith breaks the law and falls in love, he is tortured and brainwashed for his crime. Loosely adapted from George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which has also been released for radio, a 1954 television version, a 1984 American film, and several other versions. It stars Edmund O’Brien, who had a long and successful career and won one Academy award for Best Supporting Actor in The Barefoot Contessa. Donald Pleasance also appears and really stands out in his performance, he showed very early in career his ability to play unique characters.

2. The Time Machine (1960)

“The Time Machine whirls you to a world of amazing adventure in the year 800,000!” [2]. Four friends are supposed to have dinner with their friend and inventor H. George Wells (Rod Taylor) on January 5, 1900. He is late for the dinner and rushes in late, looking distraught and exhausted. He tells them that he has created a time machine that can travel through the fourth dimension and has traveled to different points in time. He travels to 1917, 1940, and 1966 to see what the future holds. In 1966, nuclear explosions take place that cause volcanic eruptions and trap the time machine into a mountain. Wells is forced to travel to the year 802,701, where the mountain has finally disappeared. He comes to discover two races living in this time, a vegetarian people and a cannibalistic race called the Morlocks that use them to feed on. The inventiveness of the special effects led to this film winning the Academy Award for best special effects in 1961. The time travel device is slightly different than in the novel, looking more like a sleigh than a box described in the book [3]. It was built around “a 1901 Eugene Berninghaus antique barber chair…with a tall, concave disc vertically mounted at the back of the machine which spins as it travels through time. The most commented-on feature of the machine is a brass plate…[that reads] “manufactured by H. George Wells,” a not-very-in-joke that may also have intended to suggest the Time Traveler is H.G. Wells” [3]. The actual aspect of traveling through time was essentially done using a combination of time-lapse photography and stop-motion animation [3]. Another device that they used was the manipulation of lights, using different filters to show different times of the day [3]. There were also a lot of matte paintings used, which “to contemporary eyes…may seem obvious, [but] in 1960 they were convincing enough to allow a willing suspension of disbelief” [3]. There is a very large cult fan base for this film, very similar to Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, and Star Wars. An episode of the TV series The Big Bang Theory is devoted to it, when the group of four friends buys the actual time machine prop used in the film.

3. The 10th Victim (1965)

“It’s the 21st century and they have a license to kill” [4]. This is a campy Italian sci-fi film that can be viewed as a predecessor for movies like Battle Royale and the Hunger Games trilogy, as well as the whole reality television genre.

Set in a futuristic society, war and the population are controlled by a regulated sport of killing. Each competitor must play in ten rounds, five as the hunter and five as the victim. The winners of each kill get rewards, with the ultimate prize of one million dollars for the one surviving all ten rounds. The winners are interviewed like athletes and asked about weird questions like what their favorite comic books are. Caroline Meredith (Ursula Andress) is looking to score even more money, by getting her tenth kill on camera through a sponsorship deal with the Ming Tea Company. Problems arise when she becomes romantically involved with her victim (Marcello Mastroianni). This is a wild and stylishly pop art style of film, everything in it just seems to ooze out the essence of being cool including the jazz score by Piero Piccioni. Andress is as hot as ever, including a very memorable scene where she kills someone with a gun built into a bra. Make sure that you live dangerously, but within the law in this society as they do give out parking violations.

4. Barbarella (1968)

“The space age adventuress whose sex-ploits are among the most bizarre ever seen” [5]. Based upon a French comic, this is the ultimate in sexual science fiction. Set in the 41st century, Barbarella (Jane Fonda) is sent by the President of Earth to rescue Doctor Durand Durand and retrieve his Positronic Ray. She travels to the planet of Lythion, where a new sin is invented every hour. In order to achieve her mission, she must subject herself to the sexual horrors of a neurotic city. This includes a sex organ keyboard, a fantasy dream chamber, a lesbian queen, a giant hookah that dispenses the essence of a man, creepy children of the corn kids with biting dolls, leather robots, a blind bird man, a clumsy revolutionary, and a living labyrinth; all of this while appearing in eight different scantily clad outfits. The film is a unique mix of sex, comedy, cheesiness, “pop-art psychedelics, free-love promiscuity and free-for-all politics” [6]. If you don’t take it too serious and just enjoy the ride, this is a hilarious sexy version of Flash Gordon. The sets design and outfits are creative and colorful, a combination of campy and kitsch. They are reminiscent of the low budget sci-fi space films from the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Jane Fonda does a good job in her performance, even though a large portion of it is looking sexy. Despite the large amount of sex involved, Barbarella is an empowered female. She is never forced into anything; she does it all out of her own free will. This film would go on to inspire the X rated sex comedy Flesh Gordon (1974). It is also a predecessor to Demolition Man, with a future where natural sex has been eliminated.

