Unmissable and Unusual Movies You Have Probably Never Seen

When talking to people about formulating this list many of them looked at me curiously and said “What!? I had no idea what was going on with that movie” – and that’s just the people who had seen some of them. But that’s really the point – movies that stay with you after the event and really make you think “what the hell was that all about” are often the ones we remember best. With that in mind, here are five unmissable unusual movies you have probably never seen.

Pi (2004)

There’s a pattern to this article, in fact there’s a pattern to every single thing in the universe. That’s the premise of this movie, filmed in Black and White which gives it an odd other worldly feel. The story of Pi, released in 2004, follows Max Cohen who loves finding patterns in things – so much that he develops an algorithm with the help of his home made super computer to find patterns out of chaos. Trouble ensues as Max falls into madness and Wall Street heavies close in to learn what Max knows.

Retroactive (1997)

A time travel road movie – with James Belushi and almost unknown Kylie Travis? I’d have loved to be a fly on the wall at this pitch meeting – but the 1997 movie, Retroactive, was a surprisingly good movie – we had no idea what it was about, or even that it involved time travel, when we hired it all those years ago. The movie follows Karen (Kylie Travis) who hitches a ride with Frank (James Belushi) and his girlfriend Rayanne (Shannon Whirry) on a lonely road – however Frank turns out to have more than one loose nut, as his girlfriend gets shot, and Karen finds the right moment to say her swift goodbye (she legs it) only to discover a secret lab that has a time machine in it – paradox and trouble ensues.

What Dreams May Come (1998)

A movie that opens with the the deaths of two children, then the death of the father, followed by a suicide of the mother doesn’t sound like the ideal premise for a movie. However, What Dreams May Come (released 1998), originally written by famed “I Am Legend” author Richard Matheson, and featuring Robin Williams in the lead role of Chris Nielsen, showed the depth of story that emerges from one man’s will to literally travel from Heaven to Hell to find and rescue his beloved Wife to reunite his family in Heaven.

Primer (2006)

Primer was released in 2006. If you can put up with the next to nothing budget, the amateur cast talking over each other, and bizarre strands and story segments that only really make sense at the end of the movie (or after a few re-watches), you have a really good time travel science fiction story here. The story primarily follows various paradoxical versions of Aaron and Abe who create a time machine (they store it in a lockup!) which allows a person to travel backwards in time. You may need to watch Primer several times to understand which version of who is entering which time period and why.

Lost Highway (1997)

A 1997 Classic from David Lynch would always promise something odd and Lost Highway delivers in spades. Starring Bill Pullman, as Fred Madison, and Patricia Arquette, as his wife Renee,  Lost Highway follows the unusual story of a musician saxophone player accused of murdering his wife and is ultimately faces the electric chair for his crimes. That said, the story involves some bizarre connections between scenes and little makes sense in the first viewing – as we are left to our own imaginations as to which events may be real and which may be false constructions in Fred’s head that his mind has produced to help him deal with his impending doom – fascinating stuff.

There were some “nearly made it’s” for this list including obvious ones such as Donnie Darko, Solaris, Memento and Jacob’s Ladder, together with some really close calls such as The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Run Lola Run, and Bubba Ho-Tep.

Which unusual unmissable movie would you add to this list?