Cool, Obscure Movies

[Rude]

...

I'll throw a few of my more obscure favorites out here...

Begotten: Directed by E. Elias Merhige. Described by some as a Rorschach test for the eye. It's shot in high contrast black and white, has no dialogue, and the plot begins with God disemboweling himself with a straight razor.

Careful: From Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. A visually interesting story of incest that takes place in a mountain town where everyone must speak very quietly, lest they start an avalanche.

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc: From 1928. A silent film about the trial of Joan Of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer. One of my favorite films of all time!

Fantastic Planet: A Russian animated film that has a very eerie atmosphere about it. Unfortunately, the plot is comparable to Battlefield Earth, in that humans have turned into the pets of an alien race.

Although not as obscure as the few i listed above... I'd also highly recommend Run, Lola, Run and Pink Floyd: The Wall as two more of my favorite films~

-Rude

[badronald]

Speaking of obscure - whatever happened to Joel Hodgson's Statical Planets?  Supposedly there was a teaser on his Gizmonic website but I never saw it.  Is it available anywhere?

[Johnny_Short_Torso]

Blood Simple.  I'm guessing it's obscure enough but I don't know. Ah and A simple plan was also a fine piece of cinematic work.

[SmilinJackRoss]

These might not be the most obscure movies around, but they're independent, quirky, and very cool:

Croupier - One of Clive Owens' earlier movies. 
Diamond Men - Donnie Wahlberg and Robert Forrester in a great little flick.
Hard Eight - PT Anderson's first, and best, movie (I know, you disagree with me on this.  It's OK.)
Primer - The best time-travel movie ever made (Again, you disagree.  I'm alright with that.)
Roger Dodger - Campbell Scott is hypnotic in this flick.
You Can Count On Me - One of my favorites.  A perfect drama.

[mrbasehart]

Ever seen "The Unknown" (1927)?

That's the very trippy film where Lon Chaney pretends to have no arms, right?

[Trilaan]

Freaked  Alex "Bill S Preston" Winter becomes the spokesman for the evil Everything Except Shoes Corporation and ends up horribly mutated by the mad carnival owner Elisha Skuggs (played by, yes, I read your earlier posts, Randy Quaid) who keeps an assortment of freaks that he's mutated including a human worm, a guy with a sock puppet for a head, a half man, half cow, a human worm and many more including an uncredited appearance by Keanu Reeves as the dog boy.

Lobster Man From Mars low budget sci-fi movie parody(and they show it proudly) in which the rulers of Mars, learning that Mars' air is depleting "But without air...what will we breathe?" and so they send the Lobster Man and his apey sidekick to Earth to conquer it.  Hilarity ensues.  "If you were a lobster man, would you go into a haunted house surrounded by hot springs?"

Escanaba in da Moonlight  Jeff Daniels is Rueben Soady the "buckless Youper" a Michigander in his 40's who has never "bagged a buck" and goes, once again, on a trip to the family hunting lodge with his brother and father.  What follows consists of a possible alien encounter, a possible ancient spirit posession, Native American potions, thick Michigan accents, a forest ranger who saw God(or maybe it was just the aliens), the ghosts of dead relatives and the most satisfying on-screen fart in the history of film.

Of Unknown Origin Robocop's Peter Weller versus a rat.  That's right.  A Big, Commie Rat!  Okay, just a regular kinda rat; but it IS pretty big.  Much better than you'd think.  Watch as he battles the rat and maybe, just maybe, goes a little mad.

Meet the Applegates also known simply as The Applegates is the story of a family of giant intelligent praying mantis-like insects from South America decide to migrate to the US and disguise themselves as a family of suburbanites.

Cabin Boy Chris Elliot is a spoiled little rich brat from a prestigious school (where graduates are known as "Fancy Lads" during the late 1600's....or the early 1900's...or is it the 1990's  well anyway, it's set somewhere.  He gets lost, joins up with a group of fishermen, battles exposure, women, giant housewares store managers, walking iceburgs, learns the ways of love from a 6-armed sexpot, befriends  a half man, half shark and learns what's truly important in life.  The film was produced by Tim Burton and contains many Harryhausen-style special effects.

