Wierd/oddball/Gimmicky movies (not necessarily in a bad way)
by J_Frank_Parnell | created - 23 Oct 2022 | updated - 3 days ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Memento (2000)
R | 113 min | Mystery, Thriller
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior
Votes: 1,323,033 | Gross: $25.54M
Unique, coz Nolan makes a movie forwards and backwards, at the same time
2. Tenet (2020)
PG-13 | 150 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Armed with only the word "Tenet," and fighting for the survival of the entire world, CIA operative, The Protagonist, journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a global mission that unfolds beyond real time.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Juhan Ulfsak
Votes: 592,802 | Gross: $58.46M
Unique, coz Nolan makes a movie forwards and backwards, at the same time
3. Buried (2010)
R | 95 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Paul is a U.S. truck driver working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.
Director: Rodrigo Cortés | Stars: Ryan Reynolds, José Luis García-Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 168,535 | Gross: $1.03M
Every shot in the movie is inside a coffin
4. Rope (1948)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Dick Hogan
Votes: 153,653
One-shot movie, where the depicted events take the exact run-time of the movie
5. Hardcore Henry (2015)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Henry is resurrected from death with no memory, and he must save his wife from a telekinetic warlord with a plan to bio-engineer soldiers.
Director: Ilya Naishuller | Stars: Sharlto Copley, Tim Roth, Haley Bennett, Danila Kozlovskiy
Votes: 101,907 | Gross: $9.25M
Movie as first-person Shooter
6. Dark Passage (1947)
Passed | 106 min | Film-Noir, Thriller
A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try to prove his innocence.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 21,977
Film noir, all presented first-person; Spritual successor to Hardcore Henry
7. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
TV-MA | 90 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A young programmer starts to question reality when he adapts a mad writer's fantasy novel into a video game.
Director: David Slade | Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe, Asim Chaudhry
Votes: 136,268
Originally released online, as an "interactive movie" with different endings, depending which choices the viewer makes
8. Russian Ark (2002)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Fantasy, History
A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov | Stars: Sergey Dreyden, Mariya Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy, Mikhail Piotrovsky
Votes: 21,822 | Gross: $0.04M
one-shot movie
9. 1917 (2019)
R | 119 min | Action, Drama, History
April 6th, 1917. As an infantry battalion assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth
Votes: 675,776 | Gross: $159.23M
"one-shot movie" (with hidden cuts)
10. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama
A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough
Votes: 666,596 | Gross: $42.34M
"one-shot movie" (with hidden cuts)
11. Flatland (2007 Video)
95 min | Animation, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Flatland is a two-dimensional universe occupied by living geometric figures - squares, triangles, circles, etc. A Square, Attorney At Law, finds himself in the middle of two upheavals: the ... See full summary »
Director: Ladd Ehlinger Jr. | Stars: Ashley Blackwell, Chris Carter, Denise Carter, Juliana Carter
Votes: 1,223
movie set primarily in a two-dimensional reality
12. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery
Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffin
Votes: 285,608 | Gross: $140.54M
"found footage" movie, that used online promotion to blur the line between reality and fiction
13. 12 Angry Men (1957)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama
The jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler
Votes: 865,228 | Gross: $4.36M
set almost entirely in one room, with just a bunch of men talking... 12 of them.. and they're angry...
14. Psycho (1998)
R | 105 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen
Votes: 50,709 | Gross: $21.46M
unique for being a literal, shot-for-shot remake of Psycho (1960)
15. Silent Movie (1976)
Passed | 87 min | Comedy
A film director and his strange friends struggle to produce the first major silent feature film in forty years.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman, Dom DeLuise, Sid Caesar
Votes: 18,489 | Gross: $36.15M
unique, for being the only silent movie with spoken dialogue
16. Bugsy Malone (1976)
G | 93 min | Comedy, Crime, Family
The classic gangster story of Bugsy Malone told with an all-child cast.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Florence Garland, John Cassisi
Votes: 19,449 | Gross: $2.78M
cast entirely made up of kids, playing adult gangsters
17. Take the Money and Run (1969)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
The life and times of Virgil Starkwell, inept bank robber.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire, Jacquelyn Hyde
Votes: 31,464 | Gross: $0.72M
unique for being the first "mockumentary" movie
18. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,688 | Gross: $2.08M
unique, not as the first colour movie (which it wasn't- Apparently some people think that... they're 35+ years late), but for the unique way it starts off b&w, and works the switch to colour footage into the movie's narrative.
