EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL
A strange, anarchic masterpiece from German filmmaker Werner Herzog, who was mining a vein similar to the films of David Lynch and Harmony Korine years before those guys came into vogue
THE EVE OF IVAN KUPALO
This 1968 Russian mind bender has sorcery, murder, tortured romance, mass hallucinations and bold, frenzied visuals worthy of Dario Argento or Alejandro Jodorowsky
ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW
This is the already-infamous indie that was filmed surreptitiously at Walt Disney World. The film is fairly affecting, although the crummy final third does it in
EL TOPO
EL TOPO is the most famous film ever made by the incomparable Alejandro Jodorowsky, an early-seventies counterculture mainstay that retains much of its off-kilter brilliance
STAR TIME
One of the most idiosyncratic of all nineties-era serial killer dramas was this surreal account of a TV junkie becoming a mass murderer
SILENT HILL
Contrary to what I once believed, it IS possible to have too much surreal weirdness in a movie. This expensive adaptation of the PC game SILENT HILL, from the talented Christophe Gans, proves that point adequately
THE SENDER
This was the first feature directed by former art director/set decorator (of STAR WARS and ALIEN) and future BATTLEFIELD EARTH helmer Roger Christian, and it’s not bad
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