Do we need a spiel about how weird is good this time? Probably not. I’ll do it anyways.
I have this theory: weird can have two connotations, either positive or negative.
If you consistently use weird as a signifier of good, you’re a fun person.
If weird is bad, well… Let me know if this theory holds water down
in the comments, eh? If I get enough support maybe I’ll submit a paper to Yale or something.
In the meantime, let’s talk weird movies that your boring friends would tell you to
turn off before making you watch another episode of Modern Family.
Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the scariest channel on YouTube: Top5Videos.
I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and today we’re going to take a look at the
Top 5 Weirdest Horror Movies of All Time - PART 9.
Sheesh! That’s a lot of weird horror. Before we get started, make sure to give this
video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more off-beat beasts.
Wicked, let’s do it. NUMBER FIVE: THE OREGONIAN
Let me try to sell this to you real quick: a feature-length, Adult Swim-produced standalone
episode of Twin Peaks. Any takers? Yeah?
This movie is a fever dream inside a withdrawal nightmare after watching a documentary about
David Lynch’s favourite vacation spots. That is to say, it’s quite weird.
The plot is quite thin, with the film relying on all sorts of wild audio-visual experiences
in place of any real coherence. We meet a young lass who seems to have run
into some car trouble. And by car trouble, I mean a tree.
She wakes in a daze, finding herself in a strange version of reality, where nothing
makes sense and nobody is willing to help her.
As she wanders throughout this odd world, she encounters plenty of colourful characters.
Some want to put omelettes where they don’t belong, others want to party out in the desert.
Some will hack up strange black goo, and others will drive for miles and miles without saying
a word. The Oregonian manages to instill a sense of
dread and apprehension, and then relieve it with dark humour before bringing back the
terror at 200 per cent intensity. It’s intricately edited, with plenty of
fascinating in-camera effects, which are probably bigger selling points for this movie than
anything else. If nothing else, the Oregonian is an assault
on the senses, throwing the audience down all sorts of trippy rabbit holes before yanking
them out and tossing them down the next one. Oh and there’s a gigantic Frog Puppet who
is both alive and dead, and has a gun. But again, refer back to my selling points
at the beginning, and decide whether this is for you.
NUMBER FOUR: THE GRUESOME TWOSOME Ahhh, Herschell Gordon Lewis.
The father of the Splatter flick. Horror movies today would not be the same
without his influence. He was making horrifying, disgusting movies
way ahead of their time, and made quite a name for himself in doing so.
Lewis was also known for directing a plethora of nudie cuties, but we won’t go there today.
All throughout the 60’s and 70’s, he was making movies about killers methodically and
maniacally murdering, dissecting, and defiling human beings.
If you had an appetite for blood and gore back then, your best bet was to take in one
of these splatter flicks. Always thin on plot and characterization,
they were more spectacle than revelation, but if you’ve got an eye for excess, they
still hold up today. Some were a little stranger than others, though.
Sure, Colour Me Blood Red involves the use of human blood as paint, and the Wizard of
Gore showcases a magician carving folks up live on-stage, but I think the Gruesome Twosome
takes the cake. What other splatter flick has Kentucky Fried
Chicken dorm-room dance parties, a mind-controlling taxidermy bobcat, and a young lady digging
up cow bones in her neighbour’s backyard? Even when measured against HGL’s other work,
it’s absolutely perplexing that this movie made it to theatres.
The performances are terrible, the editing is shoddy, and there are about 5 scenes where
literally nothing happens. But it still remains very watchable, even
if they use the same setup for every single one of the kills.
See, the premise of The Gruesome Twosome is that there is a little wig shop that does
decent business in a university town. The proprietor of this hair hawker rents a
little room upstairs to co-eds. But when the students enter the room, the
wig woman’s simpleton son is waiting with a weapon.
He kills the co-eds, and the woman sells their scalps as wigs.
I mentioned a bobcat earlier, right? He’s involved in the murders, too.
Kathy, one of the co-eds interested in the apartment, decides it’s up to her to play
detective and find out who’s been killing all her pals.
And boy, does she do a poor job of playing detective.
In the end, this movie shouldn’t work, and it mostly doesn’t, but there’s enough
blood, gore, and general unashamedness involved to hold the rest of it together.
Oh and there’s a fun “talking heads” sequence at the beginning that you don’t
want to miss. NUMBER THREE: THE LOVE WITCH
Shot on 35mm film, and jam-packed with stylistic references to classic Technicolour numbers,
The Love Witch is a retro film that often feels more of the time than some of the actual
movies released in the 60’s. That doesn’t necessarily make it weird,
but it’s worth pointing out. We meet the titular Love Witch Elaine as she
smokes and drives down a lonely highway. Speaking directly to the audience for a good
deal of the runtime, Elaine reveals that she is moving to a new city to start a new life
after the death of her husband. Her husband’s death, of course, is suspicious.
