Behind the doors of Hollywood’s biggest studios,filmmakers pitch concepts that sound too weird to become anything substantial — but lead to hugely iconic movies.Somemovies with seriously wasted potentialalso have a bizarre premise, but they were not so skillfully executed. However, it is the weird ideas that are the best material for directors and producers, when they at least lead to unique movies, hopefully showcasing important themes.
Out-of-this-world experiences and surreal fantasy have resulted in some of thebest fantasy movie performances ever, while strange new worlds and magic systems mean fascinating visuals. Yetmovies with weird source materialsucceed when they leverage their basic concepts in service of powerful metaphors.Stranger movies often become iconic when their very nature means they are memorable,with quotes and images that stay in people’s heads.
10Gremlins (1984)
Young Man Gets A Cute New Pet & The Town Is Overrun With Monster Clones
Gizmo’s a strange creature, but as adorable and portable as a teddy bear.
TheMogwai’s origins inGremlinsmay have been elaborated upon later, but in the original movie, the most important part is that Gizmo is a cute, mysterious animal who has the potential to spawn an army of evil Gremlins. Gizmo’s a strange creature, but as adorable and portable as a teddy bear.Gremlinsgoes into more arbitrary territory when it introduces its list of highly specific, not very well-explained rulesfor keeping a Mogwai.
Gremlins
Cast
When a father gives his son Billy a magical creature known as a Mogwai as a gift, the boy is given strict rules to follow regarding its care. When a lapse in judgment creates the mischievous Gremlins - creatures intent on destruction that threaten to ruin Christmas for the entire town of Kingston Falls - it’s up to Billy and his Mogwai companion Gizmo to save the town from the army of little monsters.
Then Gizmo’s clones turn into Gremlins and the movie spirals into chaos as the evil minions destroy the town and do a bunch of wacky things along the way. Meanwhile,Gremlinstries to achieve some thematic weight with Kate’s tragic Christmas story,but this famously ended up being amovie scene intended to be serious that is actually funny.Gremlinsis a crazy movie, but that’s what makes it a beloved Christmas staple, combined with Gizmo’s pure cuteness.
9Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Star-Crossed Lovers In A Psychedelic Nightclub With Sound Of Music & Madonna
The idea ofa jukebox musical was not unheard of beforeMoulin Rouge!hit movie theaters, but Baz Luhrmann took the concept to a new level.The juxtaposition of the songs from a wide range of genres and periods of the 20th century showcased inMoulin Rouge!makes it something indescribably magical. “The Hills Are Alive” accompanies visions of the Green Fairy, set against “Your Song” used for a moment of falling in love in the glittering rain.
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! follows Christian, a young writer in Paris, who falls in love with Satine, the star courtesan of the Moulin Rouge cabaret. As they begin a passionate affair, they must hide their love from the jealous Duke, who is funding Satine’s next show.
Meanwhile,the staging and storyboarding ofMoulin Rouge!is nothing but chaos, capturing the feeling of being inside a circus tent where taboo thrives. FollowingRomeo + Julietin 1996, Hollywood must have known that any pitch coming from Luhrmann would be a strange one, but would be delightful nonetheless.
Moulin Rouge! Soundtrack: Every Song & Where It Plays
Not just “Your Song,” Baz Luhrmann’s jukebox musical Moulin Rouge! has a tune for everybody in its vibrant, anachronistic, and multi-genre soundtrack.
Underneath all this,Moulin Rouge!actually has a fairly simple story, of star-crossed lovers torn apart by concerns of money and survival.However, the style of the musical numbers, set pieces, and characterizations that went into it are otherworldly.Moulin Rouge!proved the concept of a patchwork jukebox musical, which is now taking over Broadway.
8Donnie Darko (2001)
After Surviving A Plane Crash, A Teenager Is Haunted By An Evil Rabbit
The early 2000s were the time for metaphysical, outside-the-box movies, with the world having passed by Y2K and finding itself in a strange new philosophical space.Donnie Darkonotably did not have a good run at the box office, partially due to its element of a plane crashing in the protagonist’s bedroom and its release date being only a month after 9/11. However,Donnie Darkoachieved cult classic status later.