5. THX 1138 (1971)

“Visit the future where love is the ultimate crime” [7]. Set sometime in the future in an underground dystopian society, the population is strictly controlled; sexual intercourse is not permitted, they are required to take drugs in order to regulate emotions and improve job productivity, they all wear identical white clothing and have shaved heads, they are monitored by android police, and worship a god that produces the same prompted responses during confessionals. THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) and LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) stop taking their drugs and develop a sexual relationship, which leads to the trial and imprisonment of THX 1138. He is imprisoned with SEN 5241 (Donald Pleasance) and they seek to escape along with SRT 5752. This was the first film directed by George Lucas and it was based on a short film that he made while attending the University of Southern California. You could tell the potential that he had for world building and the direction is outstanding, with this being a far superior film to Star Wars depending on your personal opinion. The film features gorgeous set designs and stark colors of the mostly all white buildings and uniforms, versus the black uniforms and silver heads of the android police officers. The performances by Duvall, McOmie, and Pleasance are all very good, with Pleasance particularly standing out as a strange and slightly unhinged character. There are some excellent shots in the film; mostly involving close ups of Duvall and McOmie’s characters. There is also a very great overhead scene of Duvall in an all white location, surrounded by several black police with long poles electrocuting him. There are several versions of this floating around, as Lucas re-released this in 2004 with new footage and additional digital effects added.

6. Soylent Green (1973)

“What is the secret of Soylent Green?” [8]. Set in 2022, the world has gone through a severe pollution problem and overpopulation that has exhausted virtually all of the natural resources. A company named Soylent Industries manufactures the main source of food, made out of plankton from the oceans. When a member of the board of Soylent Industries is murdered, detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates and it takes him down a path of discovering the true ingredients of Soylent Green. A mix of science fiction and police procedural picture, this dystopian set story is loosely based upon the 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison. Heston once again stars in another dystopian style picture, also appearing in Planet of the Apes and Omega Man. There are appearances from Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar), Chuck Connors (The Rifleman), and Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough).

It contains several really memorable scenes, one involving a riot where large trucks scoop up the rioters and dump them into the back of the trucks. Heston is great as always and Robinson has an ominous death scene in his final on screen performance, he would die from bladder cancer twelve days after the film wrapped up production.

7. Idaho Transfer (1973)

“In the Earth Year 2029 there are only twelve young people left. They should be trying to start a new civilization… instead they’re trying to kill each other!” [9]. The government has been able to create a time travel device and have discovered that an ecological catastrophe will soon eliminate the whole population of earth. The effects of the time travel on older people is too destructive, so they have created a team of young people under the age of 20 to try and repopulate 56 years into the future. The government shuts the program down and they end up becoming trapped in the future. Then things turn into Lord of the Flies as each of them is killed off. A very strange and unusual low budget 1970’s film noted for being directed by Peter Fonda. The film was shot for around $150,000 and featured a bunch of unknown unprofessional actors. It is very reminiscent of the era of the 1970’s, and its bizarreness is something that will make you either love it or be bored to death. The end of the film has a pretty big twist.

