There are always netizens who ask me to recommend cult or cult or strange movies. In fact, a few years ago I helped Time compile a similar article, which was called a WTF movie at the time, which is actually quite in line with the style you need. Now it seems that there are a lot of movies here that are still well worth watching. Recommend it to the other guys.
There is such a movie, when you watch the first reaction is not good or bad, but stunned, shocked, emotionally difficult to express or mixed feelings. Or just one sentence that could express your emotions at the time, "What the hell is this TM movie?" In the West, there is a term for such films, namely WTF films.
The so-called WTF is actually the acronym of "What the fuck". It corresponds to a dirty word, but also represents an emotion of the audience. Whenever we see a movie that is very strange and difficult to classify simply, we call it a WTF movie. While it sounds a bit crude, WTF movies are not necessarily pejorative, and there will even be a lot of avid fans of WTF movies, as well as WTF movie websites, who promote or promote such movies in various ways.
From a genre point of view, WTF movies are more focused on genre films such as science fiction, horror, fantasy, etc., and they often ignore the traditional narrative structure and genre and make various bold changes. The themes of the film are mostly identity, time travel, reality and illusion, dreams, etc., and sex, violence and cult are often necessary elements. Of course, it would be nice to have a big reversal ending. The evaluation of such films is clearly divided into two factions, one is regarded as a supreme classic, and the other is regarded as a strange and dismissive. The two evaluations are opposed to each other, and there is no middle ground, which has become a major feature of this type of film.
In order to facilitate everyone to better understand WTF movies, here are 50 classic WTF movies in film history. If you are a fan of this type of film, the following list of films will definitely make you happy.
50. "Sacred Carriage" Director: Leo Carax (2012)
Since 1999's Bora X, Leo Carax hasn't released a new work for more than a decade. The new film "Holly's Car" was previously released in Cannes and caused great repercussions, with some people calling it the god of the year, while others said the film was chaotic and difficult to understand. This extreme bipolar evaluation happens to be one of the characteristics of the film, that is, the unique originality.
49" "The Kill List" Director: Ben Vitelli (2011)
The film is Ben Wittley's second feature film and has been hailed as the "strangest", "scariest" and "most unexpected" British horror film of all time. The film begins with the style of a Mike Lee family life film, becomes a killer story in the middle, and ends with a completely crazy horror film, and the sharp change in style makes the film look different.
48. "The Source of Love" Director: Darren Aronofsky (2006)
This is a rather strange and obscure work by Darren Aronofsky. The film uses dazzling graphics and many metaphysical topics to tell a love story. The narrative is jumpy and divided into three parts, and the form also brings out some psychedelic flavor. The film mentions many issues such as death, reincarnation, and what is eternal life, and for many viewers, it is too esoteric to explore these topics in the film.
47. "The Will of Dr. Mabus" Director: Fritz Lang (1933)
This film is the masterpiece of the great German director Fritz Lang. The film tells the story of a crime boss who is still able to plan and instigate various crimes in a mental hospital, even after his death. It was a film with a distinctly expressionist style and was banned by the authorities for its allusions to Nazism. Fritz Lang also practiced his style with this distinctive work.
46. Labyrinth of Magic Director: Jim Hansen (1986)
Director Jim Hansen has incorporated almost all of his weird ideas into the film. The film tells the story of a little girl who enters the magical labyrinth to save her brother. There are marionette monsters, all kinds of weird shapes, villains with strange makeup, weird songs and dances, and David Bowie's joining. At the same time, it is a fairy tale.
45. "Weekend" Director: Jean-Luc Godard (1967)
One of Godard's masterpieces, he was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival. Like many of Godard's works, this film is very different and obscure. The film tells the story of a couple who travel to Paris, encountering a series of car accidents, murders and robberies and other crazy events. The film's expression is equally unique, as opposed to the audience's daily cinematic experience. The variety of super long shots and the very un-Hollywood editing methods make people impressed with this film.
44. "Tree of Life" Director: Terrence Malik (2011)
Terrence Malik, who has been sharpening his sword for several years, launched "Tree of Life" last year, which conquered audiences with exquisite visual spectacle and majestic stories, and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year. The story of the film is not strong, and there are many paths that can be interpreted, which also causes the film to have a bipolar status in the hearts of fans. But it must be admitted that this is an impressive work, such as its picture.
43. "The Otherworld" Director: Adrian Lane (1990)
Adrian Lane, who specializes in erotic films, brought this suspenseful thriller to the '90s. The film tells the story of a Vietnam Veteran, the whole film is caught between reality and illusion, and the excellent structure and various settings make it difficult for the audience to distinguish between true and false and find the truth. This film provides reference and inspiration for many such psychological thrillers in terms of drama structure and suspense setting.
