I always have trouble answering when someone asks me what my favourite movie is. However I do hold a special place in my heart for obscure quirky or downright bizarre films, especially if they're funny. I have decided to list a few of my favourite films in this category. Not all of them are brilliant, but they have several moments that are at least worth a single viewing if not more.
Dark Star: This is an ultra-low budget sci-fi student film partly written by the guy that wrote Alien. It is set on a isolated space ship with a stir-crazy crew. It is absolutely hilarious, especially some of the video diary entries by one of the characters.
Bizarre points:
* An alien that is obviously a beach ball. This alien was actually the original inspiration for the movie alien. I kid you not.
* A philosophical bomb
* Low budget special effects.
Hercules Returns: Okay I'll admit the start of this movie is SHIT. The premise is that someone buys an old run-down movie theatre. On the opening night they realise that their film is actually in Italian. So they decide to cut the sound and dub over the film LIVE. The rest of the film is them ad-libbing over the film. It has some absolutely hilarious scenes and I know of quite a few people who quote it ad-nauseum like some do with Monty Python. A real cult classic. The main problem is it is almost impossible to find except on ancient rental VHS.
Bizarre points:
* Pretty much the whole thing. I won't give away any of the jokes.
* A rare bright point in Australian film history.
Mutant Aliens: This is the most fucked-up cartoon I've ever seen - definitely not one for the kiddies due to its graphic sexual content and violence. Still you should see it. It isn't so much that it is good, it more like a road accident you can't look away from. It is quite funny though, albeit in a very very warped sort of way. It is the sort of movie you need to see late at night to appreciate. Every 5 seconds you'll find yourself saying "That's so fucked up!" but you won't be able to look away. The premise is that an astronaut has come home after he was apparently lost in space. He comes back with a group of aliens and tells his story of his time away.
Bizarre points:
* The totally surreal story told by the astronaut, including landing on a planet inhabited by noses.
* The whole damn thing really.
The Bitch is Back: This one is a short film about a inflatable sex doll that comes to life and goes psycho.
Bizzare points: See above.
Deadly friend: One thing that makes me feel old is meeting people that only remember Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Older people of course remember the original Buffy was Kristy Swanson. Deadly Friend was a pre-buffy z-grade horror film with Swanson. The premise is that a guy's girlfriend dies and he decides to reanimate her by putting a computer chip in her brain. Psychotic rampages ensue of course. It's terrible as you would expect, but hilarious when seen at 3am.
Bizarre points:
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a cyber-zombie with really bad eye make-up.
* Killing someone with a basketball.
The Room: This film definitely falls into the category of so-bad-it-is-good. Most bad films are simply boring. This is somehow a masterpiece of imperfection. Bad acting, editing, script, plot, unsexy sex scenes you name it this film has it.
This film has a cult following and is actually screened once a month in LA and gets a similar reception to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. People come dressed as their favourite characters and even participate by throwing things at the screen.
Bizarre points:
* The lead "actor" Tommy Wiseau. His bizarre vampiresque look, strange accent, and ideosyncratic laugh.
* The most god awful sex scenes in history. To make matters worse they actually reuse the same scene later in the film.
* Really dumb, creepy characters.
* Plotlines that go nowhere.
* Unintentionally hilarious dialogue and delivery.
* Melodrama that makes day time soapies look like Shakespeare.
* Looks like it was shot about 2 decades before it was.