Brain Smasher...A Love Story Andrew "Dice" Clay plays a bouncer who gets dragged into a conflict between a model (Teri Hatcher) and a group of clandestine Chinese warriors "We are NOT Ninjas!" who are searching for a fabled Lotus flower(currently in posession of said model's adventuring botanist sister) that will grant their leader the power to rule the world.

[Variety of Cells]

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc: From 1928. A silent film about the trial of Joan Of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer. One of my favorite films of all time!

-Rude

It's a shame that film is obscure.  It's such a beautiful, powerful movie. 

[Shinigami]

Freaked  Alex "Bill S Preston" Winter becomes the spokesman for the evil Everything Except Shoes Corporation and ends up horribly mutated by the mad carnival owner Elisha Skuggs (played by, yes, I read your earlier posts, Randy Quaid) who keeps an assortment of freaks that he's mutated including a human worm, a guy with a sock puppet for a head, a half man, half cow, a human worm and many more including an uncredited appearance by Keanu Reeves as the dog boy.

Meet the Applegates also known simply as The Applegates is the story of a family of giant intelligent praying mantis-like insects from South America decide to migrate to the US and disguise themselves as a family of suburbanites.

Cabin Boy Chris Elliot is a spoiled little rich brat from a prestigious school (where graduates are known as "Fancy Lads" during the late 1600's....or the early 1900's...or is it the 1990's  well anyway, it's set somewhere.  He gets lost, joins up with a group of fishermen, battles exposure, women, giant housewares store managers, walking iceburgs, learns the ways of love from a 6-armed sexpot, befriends  a half man, half shark and learns what's truly important in life.  The film was produced by Tim Burton and contains many Harryhausen-style special effects.

Seen it, seen it, and seen it.  Freaked was especially interesting.  It's a masterpeice in absurdity.

[Rude]

It's a shame that film is obscure...

True, but there's a reason. The 'legend" goes something like this:

The French were upset that someone other than a French filmmaker made this film, even upsetting the Archbishop of Paris. Meanwhile, it was actually banned in Britain for they way it portrayed English soldiers. Eventually, the master negative of the film's original cut was "lost" in a fire.

Dreyer tried to reassemble a version from out-takes and surviving prints. In fact. there are still copies of this film out there today that are comprised of this other footage, but critics and Dreyer himself were dissapointed in the results. While still an amazing movie, the film kind of... faded into obscurity~

Years and years later, around 1981, a copy of the original version was found in an Oslo mental institution! Cleaned up by Criterion and given a proper DVD release (along with an amazing soundtrack) it's finally available for viewing in all it's original glory.

While this story is pretty interesting itself, the film stands on it's own as a very moving piece. And i really hope that someone here who hasn't actually seen it will do so, maybe just because of this thread... it's really an amazing movie~

-Rude

[pyro]

Ever seen "The Unknown" (1927)?

That's the very trippy film where Lon Chaney pretends to have no arms, right?

Yeah, my dad took me to a lot of weird shit when I was little.... saw that in a theater with a live soundtrack

[Raven]

One of my dads favorites was "Midnight Express"  True story and probably more well know by people around in the 70's.  I was born in 1980.

I really like "City of Joy" despite it having Patrick Swayze starring in it. 

[KissKissBangBang]

The Fall of Berlin (Soviet WW2 Epic) Total propaganda piece, Stalin is the hero. Interesting to watch.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - The most underrated movie of 2005! Must see!

The Salton Sea - Well reviewed underrated Kilmer flick

Spartan - Another underrated Kilmer flick.

The Blue Max - George Peppard WW1 flick.       

Mrs. Soffel - Not a well known Mel Gibson movie (1984) Mel plays a villainous role in this one, you feel some pity for him but he is still the villain....   
     

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

is the Cain mutiny cool or obscure?

[KissKissBangBang]

is the Cain mutiny cool or obscure?

I vote cool. 

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

but not obscure?  Ive never seen it but always wanted to, moreso now.  My grandfather who passed away recently had recomended it, ive still not got around to it.