The beauty of art lies is in its subjectivity. The ability to gather varied interpretations based on the same experience is quite interesting-- what one might find enjoyable may not be the case with someone else, and it's difficult to objectively state what is 'good' or 'bad.' Film is the prime example of an entire industry fueled by such discussions. While a person's decision to go see a movie may be influenced by certain reviews or catchy headlines, an emotional response is still the rawest form of criticism. It may be hard to contextualize emotions after certain films, ones which leave audiences with no words at all; they may not be 'bad,' and they may not even be 'good.' This particular breed of movies really can’t be described as anything other than… bizarre.
In a sense, that’s exactly what many great filmmakers want, for their film to live in (or invade) the mind and stay there. Maybe it's a scene or two that was really disturbing. Perhaps it's a complex storyline or powerful performances which left one with a feeling of awe. Or, in some cases, the film is just flat out weird, defying conventional narrative structure and resisting any and all tropes. Sometimes, the invasion even hits the mainstream, and the culture assimilates its weirdness surprising ways. The following list of films fit within the bizarre and the weird, and yet have infiltrated the mainstream to a large extent. They stand out in the cinematic history of recent popular culture for reasons that one must see to believe.
5 Requiem For a Dream
Darren Aronofsky’s panic-inducing derailment of the psyche is filled with oddities. Whether its quick-cut editing or confrontational close-ups, Requiem For a Dream is not one for the faint of heart. What makes it bizarre is its technical ability to make audiences feel a certain type of way. Aronofsky is able to make the viewer feel as though they were living through these troubled characters clinging to life. When they sweat, we sweat. When they’re falling into a narcotic abyss, we find ourselves falling with them. The kind of empathy the director and actors are able to create (with drug use, desperation, prostitution, anxiety, mental illness, and so many other intense aspects of the human experience) is just what great filmmaking is all about. Somehow, this movie has become a prerequisite for teenagers, film buffs, and anyone who's ever experienced depression, mental health issues, anxiety, or drug use (aka practically everyone).
Upon first viewing, audiences are exposed to a type of cinema hardly seen before. That unsettling unpredictability, and downright tragedy, leaves audiences with a gut-wrenching anxiety that's hard to escape. The film tells the story of four very different New Yorkers; the setting is so grounded, but the film looks and almost feels like a fantasy world. Time has no meaning, it speeds and slows at an uncontrollable pace, and both dreams and fantasies coexist with reality on a homogenous playing field. Techniques like these are rare in cinema and, therefore, automatically exist on a different shelf. Plus, what other film lists a 'refrigerator puppeteer' in its credits? Viewers should be prepared to have space in their minds rented out for this one.
4 Escape From Tomorrow
A science-fiction horror film literally set in the most mainstream of all environments, 'the happiest place on Earth,' Walt Disney World-- what could go wrong; or rather, what can go right? This incredibly strange journey centers on the mind of a father who just wanted to take his family on a trip to The Magic Kingdom. Escape From Tomorrow caused quite the stir in 2013, and is infamous in terms of its guerrilla-style production, having been secretly shot with covert cameras at the theme parks. Director Randy Moore was able to change the audience's perspective on what is often considered to be the perfect family location, turning Disney's park into a bizarre antagonist with the characters as its pawns.
While this film is by no means a sophisticated work of art, it is a wild ride of unexplainable twists and turns, and looks like the result of Lars von Trier directing in The Twilight Zone. Moore takes time to explore a world within the world, one where cats cause pandemics and the protagonist takes the audience on a bizarre psychological journey that bends the reality of a world where reality is already bent. There are hardly any words left for viewers leaving this film; if anything, it forces that “what did I just watch” conversation. Though unexplainable and just plain bonkers, Moore's bizarre anti-fantasy never escapes the mind.
3 Sausage Party
The idea of groceries coming to life and interacting with humans is wild in and of itself, and the cutesy computer-generated style of Sausage Party makes it seem like it will be fun for the whole family; this is most definitely not the case whatsoever. This movie is a violent, sexual, psychedelic trip into the minds (and 'genitals') of your favorite foods. It's also, somehow, a surprisingly thoughtful meditation on organized religion and the nature of hope. Yet, this weirdness infiltrated theaters and captured the imaginations of surprised audience members who were hyped to hear Seth Rogen, Nick Kroll, Kristen Wiig, and other mainstream comedy celebrities.
Regardless of what it might mean, the film is one of the few truly bizarre movies to be actually fun. It doesn't shy away from gruesome depictions of gourmet massacres (the baby carrots, lettuce, and potatoes are brutally torn apart at the hands of the consumer) and culinary orgies (with massive group sex scenes featuring tacos, hot dog buns, and donuts). Neither food nor viewer is safe here. This movie combines adult humor with family-friendly animation clichés and philosophical musings in a wonderfully bizarre fashion, forcing force the audience to second guess themselves every time they walk into their nearest food store.
2 Midsommar
Filmmaker Ari Aster is no stranger to the unusual and unsettling. His terrifying 2018 film Hereditary told a streamlined story about grief in a gruesome way. Midsommar proved that Aster has even more bizarre tricks up his sleeve, with the movie quite literally distorting reality by bending the foliage and other elements seen in certain shots. It brilliantly imitates the feelings of both hallucination and brainwashing, which may be jarring at first glance, but makes sense in terms of the storytelling. Aster may make bizarre films, and yet he has entered into the mainstream so powerfully that he's now considered one of the best horror filmmakers today.
Florence Pugh is at the center of a wild trip, one which is both figurative and literal. Focusing on a trip taken to an isolated European village, the movie explores what happens as characters fall deeper and deeper into their own specific oblivion, intoxicated by everything from grief and lust to loneliness and drug tea. The audience is left inebriated by haunting visuals, a powerful score, and breakthrough performances in a film which may be bright and colorful but is utterly bizarre in how it plays with the audience's sense of reality itself.
1 The Rocky Horror Picture Show
It’s a classic, it’s a wild extravaganza, it’s just a jump to the left! A musical unlike any other, with a story that's nearly indescribable. Perhaps Brad and Janet, a lovely couple stranded on the road with a flat tire, seems streamlined enough, but the doors of madness open when they step foot into the home of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, played by the legendary Tim Curry. His house is run under his rules, where everyone is hyper-charged both mechanically and sexually.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show an undoubtedly bizarre film, no doubt, with head-scratching twists and turns, and yet it has been embraced by the mainstream so much that live yearly (and sometimes even monthly) showings take place. Fans dressed in fish-nets and the highest heels possible, all armed with newspapers and toilet paper, sing along to the film's catchy tunes while waiting for their cues to lose their minds. It's a brilliant showcase of fandom. Curry’s brilliant performance and the great music have kept this film in circulation for nearly fifty years, which is incredible for a film that is, at heart, downright weird and bizarre.