8. Fantastic Planet (1973)

“A Sublime Trip to a Fine New World” [10]. On a faraway planet, humans (Om’s) are treated as slaves and pets for the giant blue race called the Draags. Other Om’s live in the wilderness and are occasionally slaughtered in order to keep their population down. One Om named Terr is taken as a pet and seeks to revolt against the ruling masters. This is a French animated feature that is based on a 1957 novel titled Oms en serie by French author Stefan Wul. It has some stunning animation that draws on surrealistic and psychedelic imagery, which was created by French surrealist artist Roland Topor. The themes focus on the relationships between humans and racism, as well as between humans and animals.

9. Zardoz (1974)

“I have seen the future and it doesn’t work” [11]. In the year 2293, the world has been divided into two groups, the civilized immortal Eternals and the barely civilized mortal Brutals. A group of Brutal Exterminators maintain control and kill the other Brutals, at the orders of a huge flying head called Zardoz. In exchange for food that is collected, Zardoz exchanges weapons for the Brutal Exterminator. One Exterminator named Zed (Sean Connery), hides on Zardoz to discover what is on the other side. There he meets two Eternals and discovers that a plague is among the Eternals, causing them to lose interest in life and fall into catatonia. While there he discovers the true origin and nature of the god called Zardoz. This one will probably cause a divide in opinion among sci-fi fans, you’re either going to love it or hate it. It has some amazing imagery, especially the large Zardoz head and the look of the Brutals. The overall cinematography is great; it is a pretty mesmerizing movie. There is some humor, plus you’ll either love or laugh at the way Sean Connery looks in the film. The downside is the plot can get confusing and slow at times, plus the big reveal moment may not be as exciting as people had hoped for. This was written, produced, and directed by John Boorman, who had previous success with Point Blank, Hell in the Pacific, and most notable Deliverance. It was his commercial success with Deliverance that gave him free reign on this film. In his career, he has been noted for being a bit pretentious and for going on ego-trips [12]. He should be commended for trying to push the boundaries in the hopes of making something that was on the level of a Stanley Kubrick and 2001 [12]. The movie did not do very well at the box office, but has cult following among sci-fi fans, “playing at revival houses, on college campuses, and on the midnight movie circuit for several years” [12].

10. Death Race 2000 (1975)

“Across the town the traffic is MURDER” [13]. Based upon a short story titled The Racer by Ib Melchior, the United States has turned into a totalitarian regime run under martial law since an economic collapse in the 1970’s. The Transcontinental Death Race was implemented as a way to pacify and reduce the size of the population. A group of five drivers race across the country where they get bonus points for the pedestrians that they kill. A resistance group wants to capture the most popular driver Frankenstein, in hopes of using him as leverage against the president.

It is quite possibly Roger Corman’s best movie, at least from a production stand point. It takes a satirical look at a dystopian setting and the sensationalism of the media, featuring interviews and one commentator that is a parody of Howard Cosell. Each driver has their own unique and outrageous persona, including a cowboy, a Nazi, a Roman God, an Italian, and Frankenstein. This may have been influenced by the Italian film The 10th Victim, but at the same time the high paced racing style had to have directly influence Mad Max. It stars David Carradine and features one of Sylvester Stallone’s early roles, before he became an action superstar. The excessive violence and nudity led to many critics panning the picture, but it was more successful than the big studio release of Rollerball in that same year. It was released on Blu-ray by Shout Factory and looks stunning after receiving a restoration.

11. A Boy and His Dog (1975)

“The year is 2024… a future you’ll probably live to see” [14]. Based on a series of short stories turned into a novella by author Harlan Ellison, it is a post apocalyptic tale of a teenage boy (Don Johnson) and his telepathic dog working together in order to survive. It’s pretty much as if Mad Max and Clockwork Orange screwed each other, had a baby and popped this sucker out. The film is basically a buddy comedy, mixed with rape and ultra violence as the boy finds food for the dog and the dog sniffs out women for him to rape. In between, they have comedic banter as the more intelligent dog berates the boy, battle marauders that pull a makeshift car like a chariot led by a man wearing a blanket cape, watch porno movies at a make shift movie theater, and deal with an underground society that wear clown like makeup and want to use the boy for breading. The movie is all sorts of crazy and that’s what makes it great. Its lack of financial success has made it grow as a cult film and has inspired other films and media. It is obvious that this film is an inspiration for the Mad Max films; there are several scenes from this movie that were clearly recreated in The Road Warrior movie. Max also has the dog as a companion in the second film, even though it doesn’t talk to him. The film was also an inspiration for the popular video game series Fallout [15].