Donnie Darko
After troubled teen Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes on a local golf course after a night of sleepwalking, he has a vision of a man in a rabbit suit telling him that the world will end in 28 days. Returning home, Donnie sees that a jet engine has fallen on his bedroom in the night, and begins to feel increasingly detached from reality. Scrambling to make sense of the bizarre and unexplainable events that have altered his life, Donnie finds himself unravelling a tangled web of disaster and fate.
Donnie’s relationship with a creepy human-sized rabbit causes him to go on a crime spree and ponder some bigger questions about the world before it ends in 28 days.The image of the most memorable character captures the weirdness ofDonnie Darko,which fans would come to appreciate in subsequent years. It is a shaky concept, butDonnie Darko’s philosophical and teenage angst that has no real answer eventually shaped the movie’s selling point.
7Back To The Future (1985)
High School Student Time Travels In A Car & Has Awkward Encounters With His Parents
John Mulaney did a stand-up bit on the hypothetical process of pitchingBack to the Future, which says it all. Releasing on the tails ofThe Terminator, a time travel movie that takes itself more seriously,Back to the Futureexhibits a lot of story elements that are goofy upon scrutiny.This includes the likelihood of Marty being friends with a former nuclear physicist and the fact that the time machine is a car at all.
Back to the Future
Back to the Future follows teenager Marty McFly as he is inadvertently sent back to 1955, where he disrupts his parents' meeting. With the assistance of eccentric inventor Doc Brown, Marty must restore the timeline by ensuring his parents fall in love and find a way back to 1985.
Of course, there is the notoriously embarrassing subplot of Marty’s young mother being attracted to him, all of which would have been a hard sell.Back to the Futureis a messy amalgamation of pop culture references and slapstick bits with outrageous charactersthat have been ingrained in Hollywood history for so long that they are rarely questioned. The movie just somehow managed to achieve the perfect recipe for these elements so that they were appealing to audiences.
6Being John Malkovich (1999)
Being John Malkovichalso has a premise that will leave people wondering how they came up with it— possibly because of the cooperation of the real John Malkovich. After a puppeteer fazed and bored by his corporate job discovers a small door behind a filing cabinet that is a portal to Malkovich’s mind, the world is at his feet. He, his wife, and a co-worker are launched into a moral and philosophical conundrum as they ponder the reason for the portal existing and what they stand to gain from it.
Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich: This film follows the story of an unsuccessful puppeteer named Craig who discovers a portal that leads into the mind of actor John Malkovich. The phenomenon soon entices others to explore the bizarre and controlling world of inhabiting another person’s consciousness.
The overall concept ofBeing John Malkovichis insane, but other awkward beets immerse the characters and the audience in a setting that just feels off. It showcases a highly specific and completely impossible scenario about human greed and its consequences.These themes could have been explored in a much more"normal"movie thanBeing John Malkovich,but the absurdity of it all creates better entertainment and more open diatribes.
5Barbie (2023)
A Barbie Doll Has A Life Crisis & Journeys To The Real World
Casting announcements and the earliest trailers for Barbie only confirmed that it would be a movie experience unlike any other.
The idea ofthe live-actionBarbiemovie directed by Greta Gerwig and promising to be more than shameless IP instantly captured the minds of Hollywood executives and worldwide audiences,long before Barbenheimer arrived in theaters. Casting announcements and the earliest trailers forBarbieonly confirmed that it would be a movie experience unlike any other.
Barbie
Barbie is a film adaptation of the generational iconic toy directed by Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the script with Noah Baumbach. The film centers on Margot Robbie’s Barbie who is expelled from Barbieland and travels with Ken (Ryan Gosling) to the real world in search of happiness. The film also stars Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, and several other famous celebrities in cameo roles.
Barbieembraces its melodramatic and superficial source material, with everything from the2001: A Space Odysseyspoof opening sequence to the stilted interactions and parties every night that are the norm in Barbie Land.Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling give outlandish performances as Barbie and Ken,underlining the concept.
10 Harsh Realties Of Rewatching Barbie, 1 Year Later
The Barbie movie has been fondly remembered a year after its release, but on a rewatch, there are some elements that don’t hold up very well.
Barbieis a wild movie from start to finish,but masterfully uses its concept as the means to deliver on-point diatribes about womanhood and mortality. Gerwig’s status as an acclaimed writer-director established some faith in the movie from the beginning, making people eager to see what she would do with such a bizarre concept.
