10 Movies That Were Unintentionally Surreal

Without a doubt, there’s no shortage of surreal movies that are, indeed, supposed to be surreal. It’s easy to point to David Lynch as maybe the best of his era to do it (seeing Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway, for example), the Coen Brothers sometimes dabble in surrealism, and Terry Gilliam is a noteworthy surrealist filmmaker, too (see Brazil for the best example).

But surrealism can be achieved by accident, too, and sometimes, the films that do so are just as interesting as the surreal movies that try to be unusual and dreamlike on purpose. What follows is a rundown of some of the most surreal (probably by accident) movies ever made, as they’re either grounded movies that are weird and offbeat enough to be dreamlike, or they’re fantasy/sci-fi movies that end up probably feeling weirder or more unhinged than was intended.

10

‘Ratatoing’ (2007)

Directed by Michelle Gabriel

There’s no polite way to say it: Ratatoing is an absolute nightmare of a film. It’s one of the most infamous blockbusters ever made, released the same year as Ratatouille as an attempt to cash in on that film’s success, or maybe even just get mistaken for the Pixar movie by distracted parents or people who don’t know any better. To watch it is to experience about 45 minutes of pain.

But, it’s also fascinating to ponder its existence. Ratatoing defies logic, and has perhaps the worst quality animation you’ll ever see in something that technically qualifies as a movie. There is no point trying to outline the plot, since you don’t get anything approaching a story here. It’s a series of nonsensical images, repetitive character motions, and inane dialogue, all presented for cynical and deceptive reasons. Calling it “bizarre” is severely underselling just how gonzo it really is.

9

‘Double Down’ (2005)

Directed by Neil Breen

Get used to seeing the name Neil Breen pop up here, because no one makes entertainingly bad movies quite like he does, and it’s admirable how he’s never let the “success” go to his head, so to speak. If anyone else realized they were admired for making so-bad-they’re-good films, they’d probably lean into it and try to make something intentionally funny, thus undoing the magic. But Breen keeps on being Breen, and his stuff’s all the more wonderful for it.

Double Down was his first feature film, and it’s his least fantastical/sci-fi-focused, instead attempting to be more of a grounded thriller/action movie. It fails in being that, instead accidentally evoking the feeling of a dream you’d have while battling a bout of food poisoning. It’s supposed to be a movie about a lone wolf freedom fighter of a hacker doing… something? But in reality, and unintentionally, it’s a movie about a guy with too many laptops losing his mind in the desert. It’s glorious.

8

‘Miami Connection’ (1987)

Directed by Richard Park Wu-sang, Y.K. Kim

Playing by its own bizarre rules through and through, Miami Connection is a supremely over-the-top, violent, and ridiculous B-movie, and something of a martial arts musical. It’s about a band of friends who are also, uh, in a band. And they apparently detest violence, but don’t mind getting their hands dirty when they clash with some criminals who are big-shot dealers in the illegal drug scene.

Without warning, Miami Connection will shift from goofy comedy to violent action to bombastic music set piece to in-your-face/melodramatic tragedy. It is consistently off-balance and near-impossible to predict, but it’s such a fascinating hodgepodge of influences and ideas. Whether it’s accidentally good or not might well be up to the viewer, but it does end up having some sort of appeal that probably wasn’t intended by those behind the film, principally because most of the humor does not feel deliberate.

7

‘Maximum Overdrive’ (1986)

Directed by Stephen King

There are so many movies based on the works of Stephen King, but the man himself has only ever directed a single film: Maximum Overdrive. It defies many conventions, being a high-concept movie about machines coming alive because of a comet that passes over the Earth. Well, they come alive, but they also become murderous, and lash out against the human race.

So, in typical horror movie fashion, Maximum Overdrive ends up following a group of people trying to survive the bizarre threat at hand, with the story being simple, but the execution being anything but. Look, to King’s credit, he did try, and there’s some loopy entertainment to be had early on. It’s one of the better movies included in this ranking, but it’s also largely a mess, and has a certain off-kilter energy that only feels deliberate to some extent.

6

‘Tiptoes’ (2002)

Directed by Matthew Bright

Oh boy. Where does one even start with Tiptoes? This is an intended dramedy that instead achieves a sort of accidental Lynchian quality, mostly because it makes the odd decision to have Gary Oldman play a dwarf. Oh, and even if he wasn’t playing a dwarf, Tiptoes wants you to believe he’s a non-identical twin brother to Matthew McConaughey, which is arguably even more accidentally surreal.

