Weirder sci-fi films

[Famous Mortimer]

Not yer Avatars and Aliens and so on, but films off the beaten track. I just finished watching "The Book", a 2010 film from Richard Weiss, which starts in 2484 before popping back to 2284 for a bit, and is all about a book which is given to us from the people of "inner space" and makes everyone happy.

It's odd as hell, and I'm not sure if I like it or not, but it's certainly interesting and more worth your time than Avatar and all its sequels. Have you seen any more interesting sci-fi films recently you could recommend / tell us to avoid?

[small_world]

Looking forward to reading this when it's more fluffed out, I love a good Sci fi movie.

The only one I could suggest would be Primer.
If anyone hasn't seen it, it should be the next film you see.

[BlodwynPig]

The only sci-fi I have seen recently has been the movie version of Aeon Flux which really dies on its arse, but starts out brilliantly with really good aesthetics (shot in Berlin). I'll be keeping my eye out for other recommendations.

[Johnny Townmouse]

The American Astronaut (2001) by Cory McAbee is a film I suspect is going to face into obscurity with only a very small band of fans. I love it. If you are after weird SF then I don't see how you could go wrong with this.

[Famous Mortimer]

Looking forward to reading this when it's more fluffed out, I love a good Sci fi movie.

The link below my username should be to the site I do some reviews for (I don't think I'm that good at it, but it's good fun and writing notes stops me from drifting off in the middle of some bag of shite Asylum mockbuster), so I'm going to try and do a longer review of "The Book" on there.

Completely agree on "Primer", I remember watching it and lending it to two diffrent groups of friends. When we all got together and had a chat about it, we all had different ideas about what was going on, which I liked. Although I was right, obviously :)

[Blumf]

The only sci-fi I have seen recently has been the movie version of Aeon Flux which really dies on its arse, but starts out brilliantly with really good aesthetics (shot in Berlin). I'll be keeping my eye out for other recommendations.

if you haven't already, watch the original cartoons the film is (very half-arsed) based on[nb]The film is a dismal failure compared to the original, massively misses the point[/nb]. Guns, bondage, overblown philosophy that collapse in on itself, alt-sex via removed spinal links, gender politics, and foot fetish.

[small_world]

The link below my username

Cheers for that, some good stuff on there I hadn't even heard of.

[the psyche intangible]

http://www.magnetreleasing.com/beyondtheblackrainbow/

[BlodwynPig]

if you haven't already, watch the original cartoons the film is (very half-arsed) based on[nb]The film is a dismal failure compared to the original, massively misses the point[/nb]. Guns, bondage, overblown philosophy that collapse in on itself, alt-sex via removed spinal links, gender politics, and foot fetish.

I watched them back in the early 90s and just got the DVD boxed set, the film popped up on amazon too and I got it as it was dirt cheap. Yes, the cartoons are far far superior, but the beginning of the film does have some nice visual elements.

[BlodwynPig]

Beyond the Black Rainbow....ordered would have ordered if it wasn't US only release.

[babyshambler]

I came to recommend Beyond the black rainbow, but I see that's been thoroughly taken care of.

[NoSleep]

Stalker & Solaris, both directed by Andrei Tarkovsky come to mind.

The most bonkers sci-fi I remember seeing in recent years (9 years ago!) is Enki Bilal's Immortel (based on his comic books). It reminded me that I should look some into French sci-fi as it seems more prone to flights of the imagination from the snatches I have picked up , mostly via comic books (Heavy Metal - well, Metal Hurlant translated) and early computer games (Kult, Captain Blood, Purple Saturn Day, B.A.T.).

Visually the film is a bizarre mix of live acting and CGI that reminds me of in-game graphics.

I would love a guide to French sci-fi.

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

Vanishing Waves came out last year or so and is supposed to be very good. It's been described as "the Lithuanian erotic Inception 2" if that floats your boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqVAn5TpaME

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

In terms of more visually arresting stuff... I should probably also mention The Cell (2000) before anyone else does. J-Lo is in it and is surprisingly good, as is the storyline.

[BlodwynPig]

Vanishing Waves came out last year or so and is supposed to be very good. It's been described as "the Lithuanian erotic Inception 2" if that floats your boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqVAn5TpaME

Fuck!

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Stalker

Also see the original novel Roadside Picnic.

[Famous Mortimer]

In terms of more visually arresting stuff... I should probably also mention The Cell (2000) before anyone else does. J-Lo is in it and is surprisingly good, as is the storyline.

The thing that always bugs me about that film is, despite her popping into that bloke's head and having all those sexy adventures, the case is solved by

Spoiler alert

simple good old police work.

[close]

Unless my memory of it is very faulty.

[Funcrusher]

Completely agree on "Primer", I remember watching it and lending it to two diffrent groups of friends. When we all got together and had a chat about it, we all had different ideas about what was going on, which I liked. Although I was right, obviously :)

Have you ever looked at the diagram some guy did that apparently explains how the  timelines work in 'Primer'? Someone on another forum linked to it back when it first came out. I though i had a handle on what was going on, but after looking at that, fuck, it's insanely complicated.

[Danger Man]

Want to see Tom Baker dressed as the Doctor but before he became the Doctor?



The Mutations is the film for you.