42 Mulholland Drive Director: David Lynch (2001)
Mulholland Drive is a culmination of David Lynch's work, inheriting David Lynch's usual style without being too egotistical and alienating to the audience, as in his other works. The film uses various symbols, metaphors, loops and other techniques to deal with this strange story, the intersection of reality and dreams. Illogical, eccentric and difficult to understand, on the one hand, it makes many viewers stay away, and at the same time, it has become the best work in the hearts of many movie fans.
41. "Gluttonous Tree" Director: Yang Shiyun Meyer (2000)
Gluttonous Tree is from the well-known Czech stop animation master Jan Sven Meyer. It is a stop-motion work that combines live-action and animation. The film tells the story of a couple who adopt a tree baby, which is a fairy tale but full of dark elements. Like all of Sven Meyer's works, this work has both a wild imagination and a strange scene that challenges the audience's acceptance, and you will find that the original puppet fairy tale can be so terrifying.
40 Dr. T's 5,000 Fingers Directed by Roy Roland (1953)
Written by the well-known children's writer Dr. Seuss, the bizarre story setting, script and even lyrics were all written by Dr. Seuss. Tell the crazy idea of a piano teacher who recruited 500 children to practice the piano all the time. One of the children, Bart, wanted to be liberated from the teacher's plan, so he began the plan.
39. "Uncle Bumi Who Can Recall Past Lives" Director: Apichatpong Welashagu (2010)
The winner of the 2010 Cannes Palme d'Or from the famous Thai director Apichatpong Welashagu. Another obscure work. The mystical atmosphere conveyed in the film, and the philosophies that are hidden later on eternal topics such as life and death, make the film not so close to the audience. At the same time, the work is like a strange dream, and the oriental philosophy in the work, which fascinates others.
38. "Blind Walker" Director: Richard Linklater (2006)
The film is based on the classic novel of Philip Dick, and unlike the author's other works, it is not a thrilling sci-fi blockbuster, but a quirky animation. Of course, this is not exactly animation. The film was first filmed from a live-action film, and then later animated by post-processing, which became the most bizarre part of the film. And the psychedelic feeling that pervades the film is difficult to distinguish between true and false will also make many viewers uneasy.
37. "New York Metaphor" Director: Charlie Kaufman (2008)
Ghost screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut was a big hit before its release, but after its official release, it was snubbed because the play was too complex and difficult to understand. The film uses metaphorical methods to compare and compare people's lives. Comparing New York to the world, the life of the people in the play allows the audience to jump out of their own way and reconsider the world. The complex and eccentric script allows the film to be close to one group of people and alienated from another.
36. "The Night of the Lost Souls" Director: Jean-Pierre Genet (1995)
The early works of Jean-Pierre Genet, the director of "Angel Amelie", are also a strange story full of imagination and strange ideas. Children in the city frequently disappear, and the real culprit is actually trying to steal their dreams. The film begins with a quirky story, and the avant-garde costume design and expressionist style create a strong sense of absurdity.
35 Stalker Director: Andrei Tarkovsky (1979)
Tarkovsky's science fiction film, like most of his work, is less intimate with the audience. The film revolves around a metaphysical proposition about a stalker who travels to the Chamber of Secrets in search of his ultimate desire. Obscure stories and long shots are a test for many people, but some viewers believe that this is a great science fiction film with an epic temperament, and the deep themes explored in it can be explored repeatedly.
34. "Naked Lunch" Director: David Cronenberg (1991)
When the crazy and eccentric director David Konenberg encountered William Barros's infamous "Naked Lunch", it made this weird fantasy film. The film constructs a strange hallucinatory world caused by drugs, such as a talking typewriter, a keyboard face, and so on. Cronenberg constructs a unique visual world for audiences with his best horror fantasy genre.
33. Doctor Transfiguration Director: Ken Russell (1980)
It's still a movie about hallucinations and the subconscious. The director is the well-known British character director Ken Russell. His work has always been eccentric and controversial, and he is also one of the directors with a very WTF element. The film tells the story of a scientist who uses sensory deprivation and drugs to enter a strange psychedelic world, and this hallucinatory world is becoming more and more attractive to him, making him unable to extricate himself.
