Oh, yeah. "Bucket of Blood" is great.The artist is so untalented , he has to kill people amdcover them in clay. I like anything with Dick Miller in it.

"The Wild Angels": WE USEDTA KILL GUYS THAT WORE THAT KINDA GAHBAGE !!!!!"

"Rock'n'Roll High School" - "They're ugly...ugly ...ugly people.".
 
Mike Humsgreen said:

Four Lions flips from the silly stuff you see in the trailer to the downright fucked up side of terrorists in the UK.

Trainspotting has loads of dark humour but the dead baby on the ceiling scene is the creepiest.

Go super mainstream and it's Sweeny Todd with Johnny Depp.

May, had me in hysterics although it's such a sad story about a girl with no social skills.

And Evil Dead 2, scary but lots of laughs.

There was a short film, stop motion animation from Britain that I really want to track down. It was made about 10 years ago and I have no recollection of the name. But it's about a boy who lives at home with his father and their dog. And the dog is ill and the dad wants to put it down himself. So in the night he takes it to a river and throws it in and in the morning he tells the boy that the dog "went peacefully in the night". But it shows up on the doorstep. So the man uses other ways of killing the dog and every time he reassures the son who knows better that it went peacefully in the night but every time it shows up again.

Until one night the dad bashes the dog to death with a club while the boy is awake in his bedroom. And once again the dad reassures the boy that it went peacefully in the night. And this time the boy replies "like mummy?". If anyone knows the name of that film I'd love them because it really bugs me!

That's an interesting perspective , though , it made me a bit uncomfortable , too , first time I saw it.But , then again , I went to Art School. A lot of stuff you see in the film , and the short comic story Dan Clowes wrote and based the film on , did happen.  OK , NOT THAT SHAVED GUY , THANK CHRIST , BUT , WE DID HAVE SOME SCARY - ASS MODELS.

I was in a painting class where barely anyone was painting , just like in the comic.
 One guy I knew would take a piece of wallpaper panelling , put a frame on it , and that was his solution to the painting assignment. I found him , a few years back , on My Space , and he was still doing the same thing , some 20 years later ! For all I know , he gets $5000 a pop. I had another friend who had a suit tailor - made for him out of some of that hideous 70's fake wood panelling wallpaper material. Yeah. People thought I was a kook.
 . IGrazianohmygod said:

I hope Art School Confidential gets better with time. When I saw it, it made me incredibly anxious. That entire culture of trying to make brilliance look effortless, which I recall was a big part of the movie, made me uncomfortable.

Sometimes it's fine to be made uncomfortable, if you trust the filmmaker to take you somewhere interesting and provocative. Unfortunately, I did not feel that like Art School Confidential said anything new or interesting. I dunno, maybe Zwigoff succeeded in making me have the same anxiety  as the main character.

Has anyone seen Bucket of Blood? It's a Roger Corman movie from 1959 that I think manages to address those themes of pretentiousness in the art world much more successfully.

John Battles said:

Good picks , all. Art Schol Confidential , Clowes and Zwigoff's follow up to "Ghost World" was far less successful , but , also , a lot darker , so , the viewer has to decide which movies that they'd watch twice or more... i do not consider it as good a film as it's predecessor , but, I think it's going to improve , in people's minds , with age. 

Zentropa! Takes place in Germany after WW2. First 1/2  is serious, 2nd half is black comedy. Also known as Europa. Good special effects, too.

Super picks! I love all of the Evil Dead flicks.
Mike Humsgreen said:

Four Lions flips from the silly stuff you see in the trailer to the downright fucked up side of terrorists in the UK.

Trainspotting has loads of dark humour but the dead baby on the ceiling scene is the creepiest.

Go super mainstream and it's Sweeny Todd with Johnny Depp.

May, had me in hysterics although it's such a sad story about a girl with no social skills.

And Evil Dead 2, scary but lots of laughs.

There was a short film, stop motion animation from Britain that I really want to track down. It was made about 10 years ago and I have no recollection of the name. But it's about a boy who lives at home with his father and their dog. And the dog is ill and the dad wants to put it down himself. So in the night he takes it to a river and throws it in and in the morning he tells the boy that the dog "went peacefully in the night". But it shows up on the doorstep. So the man uses other ways of killing the dog and every time he reassures the son who knows better that it went peacefully in the night but every time it shows up again.

