[mbriant]

My business partner is a "strange movie" fanatic and is constantly introducing me to the oddest films ever created. If your entertainment tastes lead you to Eraserhead, The Great Gabbo, Desperate Living, or even Pink Flamingos, you will really appreciate the recently released DVD called "Bubba Ho-Tep". It's very funny, it's very witty, it's very well shot, it's got actors you'll recognise, and it is weird. Very weird.

Set in an old folks rest home, Bruce Campbell plays an excellent cantankerous retired Elvis impersonater who may actually be the real Elvis . (at least he's got the best storyline ever as to how he could be.) Elvis and his buddy Ozzie Davis ( who claims to be John F. Kennedy...which is funny if you know who Ozzie Davis is ) battle a "soul sucking" Egyptian Mummy who's using the rest home as his personal smorgasbord . Apparently, Mummys can suck souls out of any human orifice .... this one happens to prefer the butt.

Can anyone recommend any other unknown film gems such as Bubba Ho-Tep? I'd like to return my partner's favour.

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

I second this recommendation! Bubba Ho-Tep is damn funny, an enjoyable rent!

Af for something for your business partner...hmm...weird and not very good...have you seen Shaolin Soccer?

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter -- definitely up your partner's alley -- highly recommended -- very recent, within the last couple years.

Also, a little older -- I was a Zombie for the FBI (late 80's? but made to look like 50's).

One more (even older than that): The Forbidden Zone (can be obtained here, I think). Bizarre beyond words.

Ask your partner if he's seen any of these and if so, how he liked them. He sounds like he might've already seen these.

EDIT: Also something pretty bizarre, but not so sure it would be up their alley: anything by Brothers Quay or Jan Svankmajer. A lot less sure of these, but worth a rent if you can find them (Little Otik/Otesanek, Alice, etc.). I would recommend them under other circumstances, just not based on what you said about your business partner.

EDIT #2: Anyone else who's seen any of these films is, of course, welcome to comment as well. Please. I'd be curious to hear some second opinions myself, as I tend more towards the mainstream.

 

[markl]

The Evil Dead films with Bruce Campbell are pretty funny (Sam Raimi directs). Have to see if I can check this one out.

 

[philodox]

lol, I saw this a couple weeks back [bubba ho-tep]... the president is hillarious

 

[redshifter]

the abonimable dr. phibes
in the mouth of madness
the tune
delicatessen
altered states
being john malkovich
barton fink
the magic christian
blue velvet
the horse's mouth
the cabinet of dr. caligari
amelie
thx 1138
the rocky horror picture show
clockwork orange
the trip

although he may have seen most of these...

 

[taipeileviathan]

indeed dusty chalk, jan svankmajer is one whose films are fantastically weird... little otik completely blew my mind. also, to those who haven't seen it yet, brazil is a great movie, also pretty weird, directed/written by terry gilliam of monty python fame and co-written by tom stoppard, starring jonathan pryce with appearances by robert de niro. it comes straight from the german expressionist/noir tradition and presages today's surrealist films like city of lost children and ultimately ends with an alternate take on the same message behind fight club. highly recommended...

 

[bln]

eraserhead is messed up. i think lynch meant it as a joke.

 

[EyeAmEye]

The Dark Backward, starring Judd Nelson and Bill Paxton is pretty bizarre.

 

[philodox]

I'm going to suggest Cry Baby

why?

well, I'm a big johnny depp fan, but that movie was too crazy/stupid to allow me to watch it the whole way though... [favourite johnny depp is benny & joon btw]

 

[Chinchy]

If you want something weird as in to the point of wondering " Uhh... wha?! HUH?!" then a good one for you is this Japanese anime called "Cat Soup". I've never seen anything like it, and it made no sense. Totally random. It has been compared to "Hello Kitty on acid" and is like a bad drug trip.

It has like 2 cats, and one dies or something. So the other goes to get back the soul. And then there's an elephant made out of water? and limbs chopped off. and.. eating. and some other stuff.. Yeah seriously, it made no sense.

Oh and it's only 30 minutes long.

 

[chadbang]

I would recommend, since humor seems to be part of the fun, the 1968 film "Black Lizard". It's crazy and campy and was a cult film LONG before the whole Japanese/anime/Tarantino/whatever craze hit. And it's a riot.

Here's the best description I could find:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...son_a0a71c.htm


The Post reviewer references Goddard's "Alphaville" which reminded me that I also find that film hilarious and bizzare (though perhaps too cerebal at times to make it a real hoot).

You could check out the old kid's classic "The Thousand Fingers of Dr T" written by Dr Seuss. That's a weird one, too. Freaked me out when I was 6 -- which is why it wasn't a hit! Scared off it's audience. I like it alot, though.

My recent favorite is "Blood for Dracula" formerly known as "Andy Warhol's Dracula" it's been re-released by the Criterion Collection. I find it a complete howl! Udo Kier is the best!

Oh, too many more!! Let's see.....

 

[taipeileviathan]

Black Lizard sounds quite intriguing... based on a Mishima adaptation of Poe? can't go wrong there!

talking about weird anime, check out this one called FLCL, which is short for um, Fooly Coolly. don't ask. this is prolly hands down the weirdest anime i've ever seen, but it was produced by Gainax (the studio that produced Nadia and Evangelion), so it's an extremely well-made endeavour. get ready for a really trippy ride...

 

[Takashi]

Why not "Mulholland Dr."?
Too mainstream? Oh...

 

[skiingemt]

Recommendation for your friend (and the rest of you): 301/302. Korean with subtitles, about women in neighboring apartments and their opposite obsessions with food (and other things, like most foreign films about food). Killer ending. Anyone else seen it?

G