SEIZURE
You’d be hard-pressed to find many Oliver Stone trademarks in this, his 1974 debut. It’s not a great or even very good film, being amateurish and pretentious—a deadly combination
SECRETS OF A SOUL
From the silent era, a striking German-made depiction of psychoanalysis, notable for its unforgettably surreal dream/hallucination scenes
SANTA SANGRE
A truly amazing 1989 film by Alejandro Jodorowsky–bold, violent, surreal and completely irresistible, it’s one of the decade’s finest films
SAINT MARTYRS OF THE DAMNED
Fans of David Lynch and Takashi Miike should appreciate this extremely well-crafted French-Canadian exercise in surreality, though I suspect most everyone else will be annoyed by it
THE SABBATH
Any movie featuring the delectable Beatrice Dalle involved in orgies and medieval torture can’t possibly be all bad—or so I thought until I sat through this mess
ARREBATO
The absolute last word on visual addiction, ARREBATO is a fascinating Spanish cult film
ANGELS AND CHERUBS
The first and most famous feature directed by Mexico’s Rafael Corkidi, who seems destined to be known primarily as the cinematographer of EL TOPO and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
ALICE (1988)
The first feature by the Czech animator Jan Svankmajer was this bizarre take on ALICE IN WONDERLAND, notable for its unflagging invention and oppressive atmosphere
PROVIDENCE
Although the ending sucks, this is a fascinating and altogether unique hallucinatory drama by the famed avant-gardist Alain Resnais
THE JAR
Very, very stupid straight-to-video horror from the eighties