25 of the Strangest Movies We’ve Ever Watched

What's the oddest movie you've ever seen that made you ask yourself, “What on Earth did I just watch?” Here are some of the weirdest and most out-there movies we've seen. Warning: this list contains potential spoilers.

1. Head (1968)

In the 1960s, cool kids were into The Beatles and squares were into The Monkees. Today, most of us know that the two groups admired one another and had a lot in common. Nothing proves that point better than The Monkees' one feature film attempt, Head, a psychedelic oddity written by none other than Jack Nicholson.

2. Medea (1969)

Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini made a few scandalous films during his all-too-short lifetime. But few have the sudden impact of Medea, his adaptation of the classical play by Euripides. Pasolini puts extra emphasis on the story's horrific climax by cutting directly after the title character's final line, resulting in an abrupt and disturbing close.

3. Psycho (1960)

This twist ending is one of the best. It's not just that the supposed killer Norma Bates has been long dead and her murders were actually carried out by her crazed son. It's that the classic ends with a psychiatrist explaining Norman's mental state, a truly jarring shift after the heightened tension of Psycho‘s climax.

4. Planet of the Apes (1968)

Even before you get to the infamous ending, Planet of the Apes manages to boggle the mind. As Charlton Heston's misplaced space traveler makes his way into ape society, he encounters a civilization that seems to be making the same mistakes as humans. The weird approach allows Planet of the Apes to hold a mirror up to society, making a monkey out of our leaders and institutions.

5. The Holy Mountain (1973)

Mexican surrealist Alejandro Jodorowsky loved to confound his viewers, and he best achieved that goal with The Holy Mountain. Most of the movie follows a fantasy plot about a thief investigating magical gold, which doesn't make sense but does at least have an internal logic. But Jodorowsky takes a surprising turn for the movie's end, jumping away from the fantastical world he had established for an unlikely fourth-wall-breaking climax.

6. The Wicker Man (1973)

For much of the folk-horror classic The Wicker Man, we follow uptight policeman Neil Howie in his investigation of the secluded Scottish island Summersisle. However, when Lord Summersisle (Christopher Lee) reveals the true nature of the plot to Howie, the movie shifts into some of the most bone-chilling imagery ever committed to screen.

7. Soylent Green (1973)

Like The Wicker Man, Soylent Green mostly operates as an investigative movie, focusing on a reporter played by Charlton Heston. When Heston discovers the secret about the titular food substance, he bellows the movie's most famous line, “Soylent Green is people!” More than a great wist, this reveal changes the very nature of everything that went before, resulting in a movie that ends very differently than it began.

8. The Conversation (1974)

Paranoid thrillers were all the rage in the 1970s, but few reach the emotional depths of The Conversation. Made by Francis Ford Coppella between filming The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, The Conversation follows a security expert (Gene Hackman) whose quest to understand a sound he accidentally recorded uncovers a vast conspiracy. More realistic than many of the other movies on this list, The Conversation is scarier in the way it feels part of the real world.

9. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Of course, one expects some goofiness in a movie by the British comedy troupe Monty Python. And to be sure, the silly stuff starts right at the beginning, as title cards inform us about the demise of the people hired to make the movie's credits. However, the sudden and realistic ending of The Holy Grail takes it from a mere funny flick to something as disorienting as any art film.

10. House (1977)

When watching a Japanese movie like House, American viewers expect some confusion, simply because of the culture clash. Even by that standard, House is exceptionally weird. This movie about teen girls trapped in a haunted house doesn't scare as much as it baffles, as the attacking ghosts trouble the girls with scary pianos and cartoon bolts of lightning.

11. All That Jazz (1979)

Sure, dancing legend and extraordinary director Bob Fosse named his main character Joe Gideon, but who's he kidding? All That Jazz is about Bob Fosse, no matter how much star Roy Scheider doesn't look like the lanky filmmaker. Despite basing his movie in the real world, Fosse builds toward a surreal closing, one that gives the hero a punishing final dance number into the afterlife.

12. The Shining (1980)

Again, ghost stories should always be a bit weird, just by the very nature of using otherworldly spirits. And the hauntings in this Stanley Kubrick adaptation of a Stephen King novel do feature some inexplicable imagery, including the worst possible elevator ride. Rather than wait for the ghosts to make things odd, Kubrick gets started early and continues to the end, including shots of a person reading an inappropriate magazine in the hotel lobby and the movie's shocking final image.