A film about mixing human and plant DNA that ticks the 'cult' and 'weird' boxes, but also the box marked 'a bit shit'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070423/

[zomgmouse]

I suppose you'll have heard of most of these, but anyway:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Peter Weller plays a neurosurgeon/particle physicist/rock star who opens up the 8th dimension and has to battle some aliens led by John Lithgow. Supporting cast includes Christopher Lloyd and Jeff Goldblum. Wacky fun.
Brainstorm. Directed by Douglas Trumbull, perhaps better known for his special effects work for things like Blade Runner, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 2001: A Space Odyssey and oddly enough The Tree of Life, but who also directed this and Silent Running, which could also go in this list (it stars Bruce Dern as an environmentalist technician in space carrying a forest preserved from the Earth). This film, however, features Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood and Louise Fletcher; loosely speaking, it's about virtual reality.
Rollerball. Set around the eponymous ultraviolent stadium sport, which is a (the?) way for corporations to control the populace, and one lone player (played by James Caan) who doesn't want to bend to the corporations' requests. Also has Ralph Richardson.
Carré blanc. One from 2011, this is a Belgian production, and it's a semi-absurd, very dark, near-future scenario. I still don't know entirely what was going on. There were hints at a falling population as well as Soylent Green-esque overtones, coupled with a strange "game" and an odd class system based on this "game". Well worth checking out.
The City of Lost Children & Delicatessen. Both great films by Jeunet/Caro. The former is a children's fantasy-type film with Ron Perlman trying to locate a little girl's baby brother who has been kidnapped, while the latter is a post-apocalyptic cannibalesque tale of a man (Dominique Pinon, who is also in the previous one) trying to survive in an apartment.
Dark Star. John Carpenter's first film, developed from his student film, and a segment of this went on to be the basis for Alien (both written by Dan O'Bannon). A strange, absurd film about four astronauts in a ship whose job it is to go around blowing up planets. Features some wonderful comic dialogue and some nice low-budget touches.
Fantastic Planet. Excellent animation with an astonishing soundtrack. A race of tiny humanoids on an alien planet.
Metropia. Interesting animation that could have gone further with its conspiracy themes but nonetheless made a good job of creating a singular mood. Vincent Gallo and Juliette Lewis provide voices.
Timecrimes. Mexican time travel thriller with a great explanation of time travel and a brilliantly darkly comic unwinding of the story.
Looker. This one fits in this category, but much more in the "not a really good film" corner. Directed and written by Michael Crichton, starring Albert Finney and James Coburn. Some nice ideas (a hypnosis gun, digital people) but executed quite poorly, much like Westworld.

[zomgmouse]

The Mutations is the film for you.

A film about mixing human and plant DNA that ticks the 'cult' and 'weird' boxes, but also the box marked 'a bit shit'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070423/

Whoa, Jack Cardiff directed this? That's so odd.

[the psyche intangible]

Timecrimes. Mexican time travel thriller with a great explanation of time travel and a brilliantly darkly comic unwinding of the story.

You're right Timecrimes is both brilliant and hilarious but Spanish not Mexican. Same thing! I hear you cry, Hector number one.

[zomgmouse]

Shit, so it is. So convinced was I that it wasn't Spanish and that I would embarrass myself by calling it Spanish that I called it Mexican and embarrassed myself. Oops.

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

Watched Vanishing Waves last night. It's alright. Felt like more like a high-concept music video than a film with a story/narrative arc.

Good as a first-draft, doesn't come anywhere close to the directors (Lynch, Kubrick, Jodorowsky) it's trying to imitate though. Perhaps a bit overdone with the music as well? Felt like a substitute for the absent acting at times.

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

The thing that always bugs me about that film is, despite her popping into that bloke's head and having all those sexy adventures, the case is solved by

Spoiler alert

simple good old police work.

[close]

Unless my memory of it is very faulty.

My memory of it is a bit hazy as well,

Spoiler alert

but I think towards the end J-Lo gets herself imprisoned his psychic world much as the girl is incarcerated in that glass cage.

[close]

He's holding people to ransom on two separate planes of reality - not a bad plot-line compared to most SF films really.

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

Vince Vaughn's best comedy turn imho - http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=8G40_afpkGA&v=NlP9f8i-4c4

[Bobby Treetops]

Want to see Tom Baker dressed as the Doctor but before he became the Doctor?



The Mutations is the film for you.

A film about mixing human and plant DNA that ticks the 'cult' and 'weird' boxes, but also the box marked 'a bit shit'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070423/

Also a massive rip off of 'Freaks' and if I remember rightly doesn't

Spoiler alert

Donald Pleasence mutate into a tree/plant monster at the end?

[close]

Yep, it's a bit shit.

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

If anyone hasn't seen it, it should be the next film you see.

I followed this advice. It was... ok.

I'd vote for The Box as a better option.

[acrow]

i'm not sure if you're serious.

i'm assuming that the box you're talking about is the one with cameron diaz? because that was fucking pure shit.

i'm not saying primer is the best film ever but compared to the box it's like the choice between looking at a beautiful painting and having someone hold your eyelids open and smearing shit right into your eyeballs. right into them.

i ididn't like that film, is what i'm what i'm saying.

[futon]

Here's a couple that might appeal to devotees of the non-mainstream..

Split (1989, Chris Shaw) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd-zgDcDjZI

According to an unimpeachable source (youtube comment) "Shaw was SELF-distributing this film by driving from theater to theater with it in his car."

Kin Dza Dza (1986, Georgiy Daneliya) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db7pqpylMUA Russian sci-fi black comedy.

Of the two, Kin Dza Dza is the more solid proposition and will have a fairly broad appeal, but Split I think is unmissable for afficionados of the obscure and off-beat; despite the obvious no-budget limitations there's some pretty well executed conceptual playfulness and some genuinely arresting moments.