A Deep Dive into Weirdo Cinema [10] Quiz

Answer: Homosexuality

While the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" dabbled in the unique slasher methods of Freddy Krueger and his effects on the subconscious minds of Springwood's teenagers, "Freddy's Revenge" took an overt turn, featuring a number of scenes that may have raised eyebrows. As was later discussed in "Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy", "Freddy's Revenge" had very clear homoerotic overtones; scenes were set in leather bars, and one, in the high school shower, involved a gym teacher being stripped and attacked in a steamy room. Interestingly, the film solved its Freddy issue by having the main character, Jesse, find love with the female lead, Lisa.

Now considered a bit of a cult classic for the series, "Freddy's Revenge" holds an interesting spot in horror cinema. Mark Patton, who played the lead role of Jesse, stopped acting for nearly three decades, but came out in later years. He is credited by many to be the first male scream queen at a time when slasher movies leveraged the trope heavily. Writer David Chaskin noted, years later, that the subtext was intentional.

Answer: Diamonds

With "Jurassic Park" hitting it big at the box office, filmmakers pulled from the Crichton catalogue and found "Congo" was rife for adaptation, and with that, it released in 1995 to modest success in theatres. Although "Jurassic Park", as a film, was quite silly in concept, "Congo" went further. In it, a ragtag group of scientists, government agents, monkey specialists, and explorers travelled into the jungle hunting for rare diamonds that would be just perfect for a dangerous laser beam. What the group didn't know was that the diamonds were guarded by hostile gorillas in an active volcano.

The film, featuring Laura Linney, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, and Tim Curry (as a bad guy, obviously), wasn't well-reviewed, but it was still a success. It ended up nominated for seven Razzies, including Worst Picture, but it didn't 'win' any of them, partly because "Showgirls" came out in the same year. The Crichton catalogue would continue to be mined for "Sphere" and "Timeline" in later years, though those wouldn't be quite as successful.

Oh yeah, and there's an interlude where people sing "California Dreamin'" while paddling down the Congo River. Hard to forget that.

Answer: Killer Klowns from Outer Space

You want campy B-horror? The Chiodo Brothers, who made the "Critters" movies, were on-hand to provide with this 1988 movie set in a small town under attack by aliens bearing striking resemblances in form and aesthetic to circus clowns (ugly ones at that). As the aliens touched down in their big top tent and set to work encasing townsfolk in acidic cotton candy, some knowing people started to fight back against the invaders in this schlocky comedy featuring some wild puppetry and costumes.

Despite the obvious weirdness of this one, "Killer Klowns" became somewhat beloved. It's silly and off-the-wall, but it pushes in that direction the entire time, providing a fun and colourful horror film that never takes itself seriously. Are they 'klowns'? No. But are they aliens that look like 'klowns' setting out to turn people into goo so that they can drink them through a straw? Yes.

Answer: The Craft

An unexpected success, "The Craft" came out in 1996 and struck a teen market looking for a dark and serious supernatural thriller. In it, a group of girls dabbling in witchcraft came to find that their powers were on the rise, though some of them started to get corrupted by their own capabilities, invoking something seductive and unwelcome.

In a time when teen horror was on the rise with the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV show leading the charge, and films like "Scream" filling a horror niche for the age group, "The Craft" held a unique spot amongst cult classic dramas of the 1990s. The four stars of the movie continued to find success in film and TV for decades after while its stylish take affected witch movies for decades to come. A sequel, "The Craft: Legacy", was released by Blumhouse in 2020, perhaps a little too late to ride the original's success. It turned out to be a flop, and made very little back, having been released during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answer: "Don't think it, don't say it."

Almost unfollowable plot-wise, "The Bye Bye Man" was a unique movie that seemed to start with a premise, but fizzle out partway through. In it, a group of people were set upon by a being known as 'The Bye Bye Man', who simply caused them to go insane through the mere thought of his being. The movie persisted with the line "don't think it, don't say it" as a mantra because characters were advised simply to turn their brains off of the subject to avoid both getting killed and killing the people around them. Obviously it didn't go so well.