12. Logan’s Run (1976)

“The only thing you can’t have in this perfect world of total pleasure is your 30th birthday . . . Logan is 29” [16]. In the 23rd century, people live in what may be considered an idyllic utopian society where there is no family or jobs and they are free to pursue whatever pleasures that they choose. The only caveat in this society is at the age of 30, you must be terminated in a ceremony called the carousel. Some people believe that there is a sanctuary some place and they choose to become a runner, Logan-5 (Michael York) is a Sandman that hunts them down and kills them. Logan is ordered to become a runner and infiltrate this sanctuary and destroy it. With the help of Jessica-6 (Jenny Agutter), he escapes the society and they discover that there actually is no sanctuary and that the outside world is uninhabited except for one old man. This is a classic of the sci-fi genre that for the time had some excellent special effects; which included miniatures of the utopian city, a moving system of transit, a scene of a decomposing body, and the overrun locations in Washington D.C. There was also good acting from York, Agutter, Richard Jordan, and Peter Ustinov, very nice and interesting set designs, a heavy electronic score, and a pretty cool looking robot. The film won an Academy Award for its visual effects and nominations for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Cinematography. It might not hold up as well as other popular sci-fi films from the era like Star Wars and Planet of the Apes, but still has relevance in the genre and dealt with themes of consumerism and religion.

13. Mad Max (1979)

“He rules the roads” [17]. In a dystopian futuristic time, society has begun to break down and the Australian Highway patrol tries to maintain control of the roads. Led by their top pursuit officer Max Rockatansky, they have to try and deal with a violent motorcycle gang led by a man called Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne). The back and forth battle between the police and the gang ends with Max’s wife and child being murdered by the gang. Max then looks to get revenge and kill the remaining members of the motorcycle gang. This was the ultimate in guerilla filmmaking. Shot on a budget of AU$350,000, everything had to be done as resourceful as possible [18]. Film permits weren’t obtained and director George Miller and crew would have to stay behind to sweep up the roads after the car crash scenes [18]. They passed on casting an American actor because it would use up the whole budget [18]. They had widescreen camera lenses that they used which were essentially discarded from America to Australia, after the filming of The Getaway [18]. Gibson was a relative unknown casting choice at the time, having another cult film released the same year called Tim. The film is memorable for many reasons. The style and speed of the car chase scenes had never been filmed like that before and had a uniqueness and intensity too it. The cars, motorcycles, and police uniforms all had a distinct and different look to them, something that is probably more a part of it being an Australian film. Max’s outfit and his black pursuit special car have become an iconic part of this character and the franchise that has been built. It had a mixed reception among critics because of its violence, but it was a very large success worldwide and has continued to grow as a cult film. It held the Guinness World Record for highest box office to budget ratio up until The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999 [19]. It spawned two sequels with Gibson starring in the 1980’s and has revived itself with Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, which many considered one of the most exciting films of the year. Maybe somewhat surprising, but most of the new generation of Mad Max viewers were not aware of the three previous films. So if you’re a fan of the new film, action, or Ozsploitation, then you should watch this

14. 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982)