19. Dogville (2003)
R | 178 min | Crime, Drama
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town she finds out that their support has a price.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall, Harriet Andersson
Votes: 158,671 | Gross: $1.53M
unique for blurring the lines between film-making, and production of a stage-play
20. The Spirit (2008)
PG-13 | 103 min | Action, Crime, Fantasy
Rookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces in Central City.
Director: Frank Miller | Stars: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jaime King
Votes: 62,842 | Gross: $19.78M
Unique for essentially being a frame-for-frame translation of a comic
21. Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A series of vignettes that all have coffee and cigarettes in common.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Bill Murray, Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni, RZA
Votes: 67,489 | Gross: $1.97M
unique for just being people talking shit.
22. Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Not Rated | 86 min | Documentary, Music
A collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.
Director: Godfrey Reggio | Stars: Edward Asner, Pat Benatar, Jerry Brown, Johnny Carson
Votes: 41,490 | Gross: $1.72M
unique, as a (relatively) major release movie, with no plot, characters or dialogue
23. Palindromes (2004)
Not Rated | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
Aviva is thirteen, awkward and sensitive. Her mother Joyce is warm and loving, as is her father, Steve, a regular guy who does have a fierce temper from time to time. The film revolves around her family, friends and neighbors.
Director: Todd Solondz | Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ellen Barkin, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Matthew Faber
Votes: 12,870 | Gross: $0.55M
actress playing main character randomly changes a bunch of times- different ages, races and degrees of fatness
24. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
R | 127 min | Drama
Depicts the final twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Maia Morgenstern, Christo Jivkov
Votes: 251,163 | Gross: $370.78M
unique, for being a Mel Gibson movie with all dialogue in a dead language
25. Apocalypto (2006)
R | 139 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, a young man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Gerardo Taracena, Raoul Max Trujillo, Dalia Hernández, Rudy Youngblood
Votes: 331,355 | Gross: $50.87M
unique, for being a Mel Gibson movie with all dialogue in a dead language
26. Wave Twisters (2001)
Unrated | 46 min | Animation, Adventure, Musical
A crew of heroes, cleverly disguised as a team of oral hygenists, is determined to save the lost arts of Hip Hop (B-boying, Graffiti, MCing, and of course, Skratching) from total extinction... See full summary »
Directors: Syd Garon, Eric Henry | Stars: DJ Q-Bert, D-Styles, Flare, Buckethead
Votes: 562
Unique, for being an animated movie, based around the music of a turntablist/DJ.
27. Li'l Abner (1959)
Approved | 114 min | Comedy, Musical, Family
As Sadie Hawkins Day approaches, Daisy Mae hopes to win the hand of Li'l Abner by catching him in the traditional race.
Director: Melvin Frank | Stars: Leslie Parrish, Stubby Kaye, Peter Palmer, Howard St. John
Votes: 1,494
unique for being (afaik) the first real attempt to do a "live-action cartoon", the format that would be flogged to death 30+ years later, with cinematic gems like the Dr Seuss movies, Flintstones, Garfield, Scooby Doo, etc.
28. Ready Player One (2018)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
When the creator of a virtual reality called the OASIS dies, he makes a posthumous challenge to all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune and control of his world.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe
Votes: 486,348 | Gross: $137.69M
A movie that's unique, for being entirely composed of sticky-taped-together aspects of other movies... and also for having a wildly over-inflated IMDb score, because people can't tell the difference between "this movie contains things I recognise, from good movies" vs "this actually IS a good movie"...
29. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
PG | 103 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth.
Director: W.D. Richter | Stars: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum
Votes: 29,338 | Gross: $6.25M
just very wierd
30. The Holy Mountain (1973)
16+ | 114 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
In a corrupt, greed-fueled world, a powerful alchemist leads a messianic character and seven materialistic figures to the Holy Mountain, where they hope to achieve enlightenment.
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horacio Salinas, Zamira Saunders, Juan Ferrara
Votes: 48,058 | Gross: $0.06M
31. The Devils (1971)
R | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier's protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun's accusation of witchcraft.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian
Votes: 18,669 | Gross: $1.13M
32. Mr. Freedom (1968)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Crime
Mr. Freedom is an all-American superhero that destroys everyone who even remotely disagrees with imperialism. The film accounts his latest assignment to save France from being taken over by the commies.
Director: William Klein | Stars: John Abbey, Delphine Seyrig, Donald Pleasence, Jean-Claude Drouot
Votes: 1,260
33. Darktown Strutters (1975)
PG | 90 min | Action, Comedy, Musical
Syreena must investigate the disappearance of her mother, Cinderella. A series of wild complications follow.