"Don't think it, don't say it" might also be advice for the viewer; the film flopped with movie-goers and critics alike. Though it made close to $30,000,000 USD, it was known to be a problematic film from the get-go (STX Entertainment released it in the January dead zone with no critic screening). Somehow, the film itself managed to attract Carrie-Anne Moss and Faye Dunaway in supporting roles while common Guillermo Del Toro mainstay Doug Jones played the Bye Bye Man himself. Not even they could save the film.

Answer: The Wicker Man

Based on the 1973 British horror film of the same name, "The Wicker Man" does itself no favours in being a faithful recreation. Instead, Nicolas Cage travels to a mysterious island, populated by neo-Pagan women, on the hunt for his missing daughter. What resulted was a complex mystery leading to Cage just biking around an island looking for answers, eventually punching women in the face, dressing up in a bear suit, and getting placed into a giant wicker man effigy to burn as part of a ritual. As it turned out, his wife set him up.

Notably, this movie became a bit of a meme due to a deleted scene in which Cage's head is placed into a wicker cage full of live bees. Despite the "not the bees, they're stinging my face" moment being excised, the film didn't really hold up all too well; it had five Razzie nominations and flopped, critically (and financially). It lives in a weird space in the Cage filmography where his campy acting could fit the bill; the problem is that the film itself is convoluted. Cage would later go on record believing the film to be absurd, even for him.

Answer: Shakma

Set entirely in a series of upper floors of a high-rise that also appear to be genetic testing laboratories, "Shakma" involves a group of people doing live-action role-playing games over walkie-talkies for a large amount of the movie. Once Shakma gets out of his cage, however, their adventures come to a halt since their new quest is 'survival'. Virtually everyone dies to the baboon. It's a real mess.

Released in the early 1990s, "Shakma" never really got much attention despite following the general template for 'locked-in with an evil animal' horror films to the letter. Stars Christopher Atkins, Amanda Wyss, and Roddy McDowall are likely known for much better things before this, but "Shakma" remains one of those weird, little unknowns that might pique a B-moviegoer's interest.

Answer: The Master of Disguise

Considered one of the worst movies of all time, "The Master of Disguise" managed to avoid a 0% Rotten Tomatoes rating...but getting 1% instead. Starring Dana Carvey, it's famous for a number of reasons, chief amongst them being the death knell for Carvey's acting career-- he never really recovered from it in any substantial way. Crew members have called out, since the movie's premiere in 2002, that the infamous 'Turtle, Turtle' scene, which saw Carvey dressed as a man in a giant shell of a costume, was filmed on the morning of 9/11 after a brief moment of silence. The rumour has since been debunked somewhat-- it happened a few weeks later, but Carvey did observe that moment of silence in the turtle costume.

The film itself followed the exploits of Pistachio Disguisey as he set out to save his family from the bad guy, Devlin Bowman (played by Brent Spiner). The details didn't much matter, suffice to say the movie is known to miss every single joke. It's a long eighty minute movie.

Answer: Eugene Levy

A sequel to the 2003 "Cheaper by the Dozen" remake, this second film was made quickly with the aim to utilize the same child actors as the original, placing them not at home with their wacky hi-jinx, but on vacation at a lakeside cabin, the perfect place to send way-too-many people. As they headed to Lake Winnetka they soon discovered that a rival family of ten people had also decided to spend their vacation there. It was a lot of people for one lake and one movie.

"Cheaper By the Dozen 2" managed to be a win for Disney in the theatres but was not enjoyed by critics. As time passed and all of the actors aged out of their roles, any further stories in the series were shelved completely until Disney+ needed new (or old) content, so it was rebooted in 2022 with Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union in the lead roles...and another dozen kids.

Answer: A Christmas Carol

Though Matthew McConaughey was known, for a long time, as a rom-com staple, this 2009 outing with Jennifer Garner brought him to a bit of a low, seeing him as even more of a problematic womanizer than ever before, necessitating an almost-Dickensian look back at his past girlfriends to teach him a valuable lesson. Of course, he'd meet 'Girlfriends Past', 'Girlfriends Present', and 'Girlfriends Future', but the last of these would culminate in his own funeral, sad and nearly-unattended, as if to imply that being a prolific dater would leave him to that fate.

It's hard to argue with success, however. The movie managed to make quite a bit in the box office while both Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner continued to find long-term success. Director Mark Waters, however, would go on to make "Mr. Popper's Penguins" as his next film.