Have you ever wondered what sort of movies and TV shows Weird Barbie watches in her spare time – or would choose to make, if given the chance? Well, we have. After an evening of “Yes, but have you seen …?” we decided to compile a list of the weirdest shows we could think of. Now, these are not necessarily bad movies or TV shows – weird can be very, very good, but bad is just bad.[1]
A study published by The American Film Market found that 75% of all independent feature films produced for the US market don’t get significant theatrical distribution.[2] So, all of the bad movies you’re thinking of right now were somehow better than those. For example, I tried to see Nightfall (1988) on opening night at the local multiplex. I bought my ticket early, but when my friends arrived at the theater, the show was sold out. I went to see if there were still available seats, and the theater was empty. When I asked the manager what was going on, he said that the film was so bad that after the matinee, they just claimed it was sold out so they didn’t have to show it again. Now that’s a bad movie, but still apparently better than ¾ of the movies that get made each year. Nightfall did not receive enough reviews to earn a Tomatometer score, but of those movies that did, there are 40 that are so bad that they have a score of 0.[3]
With most bad movies and TV shows, you can still see the audience that they were attempting to reach, even if they missed by a wide margin. But with really weird shows, you have to wonder what sort of market research the financiers did before writing a check to greenlight these twisted offerings – and, most concerningly, am I in that demographic?
Searching the Internet for bits of weird or surreal that I somehow missed turned up a quite a few “best of weird” lists, but many lump unique, quirky, and whimsical in with weird, resulting in entries that I think are too normal and approachable to really be considered “weird”:
- Memento (2000) – A mystery that unfolds in reverse chronological order, so it’s unique and challenging, but I wouldn’t call it weird.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – I’ll grant you, the ending is very weird (what’s with that floating space baby?), but most of the movie is a very engaging and relatively straightforward science fiction drama.
- Chinatown (1974) – Film noir in color, which is unusual, but not weird.
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) – Seriously? It’s fun and whimsical – and all musicals are inherently surreal – but it’s much too mainstream to be considered weird.
- The Breakfast Club (1985) – The Breakfast Club?!? Come on now.
There are two lists out there that I would recommend. They’re both carefully considered with well-documented weirdness:
- Taste of Cinema’s The 25 Weirdest Movies of All Time
- ScreenRant’s Weirdest TV Shows of All Time
But even they miss some things that I think should be on any good list of weird movies and TV shows and include some things that I just don’t think are really weird enough to make the grade. My quibbles with the various weird lists that have been assembled by others may be down to the fact that “weird is in the eye of the beholder.”[4] To paraphrase US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I cannot define weird, but I know it when I see it.”[5]
So, below are the shows that I know to be weird. When assembling this list, I have relied on the advice of several personally-trusted aficionados of the unusual to help identify weirdness that I have not personally experienced or may have forgotten. Every movie and TV show on this list has an entry in the EIDR Content ID registry, which is not weird. These globally-unique, freely-resolvable identifiers are suitable for everything from supply chain automation to academic citation. Enjoy!
52* Verifiably Weird Movies and TV Series
*One for each week of the year!
| Title | EIDR ID |
| Le voyage dans la lune (1902) | 10.5240/C79D-4B8B-36AF-B214-03C0-H |
| A group of scientists wearing pointy wizard hats decides to travel to the moon. They change into top hats and are shot to the moon by a giant cannon. Their ship hits the man-in-the-moon in the eye. On the moon, they point at things, take a nap, poke moon-people with their umbrellas, push their ship off a cliff, and fall back to Earth. All in 15 minutes.
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| Un Chien Andalou (1929) | 10.5240/A98D-3977-9C91-7DB2-E30D-F |
| The prototypical surrealist film from Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, famously features a shot of an eye being sliced open by a straight razor.
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| The 5,000 Finders of Dr. T. (1953) | 10.5240/28CF-7564-BB6E-8711-4810-I |
| Dr. Seuss’ only feature film! (Actually written by him, not just based on one of his other books.) Anyone who had piano lessons as a child or LSD as an adult can relate.
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| The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) | 10.5240/DF2E-752D-4B28-7147-3B6B-9 |
| Submitted for your approval: so many great episodes, so many unexpected twists, so many cigarettes smoked by Rod Serling in his introductions. (Fun Fact: The show was sponsored by a cigarette company, so Serling was required to smoke on camera. Oh, the good old days!)
