Top Ten Offbeat, Strange Movies

Odd movies are sometimes a refreshment from the same old movies like romance movies, or ones where someone overcomes great odds. An odd movie can be one that offers an alternative viewpoint, or one that gets you to believe something different or new. This article will give you ten great offbeat, strange movies.

1. KPax (2001). This movies stars Kevin Spacey as a man who claims to be from another planet. He is so amazing, that many people believe him. However, his therapist thinks that he is actually delusional, and sets out to prove it. This movie is very strange, and you will really find yourself believing that the character is from another planet. It's weird how people will create alternate universes in their minds to deal with emotional pain.

2. Secretary (2002). Maggie Gylenhaal and James Spader team up as two very odd individuals in this movie. James Spader has a law firm, and he hires secretaries and ends up getting them to basically be slaves to him, doing weird things like slapping their bottoms while they are working. He keeps losing secretaries, and has to hire more. However, he actually finds one who likes taking part in his oddities. Perhaps the two were meant for each other?

3. Sybil (1977). Here is another example of the mind protecting itself from pain. In this movie, Sybil, played by Sally Fields, creates multiple personalities within herself to deal with her abusive childhood. It is interesting what the mind created for this character to actually be able to survive.

4. Donnie Darko (2001). Stack up the actors in this odd movie, like Jake and Maggie Gylenhaal, Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze. You could watch this movie five times and still wonder about what's going on. This movie questions reality in more ways than one. For instance, did Donnie Darko actually escape his death by hearing a voice that told him to leave his room before a plane crashed through it? Or, did he escape time briefly to learn what his fate would have been? Maybe there is a tangent universe in play. Perhaps you can find the answers by watching this movie.

5. Mothman Prophecies (2002). I love any movie with Richard Gere. Here, in Mothman Prophecies, Richard Gere's wife is killed in an accident. Somehow, Gere finds himself driving to a strange town, where he finds out things that may relate to his wife's death, He becomes involved in a quest to find the answers to a strange apparition that may have haunted his wife before she died.

6. Nell (1994). I have placed Nell in this list (starring Jodie Foster as Nell), because it shows us how people can survive alone in the wild. It is odd because Nell is unlike other people that have been civilized, but she has learned ways to communicate and survive that make sense to her. This movie questions what people are really like, because if we grow up in a different environment, we do different things.

7. The Secret Window (2004). Starring Johnny Depp, The Secret Window is about split personalities. Oddly enough, many of the weird movies on this list are about alternate personalities, including Sybil and KPax. In this window, a stranger comes to Johnny Depp's home, and it deeply disturbs him. However, the stranger turns out to be another side of himself. The movie is incredibly creepy.

8. Fight Club (1999). Edward Norton and Brad Pitt star in this movie about a guy who can't stand his normal life. He goes on to create another personality, one that breaks all the rules and is pure evil. It takes Edward Norton a long while to realize that this other guy, played by Brad Pitt, is actually him, and that he is the one who has been doing all of these weird things, like starting this fight club!

9. Vanilla Sky (2001). Vanilla Sky stars Tom Cruise, and is basically about a person being able to have an alternative world, one that is created by machines. If you are about to die, you can be kept alive on machines, and have dreams become your reality in this movie. Then, all of the awful things that happened can be replaced by exactly what you want. However, if the machine screws up, you'll eventually begin to question this paradise, and soon come to realize that things are not as they seem.

10. The Time Machine. In this movie, you get to see what could happen to us all in the future. We have gotten rid of all disease, and so life is good. Or is it? For things to be this way, the sacrifice is that an underworld is in charge, and each day a certain number of humans have to give their lives to the underworld. Is this really utopia?