13. Heartbeeps (1981)

Perhaps the strangest thing about Heartbeeps is the fact that it's supposed to be a romantic comedy. There's a lot to love about the idea of two robots finding love together and make-up legend Stan Winston does provide some amazing designs. But not even the charming Bernadette Peters can make star Andy Kaufman act normally for any part of Heartbeeps.

14. The Dark Crystal (1982)

Many people of a certain age have fond memories of The Dark Crystal, with its amazing puppetry by Jim Henson and thrilling fantasy adventure story. Most of those people probably haven't watched the movie anytime recently, because those great sets and characters are all part of a nonsense plot, one that doesn't even make sense after multiple viewings.

15. Brazil (1985)

Half of Brazil, the masterpiece from former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, takes place in the real world and the other half takes place in the fantasy world. Before you go thinking that the real world part makes sense, be warned: it exists in an absurd version of future England, filled with freedom-fighting HVAC repairmen and kindly government torturers.

16. Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Like many of the movies on this list, Jacob's Ladder features a final scene that changes everything that came before. What makes the film all the more striking is its use of contemporary concerns at the time. Director Adrian Lynne taps into the still-lingering effects of the Vietnam War to tell a terrifying psychological horror story, one that's shocking before the big reveal.

17. Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)

If Tammy and the T-Rex was just a horror movie, it would still be strange, but it would be understandable. After all, the movie about a teenager whose brain gets put in the body of a recreated Tyrannosaurus should be scary, right? But for some reason, director Stewart Raffill decided to make a romantic comedy, filled with sweet scenes between a dinosaur and his high school sweetheart.

18. Existenz (1999)

Few directors deserve to be on this list more than David Cronenberg, who combined gross body horror with mind-bending ideas. Existenz may not be considered one of his best movies, but it certainly belongs among the most baffling. Set partially in the future and partially within a video game, Existenz takes alternate reality concepts and pushes them to their extreme.

19. Mulholland Drive (2000)

Of course, David Lynch appears on this list, as the Twin Peaks creator has been baffling audiences for decades. But Lynch's amazing Mulholland Drive deserves attention not just for being weird, but also for how intricate it is. Within all the inexplicable imagery, there's a puzzle-like mystery at the center, one that an attentive viewer could solve… maybe.

20. Oldboy (2003)

Korean director Park Chan-wook's Oldboy is a pretty tough watch all the way through, not just because of its upsetting premise. After protagonist Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) escapes his 15 years of imprisonment, he goes on a rampage driven more by rage than logic. Oldboy is a tough watch all around, but no one who gets to the final reveal will be able to forget it.

21. Synecdoche, New York (2008)

It might be easy to dismiss Charlie Kaufman's first movie as a director as just weirdness for the sake of being weird. After all, Synecdoche, New York does include a scene in which a woman buys and lives in a house that's always on fire. But underneath all of its eccentricities, Synecdoche, New York tells a moving story about aging and facing death.

22. The Lobster (2015)

Greek director Yurgos Lanthimos has made his name with quirky movies that seem to have nothing to do with the real world. The Lobster certainly has those elements, as it follows a group of single people who must find a partner before being turned into an animal for the rest of their lives. But thanks to Colin Farrell's sweet performance, The Lobster has real emotions at its core.

23. Mother (2017)

Bible stories have been part of Hollywood since the very beginning, so it's no surprise that director Darren Aronofsky would look to the Good Book for movie ideas. What is surprising is Aronofsky's decision to adapt all of the Old Testament into an environmentalist tale about the troubled marriage between a mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and her husband (Javier Bardem). It might be hard to explain the plot of the movie, but there's no denying the feeling of shock and hurt that it leaves in viewers.

24. Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Sorry to Bother You is weird from the start, but the twist takes it to another level. Indeed, the story of telemarketers getting involved in a massive conspiracy to make people work for a powerful retailer takes several turns. But there's no way to prepare for the final twist, which is too shocking to even hint at here.

25. Titane (2021)

Titane begins with a woman who mates with a car. And if that's not strange enough, she gives birth to a person/automobile hybrid at the end. As aggressive and off-putting as Titane often gets, it's ultimately a very tender film about two hurt people finding one another. You just need to watch a bunch of gross stuff to get to that part.