32. "Cold Blooded Horror" Director: Roman Polanski (1965)
In a film shot by Roman Polanski after he traveled to England, Catherine Deneuve starred as a neurotic woman who suppressed her desires. The director conveys her almost crazy inner world to the audience in a figurative form. The film was a hit and became a horror film masterpiece in the hearts of many people, and was also shortlisted for the Berlin International Film Festival. Polanski's crazy and daring hand in the film made a good start for his horror film experience for many years.
31. "Death Code" Director: Darren Aronofsky (1998)
Darren Aronofsky's directorial debut, an ambitious fantasy thriller. The genius mathematician, eager to mathematically calculate the movement of the stock market, ends up in the middle of the calculation, thinking that he can find a way to communicate with God, and the story becomes more bizarre as the plot progresses. The film's personal style is bold and prominent, and the rough images and sharp editing have allowed many people to see the talent of this newcomer director.
30. "Night Panic" Director: David Lynch (1997)
After Twin Peaks, David Lynch launched The Night's Trail. Compared with this film, "Twin Peaks" will appear somewhat mainstream. David Lynch further disrupts the narrative structure in the film, leaving the plots without logic, like a chaotic nightmare. It's a dark, gloomy story told by schizophrenics. Lynch defined the film as "the noir horror film of the 21st century."
29. Carnival of souls directed by Herk Harvey (1962)
This film is a classic B-grade horror film of the 60s, and its plot setting has influenced many works such as "The Sixth Sense" later. The film tells the story of the heroine who sees some very strange phenomena after miraculously surviving a car accident. No one in the town seemed to be able to see her, and some strange pale guys kept talking to her... The excellent organ score further renders the film's horror atmosphere.
28. "Ghost Building" Director: Takashi Miike (2001)
This is a weird movie by Takashi Miike, based on Kim Ji-woon's "Death Without Publicity Bizarre Murder". The story is similar to the previous game, but it is still a family that runs a holiday home and encounters various bizarre events. However, compared with the previous version, the content of black comedy has been weakened, adding elements of song and dance films, making the film a bit of a genre mix-and-match absurdity, and the ending is a positive theme. The clay animation used at the beginning and end of the film has a lot of flavor for Jan Sweymeyer's work.
27. "Ghost Chaser" Director: Dan Cascarali (1979)
A series of horror films that began in the 70s, followed by several more, referring to the first one. The male protagonist always thinks that his friend died strangely, and goes to the cemetery to find out what is going on, and he finds that the local tall funeral home manager is very strange, and the guy is turning people into zombies through some strange methods. The tall villain in the film is particularly impressive, and the killer ball with the drill is a very classic horror movie prop.
26 The Wicker Man Directed by Robin Hardy (1973)
A very well-known British horror film, it has been selected for various classic horror movie lists, and it is also the best horror film of the Saturn Awards that year. The film was remade in 2006 by Nicholas Cage, but the most classic is the original version from 1973. The film tells the story of a policeman who goes to the island to investigate the disappearance of the girl, but finds that the residents of the island believe in a mysterious and strange ancient religion, and he himself is in trouble to save the girl.
25. "The Illusion of Death" Director: Richard Kelly (2001)
Richard Kelly, who is under 30 years old, made his first work, The Illusion of Death. Its strong cult style and the interpretation of terms such as offline universe and primary universe have confused many viewers. In addition, the narrative structure of the film deliberately breaks the traditional linear narrative method and confuses the audience with the method of staggering time. Formally, although this film does not have a large-scale science fiction scene, it has become a unique science fiction classic with noun theory and interesting story.
24. "The Deformed Man" Director: Todd Browning (1932)
This film caused a lot of controversy because this work that reflects the deformed people uses the performances of real deformed people actors. This kind of film that shows the spectacle of the disabled is synonymous with political incorrectness, but the out-of-the-box approach has also made this film a well-known horror film in film history. The film tells the story of some deformed people in the circus who are deceived by normal people and begin to take revenge. What the film wants to say is "What exactly can be considered a normal person?" ”
23. "The Angel of Annihilation" Director: Luis Buñuel (1962)
Buñuel's well-known surrealist film is also a spooky satirical comedy. The film revolves around a grand banquet where guests find them unable to leave, so they remain trapped in it. The film can be interpreted in many ways, such as the bourgeoisie, contemporary Spanish society, the shackles of human traditional norms, and so on. Like many of Buñuel's works, we cannot analyze it with very clear logic. This ambiguity has also become the charm of the film.
22. "Cabin in the Woods" Director: Drew Gundam (2011)
Drew Gundam, who was the screenwriter of "Lost" and "Clover Files", his first directorial debut "Cabin in the Woods" touched many audiences with a very bold subversion, and was also regarded as the most worthwhile horror film of 2012. The first half of the film, like all horror films, continues the traditional story structure, the desolate holiday home in the forest, the mysterious legend and the zombie, but the subsequent changes are very surprising, the film subverts the traditional horror genre, and is a horror movie that is very fun to play.