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| Mothra (1961) | 10.5240/617B-CB32-D578-4E4D-0D61-J |
| So, you’ve got miniature, singing twins and a giant moth that ravages Tokyo—and the moth is the hero.
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| My Mother the Car (1965–1966) | 10.5240/69A3-AA17-C977-3F4E-40E4-U |
| Jerry Van Dyke gave up the option to play the title role in Gilligan’s Island (1964–1967) to appear as a man haunted by his dead mother who speaks to him through the radio of his 1928 Porter automobile.
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| The Prisoner (1967–1968) | 10.5240/C8CE-3B86-2C4F-BAA4-C073-O |
| Patrick McGoohan, the creator and star, was famous at the time for having played a spy in Danger Man (1960–1966) – Secret Agent (1964–1967) in the US – so this show was supposed to answer the question of what spies do when they retire. Apparently, they take drugs. The show starts off odd and only gets weirder, culminating in a final episode that cannot be properly described.
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| Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (1968) | 10.5240/01BC-D230-7500-834A-B324-7 |
| “One-footed hopping umbrella demon with a long, floppy tongue” pretty much sums it up.
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| Satyricon (1969) | 10.5240/D3C3-9FA5-F19A-600E-E887-O |
| Technically called “Fellini Satyricon” for legal reasons, it’s a disjointed trip through 1st century Rome and it’s odd, even by Fellini standards.
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| El Topo (1970) | 10.5240/3FC7-59D2-B863-8380-9BAB-W |
| Any weird list needs at least one film from Alejandro Jodorowsky. Here, we have a black-clad gunfighter having mystical adventures across the desert.
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| Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) | 10.5240/99E8-E2FB-EDAD-919B-C747-C |
| The residents of an isolated institution where everyone is a dwarf rebel against the oppressive system and descend into chaos, preferring bizarre and unsettling imagery to an actual plot.
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| Pink Flamingos (1972) | 10.5240/7909-6139-FCB0-C217-C923-T |
| A feud erupts when two families vie for the title of “The Filthiest Person Alive”—we won’t say how Divine proves the title belongs to her at the end of the film.
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| Solaris (1972) | 10.5240/1C85-47FA-5033-CAE6-043B-N |
| A man is sent to a distant space station to replace one of three crew members who has died—then he meets his dead wife. Or, as the director put it, the character’s inner lives depict the existential conflicts of man’s condition in nature and the nature of man in the universe.
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| Frank Film (1973) | 10.5240/7993-C3F4-2029-349E-A5CD-K |
| Two overlapping soundtracks (an autobiographical monologue and a list of things that start with the letter “F”) over stream-of-consciousness animation.
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| High Plains Drifter (1973) | 10.5240/387E-467A-7192-CBB2-3A2B-Y |
| “The Stranger” (not to be confused with “The Man With No Name,” a different Clint Eastwood character) terrorizes a town in return for his help, but isn’t really all that helpful.
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| Dark Star (1974) | 10.5240/0574-6793-65E2-815E-98B1-I |
| The captain is dead and frozen, but still offers the crew advice; the alien is a beachball with feet; and the planet-killing smart bomb they’ve just activated is having an existential crisis.
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| Pom Poko (1974) | 10.5240/892F-26EE-AED3-1311-0AFF-B |
| Do NOT see this film with your two young nieces will riding in the back of a minivan on a family road trip. I will never look at racoons the same way again.
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| Zardoz (1974) | 10.5240/C7C8-8804-71A1-DACF-0CA5-G |
| Writer/director John Boorman has admitted that he was using a lot of drugs while writing and producing this film and now isn’t sure what some parts of it are all about. That explains a lot.
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| The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) | 10.5240/02B3-55AE-4FDD-A6C9-EF25-G |
| An alien comes to Earth in search of water, finds love, but is undone by human greed; or E.T. if he got stuck in an existential crisis at a lounge bar.
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| Eraserhead (1977) | 10.5240/A555-22C6-C10C-51D5-36C2-2 |
| Perhaps the weirdest of David Lynch’s films—after this, he went positively mainstream.
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| Stalker (1979) | 10.5240/2CD5-A900-F1EA-13D5-BDEE-A |
| I read the book and I still don’t understand the movie.
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| Cannibal Holocaust (1980) | 10.5240/79CC-AEBE-FA78-8015-29F9-A |
| The director was charged by an Italian court with murdering his own cast — he did not, but that’s probably the best thing that can be said about this film.