Until one night the dad bashes the dog to death with a club while the boy is awake in his bedroom. And once again the dad reassures the boy that it went peacefully in the night. And this time the boy replies "like mummy?". If anyone knows the name of that film I'd love them because it really bugs me!

Four Lions flips from the silly stuff you see in the trailer to the downright fucked up side of terrorists in the UK.

Trainspotting has loads of dark humour but the dead baby on the ceiling scene is the creepiest.

Go super mainstream and it's Sweeny Todd with Johnny Depp.

May, had me in hysterics although it's such a sad story about a girl with no social skills.

And Evil Dead 2, scary but lots of laughs.

There was a short film, stop motion animation from Britain that I really want to track down. It was made about 10 years ago and I have no recollection of the name. But it's about a boy who lives at home with his father and their dog. And the dog is ill and the dad wants to put it down himself. So in the night he takes it to a river and throws it in and in the morning he tells the boy that the dog "went peacefully in the night". But it shows up on the doorstep. So the man uses other ways of killing the dog and every time he reassures the son who knows better that it went peacefully in the night but every time it shows up again.

Until one night the dad bashes the dog to death with a club while the boy is awake in his bedroom. And once again the dad reassures the boy that it went peacefully in the night. And this time the boy replies "like mummy?". If anyone knows the name of that film I'd love them because it really bugs me!

Oh, yeah, the Belgian film Man Bites Dog. Whew, intense.

Has anyone seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch? Would it be in this category?

Bucket of Blood is fantastic! Haven't seen Art School Confidential 'cause everybody said it wasn't as good as Ghost World. When I was in high school the movie Neighbors made me incredibly uncomfortable, it was actually an ordeal to get to the end of the movie. Brazil was like that for me, too. I guess some of the best films out there challenge us and make us think about either ourselves or what the film is saying.

Grazianohmygod said:

I hope Art School Confidential gets better with time. When I saw it, it made me incredibly anxious. That entire culture of trying to make brilliance look effortless, which I recall was a big part of the movie, made me uncomfortable.

Sometimes it's fine to be made uncomfortable, if you trust the filmmaker to take you somewhere interesting and provocative. Unfortunately, I did not feel that like Art School Confidential said anything new or interesting. I dunno, maybe Zwigoff succeeded in making me have the same anxiety  as the main character.

Has anyone seen Bucket of Blood? It's a Roger Corman movie from 1959 that I think manages to address those themes of pretentiousness in the art world much more successfully.

John Battles said:

Good picks , all. Art Schol Confidential , Clowes and Zwigoff's follow up to "Ghost World" was far less successful , but , also , a lot darker , so , the viewer has to decide which movies that they'd watch twice or more... i do not consider it as good a film as it's predecessor , but, I think it's going to improve , in people's minds , with age. 

I hope Art School Confidential gets better with time. When I saw it, it made me incredibly anxious. That entire culture of trying to make brilliance look effortless, which I recall was a big part of the movie, made me uncomfortable.

Sometimes it's fine to be made uncomfortable, if you trust the filmmaker to take you somewhere interesting and provocative. Unfortunately, I did not feel that like Art School Confidential said anything new or interesting. I dunno, maybe Zwigoff succeeded in making me have the same anxiety  as the main character.

Has anyone seen Bucket of Blood? It's a Roger Corman movie from 1959 that I think manages to address those themes of pretentiousness in the art world much more successfully.

John Battles said:

Good picks , all. Art Schol Confidential , Clowes and Zwigoff's follow up to "Ghost World" was far less successful , but , also , a lot darker , so , the viewer has to decide which movies that they'd watch twice or more... i do not consider it as good a film as it's predecessor , but, I think it's going to improve , in people's minds , with age. 

Good picks , all. Art Schol Confidential , Clowes and Zwigoff's follow up to "Ghost World" was far less successful , but , also , a lot darker , so , the viewer has to decide which movies that they'd watch twice or more... i do not consider it as good a film as it's predecessor , but, I think it's going to improve , in people's minds , with age.    If it is'nt a Feelgood movie (Niether was Ghost World , but it cut across barriers.), people won't get it. My friend saw "Edward Scissorhands" before I did , and said his Daughter was laughing , usually alone , at the funny parts. She was 5 years old. He said she cried at the end , but , the adults just felt cheated , because there was no happy ending. 

