The Weirdest Films of Horror

I watched Midnight Mass a little behind the curve (a friend said it was giving her True Blood vibes, and those were the magic words). And it also got me thinking about weird horror. (Think Donnie Darko, rather than Scream.)

Not just weird the adjective, weird the genre.

Some of my favorite horror goes completely off the rails, like the story itself has lost control.

Here are my three faves:

Cabin in the Woods​

I do not endorse Joss Whedon as a human, but I am grateful to have purchased this gem on DVD many years ago and it’s still an Halloween tradition in our house. What starts as a mind-blowing meta dissection of the horror genre twists into something even more complicated when the victims don’t follow the script. (Bonus, some completely random pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth)​

Kaboom​

I saw this move about a decade ago at Omaha’s incredible nonprofit indie theatre Filmstreams, and I still think about it intensely on occassion. I honestly don’t remember much about the plot (was there a plot?) but it’s got a dark university secret society thing going on, features creepy and literally (spoiler alert) concludes with the end of the world.

Mother!

Holy shit. Just holy shit. Trigger warnings for abuse of babies and cannibalism for this one. Mother!, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, starts with the intrusion of a stranger upon a new marriage and then taps right into the most primal of neurotic fears. The acting and tense chemistry between these A-listers is top notch. You won’t be comfortable again for days.

Got more weird horror recommendations? Share in the comments.