Director: William Witney | Stars: Trina Parks, Lejeune Richardson, Bettye Sweet, Shirley Washington
Votes: 533
34. Toys Are Not for Children (1972)
R | 85 min | Drama
Emotionally stunted child woman Jamie Godard not only suffers from an unhealthy fixation on her long absent father, but also has an obsession with all the toys he gave her as a little girl.... See full summary »
Director: Stanley H. Brassloff | Stars: Marcia Forbes, Harlan Cary Poe, Evelyn Kingsley, Luis Arroyo
Votes: 634
35. The Baby (1973)
PG | 84 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A social worker, still reeling from the loss of her architect husband, investigates the eccentric, psychedelic Wadsworth Family, consisting of a mother, two daughters, and an adult son with the apparent mental capacity of an infant.
Director: Ted Post | Stars: Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill, Susanne Zenor
Votes: 4,380
36. The Bed Sitting Room (1969)
M | 90 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
In post-nuclear-holocaust England, a handful of bizarre characters struggles on with their lives in the ruins, among endless heaps of ash, piles of broken crockery and brick, muddy plains, ... See full summary »
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Rita Tushingham, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore
Votes: 2,582
37. Brazil (1985)
R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 211,236 | Gross: $9.93M
38. Phase IV (1974)
PG | 84 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Suddenly, desert ants form a group intelligence and wage war on the humans. It's up to a couple of scientists and a girl to stop them
Director: Saul Bass | Stars: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford
Votes: 9,574
39. A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Approved | 66 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A dimwitted busboy at a beatnik cafe passes off a cat he accidentally killed and covered in plaster as a sculpture, prompting a demand for more art that compels him to commit murders.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone, Julian Burton
Votes: 7,900
40. Liquid Sky (1982)
R | 112 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
A small, heroin seeking UFO lands on a Manhattan roof, observes a bizarre, drug addicted fashion model and sucks endorphin from her sexual encounters' brains.
Director: Slava Tsukerman | Stars: Anne Carlisle, Paula E. Sheppard, Susan Doukas, Otto von Wernherr
Votes: 6,859
41. Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)
Not Rated | 81 min | Comedy, Horror
A caretaker devotes himself to three demented siblings after their father's death.
Director: Jack Hill | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Carol Ohmart, Quinn K. Redeker, Beverly Washburn
Votes: 7,812
42. Howard the Duck (1986)
PG | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A sarcastic humanoid duck is pulled from his homeworld to Earth where he must stop an alien invasion with the help of a nerdy scientist and a struggling female rock singer.
Director: Willard Huyck | Stars: Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins, Ed Gale
Votes: 50,752 | Gross: $16.30M
43. Killdozer (1974 TV Movie)
Unrated | 74 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A small construction crew on an island is terrorized when a spirit-like being takes over a large bulldozer, and goes on a killing rampage.
Director: Jerry London | Stars: Clint Walker, Robert Urich, Carl Betz, Neville Brand
Votes: 1,991
44. Tusk (I) (2014)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Horror
A brash and arrogant podcaster gets more than he bargained for when he travels to Canada to interview a mysterious recluse... who has a rather disturbing fondness for walruses.
Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez
Votes: 63,188 | Gross: $1.82M
45. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
G | 89 min | Family, Fantasy, Music
A young boy dreams that he is in an imaginary world where, assisted by his family's plumber, he must save other piano-playing kids like himself from the dungeons of his dictatorial piano teacher who also mind-controls his mother.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, Hans Conried, Tommy Rettig
Votes: 4,462
46. The Ruling Class (1972)
PG | 154 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A member of the House of Lords dies, leaving his estate to his son. Unfortunately, his son thinks he is Jesus Christ. Their other, somewhat more respectable family members plot to steal the estate from him; murder and mayhem ensue.
Director: Peter Medak | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Hugh Owens
Votes: 6,806
47. Forbidden Zone (1980)
R | 74 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Musical
The bizarre and musical tale of a girl who travels to another dimension through the gateway found in her family's basement.
Director: Richard Elfman | Stars: Gene Cunningham, Marie-Pascale Elfman, Virginia Rose, Phil Gordon
Votes: 5,446
48. Popeye (1980)
PG | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
The adventures of the famous sailor man and his friends in the seaside town of Sweethaven.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Dooley
Votes: 34,411 | Gross: $49.82M
49. Sausage Party (2016)
R | 89 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A sausage strives to discover the truth about his existence.
Directors: Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan | Stars: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Alistair Abell
Votes: 210,084 | Gross: $97.69M
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