Travel Beyond Bizarre Movies with These Top 3 Twisted Treats
Gary Scott Beatty
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Only a twisted mind could come up with these horror movie plots. Are you twisted enough to enjoy their brilliance?
I guess I am. I enjoyed the three films on this list, not because they are perfectly executed and masterful movies, but because the concepts are so beyond bizarre that I was amused. Sure, call the Home for Demented Horror Buffs to come pick me up… I’ll be waiting.
A note: These movies aren’t necessarily repugnantly gruesome (although they have their moments). Sure, as Stephen King said, it’s easy to “go for the gross out.” But much of the twisted here happens in the writers’ heads — what the hell were they thinking?
The Driller Killer
For instance, In the Folds of the Flesh (1970) is a tripped out Italian exploitation film from director Sergio Bergonzelli featuring one truly screwed up family and a plot with more twists than necessary, with murder, incest, and decapitations thrown in. Recommended if you enjoy strange.
A thief running from the law picks the wrong house to hide near — he sees a body being buried in the garden. Upon his release from prison many years later, he returns to the house seeking to blackmail the murderer. (Really? Thirteen years to think about it, and THIS is his plan?)
It all spins out of control from there. Sleazy and melodramatic, In the Folds of the Flesh had me laughing at the sheer audacity of it all. A cyanide bath, really? A demented daughter whose mind goes to murder when touched by men? Sure, why not?
Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (1979) isn’t exactly high art, but it is surprisingly entertaining. The uncut version runs over an hour and a half. Most interesting is the look at the lives of late-’70s punks and artists.
Not since I viewed Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens in 1982 have I seen real parasitic, nihilistic punks on the screen. I was there, and I’m telling you that the lifestyle is always glossed over, Hollywood style, like Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan. The Driller Killer gets it right.
I may have been an angry punk, but I never considered attaching a wireless drill to my arm to rampage. Some interesting editing in this film, but much of the acting is barely passable, so I can’t recommend Driller Killer unless you, like me, are looking for something different. The Driller Killer lives up to its name.
Mystics in Bali (1981) is an Indonesian horror film reminiscent of American B-movies from a decade before. Director H. Tjut Djalil uses clumsy timing but imaginative (cheap) effects to tell the story of a woman too deep into black magic.
It’s fun to have a look at what another culture fears. This is a weird mashup of styles, and the cheesiness will have you laughing. Then, the woman’s head leaves her body and flies around with the entrails attached. When she attacks a pregnant woman, it turns disgustingly macabre.
If not for the gross parts and sex, Mystics in Bali would make a fairly scary kids’ movie.
What kind of twisted mind could come up with this film? I’m not sure, but I’m twisted enough to enjoy it! Share your favorites below!
Gary Scott Beatty’s graphic novel Wounds is available on Amazon and Comixology. Is madness a way to survive the zombie apocalypse? The strangest zombie story ever written, Wounds throws us into a world where nothing is beyond doubt, except a father’s concern for his wife and daughter. If you enjoy that “What th-?” factor in graphic novels, you’ll enjoy Wounds.
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