The tone throughout Tiptoes is just so odd, since it feels like it wants to be sincere and endearing, but also funny at the same time, and then it’s all so awkwardly executed that it becomes offensive, too (and probably unintentionally). It’s a disaster of a movie in every sense of the word, but at least most of the stars who appeared here (and it’s a weirdly star-studded movie) bounced back after its release, even though Tiptoes feels like it could be the sort of film that kills careers.

5

‘Birdemic: Shock and Terror’ (2010)

Directed by James Nguyen

Even if Birdemic: Shock and Terror was surprisingly well written and acted, it would still probably qualify as an all-time bad horror movie for the absolutely abysmal special effects alone. Calling them “special” just feels wrong. “Visual effects?” But then, even saying the word “effect” can make one think of “effective,” and nothing about the way the birds are depicted here feels anywhere close to effective.

And bird attacks are what this film is all about, since it focuses on a group of people trying to survive when The Birds on a budget basically starts happening all around them. Look, it’s been beaten into the ground by this point, and everything that could’ve been said about Birdemic: Shock and Terror has already been said. Nothing works, but the limitations of its visuals and effects do create something of a surreal nightmare, albeit not one that’s horrific in the way that was probably intended.

4

‘I Am Here…Now’ (2009)

Directed by Neil Breen

Hey, there he is again. The man of the hour. The accidental master of the surreal himself, Sir Neil Breen. No, he hasn’t been officially knighted yet, but he should be. He’s been knighted here. Let it be known. He is the true successor to David Lynch. Someone who might not realize he’s so skilled at making cinematic fever dreams, but is regardless.

This film, I Am Here…Now, was his follow-up to Double Down, and it’s technically one that gets a little more fantastical, with a certain amount of supernatural chaos being added to an otherwise familiar plot about one man standing up to – and fighting – the corruption around him when no one else seems willing to. I Am Here…Now goes to some truly wild places, and all the words in the world would fail to properly express what makes it special. You should just watch it…now.

3

‘Cats’ (2019)

Directed by Tom Hooper

To some extent, you could argue that Cats is supposed to be surreal, sure. It is, after all, a film about a bunch of cats who all introduce themselves via song and compete for the opportunity to be sent to some kind of afterlife. It’s inherently absurd, but it crosses the line into unintentionally surreal because it feels like it gets more nightmarish than was potentially intended.

If Cats was supposed to have striking visuals or endearing character designs, then it absolutely failed. There’s very little logic to the world it depicts, even taking into account the fact that it’s a work of fantasy, with characters changing size, various cats being flippantly clothed or unclothed, and the emptiness of the film’s world having an uncanny effect. It’s a movie that is entirely off in feeling, and it goes well beyond the level of fantasy that was likely deliberate.

2

‘The Room’ (2003)

Directed by Tommy Wiseau

Well, The Room is The Room, you know? It doesn’t need much by way of introduction in the same way that it feels more than a little pointless to formally introduce something like The Godfather. It’s about a man being torn apart by his fiancée being unfaithful to him, but everything is so heightened and off-kilter that it ends up working perfectly as a comedy, seemingly by accident.

The Room also has one of the most quotable screenplays of all time, with just about every single scene having at least one line that’s a great deal of fun to drop in random conversations, context (often) be damned. It’s a wild ride of a film, and has a certain unstable quality – owing to its writing, acting, and overall atmosphere – that makes it take on a weird sort of dreamlike tone.

1

‘Fateful Findings’ (2013)

Directed by Neil Breen

One final beloved bad movie directed by Neil Breen worth mentioning here is Fateful Findings. Like I Am Here…Now, this one leans a little into the supernatural, but only to some extent, by design. In reality, it ends up feeling more surreal than Breen probably intended, with a particularly nonsensical plot that, in actuality, isn’t even really a plot. It would take a paragraph or two to even come close to “describing” the gist of what happens here.

Fateful Findings is a disaster, but it’s also great, so you should watch it, even if it technically sucks. There are things here you won’t really see or experience in any other film. It might well be Neil Breen’s “masterpiece,” or at least the film of his that best summarizes his bizarre, glorious, and undeniably singular style.

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