Thus begins a chain of events that eventually ends up with the Love Witch fulfilling an
art-based prophecy, bloody dagger in hand. After moving to the new city, Elaine becomes
involved with a score of new men, casting love spells on them that always seem to backfire.
The men become too clingy, too emotional, too violent.
It might have something to do with the hallucinogenic drink she gives them, but hey. Potions and
spells often go hand in hand. It seems that every man Elaine involves herself
with dies soon after, which raises suspicions among the locals.
She finds a mixture of solace and suspicion in her coven, and ends up as a primary target
of ire from the community. But even as she accidentally murders people
and leaves “witch jars” near their bodies, the film maintains its dreamlike and generally
positive qualities. She doesn’t seem too bothered that the men
have died, and she is also convinced that she can’t be prosecuted for what she has
done since witching is no longer illegal. In fact, the movie ends with a dream of sorts,
too. NUMBER TWO: ERASERHEAD
I mentioned Lynch earlier, now we’ll go straight to the source.
His first feature film, Eraserhead set the stage for a long, illustrious, and often incomprehensible
career. Lynch is well-known for never revealing his
inspirations, intentions, and true meanings, which leaves many folks still debating the
subtext of even his oldest films. If I were to take a stab at explaining Eraserhead,
I would say it’s a movie about the terrors of unexpected fatherhood, and losing one’s
independence. All horrifying themes indeed, but with Lynch
at the helm, a lot of the creepiness comes from the realm of the odd.
There are man-made mini chickens that gush blood all over the dinner table.
There are overly-grabby mothers who demand that you take responsibility for an inhuman
baby. There are strange, sperm-like creatures floating
around in space. There are women living in the radiator, singing
songs about heaven and its fineness. And of course, there’s little baby Henry
Spencer, shiny and screaming in all its glory. The sights and sounds put on display in Eraserhead
are upsetting, and disturbing, and largely uncomfortable to behold.
But the movie presents so many strange ideas, so many compelling frames, you can’t help
but keep watching. Influenced by Kafka and Gogol, Eraserhead’s
focus on surrealism and body horror is front-and center, along with his warped view of what
it means to be American. NUMBER ONE: TOKYO GORE POLICE
The year is 20XX. Humans have been mutated by a pernicious virus
created by the mad scientist Key Man. Many of those afflicted by the virus can grow
weapons from any injury, becoming violent monsters.
A privatized police force works tirelessly to protect the public from these mutated humans,
exacting merciless violence to keep the peace. That’s a pretty wicked premise, don’t
you think? Tokyo Gore Police is a wicked, brutal, gorefest
of a flick, full of perversion and oddities. Blood sprays out of wounds like it’s coming
from a fire hose, people’s private parts are replaced with weapons, a woman’s entire
lower body becomes a crocodilian mouth, it’s all very wild.
Over-the-top doesn’t even begin to describe what goes on here.
Director Yoshihiro Nishimura started as a special effects artist on other movie sets,
working his way up the ladder and eventually being dubbed the “Tom Savini of Japan.”
High praise. It’s no wonder that his first feature film
contains so much crazy practical effects wickedness. Most folks are familiar with this film for
it’s infamous “amputee kung-fu” scene. Check this out.
This is one that needs to be seen to be believed. Don’t let me describe it to you, go watch
it now! OUTRO
Alright! Another five in the books.
Did any of my choices pique your interest? Have you seen all of these?
What is the weirdest horror movie you’ve ever seen?
Make sure you let me know down in the comments. Speaking of comments, let’s take a look
at some of your more identifiable ones from the TOP 5 SCARY VIDEOS YOU WERE NEVER MEANT
TO SEE: Deshaun P says “Ummm did that second video
curse me??? That should have come with a “hey uh you might be cursed after watching this”
warning.” Whoops! I meant to add one of those in after
the fact, but I guess I never got around to it. Sorry about the lifelong curse, good luck!
Matthew Hager says “Nothing illegal or psychologically damaging… Well, that’s kind of what I
thought this was going to be about.” What made you think you’d be seeing that
kind of stuff on YouTube? If you’re really in the market for videos like that, you should
probably search a little deeper. Strahinja Krunic says “How am I gonna spleep
tonighnt?” Just exercise a lot, wear yourself out! Works
like a charm! J P says “I rather live a life of not knowing.”
Hey man, to each their own. They say innocence is bliss, right?
SrSucioGuapo delSur says ‘Bruh, if that’s “surprising speeds,” then I’m Usain
Bolt.” Well, I guess you’re the fastest man alive
now. How does it feel? Will you use your powers for good, or evil?
And that’s all the time we have for today! Before I fall down the stairs like a slinky,
make sure to give this video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more weirdness and wildness.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.