Even the Clerks movies are sort of Black Comedies. We spoke of this elsewhere , but "Slade in Flame" is an excellent example of a Black Comedy , when fans expected a feelgood movie. Even "Catch Us if You Can" , aka "Having a Wild Weekend" is a very cynical film for such a "Feelgood" music act as The Dave Clark Five...It's also got to be the first Rock film to make reference to Heroin.
 
Grazianohmygod said:

Welcome to the Dollhouse, Ghost World, Deconstructing Harry, Brazil

Welcome to the Dollhouse, Ghost World, Deconstructing Harry, Brazil

Ja , exzactly. In order to know death , Otto , you must fuck life in ze gall bladder.....I remember it in that order , tho' it makes less sense....That is a VERY creepy film , not just because the Doc (UDO KIER , RUMORED TO HAVE DIED IN THE 90'S , BUT, THANKFULLY STILL WITH US.) is a freakin' necrophile , and married to his Sister , but , their beautiful children (Dunno how THAT happened) turn out to REALLY be the monsters. Innocence gone awry (Like the child who becomes , not a Zombie , thank you , but one of the Living Dead in "Night of The Living Dead" , that was the scariest part of all.) is more horrific than any monster created by the supernatural.  This is why Karloff's Frankenstein monster scared so many people , he's really like a child who becomes hateful when faced with hatred.

YESSS!! Excellent titles! What's that line- "To know life, you must first fuck death in the gallbladder!"

John Battles said:

Good List.

11. Neighbors.

12. Eating Raoul.

13.Where's Poppa?

14. Schlock .

15. Eat The Rich.

16. Dead/Alive.

17. Paul Morrissey's " Flesh For Frankenstein.".

18. Paul Morrissey's "Blood For Dracula".

19. Desperate Living (Or any of The John Waters "Big Three" .).

20 . Death Race 2000.

If it makes ya laugh, why not? Haven't seen it, thanks for the tip, that's what I'm hoping for!

Duke Of Earl said:

Not an expert but, like some of the ones in the lists. Was watching "Night of the Creeps" last night does that qualify?

 

Not an expert but, like some of the ones in the lists. Was watching "Night of the Creeps" last night does that qualify?

Good List.

11. Neighbors.

12. Eating Raoul.

13.Where's Poppa?

14. Schlock .

15. Eat The Rich.

16. Dead/Alive.

17. Paul Morrissey's " Flesh For Frankenstein.".

18. Paul Morrissey's "Blood For Dracula".

19. Desperate Living (Or any of The John Waters "Big Three" .).

20 . Death Race 2000.

Andy Climax said:

two very very dark television series to come outta Britain recently have been the sublime 'League of Gentlemen' and even darker 'Jam'. If you haven't taken'em in yet. WHY??? If you're fans of the macabre and the surreal, these will be right up yer dark alleys!

just a wee taster. Chris Morris is as near genius as any producer across here in the last 50 years.

 

I absolutely adore Chris Morris, especially the Brass Eye Paedophile Special. There was such an out cry about it in the tabloid press, who condemned it as "sick" when they published a photo of Charlotte Church's breasts when she was under the age of consent. As far as "Jam" goes, my favourite sketch was the doctor doing phone sex.  I'm glad "Four Lions" was mentioned, as it's funny as they come.

Wow. A friend of mine made a very astute observation , yesterday. He noted that "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" starts out as typical lighthearted teen fare for the 80's , then , at some point , turns DARK !! Very dark. But , real life has a tendency to turn very dark when we least expect it. And , anyone who says High School was the high point of their life .....well , I WON'T WASTE MY TIME FEELING SORRY FOR THEM.

Quite a number of Viz strips are quite dark, like "Suicidal Syd" and the work of John Fardell. "The Critics" often has Crispin & Natasha Critic reaching violent ends at times. "Dester Island Teacher" has a teacher stranded on a rock, teaching the wildlife while slowly going mad. Suicidal Syd always ends in Syd being murdered when he feels life is getting better.