A Deep Dive into Weirdo Cinema [13] Quiz

Answer: Cuties

The debut film from French director Maïmouna Doucouré, "Cuties" gained significant notoriety when it was released on Netflix in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Featuring a young girl in France who joins other young girls in a twerking group, the movie debut at Sundance (where Netflix picked it up) but ended up getting the wrong type of attention upon its debut on VOD. The film was review-bombed by a vocal subset of the audience who condemned its contents.

This said, the film was very well-reviewed by critics, who noted that the plot was very clearly meant to be a critique on sexualization, especially its effects on impressionable youths. More interesting was that backlash only occurred when the film appeared on Netflix in the United States; it had released (albeit limited) more than eight months earlier to very little concern.

Answer: McDonald's

It's hard to believe this film wasn't completely funded by McDonald's what with the dance sequence in an active McDonald's location, the main character being named 'MAC' (short for Mysterious Alien Creature, but let's not think about that), and the significant product placement otherwise, not just from McD's, but Coca-Cola as well. And to top that off, the film seemed to be an "E.T." knockoff releasing six years later, though without a lot of the heart that Spielberg put into that movie. Instead, this one sees the titular alien interacting with people while also trying to reconnect with its own family on Earth... and his family is disturbing, especially when they try to navigate grocery stores.

But is it worth it? The answer is yes, and if you get the Japanese cut of the film, you can watch a particularly odd ending where the main child of the film, the wheelchair-bound Eric, is shot and killed by the police only to be resurrected by the aliens who, as a reward, become American citizens. It's a baffling movie, and that makes it all the more weird and compelling.

Answer: Prince

Created as the Spice Girls' version of a Beatles film, just in the 1990s and with more 'Girl Power', "Spice World" was the type of mishmash musical film that absolutely appealed to the fans of '90s Britpop, but didn't really hold up as a narrative. A mishmash of situations crammed together as the girls prepared for a concert at Royal Albert Hall, it featured the five Spice Girls meeting aliens, delivering a baby, choosing between the little Gucci dresses, joining the military, and encountering all manner of British cameo appearances from all walks of life-- people like Roger Moore, Dame Edna, Alan Cumming, Bob Geldof, and more.

Although critically panned, the movie was a surprise success at the box office, earning more, at the time, than any other movie made by a musical group. This said, the girls, collectively, won the Razzie for Worst Actress and the movie was nominated for six others. Geri Halliwell, 'Ginger Spice', left the group the year after.

Answer: Killer Sofa

Although dybbuks have featured in other horror films, especially those with a bit of a stronger tie to Jewish folk tales, "Killer Sofa" makes use of the deep cut spirit to create a dangerous piece of furniture with the silliness that only a New Zealand production can bring to the table. Though a rabbi sets out to stop the chair, its new owner finds herself haunted by the jealous demon within her new seat.

Though it never released to theatres, "Killer Sofa" was exactly the type of silly on-demand horror film that promised its tone from the get-go. An evil recliner? You expected Shakespeare? Perhaps not since the 1970s and "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats" has there been a more comprehensive film about evil furnishings. And hey, you'll get to see an evil chair (I am remiss to keep calling it a full sofa) peeking out a window! Nothing bad to say about that!

Answer: False

Considered one of the worst films of all time, "Freddy Got Fingered" was considered by many critics to be revolting, and even with the aim to watch something weird, you can probably do better than this movie. That being said, watching Tom Green (as Gord, not Freddy) navigate life in a surreal take on his own real quest for fame, is something unique, especially since Green's comedic spin leaned more into an (at that point) anti-comedic angle.

"Freddy Got Fingered" won five of the eight Razzies it was nominated for, and that's not too surprising since Roger Ebert claimed "This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels."

Naturally, it has since been seen by some as a cult classic, considered by some to be a true anti-studio studio film.

Answer: A mask

Co-written by master of Italian giallo filmmaking, Dario Argento, Bava's "Demoni" epitomized messy '80s horror chaos, providing a weirdly eccentric cast of characters and a bottle of a key location, and letting evil run loose. Pertaining to the viewing of a mysterious film about a cursed mask, the real horror unleashes when a guest of the theatre dons the prop, cutting herself and starting her transformation into a demon. What the audience and staff soon realize is not only that anyone harmed by the creature also transforms, but that they're barricaded inside the building... until something lets loose.

Planned as the start of a trilogy, the movies proceeded with the concept to an apartment building in "Demons 2" and a church in the rewritten third instalment (later titled "The Church"). Nonetheless, it's a fun survival-based time capsule that reads like a neon "28 Days Later" with a rock and roll soundtrack.

Answer: The Running Man

And honestly, as far as Stephen King adaptations go, this is quite far from the original story. Originally written under king's pseudonym, Richard Bachman, the book still had a game show in which a single 'running man' vied for a massive prize... but only if he could escape near certain death at the hand of stalkers in pursuit of him. The book ended explosively, for lack of a better way to put it, but the film couldn't possibly end off with Schwarzenegger being anything less than a hero. He and a wrong-place-wrong-time bystander, played by Maria Conchita Alonso, decided to fight back against the network and the show... hosted by Richard Dawson.

Though the 1980s pit Schwarzenegger against the Predator and had him feature as "The Terminator", "The Running Man" wasn't quite as popular as either of those (even though the former released in the same year). "The Running Man" had a bit more of a cult status in later years, fortunately, and it still holds up as a zany and colourful action movie with dangerous weapons around every corner.

Answer: New Zealand

No, it's not the Chris Farley/David Spade movie made ten years earlier, it's the sheep/zombie horror movie from New Zealand, bringing fear to the grazing lands of the far south. It's a silly concept, but honestly, it works. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of their 'Midnight Madness' selection, the film got strong early review scores for its comedic edge. Despite the graphic tendencies of NZ horror filmmakers (take a look at Peter Jackson's "Braindead"!), "Black Sheep" balances the weird with the silly.

In the movie, a lab experiment got loose, quickly infecting a flock of sheep and turning them into mutant carnivores. As it turned out, the virus doing this could also spread to humans, morphing them into exactly the types of monstrosities you'd have to expect.

Answer: Yes

The first CGI film to be made entirely in the Czech Republic, "Goat Story - The Old Prague Legends" released in 2008 and was... something. Taking five years to create, it took place in a time of great importance in Prague, following a young man from the countryside and his goat, named Goat, as they got themselves embroiled in someone else's Faustian bargain relating to the creation of the city's astronomical clock. What followed was a concerning tale of love, action, adventure, and near-certain death...

...that could only be followed up with a sequel: "Goat Story With Cheese". It released in 2012 and was somehow deeply unrelated to the original, save for Goat, Jemmy, and love interest Katie, who returned in starring roles.

Interestingly, since these films were made, director Jan Tománek went on to write conspiracy thriller and dystopian fiction novels, a complete tonal shift from these absurd movies.

Answer: Wing Commander

It's a weird case for a video game adaptation as most, historically, have flopped, but "Wing Commander" sits in an odd spot. While the film, based on this sci-fi game series, failed to leave any mark on pop culture and flopped, making less than half its budget back at the box office, it also ended up releasing two years after the last game in the series made any sort of splash on home computers-- "Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom" released in 1996 on the PC.

The film, taking place in the mid-27th century, followed human (Terran) forces as they got themselves involved (more) in an intergalactic war between themselves and the Kilrathi. Director Chris Roberts, who created the game series with Electronic Arts, felt that his experience creating the scenes for the games translated into the motion picture world. It didn't look like the games, and worse still, it was rushed to get to the theatres ahead of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace". It's a unique case of 'everything that could go wrong, did'.