4Star Wars (1977)
George Lucas Started Star Wars With A Lot Of Unexplained World-Building In Space
At face value,Star Warsincludes a lot of strange plot points and designs that simply exist without explanation,in the context of the first movie being released as an effective standalone with no additional materials. Most of its material has been elaborated on in the decades since; die-hard fans know every detail about the world’s mechanics. However, at the time, Han Solo’s bear-like copilot, Darth Vader’s attire, and the concept of the Force were imaginative and flashy but demanded that the audience accept them as is.
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Star Wars is a seminal science fiction film released in 1977 that follows the quest of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to rescue Princess Leia from the oppressive Imperial forces. They are aided by the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, as they strive to restore peace to the galaxy.
Star Wars, later given the subtitleA New Hope, translated many well-used tropes into a space setting obviously inspired by2001: A Space OdysseyandStar Trekbut with elements straight from George Lucas' imagination. The would-be blockbuster miraculously pulled off a game-changing event with its technical advancements and instantly beloved characters. Thestrangest lines fromStar Wars, when they have no context, quickly became widely quoted phrases.
3The Green Knight
A Metaphor-Heavy Feature-Length Movie Based On A Medieval Arthurian Poem
The Green Knightwas an ambitious idea, bringing to life a source material that was never imagined as something that would be made into a movie. YetThe Green Knightbrilliantly translates the medieval characters and plots into a surrealistic adventurethat resonates with modern discussions. Rather than trying to makeSir Gawain and the Green Knightmore palatable or comprehensible for today’s audiences, it embraces the symbolic nature of the one-off Arthurian adventure.
The Green Knight
An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in a more profound journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger.
A lot of strange characters wander in and out ofThe Green Knight,do or say one peculiar thing, and leave the audience pondering the implications. There are many weird ideas at play, which would have taken work to convey in a script and trust in the audience to intuitively understand them. Some people didn’t understandThe Green Knight, but it is an entrancing movie that rewards those willing to research its meaning.
2Fight Club (1999)
The First Rule Of Fight Club Is You Do Not Talk About Fight Club
Fight Clubdepicts an underground organization impossibly, suddenly becoming a national threatwithin a matter of weeks. The logistics do not matter, especially in light ofFight Club’s endingtwist. In its overblown attack on capitalism and consumer culture and deconstruction of toxic masculinity,Fight Clublets Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter be weirdly nihilistic as the mission of the Fight Club spins out of control.
Fight Club
Fight Club, released in 1999 and directed by David Fincher, stars Edward Norton as an insomniac who forms an underground fight club with a soap salesman, played by Brad Pitt.
Fight Clubalso understands the tastes of its time and leans into the end-of-the-millennium existential crisis theme. The concept is intentionally flimsy, wherehow exactly the Narrator accomplishes what he does is a mystery and the rise of Fight Club has no explanation.WhileFight Clubflopped at the box office, it became a commercial success through post-theatrical sales and an iconic cult movie.
1Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Michelle Yeoh Visits Many Universes, Each Weirder Than The Last, & Upends The Multiverse Trope
On the other hand,Everything Everywhere All at Oncecame out after many other weird cult classics had found their audiences,and shows likeGravity FallsandAdventure Timehad taken over the cartoon pipeline. This gave the Daniels' Best Picture-winning feature a strong foothold where its random nature would be appreciated, leading to a box office success before it dominated the Oscars.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, a middle-aged laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) is distracted from her financial and family issues by a multiversal crisis. With just her husband (Ke Huy Quan) to support her through the confusion, she must contend with her overbearing traditional father (James Hong), a pencil-pushing auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her emotionally-distant daughter (Stephanie Hsu).
Even so,Everything Everywhere All at Onceset out to undo assumptions about the multiverse genre.The depictions of Evelyn’s different lives in other universes are increasingly ludicrous,yet each version is given enough screen time to come to an implied happy ending; it’s not even completely clear which universe she is in at the ending scene.
1 Bizarre Everything Everywhere All At Once Universe Is Subtly Foreshadowed By The Movie’s Opening Shot
The multiverse came as a shock to Evelyn in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but there were clues about the universes she would travel to.
Along the way, there are the outrageous sequences of Jobu Tupaki’s ever-changing costumes and Evelyn doing weird stuff to quickly acquire new skills. YetEverything Everywhere All at Oncebrings it all together to a heartrending final point,proving in recent history that weird movies are often the best ones.