21. Out of the Blues Director: Brian Juzner (1989)
Brian Juzner's directorial debut brought such a shocking horror film, and the final part of the film exceeded the ability of many audiences to bear with unimaginable perversion and blurred flesh and blood, and also took the physical horror genre to a new level. The film is a surreal satire of the capitalist rich, likening them to human-eating monsters whose ultimate behavior is really human flesh eating and various absorption deformations.
20. "Barton Fink" Directors: Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen (1991)
The Coen brothers became the biggest winner of that year's Cannes Film Festival, winning best picture, best director and film awards. The film is about the events of a new playwright in a strange inn, full of magic and surrealist style, which visualizes the dilemmas encountered by the creators in their creation and the contradictions between business and free will, and gives them a magical flavor.
19. "Holy Mountain" Director: Alessandro Zodlowski (1973)
Chilean surreal film director Alessandro Zodurowski's masterpiece "Holy Mountain", a rebellious and deviant work, there are many rebellious contents of desecration of religion and gods. The cult content in the film is ambitious and bold, such as cars full of corpses, uncontrolled sexual displays, and blasphemous priests. The director challenged the recognized authority and norms in such a crazy way, and made this film a classic in cult films.
18 Dr. Caligari's Cabin Directed by Robert Wayne (1920)
The masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema, the film uses weird, distorted and extremely exaggerated visual images to show the crazy inner hearts of the characters, while creating a strange world with exaggerated scenery. The resulting expressionist film style had a profound impact on too many subsequent films. At the same time, the plot of this film is also crazy, about a psychopath like a criminal, and hypnosis control and other content.
17. "Infatuation" Director: Andrei Zulaski (1981)
The masterpiece of Polish director Andrei Zulaski, a work of gloom, horror and perversion. The male protagonist suspects that his wife is having an affair, so he hires a private investigator to investigate, but finds a very terrible situation. Dark and terrifying otherworldly, dirty, slimy demons, the film creates a terrifying alternative world with a strong visual form. And french actress Isabelle Adjani also won the Cannes film queen of the year for her outstanding performance in this film.
16. "Masquerade" Director: Ingmar Bergman (1966)
A psychodrama by Ingmar Bergman, he attempts to explore the human heart with an allegorical story. The film tells the story of a well-known actress who suffers from a strange illness who refuses to speak and remains silent for months. The film sees language as a false mask, but when the character chooses silence, he undoubtedly wears a larger mask. The director explores a metaphysical proposition in the form of a film, which is also the content of many of Bergman's films.
15. "Iron Man" Director: Shinya Tsukamoto (1989)
The famous work of Shinya Tsukamoto is also one of the representatives of Japanese cult films. Tsukamoto also holds several positions in the film, directing, writing, starring, photography, editing, and producing. The film explores the panic of the industrial age, the mechanization of the human body, and therefore also belongs to the category of body horror films. Radical soundtracks, fast and rhythmic editing, and rough black-and-white photography further contributed to this industrial panic.
14. "Inland Empire" Director: David Lynch (2006)
David Lynch's latest work also won the Future Digital Film Award at the Venice Film Festival. At this time, David Lynch was becoming more and more immersed in the world of the self, while for others, his work was becoming more and more obscure. The film is confused about the dual identity of the characters, and there are some seemingly unrelated plots mixed in, and even the female lead Laura Dunn herself said that she had no idea what the film really said. After this film, Lynch focused on music, installation art and other things, and has not launched a new work.
13. "Fantastic Ideas" Director: Terry Gilliam (1985)
The film was partly inspired by George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In a highly centralized future world, order is also the strangulation of human nature, and some small changes in the protagonist affect the whole world. Director Terry Gilliam also turned the film into a fantasy-filled black comedy. The film reflects on the totalitarian world in a fretting and funny atmosphere, and becomes a masterpiece of dystopian cinema, and the jokes and satire in the film are even more unforgettable.
12. "Into nothingness" Director: Gaspar Noe (2009)
Gaspar Noir has always been a director whose works are not surprising and endless, "Irrevocable" caused a contagious exit in Cannes, and the new film "Escape into Nothingness" also caused heated discussion. The film was shot from a first-person perspective, and the entire film presents the state as if someone has eaten LSD psychedelics, which dazzles the audience. The large number of erotic scenes that appear in the film and the plot fragments that are not too strongly related are also a very big test for the audience.
