I think the reason there's never been a thread dedicated to "weird" or "strange" movies is that it's too malleable a term. Are we just going to use a bastardized Supreme Court ruling of, 'I know it when I see it'?
I think Mark's inclusion of
Alice Wonderland fits well enough, but on the other hand it's a Disney cartoon so how far from the norm can you really classify it? Put Disney's version of Lewis Carroll up against Jan Svankmajer's and all of the sudden Walt's is pure vanilla. But compare it to Disney's
Cinderella and it's clearly darker and more disturbing and subversive, which was unusual for the Disney factory in the 1950s (or even today).
Even something like
Forrest Gump, I'd argue that's a pretty weird movie but it also happens to star one of the day's most popular movie stars, it made lots and lots of money and won a truck full of big awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. Is it "weird" in terms of an Oscar-winning blockbuster? Perhaps. Is it weird compared to Tod Browning's
Freaks or
Eraserhead? I think we'd all agree much less so.
Couldn't you say any and every horror movie is "weird", at least in comparison to what people consider the mainstream? And by that same logic, isn't virtually any "independent" movie. As Prospero points out regarding John Waters, if the only one of his movies you've ever seen is
Cry Baby or
Serial Mom they might seem very weird, but if you watch
Multiple Maniacs or
Pink Flamingos,
Cry Baby looks like a made-for-TV movie for the Lifetime network. In comparing it to the other Hollywood films of its day, isn't
Citizen Kane a truly "weird" movie? But how weird is
Kane in comparison to
Being John Malkovich or when viewed through the prism of time where its groundbreaking narrative and cinematic techniques are now commonplace? Can the consistent critical consensus for the greatest film ever made still be seen as a "weird" movie? Is
The Seventh Seal weird, or is it just unique? Is there a distinction?
I have the same problem when people start trying to classify what a "cult movie" is, as in
THIS thread.
But as you were.