16 Movie Plots That Make You Go 'WTF?'
Sometimes, the only proper response to a movie is "How did this ever get made?" And this summer, there has been a lot of those kinds of films that make us scratch our head and cry. Here are few movies you might have seen that definitely made you go "WTF is going on?!"
'Monster Trucks' (2017)
Many young people dream of making it big and escaping the confines of small-town life. But we doubt anyone ever fantasizes about unearthing a friendly subterranean beast and using them to kick-start a career as a monster truck driver. Needless to say, there's a good reason Paramount let this one languish in the vault for so long.
'Howard the Duck' (1986)
You'd think George Lucas, just coming off the massively successful Star Wars trilogy and two Indiana Jones films, would be the perfect person to help the Marvel Universe find life on the big screen. But instead of focusing on Spider-Man or Hulk, Lucas and director Willard Hyuck opted to adapt the saga of an anthropomorphic duck detective who defeats his enemies through the power of Quack-Fu. The poorly designed puppet didn't make things any less weird.
'Zardoz' (1974)
The plot of this '70s cult-classic is plenty weird, as Sean Connery's gun-toting hero struggles to expose the truth behind the giant stone head that rules a post-apocalyptic society. But the most bizarre thing about "Zardoz?" Connery's red suspenders and diaper combo.
'Striking Distance' (1993)
As it turns out, "Hudson Hawk" isn't the most head-scratching dud of a film Bruce Willis was involved in in the early '90s. That honor goes to this crime drama, which pairs Willis with Sarah Jessica Parker as two river cops in Pittsburgh try to stop a serial killer. Not exactly the next Riggs and Murtaugh, in other words.
'Junior' (1994)
We're accustomed to Arnold Schwarzenegger mowing down bad guys by the dozens while spouting one-liners. "Junior" is about as far removed from that as is humanly possible, with Arnuld playing a scientist (huh?) who undergoes a groundbreaking procedure to make himself pregnant (whah!?!?).
'Being John Malkovich' (1999)
Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman are known for crafting some pretty unusual films, but they outdid themselves with their first feature film. "Being John Malkovich" blurred the lines between fantasy and reality as a group of office workers discovered a portal that allowed them to enter the body of actor John Malkovich for 15 minutes before being dumped onto the Jersey Turnpike.
'Bubba Ho-Tep' (2002)
A movie about an aging Elvis living in a retirement home is strange enough. But when he's paired with an elderly black man who claims to be JFK? That's weird. But even that was just the starting point for "Bubba Ho-Tep," as the two aging celebrities were called upon to defend their home from an ancient Egyptian mummy.
'xXx' (2002)
What are the qualities that make a good secret agent? Experience? Intelligence? An ability to blend in with your surroundings? According to "xXx," all you really need is a truckload of machismo and a love of extreme sports.
'Belly of the Beast' (2003)
There's nothing quite like a direct-to-DVD Steven Seagal movie to change your outlook on life. "Belly of the Beast" is weird even by those standards, with an aging Seagal deflecting arrows like a superhero and the climax involving a group of monks protecting our hero from an evil witch doctor's magic.
'Stealth' (2005)
"Stealth" is pretty much exactly what you'd expect to happen if you tried to squish "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Top Gun" into a blob and then hand it over to the director of the original "The Fast and the Furious." As far as modern action movies go, this one is about as dumb as it gets.
'I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK' (2006)
Director Park Chan-wook tends to get a little weird even with seemingly straightforward films like "Oldboy." But he really went all-out for this romantic comedy, about a young woman who claims to be a cyborg and then bonds with a schizophrenic man in her mental institution.
'Crank: High Voltage' (2009)
It can be tough for sequels to top the originals, especially when the original in this case was the hyperactive action film "Crank." But "High Voltage" had no trouble outdoing its predecessor in the crazy department, as Jason Statham's Chev Chelios was forced to resort to increasingly bizarre and dangerous stunts to keep his artificial heart charged.
'Gamer' (2009)
In the future of video game warfare, ordinary suburban teenagers will be able to remotely control Gerard Butler on an actual field of battle. It sounds implausible, but at the rate video game tech is evolving, maybe "Gamer" won't seem like science fiction in a few decades.
'G-Force' (2009)
We're not sure which aspect of "G-Force" is more WTF-worthy: The fact that someone devoted their career to training a group of guinea pigs to become elite secret agents, or that an evil billionaire wants to take over the world by commanding millions of home appliances. But, hey, at least it's preferable to another "Alvin and the Chipmunks" sequel.
'The Human Centipede' (2009)
What else needs to be said? A horror movie about a twisted scientist stitching together prisoners in an endless, disgusting chain is plenty weird. What's even weirder is that there are now three of these movies.
'The Lobster' (2016)
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos tends to be on the avant garde of weird cinema, a fact that a lot more moviegoers are realizing as "The Lobster" gains widespread acclaim. "The Lobster" stars Colin Farrell as a man brought to a hotel and informed that he has 45 days to find a romantic partner or he'll be turned into the animal of his choice.
