A Deep Dive into Weirdo Cinema [8] Quiz

Answer: Jack Frost

And it was not your family-friendly snowman, either. Instead, this "Jack Frost' film started with the transferring of a maniacal serial killer who, en route to the electric chair, ended up getting killed in a collision with a vehicle transporting genetic-altering chemicals. Not only did it transform him into a state-changing snowman, but it seemed to give him all sorts of evil powers. The town of Snowmonton (of course), led by a noble sheriff, had no choice but to fight back.

This B-movie is in a class all its own. Released straight-to-VHS it covered its material with a certain level of campy knowingness from start to finish. It was also popular enough to warrant a sequel, "Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman", which saw the return of most of the original cast...in Hawaii. The original also marked the film debut of Shannon Elizabeth, who would find fame two years later with "American Pie".

Answer: Meet the Spartans

At one point in the 2000s, "300" led a charge of graphic novel adaptations that opened up a whole new source of inspiration for filmmakers and viewers alike, and while that movie is not without its flaws, its success spawned the obvious need for parody from two of the writers of "Scary Movie", Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, who may not have been the better writers.

Following the plot of "300" quite loosely, they saw the Spartans facing off against all manner of foes in battle to protect their nation. A parody film being as it is, the movie featured instantly-dated references (Sanjaya Malakar, anyone?), a musical number, and outtakes, and even with all those, the movie still ended up clocking in at around eighty minutes. It has since been regarded as one of the worst movies to release in its decade. Friedberg and Seltzer would continue making similar films into the 2010s as though no one could stop the nightmare from ending.

Answer: 23

A different direction for normally-comedic actor Jim Carrey, "The Number 23" was his second time working with director Joel Schumacher (after "Batman Forever"). A psychological thriller revolving around a man's growing obsession with the number twenty-three, it features a descent into madness brought about by the discover of a book by the same name written by the mysterious Topsy Kretts (actually). Soon, people start dying, and it's up to Carrey's character, Walter Sparrow, to uncover the truth.

As wild as the concept is, the movie flopped. Seemingly uncertain of the tone it wanted to take, it featured noir segments within the story's story that didn't seem to line up with the mystery at hand. After a while, the film itself became less important than finding out how often the director crammed arbitrary 23 references into the background, even if that meant '23 = 32 backwards' or '23 = 2+3 = 5'. Twenty-three really is everywhere if you force it.

Answer: A shark

Directed by "3 Ninjas" and "National Treasure" creator Jon Turteltaub, this U.S./Chinese action movie put Jason Statham out on the waters near Hainan Province, China to face a megalodon, a thought-to-be-extinct prehistoric shark that terrorizes a group of scientists, then some fishermen, and then a beach full of people at Sanya Bay. It's a pretty simplistic concept-- don't get eaten-- but the shark is bigger, so it must be better, right?

Actually, yeah. The movie grossed more than half-a-million dollars (USD) in the box office, partly due to the film's success and co-production in China. A sequel, also starring Statham, was greenlit shortly thereafter. Sometimes, all you need is a straightforward don't get eaten movie, right?

Answer: Twisted Pair

The fifth movie under Neil Breen's belt, "Twisted Pair" is a bit of a tour de force featuring Breen's typical all-powerful main character (played by himself), fantasy environments rendered haphazardly on a green screen, and high-concept musings on virtual reality, alien life. This time, he plays twin brothers and tries to weave a complicated narrative about truth and reality...and does it in only the ways Breen can.

Almost Wiseauian in nature, Neil Breen films are a B-movie delight. Breen himself writes, directs, produces, edits, and stars in his films, and at this point, he seems to have become a master of his craft (as far as that can take him). "Twisted Pair" would be followed by a sequel in 2023, "Cade: The Tortured Crossing", and like its predecessor, it would make the rounds at film festivals, garnering attention in all the wrong ways. And that's what makes it great.

Answer: Baby Geniuses

There's something going on with Jon Voight and babies in his later years in the acting world as not only did he star in this 2004 sequel about too-smart babies with superpowers, but he would go on to appear in the subsequent direct-to-video sequels that managed to follow this poorly-received kids movie (made for...adults? Maybe?).

