Obviously there’s lots of weird trash in the direct to VHS/DVD/streaming ecosystems, but when it comes to something that actually got a first run theater release, what is your strangest?
For me, it’s Southland Tales. I actually kind of love this movie but it’s difficult to recommend because people you recommend it to might not look at you the same afterwards. The cast is positively stacked with big names, the movie looks great, and there’s a fantastic and really sad musical number half way through. This is the only movie that has truly captured the vibe of reading the biblical book of Revelation in that it’s making you go “wait, what?” every five minutes as it spirals into either intensely meaningful imagery or schizophrenia manifest on 35mm.
I consider this part of a genre of cynically made movies that rely on a great poster and catchy premise to get butts in seats, and then the movie itself is just sort of slapped together. It’s what I imagine has dudebros telling eachother is “Dude this movie is soooo crazy.”
Aye, I’ve never actually seen it, because as you say, it’s essentially a title and a poster. I can’t imagine the movie is able to do anything particularly unexpected or interesting beyond that.
Similarly, I’ve not seen The Human Centipede, because I know what the gist of it is from the title alone. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems unlikely that it’s going to really get to the core of helping us to understand the human condition. Unless you happen to be a human who’s been surgically attached to the anus of another human.