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| Liquid Sky (1982) | 10.5240/E0C2-86EF-1C2C-70FF-9597-I |
| Tiny aliens come to Earth looking for heroin and land on the roof of a New York apartment building. Everything else follows logically from there.
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| Videodrome (1983) | 10.5240/1F91-F3D7-43AC-A874-06B1-4 |
| The tagline for the film was “First it controls your mind. Then it destroys your body.” That sounds about right.
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| The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) | 10.5240/A55D-3854-B2B6-FF4E-17BE-3 |
| Buckaroo Banzai, adventurer, brain surgeon, and rock musician, and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers (Reno, New Jersey, Perfect Tommy, and Rawhide) must save the world from evil alien invaders.
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| Brazil (1985) | 10.5240/1197-7F36-C4FF-8B98-70B8-B |
| You’ll never look at plastic surgery or shared office space the same.
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| Loving the Alien (1985) | 10.5240/6E9D-162E-E3E7-9889-6024-C |
| A David Bowie music video—strange even by his standards.
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| Meat Love (1989) | 10.5240/54D7-B9AF-74A7-CD1C-4D75-A |
| Two pieces of meat fall in love.
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| Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) | 10.5240/CE1E-6FA3-AE1C-E91E-84A5-Y |
| This film also made our cyberpunk list. In it, a man is slowly transformed into a metal-flesh amalgam after accidentally killing a “Metal Fetishist” (that’s pretty much what you think it is).
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| Twin Peaks (1990–1991) | 10.5240/8C0F-6311-3046-5589-E06A-I |
| In the series, Dale Cooper (the FBI agent who comes to Twin Peaks to investigate the death of Laura Palmer) says, “I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.” That’s a remarkably good summary of the show.
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| Naked Lunch (1991) | 10.5240/BC6B-6F2E-6847-8767-0E4C-H |
| An exterminator who’s addicted to pesticide becomes involved in a secret plot led by giant bugs. Or, as Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons (1989–) summarized it, “I can think of at least two things wrong with that title.” Did we mention this came from David Cronenberg?
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| Gummo (1997) | 10.5240/CF60-5720-6DE2-7B1A-FB55-F |
| According to the MPAA, this film has it all, including: “pervasive depiction of anti-social behavior of juveniles, including violence, substance abuse, sexuality and language.”
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| Being John Malkovich (1999) | 10.5240/718E-BAED-CB55-5189-1FEE-9 |
| LesterCorp’s offices with 5′ ceilings on the 7½ floor of the Mertin Flemmer building may well be the most normal thing in this film. To quote my favorite line from the movie, “Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich!”
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| Strangers with Candy (1999—2000) | 10.5240/AF81-CC4F-D7A2-9B55-1F6A-1 |
| A 46-year-old ex-drug addict returns to high school as a freshman, you know, as one does.
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| Mirrormask (2005) | 10.5240/4CD6-DB32-75AD-603E-13A2-V |
| A 15-year-old girl tries to run away from the circus and ends up in a fantasy world, then spends the rest of the film trying to make her way back to her family (and the circus).
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| Hogfather (2006) | 10.5240/7424-495C-88D3-E520-EDE7-N |
| Essentially a Christmas special that takes place on a flat, disc-shaped world that travels through space on the backs of four giant elephants who are standing on an even larger turtle.
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| Exte: Hair Extensions (2007) | 10.5240/F5F9-BBFB-25BE-395E-D52B-L |
| A Japanese horror film featuring homicidal hair extensions.
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| Rubber (2010) | 10.5240/25D4-B9D8-5F77-B0E2-66AD-T |
| A sentient, and sadly homicidal, car tire with telekinetic powers terrorizes a small desert town.
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| Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) | 10.5240/78A6-CC4B-2E04-2E81-E877-G |
| A dying man, his wife’s ghost, and his son transformed into a forest spirt hang out on a rural farm in Thailand. During its screening at the Cannes Film Festival, audience members began walking out 6 minutes into the film.
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| Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (2012) | 10.5240/027D-4B5C-551B-E170-70AA-0 |
| So, there’s a 15-year-old mafioso who’s the son of a demigod vampire hiding in a key set into a turtle’s back from a ghost creature that makes you old if you have high body heat. Once you’ve accepted that, the rest is pretty straightforward.