In addition to talking amongst each other like in the first movie, the babies of this sequel also had to stop a James Bondian villain capable of converting people into couch potatoes to watch his TV networks. Bob Clark, who directed the film, is also known for classic films like the 1974 slasher progenitor "Black Christmas", the sex comedy film "Porky's", and the holiday classic "A Christmas Story". This was the last film he directed before his passing in 2007. Sadly, it was derided for its poor writing and it wound up nominated for four Razzies.

Answer: Cat

In the 1970s there was a clear delineation, at least in feature films, between the highly-regarded animated works of a company like Disney and something like "Fritz the Cat", occupying a space for more 'adult' animation that tended to highlight artistic uses of the medium. But "Fritz the Cat" was not like other animated films-- creator Ralph Bakshi took his creation a step further by depicting some rather gratuitous acts onscreen, something that turned out to be a selling point since the movie inevitably made $90,000,000 USD in the international box office and made Bakshi a name to watch in counterculture animation.

"Fritz the Cat" took its wise-cracking, college-aged cat protagonist and had him going through the rigours of daily, politically-charged life in 1970s New York, eventually going through a revolution and then taking a road trip to the west coast. Bakshi would deviate from Fritz in the future, creating animated sci-fi/fantasy epics like "Wizards" and an early take on "The Lord of the Rings" in the late 1970s. His collected works, meanwhile, would inspire animators for decades to come.

Answer: Ann

Following a weird trend of '80s slashers, "Happy Birthday to Me" centers itself on a holiday and leans hard into the concept, in this case placing a group of elitist private school kids into the middle of a murder spree perpetuated by a mysterious individual who may or may not be amongst them. As it turns out in the end, the killer is amongst them, but not who you might think. It's semi-intentional as the creators felt that making the killer Ginny, originally supposed to be possessed by the spirit of her dead mother, wasn't exciting enough. Instead, they placed the role on Ann with little lead-up or justification, making the last ten minutes of the film come almost completely out of left-field.

A middling horror film from 1981, it was directed by celebrated moviemaker J. Lee Thompson, who'd previously been Oscar-nominated for "The Guns of Navarone" in 1961 and who was up for the Palme d'Or in 1956 for "Yield to the Night". His later movies, many of which featured Charles Bronson, were much less well-received. He passed away in 2002.

Answer: Shark Exorcist

Poorly reviewed and rarely-heard-of, "Shark Exorcist" almost begs not to be watched, but anyone who manages to find a copy of this below-B-movie will find out exactly what happens when a demon-possessed nun calls upon a shark in a lake in what appears to be the middle of the United States. It's downright weird, and occasionally, the threat doesn't even seem to be near a body of water-- sometimes it's just lingering camera shots creating a sense of complete unease with what's being put out there.

"Shark Exorcist" was released in 2015 by Wild Eye, an independent film distributor known for budget horror. For context, amongst there other offerings you might find "Ebola Zombies", "The Disco Exorcist", and "Sharkenstein". It's not a high bar. "Shark Exorcist", however, is a bit of a treat. If you can stomach the utter weirdness of the movie (including a scene where a woman, who's actually a shark, kills someone in an above-ground swimming pool), you'll be treated to an uncomfortable ten minute post-movie scene of a woman eerily shopping at an aquarium gift shop. It's that kind of movie.

Answer: Host

Filmed and released in 2020, "Host" is unique in that it was one of the earliest movies to be conceived and fully released during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's due in part to some innovative filmmaking techniques on par with the low-budget spooks of "Paranormal Activity" more than a decade earlier. Set entirely on a series of online video calls, it follows a group of people who accidentally summon a malevolent spirit that kills them while they chat with each other. Not only do the spooks come from playing around with the space seen in the call, but the creators leverage actual Zoom features (like a generated background) to play with expectations.

Released through Shudder, "Host" managed to capitalize on the self-quarantine/lockdown circumstances quite well. It received high critical praise and went viral (not in the COVID way) online for a brief period in mid-2020. On top of this, it showed a massive amount of resourcefulness, demonstrating the ingenuity of creators during times of forced restraint. All that, and it's a quick and fun horror outing.