“A Heavy Metal Journey Into An Urban Hell Where Everything Was Done Wrong!” [20]. An Italian rip off of the film Escape from New York, which also manages to take elements from The Warriors, The Road Warrior, The Exterminator, and Class of 1984. In the post apocalyptic future of 1990, the Bronx is declared a no man’s land and is run by a group of street gangs. The daughter of a rich Manhattan man, who runs the Manhattan Corporation, runs away into the Bronx and ends up with a biker gang called the Riders. They send a man called Hammer to go into the Bronx and bring her back. The major plot is taken from Escape from New York, involving a man who is sent into the lawless zone of New York to rescue an important girl. The look of the rundown city is mostly taken from that as well. The different gangs and their unique looks were taken from The Warriors, which involved New York gangs who all dress in various costumes. The gangs shown consist of the Zombies, a group on roller skates that carry hockey sticks. The Riders are the motorcycle gang and they have skulls on the front of their bikes that light up at night. Their leader named Trash resembles the main character of the Warriors gang. Then there is a gang called the Tigers led by Fred Williamson, who wear suits and drive fancy old cars. There is another gang dressed in rags that actually look like zombies. Depending on the version you see, there are appearances of some other weird gangs as well. The music is a combination of what you would have heard in both the Warriors and Escape from New York. This is a great low budget rip off combination of both movies. It doesn’t have the best dialogue or the best acting, but it has a good overall look to the film. Partially filmed in New York, they took advantage of filming in and around buildings that were dilapidated and run down. While the gangs may look weird and not make sense, they did the same thing in the Warriors and it worked. They had some unusual and inventive weapons, like the knives on the side of the bike. The director did a decent job framing shots, shooting some close ups, and angular shots to keep the look of the film interesting. Vic Morrow is good as Hammer; this was one of his last films before he was killed on the set of the Twilight Zone movie.

15. Turkey Shoot AKA Escape 2000 (1982)

“Controversial! Violent! The film that shocked Australian critics and broke Box Office records in London!” [21]. This is what happens when you mix together Mad Max, Caged Heat, the Most Dangerous Game, Ozploitation, and a little extra weirdness. The end result is a bloody good time featuring nudity, violence, gore, an eclectic group of rich hunters, a Mr. Hyde type monster, and a very large and explosive finally. Set in a dystopian future, deviants or opposers of the government are sent to concentration like camps where they are tortured and re-educated. This particular camp also has a side business involving hunting the prisoners for sport a la the Most Dangerous Game theme. The film starts out as a women in prison type of movie and then about thirty minutes in it turns into a full on man hunt. There are some great characters in this, notably the chief guard Ritter played by Roger Ward. Ward is probably best known for appearing in Mad Max and is very tall and opposing, with a bald head and big mustache. He has a very memorable scene where he is throwing air punches at a female prisoner while she is supposed to be reciting the rules of the prison. The film stars Steve Railsback, who has been known to play cutting edge characters like Charles Manson and has been involved in a series of movies that are considered cult classics, including another on the list called Lifeforce. The film was directed by Bryan Trenchard-Smith who has another movie appear on this list later on.

16. Trancers (1984)

“His name is Deth. He hunts Trancers. Even in the 20th Century” [22]. A wonderful combination of Blade Runner, Terminator, and zombies wrapped up in some warm 1980’s goodness. Character actor Tim Thomerson plays Jack Deth, a cop/bounty hunter from the year 2247. Deth looks just like Harrison Ford’s character Dekkard from Blade Runner. He is sent back to the year 1985, in the body of one of his relatives to hunt down an evil criminal named Whistler. Whistler inhabits one of his relatives who happens to be a detective. Oh and there’s these things called Trancers. They are kind of like zombies that Whistler can take over; people who have weak minds are the ones that are susceptible. The film was produced by Empire Pictures, which eventually folded and was reformed as Full Moon Features. If you are familiar at all with the VHS era or these production companies, then you know that they were one of the kings of great low budget films. This includes the Trancers series, Re-Animator, Eliminators, Terror Vision, From Beyond, Ghoulies, Troll, Dolls, the Puppet Master series, and many others. Thomerson also starred as another character for Full Moon features called Dollman, a twelve inch tall detective. Known for his distinctive looks, Thomerson has appeared in tons of movies and television series. Look, if you love the 80’s or any of the above production companies then you will absolutely love this. There were five Trancer sequels made, along with a half hour sequel that takes place between the first two films.