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| V/H/S (2012) | 10.5240/CCF7-1F6E-073A-8B55-3876-Y |
| A POV, found-footage horror film where each bit of found footage is weirder than the last.
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| Tusk (2014) | 10.5240/DED0-2501-0717-B4DB-7429-5 |
| Kevin Smith (a.k.a., Silent Bob) wrote and directed this film about a podcaster who is kidnapped by his interview subject who hopes to turn him into a walrus.
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| Preacher (2016–2019) | 10.5240/F8E1-1B51-8324-5C1F-B82C-D |
| A tale as old as time: A preacher, his ex-girlfriend, and a casually hedonistic Irish vampire hit the road to find God, who has gone missing. Along the way, they encounter homicidal angels, a secret religious cabal, and a messiah with the IQ of a particularly dim potato.
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| Swiss Army Man (2016) | 10.5240/4A9E-E277-5916-F389-DAF4-5 |
| How many different uses for a dead body can you think of? Was jet ski on your list?
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| Legion (2017–2019) | 10.5240/30D5-73D3-9FA0-EC30-8A97-J |
| This show has everything: mental patients, psychic powers, government conspiracies, and a dude with a basket on his head who only communicates through three women with matching mustaches and bowl haircuts.
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| The Color Out of Space (2019) | 10.5240/D721-C018-06DD-344D-92CF-J |
| This film also made our H.P. Lovecraft list. A meteor causes an isolated farm to descend into colorful madness, featuring mutating alpacas and a full-energy Nicolas Cage.
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| The Midnight Gospel (2020) | 10.5240/EF82-CE6E-8C32-7187-F8BB-P |
| A spacecaster travels to bizarre simulated worlds to interview strange beings about deep existential topics—like death, spirituality, and clowns with guns.
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| Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) | 10.5240/5B17-BE87-E36A-DB06-13E2-2 |
| Parallel universes, alternate lives, and some of the best acting from a rock you will ever see.
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| Hundreds of Beavers (2022) | 10.5240/8DFF-B388-D9A0-C96E-CF66-8 |
| All of the animals in this film are played by people in mascot costumes, and the rest goes much as you’d expect.
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| Severance (2022–) | 10.5240/3E33-BDB1-12E0-865E-6D2C-1 |
| One of two workplace comedies on the list, this features the dystopian mega-conglomerate Lumon Industries where employee performance bonuses include erasers, finger traps, custom caricature portraits, a melon bar, a waffle party, or a music dance experience.
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| Asteroid City (2023) | 10.5240/9330-563E-EB6A-D734-ADB8-G |
| We were obligated to include at least one Wes Anderson film, though it’s hard to judge one being weirder than another.
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| The Substance (2024) | 10.5240/943D-4C37-5521-544E-856E-O |
| Demi Moore (the film’s star) described is as a blend of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Death Becomes Her (1992), and a Jane Fonda workout video.
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[1] If you’re after really bad, rather than just plain weird, then you should refer to the Golden Raspberry Awards(the Razzies), established in 1981 to recognize the best of the worst.
[2] This isn’t limited to independent films. There are also major studio films that make it all the way through production but still don’t get released. A recent example is Batgirl (2022), which wasn’t released for fear it would damage the DC movie franchise. It reputedly received “funeral screenings” for cast, crew, and studio executives, but the studio has said the film will never receive a public release. And this from the studio that knowingly and willingly released Batman & Robin (1997), voted the Worst Movie Ever by the readers of Empire magazine.
[3] The famously bad Gigli (2003), starring the Hollywood power-couple Benifer (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) at the peak of their couple-ness, still managed to receive a 6% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so can you imagine how bad a movie has to be to get a 0%? I can. Sadly, I’ve seen several of the movies on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the Worst Movies of All Time and can personally attest to their badness. And don’t think that these shows are “so bad they’re good.” That’s something like The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001) – a film so bad that it’s actually fantastic.
[4] This concept dates back to at least 3rd century BCE Greece and has appeared in many forms over the years, but the exact phrase, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” first appeared in the book Molly Brown (1878) by Margaret Wolfe Hungerford.
[5] Justice Stewart, in his concurring opinion in the case of Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) involving the theatrical exhibition of the French film The Lovers (1958), which the justices found was not obscene, wrote, “I shall not today attempt further to define [obscenity], but I know it when I see it”.