11. "Psychedelic Performance" Directors: Donald Carmel, Nicholas Logue (1970)
Nicholas Logue, who had worked as a cinematographer for directors such as Roger Koeman and Truffaut, made his debut as a director in his forties, and he teamed up with the painter Donald Carmel to direct the film starring Mick Jagger, but it was not a star movie, and the psychedelic style and neurotic temperament of the film made the film full of experiments. Warner is even more worried about the impact because the film is full of sexual, violent and other content, and has repeatedly delayed the release of the film.
10. "Visitor Q" Director: Takashi Miike (2001)
Many of the films by Japanese director Takashi Miike are known for their weirdness and bizarreness. Among them, "Visitor Q" is definitely a one that challenges the audience's psychological endurance. Violence, drugs, beatings on the mother, all kinds of elements that make you unacceptable constitute the main theme of the film. In an extreme way, the film alludes to the crux of those societies.
9. "Rocky Horror Show" Director: Jim Shaman (1975)
It seems that this movie does not need to be introduced too much, after all, it has become a flag, a label, and even some religious connotations in the cult world.
8. "Space Hero And Daughter Barbarina" Director: Roger Vadim (1968)
This is already a recognized science fiction film. Its strong style still seems strange even today. There is science fiction, there are soft greens, coupled with exaggerated styling and clothing, it is no wonder that some people call it a fashion blockbuster. The film was badly evaluated and grossed mediocre, but in some people, it was also a deviant masterpiece.
7. "Strange Shape" Director: John Carpenter (1982)
Masterpiece of B-class horror master John Carpenter. It tells the story of a group of members of an American scientific expedition who discovered an attacked base in Antarctica and encountered greater danger during the expedition. Suspicion and mutual distrust among members in the face of danger become the best means of creating a horror effect, which is also the usual method of conflict in claustrophobic spaces. The slime makeup of this film is also unforgettable.
6. "Detonator" Director: Shirn Carus (2004)
The cost of this film is very low, only 7000 US dollars. Since then, it has received many praises, including winning the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize in the feature film category, and the engineer-turned-Shane Carus has several positions, writing, directing, acting and editing. The film tells the story of four friends who invent a bug-checking machine, only to turn it into a time machine, and everything becomes interesting. The story is simple to say, but it's actually very difficult to understand because its focus is not on the narrative at all.
5. "Become John Markovich" Director: Spike Jones (1999)
The film was the first collaboration between ghost screenwriters Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jones, and established a multi-year-long partnership between the two. It's a very interesting movie, with the character of John Cusack accidentally finding out that he can get into John Markovich's brain, his wife profiting from it, and the story getting more and more interesting. Charlie Kaufman brings a very different idea, using this absurd story to think about man's self-perception as a human being.
4. Murder on VideoTape Director: David Cronenberg (1983)
David Cronenberg uses such a film to reflect on video violence and the impact of pornographic violence on people. His story is absurd and surreal, and wrapped in a cloak of horror. James Woods starred as an adult videotape businessman who himself was caught up in a mysterious videotape. In the film, Cronenberg shows his consistent expertise in directing physical horror films, and there are many shocking scenes that are unforgettable.
3. "An Andalus Dog" Director: Luis Buñuel (1929)
Luis Buñuel's masterpiece. With such a bold work, he heralded the rise of surrealist cinema. At that time, when cinema was just emerging, it was a time when you could boldly explore the style of cinema as you pleased. A variety of pre-existing experimental styles have emerged, and "An Andalus Dog" is undoubtedly one of the most influential. Donkeys on the piano, hands crawling with ants, cut eyeballs, the film has a variety of loose and irrelevant plots, such as a crazy dream.
2. "2001: A Space Odyssey" Director: Stanley Kubrick (1968)
This is both a magical science fiction film and a great film that can inscribe the history of film. With his transcendental creativity and imagination, Kubrick re-established the standard for the science fiction films of that era, including weightlessness, artificial intelligence and many others. This very esoteric and incomprehensible story has allowed the film to receive two levels of reviews, some people regard the film as a classic, others think he is pretentious. But all of this will make this film more eye-catching.
1. "Rubberhead" Director: David Lynch (1977)
David Lynch's feature film debut, Eraserhead, has already announced that he will be a weird director with a difference. Many elements of his later works can be found in this film, including psychopathic characters, black and depressing film style, incomprehensible dream strange images, and so on. The rough imagery of the black-and-white film further gives the film a dreaded and gloomy atmosphere. A variety of surreal scenes that challenge the audience's nerves make this film a classic WTF movie.
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