9 WTF Movies You Can Stream Now
I love movies that are hard to predict. However, some movies seem created for the sake of chaos and often leave us asking, “What the fuck did I just watch?” Those are the movies that I want to celebrate today. The good, the bad, the ones somewhere in-between. All nine of the movies on this list either left me confused, or attempting to clutch pearls I don’t own (because millennials can’t afford jewelry). I present to The Midnight Society: 9 WTF Movies You Can Stream Now!
Color Out Of Space (2019)
Where You Can Watch: Shudder
Synopsis: A secluded farm is struck by a strange meteorite which has apocalyptic consequences for the family living there and possibly the world.
Verdict: I knew this would be a ride when I saw Nicholas Cage would be here. This is why I was unphased early on when Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur) dressed as a DnD character rides her horse by the house talking shit to her parents. I didn’t even bat an eye as Cage tries to convince us he’s playing a normal guy named Nathan. When the meteor hit I sat forward knowing this was about to get wild but severely underestimated how confusing it would be. This is a jigsaw puzzle of alpacas, mysterious water problems, and Lisa Frank-inspired mist. I will forever be confused about the what and why of this movie.
Dave Made A Maze (2017)
Where You Can Watch: Amazon Prime, Peacock, Tubi, Shudder, and Vudu
Synopsis: Dave, an artist who has yet to complete anything significant in his career, builds a fort in his living room out of pure frustration, only to wind up trapped by the fantastical pitfalls, booby traps, and critters of his own creation.
Verdict: I figured this would be a simple movie about a woman realizing she needs to break up with her boyfriend. However, as more people showed up, I started to wonder where this was going. I’m happy to report that this was a delightful, and weird, journey through a practical effect-filled maze. This feels like Sesame Street on shrooms and is possibly my new favorite comfort watch. Do I still think breaking up with someone who spent their day building a maze in your living room while you’re at work is the way to go? Yes. However, I think keeping the maze should be a top priority now, too.
The Perfection (2018)
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: When troubled musical prodigy Charlotte seeks out Elizabeth, the new star pupil of her former school, the encounter sends both musicians down a sinister path with shocking consequences.
Verdict: This movie eases you in with about eight minutes of normalcy before it activates chaos mode. I love movies that I can’t figure out and this movie was a Rubik’s cube of a fucking film. We have hallucinations, dismemberment, classical music, that one guy from Wings (Steven Weber) walking around naked, and it somehow gets defiantly weirder at the end. This movie is off the rails but Allison Williams and Logan Browning do a great job of steering us…into the chaos. If you want a wild time, hit play on this so you can also be as completely taken by surprise as I was.
*Content Warning: There is a group of people running a child sex ring in this film.
Prisoners Of Ghostland (2021)
Where You Can Watch: Shudder
Synopsis: A notorious criminal must break an evil curse in order to rescue an abducted girl who has mysteriously disappeared.
Verdict: Again, Nicholas Cage is chaos. However, this might be him at his most unhinged. I watched this with two other people and none of us know WTF we saw. We just don’t talk about it. It’s like our own Fight Club, but born out of confusion and a refusal to try to make sense of it all. It feels like the main goal of this film was to blow off one of the main characters’ testicles so later on Cage can yell about losing a ball in a speech that also makes no sense. I have never taken acid because I was always worried it would make me feel the way this movie did. I would like for my brain to self-destruct the part of the mind where I remember this the second after this article is published.
Return To Horror High (1987)
Where You Can Watch: Tubi
Synopsis: In the early 1980s, a series of gruesome murders occurred at Crippen High School. A few years later, a film crew uses the now-abandoned Crippen High as the set for a film. But an uninvited guest makes an appearance on the set.
Verdict: This seems like a typical B-movie about making a typical B-movie unless you know where it’s going. Imagine coasting through a middle-of-the-road movie, noting that Amos (played by Al Fann) is another poorly written Black character of this era, and then suddenly having his face ripped off to reveal that he was a white man the whole damn time. Sound the alarm! Scooby-Doo would NEVER! I will never recover and can never truly explain how it felt to have my jaw drop as I left my body on that weekday. I’m still speechless and will not be taking calls at this time.
Titane (2021)
Where You Can Watch: Hulu
Synopsis: Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years.
Verdict: That description doesn’t do this movie justice because it feels like 19 movies in one. At no point during the runtime could I predict where this was going. I like this movie a lot but don’t think I’m smart enough to understand it. I watched a woman have sex with a car in the first fifteen minutes of the film and can honestly say that was one of the more normal moments. Answers are not part of the aesthetic and a second watch cleared up nothing. Julia Ducournau’s film leaves us with questions and vibes and we’re thankful.
Tusk (2014)
Where You Can Watch: Showtime
Synopsis: A brash and arrogant podcaster gets more than he bargained for when he travels to Canada to interview a mysterious recluse… who has a rather disturbing fondness for walruses.
Verdict: Y’all. This could’ve had such a predictable movie. We know not to visit randos in their isolated homes. We know when someone is about to drug someone in a film. However, we need to address the walrus of it all because it’s so fucking gross! I knew it wouldn’t end well for Wallace (played by Justin Long) but I didn’t see it being as disgusting as it turned out. I’ve seen a nice amount of body horror in my day. But reassembling someone into a walrus from hell and keeping them in your underground aquarium is where I need to get off of this bus.
The Visitor (1979)
Where You Can Watch: PlutoTV, Shudder, and Tubi
Synopsis: The soul of a young girl with telekinetic powers becomes the prize in a fight between forces of good and evil.
Verdict: I don’t know what the hell I saw. I know some of it made me laugh, that Katy (played by Paige Conner) seemed to be living her most chaotic life, and that there were a lot of cameos and smaller roles by people I didn’t expect to see. This movie has aliens, Satanists, psychokinetic abilities, Lance Henriksen and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and a few iconic moments that will live rent-free in my brain. I can’t pretend to tell you I know what the hell any of it means because I spent most of it asking, “WTF?”
We Need To Do Something (2021)
Where You Can Watch: Hulu
Synopsis: After Melissa and her family seek shelter from a storm, they become trapped. With no sign of rescue, Melissa comes to realize that she and her girlfriend Amy might have something to do with the horrors that threaten her family.
Verdict: Being stuck in a bathroom with your family is probably the scariest premise for any movie I have ever heard. However, this movie goes the extra mile to make sure you’re also confused and tense. There are some good scares, witchcraft, and enough awkward family dynamics to make you feel like you’re a teen again. Anything can, and will, happen on the other side of their bathroom door. About every three to five minutes you find yourself wondering what the fuck is happening, but you cannot look away because it’s such a good time.
There is a lot of WTF on this list, but there are a ton more out there. Let’s compare notes at @misssharai.
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