Sometimes you need a little bit of weird once in a while to keep you on your toes. Someone on a popular online forum asked for recommendations for the strangest movies ever and fans of zany films had plenty of great suggestions. Here are the top 25 responses.
1. Eraserhead (1977)
This surrealist body horror film is about a man who lives in an industrial wasteland and has a fling with a woman, causing her to fall pregnant. The two get married to support their unborn child but have the shock of a lifetime when their precious baby is born a scaly lizard-like creature.
2. The Holy Mountain (1973)
Set in a strange land, The Holy Mountain follows a man called the Thief, who many claim looks just like Jesus Christ. In pursuit of riches, the Thief climbs a tall tower to find an alchemist. The alchemist, the Thief, and eight other men embark on a surreal quest.
3. Videodrome (1983)
When a TV network executive becomes desperate for more viewers, he stumbles upon a gratuitous program called Videodrome, filled with gore and violence. The executive decides to play the show on his network, but soon his girlfriend auditions for the series and disappears.
4. Titane (2021)
A young girl survives a car accident when a surgical team embeds a titanium plate into her skull. As an adult, those around her question whether she is more woman or machine. She engages in vicious murders everywhere she goes, leaving a bloody trail in her wake.
5. Tusk (2014)
Tusk is about an obnoxious podcaster with a passion for telling stories about tragedy and unhinged human behavior for his own gain. While seeking a new story, he stumbles upon a man living in remote Canada who wishes to tell his life story.
But when the podcaster arrives at the old man's home, he learns that the man's obsession with walruses may be more disturbing than he initially thought.
6. Pink Flamingos (1972)
A family of outcasts known as “the filthiest people alive” gets a run for their money when another deviant family plots to steal their terrible title. The two families face off in increasingly disgusting battles that take the word filthy to new heights.
7. Gummo (1997)
Gummo is a strange experimental film about the inhabitants of a town destroyed by a tornado. Those living there are at the bottom of the social ladder, like two teenage friends who spend most of their time getting high on household chemicals.
8. Swiss Army Man (2016)
When a man is about to take his own life after being stranded on an uninhabited island, he stumbles upon the body of a dead man whose intestinal gasses have yet to exit his body completely.
Luckily for the survivor, the dead man's body helps him return to the mainland. While he makes it through the harsh wilderness in search of civilization, the corpse, who can talk, accompanies him on his journey.
9. Eye of the Beholder (1999)
Eye of the Beholder is a twisted crime drama about a spy who witnesses a murder. He becomes entranced with the murderer, who looks much like his estranged daughter. After their first encounter, the spy trails the killer and helps her stay out of trouble to feel closer to his daughter.
10. Being John Malkovich (1999)
When an aspiring puppeteer takes a temp job, he's shocked to discover a portal into the mind of famous actor John Malkovich at the office. He and a coworker team up to exploit their access to the actor's mind, resulting in wacky consequences no one anticipated.
11. Boxing Helena (1993)
Boxing Helena is a disturbing film about a surgeon's obsession with a neighbor with whom he once had a one-night stand. When the neighbor suffers a broken leg in a car accident, the surgeon abducts her and locks her in his home, where he practices amputation on her limbs as she berates him.
12. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
In a disturbing imagining of the future, one criminal spends most of his time beating up the weak and taking advantage of the people around him. But after they arrest him, the police subject the man to a strange procedure that removes his obsession with violence from his brain.
After he's released, the people he once called victims become the perpetrators.
13. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
This Japanese body horror film is about a businessman and his girlfriend who accidentally kill a man in a car accident. The two decide to cover up the man's death, but soon the businessman comes down with a strange condition that turns his flesh into metal.
14. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
When a bright teenage boy takes an interest in a cardiac surgeon, the surgeon invites the boy to his home and introduces him to his family. But when the surgeon's young son's legs are mysteriously paralyzed, the teenager tells the doctor he must make a terrible choice or risk losing his entire family.
15. The Tingler (1959)
The Tingler is an eerie sci-fi film about a doctor who makes a miraculous discovery. It turns out the sensation of spine-tingles that humans feel when scared is a deadly parasite. When a woman dies of fear, the people around her are horrified to discover that The Tingler left her body to wreak havoc in the outside world.
16. Vivarium (2020)
When a young couple visits a cookie-cutter neighborhood for an open house, they realize they cannot escape. As they drive around the suburb, they see only the same house and yard repeatedly and can never find the exit.
Resigned to their fate, the two head back to the house to find a strange package at their door containing a baby they must raise to be released.
17. Rubber (2010)
This horror comedy is about a rogue tire with magical powers that can move around on its own and make people explode at will. The tire has one goal: to murder everyone it encounters.
18. The Lobster (2015)
The Lobster is a dystopian romance film that punishes single people by turning them into the animal of their choice after failing to find a partner during a 45-day period. The clock is ticking as one man desperately searches for his match.
19. Hatching (2022)
A lonely young gymnast with a controlling mother stumbles upon a strange egg in the woods one day. She takes the egg home and cares for it, and it hatches into an intelligent creature with which she forms a close friendship. But can she keep her new companion a secret from her mother?
20. Sorry to Bother You (2018)
When a struggling young man finds a job as a telemarketer, he slowly begins to abandon his morals in exchange for success. As he rises the ladder, the company's CEO asks to meet with him and informs the man that he must transform into something terrible to keep rising to the top. But when the man tries to escape, he learns that success isn't all it's cracked up to be.
21. Begotten (1990)
This strange, experimental film about the birth of humanity begins when a robed god disembowels himself, and Mother Earth rises from his bloody remains. After she gives birth to Son of Earth, he wanders through a barren landscape searching for meaning but comes across something more sinister.
22. Mother! (2017)
Mother! is an unsettling psychological horror film about a couple awaiting the birth of their newborn child. When the husband, an artist, invites some of his fans into their home, the wife grows uneasy and does what it takes to protect her home from the intruders.
23. Taxidermia (2006)
Taxidermia is a story that chronicles the lives of a grandfather, a father, and a son who engage in different weird hobbies and career paths. The grandfather is an orderly with dark fantasies, the father is a talented speed-eater, and the son is fascinated with taxidermy.
24. The Dark Backward (1991)
When an aspiring stand-up comedian who fails to make anyone laugh notices a lump growing on his back, he's shocked to find that the lump transformed into a third arm in just a few days. In an attempt to make the best out of a bad situation, the aspiring comedian uses the third arm to create an act that he hopes people will love.
25. Ichi the Killer (2001)
This Japanese film often lands on lists of the weirdest movies ever made. When a man goes searching for his missing boss, he meets Ichi, a killer who is capable of some of the most twisted torture anyone has ever seen.