17. Repo Man (1984)

“Meet Otto. He’s a clean-cut kid in a dirty business. He’s a Repo Man. He steals cars legally. Now, he’s out to repossess a ’64 Chevy Malibu…with an amazing reward of $20,000. But Otto is not alone. There are others who want the car and will do anything to get it. The risks are great, because hidden in the trunk is something so incredible it could destroy them all. We’ll give you a hint… it glows in the dark” [23]. How many films can you say include a realistic gritty Los Angeles, repo men, teenage punk rockers, and aliens; most likely just this one. It all sounds pretty crazy and probably should not work, but it does and the result is one of the best cult movies ever. Emilio Estevez plays punk rocker Otto, who ends up meeting veteran repo man Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) and gets involved in repossessing cars for a job. There he meets a world of unusual characters and their crazy lifestyle; including Bud who lives by a repo man code and snorts speed, a security guard that knits, the mechanic that speaks about the cosmic unconscious and how UFO’s are time machines, the black repo man that carries a gun with blanks, and the competing Spanish repo brothers.

There’s also Otto’s parents who have been brain washed by a television evangelical minister, the car with aliens in the trunk, and a group of government agents trying to track it down. The music is excellent, with a mix of punk rock songs and surf music used throughout the movie. There is a lot of very good and comedic dialogue as well.

18. Roller Blade (1985)

“In a futuristic society, rebels fighting against a fascist state are aided by a group of roller-skating nuns called the Bod Sisters” [24]. Do you remember a period during the 1980’s when there was actually a couple of similar films that were set in dystopian societies where people road around on rollerskates or rollerblades, kind of hard to believe but it’s true. This thing is total madness and in a truly hilarious way. There is a group of Amazon like nuns that are dressed more like they are in the Klan or some white hate group and they worship a “Have a Nice Day” smiley face, going around trying to right wrongs and prevent the bad guys from getting a magical amulet. This has it all; nudity, roller skates, cheesy dialogue, a fountain of youth hot-tub, martial arts, mysticism, and a bad guy with a hand puppet. It is from the director of Hell Comes to Frogtown, so if you enjoyed that you may have an interest in this low budget 80’s film.

19. Dead End Drive-in (1986)

“There’s a party every day, a movie every night, and all the junk food you can eat. What more can a kid want… except to get out” [25]. Similar to another Ozploitation dystopian film Mad Max, this one deals with the government locking up unruly youths in a concentration like camp. Except this camp is an old drive-in, where they are provided fast food, drugs, and movies. It’s everything that they could want, enough to keep them content and keen on staying there. One young man has different plans when he finds out that he’s trapped and looks for a way to escape. This is probably director Brian Trenchard-Smith’s finest movie, which includes the cult films Turkey Shoot and the Man from Hong Kong that end up being shown at the drive-in. It has everything that would please a cult film fan; there’s violence, fist fights, car chases and crashes, explosions, nudity, sex, outrageous punk rock looks, punk music, a 56 Chevy, and a stunt jump that set the world record for a truck jump at 162 feet.

20. Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988)

“A new breed of enemy has taken over the world… Sam Hell has come to take it back.” [26]. Its Mad Max meets Planet of the Apes, as a nuclear war has ravaged the world and there are mutated frog men running a city called Frogtown. The human race is in danger of becoming extinct because most of the women are infertile, except for a group that’s being held captive in Frogtown. Two women force Sam (Roddy Piper) to go with them to rescue the girls and impregnate them, since he is the most fertile male they have ever seen. This film is total low budget B grade cheesy movie fare that used to regularly play on the USA Network in the 1980’s, when they used to show cool movies on USA Up All Night from 1989 to 1998. Sure its cheep and silly, but who cares. It stars professional wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and that’s the only reason needed to want to watch this one. This may not be as great as They Live, but it’s still light and entertaining and Piper is funny in it. All the works cited can be found here. Author Bio: Raul J. Vantassle is a jazz musician whose key strokes move about the page creating an explosion of formlessness to form, or just total bullshit. His heroes include John Waters, Robert Crumb, Charles Bukowski, and the Cobra Commander. His Knowledge of film goes across the board but he specializes in Asian and cult cinema. He may be the filthiest person alive. You can visit his blog here.