The Obscure Top 5

[20to20K]

...but a couple of my favs have been named! (Do they now cease to be obscure?)

1) Rabbit Proof Fence - based on a true story, govenment subsidized ethnic cleansing in Austraila 75 years ago. Very powerful and disturbing.

2) M - not all THAT obscure. Fritz Lange 30's flick with Peter Lorre about a child molester running loose in Germany. Despite being from the 30's it's far creepier than any other movie of this type that would be made today.

3) Man Bites Dog - 2 French film students follow a serial killer performing his exploits and make a documentary about it. Quite bizzare.

4) Prisoner of Shark Island - The story of Walter Mudd...the Baltimore doctor who unknowingly set John Wilkes Booth broken foot as he fleeing from the law. Follows his kangaroo court trial, harsh prison experience and bold escape attempts. Another 30's flick.
This Mudd guy is the source of the famous cliche "...or your name will be mud(d)"

5) Suddenly - Frank Sinatra as a bitter war vet hired to assasinate the president. This was made in the 50's and from what I read was banned until the 70's or 80's from TV. Sterling Hayden is great in support.

There is this other German flick from about 5 years ago but I can't remember the title.
It may be (translated) "The Experiment" about these psychologists who hire a few dozen
German guys to pretend like their either prisoners or prison guards in an abandoned prison and study their behavior behind closed doors over time (about 6 weeks I think). It too was a true story. What happens to them may shock you.

[umapet97]

Gonna have to take some some notes here,great thread.

My 'obscure' faves are
Xanadu,Olivia Newton-John,music with ELO and the Tubes,goofy effects,and the great Gene Kelly
Manitou,was it 1978 that this horror flick came out?Indian spirit growing in someones neck...
The Blob,the original,freaked me out when I was kid,superb B effects
Rabbit Test,one of Billy Crystals early comedies;still hilarious
Bringing up Baby(?) JStewart film,Katherine Hepburn,1934.One of the best comedies Ive ever seen.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte,Bette Davis jes plain evil.
Johnny Get Your Gun,war movie that still gives me the chills thinking about.Thank you Metallica for buyin the rights to and defiling it.
Lilith,1964,Beatty,Hackman,JSeymour,book was much better but movie about an asylum love affair,what more can I say.Great acting.
Oops,went over 5 but you know

[Kam]

...There is this other German flick from about 5 years ago but I can't remember the title.
It may be (translated) "The Experiment" about these psychologists who hire a few dozen
German guys to pretend like their either prisoners or prison guards in an abandoned prison and study their behavior behind closed doors over time (about 6 weeks I think). It too was a true story. What happens to them may shock you.

I think this was based on an actual experiment conducted at Stanford university where a psych professor had students play out the roles and found out some extremely disturbing things. will look it up and see if i can find the article.

ok, that was quick, found it: scary stuff:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/re...prisonexp.html

[Worf101]

...but a couple of my favs have been named! (Do they now cease to be obscure?)

1) Rabbit Proof Fence - based on a true story, govenment subsidized ethnic cleansing in Austraila 75 years ago. Very powerful and disturbing.

2) M - not all THAT obscure. Fritz Lange 30's flick with Peter Lorre about a child molester running loose in Germany. Despite being from the 30's it's far creepier than any other movie of this type that would be made today.

3) Man Bites Dog - 2 French film students follow a serial killer performing his exploits and make a documentary about it. Quite bizzare.

4) Prisoner of Shark Island - The story of Walter Mudd...the Baltimore doctor who unknowingly set John Wilkes Booth broken foot as he fleeing from the law. Follows his kangaroo court trial, harsh prison experience and bold escape attempts. Another 30's flick.
This Mudd guy is the source of the famous cliche "...or your name will be mud(d)"

5) Suddenly - Frank Sinatra as a bitter war vet hired to assasinate the president. This was made in the 50's and from what I read was banned until the 70's or 80's from TV. Sterling Hayden is great in support.

There is this other German flick from about 5 years ago but I can't remember the title.
It may be (translated) "The Experiment" about these psychologists who hire a few dozen
German guys to pretend like their either prisoners or prison guards in an abandoned prison and study their behavior behind closed doors over time (about 6 weeks I think). It too was a true story. What happens to them may shock you.

I'm familiar with every film on here except "Man Bites Dog". All good movies and some are/were quite obscure. "Rabbit Proof Fence" had my whole family crying and screaming in anger that "civilised" people were doing this to other people up until the 1970s?!!!! "Suddenly" I saw only once, on a saturday afternoon on TCM. I'm amazed the film ever gets shown at all...

Da Worfster

[20to20K]

I think this was based on an actual experiment conducted at Stanford university where a psych professor had students play out the roles and found out some extremely disturbing things. will look it up and see if i can find the article.

ok, that was quick, found it: scary stuff:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/re...prisonexp.html

It appears that the Germans needed to run this experiment themselves....JUST TO BE SURE! They probably got the idea from this Berkley study, but this film was based on what happened with theirs. In fact they actually spliced in actual German news footage of the seizure of the prison and the arrests of those involve during the ending credits. Some people just don't learn.

BTW...the title IS "The Experiement". I saw it in Blockbuster this weekend in the foreign language section. Pick it up if you see it.