What I'm Watching: Demi Movies

We take a look at the wild world of cinema according to Demi Pietchell of The Starfire Codes

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Even as a child, I was immersed in and obsessed with filmmaking. I switched schools and began communication arts studies starting at age 11.

I would bring home eclectic stacks of films from the video store, dividing them between "Dad Movies" and "Demi Movies," as my father called them.

Dad Movies were the ones I picked that my father would probably like because our tastes coincide on everything else, except that he prefers to watch films that do not contain subtitles, have kind of a standard linear narrative structure, and are not too visually chaotic for his tastes.

Demi Movies were bizarre niche gems that I endlessly overanalyzed shot for shot with my friends. We were all raging audiovisual geeks, so if we weren’t creating media, we were partkaing of it.

Those movies made my brain light up like a Christmas tree. But they gave him a headache.

So, our ritual was that I would sort the movies for him, and then my friends and I tore into my pile, pushing my couches together to make a giant pit in front of the big screen that we called The Marshmallow where we would hang out for the rest of the weekend with popcorn and drinks, inhaling movie after movie.

Eventually, I went to NYU Film, and I worked in production, post-production, and publicity after that, which only served to intensify this fervor, and my cinematic interests branched into experimental directions by the time I started my Master’s thesis on experimental documentary in the ITP.

Viewer beware: Sometimes my tastes don't align with the mainstream. Sometimes they very much do. Part of this will be an insane romp into the weird, wild realm of my subjective favorites. But if you prefer Dad Movies, you can just skip over the weirder ones… there’s something in here for everyone.

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Side notes before we begin….

For my autodidacts tuning in, if you want “DIY film school,” I highly recommend watching the entire Academy nomination list, year over year, top to bottom.

It doesn't matter who won the award.

You don’t need to pay attention to that.

Watch anything that was ever shortlisted.

Getting a nomination is the real win as far as demonstrations of technical and artistic proficiency are concerned.

The rest is just super boring studio politics in which executives and celebrities campaign to the voting members of the Academy to be chosen for the win.

And, that being said, noting who won is entirely unimportant unless you have a masochistic morbid fascination with Hollywood politics and/or you are obsessed with rote memorization and regurgitation of trivia.

If it will help you win your local bar's trivia night, get on down with your flaunted geekdom. No shame in the game.

Otherwise, it’s completely unnecessary to care about that from a practical standpoint - if it makes it to the shortlist, it’s worth watching.

The real learning comes from taking the films apart, analyzing the choices the directors, producers, editors, actors, and composers made, understanding why they applied them, and then learning how to recreate a similar effect.

You can do the same by watching the worst B-movies ever made and then comparing and contrasting them with the Academy nominees.

You will start to recognize why certains things work and certain things don’t - and you will start to see why the things that aren’t supposed to work are often counterintuitively hilarious.

From there, you will understand the rules and then you will be able to break them effectively.

But you have to understand them first.

You can find these films literally anywhere, so we're not getting into many of those - only my subjective favorites….

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How this was curated….

This list is, and will always be, incomplete.

I’ve seen too many movies I’ve loved to ever remember them all, so I’m not going to try.

But I may just consider this a living document and add to these in the future.

So, if you’re interested in that, save the link.

Many of the best experimental pieces are film shorts. I didn’t cover shorts here. I will leave that for another post. These are all feature-length pieces.

To avoid any spoilers, I’ve made the choice to omit descriptions.

Instead, I have limited this list to titles, years, directors, and trailers only.

The films below are not listed in any particular “order of importance.”

They are, instead, listed alphabetically because, as I said, this list is entirely subjective, and I’m not about to force these movies upon you in some kind of stack of made up superlatives.

I will give you all the benefit of the doubt and assume that none of you are campaigning to be crowned Little Lord Fauntleroy, Hipster King of Steaming Bullshit, or some such other irrelevant Cracker Jack box distributed accolade.

I don’t think anyone here requires any sort of weird validation regarding our abilities to list things in some sort of end-all, be-all “order” that everyone else will agree with.

Tedious and boring. Let’s dispense with that here.

May this list simply serve as a repository of recommendations and a conversation-starter among fellow movie fans - and please feel free to include your own lists of favorites in the comments too! :)

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I’ve also included a game….

I’ve hidden ONE Easter egg in here….

One of these films is based on my family.

I’m not telling you which one.

The first person who guesses correctly wins a paid subscription to SFC for one year.

Each person only gets ONE guess - so make it count!

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On with the show….

12 Monkeys (1995), Dir. Terry Gilliam

The Abyss (1989), Dir. James Cameron

A Christmas Story (1983), Dir. Bob Clark

Across the Universe (2007), Dir. Julie Taymor

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Dir. Terry Gilliam

The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985), Dir. Will Vinton

The Adjustment Bureau (2010), Dir. George Nolfi

Alice In Wonderland (1951), Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jaxon, and Hamilton Luske

Alien (1979), Dir. Ridley Scott

Aliens (1986), Dir. James Cameron

Almost Famous (2000), Dir. Cameron Crowe

Altered States (1980), Dir. Kevin Russell

Amélie (2001), Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet

American Psycho (2000), Dir. Mary Harron

Antichrist (2009), Dir. Lars Von Trier

Army of Darkness (1993), Dir. Sam Raimi

ARQ (2016), Dir. Tony Elliott

At Close Range (1986), Dir. James Foley

Back To The Future (1985), Dir. Robert Zemekis

Back To The Future II (1989), Dir. Robert Zemekis

Back To The Future III (1990), Dir. Robert Zemekis

Batman Begins (2005), Dir. Christopher Nolan

Battle Royale (2000), Dir. Kinji Fukasaku

The Bed Sitting Room (1969), Dir. Richard Lester

Beetlejuice (1988), Dir. Tim Burton

Being John Malkovich (1999), Dir. Spike Jonze

Better Off Dead (1985), Dir. Steve Holland

Big Fish (2003), Dir. Tim Burton

The Big Lebowski (1998), Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen

Bitter Lake (2015), Dir. Adam Curtis

The Black Cauldron (1985), Dir. Ted Berman and Richard Rich

The Blair Witch Project (1999), Dir. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez

Blazing Saddles (1974), Dir. Mel Brooks

Blue Velvet (1986), Dir. David Lynch

Boogie Nights (1997), Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

Boxing Helena (1993), Dir. Jennifer Lynch

The Breakfast Club (1985), Dir. John Hughes

Buffalo ‘66 (1998), Dir. Vincent Gallo

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Dir. Robert Wiene

Carnival of Souls (1962), Dir. Herk Harvey

Catch Me If You Can (2002), Dir. Steven Spielberg

Charlie Bartlett (2008), Dir. Jon Poll

Chasing Amy (1997), Dir. Kevin Smith

Children of Men (2006), Dir. Alfonso Cuarón

Choke (2008), Dir. Clark Gregg

City of Ember (2008), Dir. Gil Kenan

The City of Lost Children (1995), Dir. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Clerks (1994), Dir. Kevin Smith

A Clockwork Orange (1971), Dir. Stanley Kubrick

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Dir. Jim Jarmusch

Communion (1989), Dir. Philippe Mora

Cube (1997), Dir. Vincenzo Natali

The Darjeeling Limited (2007). Dir. Wes Anderson

The Dark Knight (2008), Dir. Christopher Nolan

The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Dir. Christopher Nolan

Dead Alive (1992), Dir. Peter Jackson

Dead Poets Society (1989), Dir. Peter Weir

Deadpool (2016), Dir. Tim Miller

Death To Smoochy (2002), Dir. Danny DeVito

Decasia (2002) , Dir: Bill Morrison

Dick Tracy (1990), Dir. Warren Beatty

Donnie Darko (2001), Dir. Richard Kelly

Don’t Look Now (1973), Dir. Nicolas Roag

Dream A Little Dream (1989), Dir. Marc Rocco

Dreamscape (1984), Dir. Joseph Ruben

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964), Dir. Stanley Kubrick

Dune (1984), Dir. David Lynch

Edward Scissorhands (1990), Dir. Tim Burton

Empire Records (1995), Dir. Allan Moyle

Enter the Void (2010), Dir. Gaspar Noé

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Dir. Michel Gondry

Everything Is Illuminated (2005) Dir. Liev Schreiber

Evil Dead (1981), Dir. Sam Raimi

Evil Dead 2 (1987), Dir. Sam Raimi

The Exorcist (1973), Dir. William Friedkin

The Explorers (1985), Dir. Joe Dante

Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Dir. Stanley Kubrick (Disclosure)

The Fall (2006), Dir. Tarsem Singh

Fantasia (1940), Dir. James Algar and Samuel Armstrong

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982), Dir. Amy Heckerling

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Dir. Terry Gilliam

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Dir. John Hughes

The Fifth Element (1997), Dir. Luc Besson

Fight Club (1999), Dir. David Fincher

Flatliners (1990), Dir. Joel Schumacher

The Flight of Dragons (1982), Dir. Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr.

Forbidden Zone (1982), Dir. Richard Elfman

The Forgotten (2004), Dir. Joseph Ruben

The Fountain (2006), Dir. Darren Aronofsky

Four Rooms (1995), Dir. Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Alexandre Rockwell, and Allison Anders

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009), Dir. Gareth Carrivick

Gangs of New York (2002), Dir. Martin Scorsese

Ghostbusters (1984), Dir. Ivan Reitman

Goodfellas (1990), Dir. Martin Scorsese

Good Will Hunting (1997), Dir. Gus Van Sant

The Goonies (1985), Dir. Steven Spielberg

The Great Gatsby (2013), Dir. Baz Luhrmann

The Great Outdoors (1988), Dir. Howard Deutch

Gremlins (1984), Dir. Joe Dante

Grindhouse (2007), Dir. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez

Groove Tube (1974), Dir. Ken Shapiro

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Dir. George Armitage

Groundhog Day (1993), Dir. Harold Ramis

Hackers (1995), Dir. Iain Softley

Harold and Maude (1971), Dir. Hal Ashby

Heathers (1989), Dir. Michael Lehmann

History of the World, Part 1 (1981), Dir. Mel Brooks

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Dir. Garth Jennings

Holy Smoke (1999), Dir. Jane Campion

House of 1000 Corpses (2003), Dir. Rob Zombie

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Dir. Joel Coen

Idiocracy (2006), Dir. Mike Judge

I Heart Huckabees (2004), Dir. David O. Russell

Inception (2010), Dir. Christopher Nolan

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1990), Dir. Steven Spielberg

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Dir. Steven Spielberg

In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Dir. John Carpenter

In The Name of the Father (1993), Dir. Jim Sheridan

The Jacket (2005), Dir. John Maybury

Jacob’s Ladder (1990), Dir. Adrian Lyne

Juno (2007), Dir. Jason Reitman

Jupiter Ascending (2015), Dir. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Dir. Quentin Tarantino

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Dir. Quentin Tarantino

Koyaanisqaatsi (1982), Dir. Godfrey Reggio

Kymatica (2009), Dir. Benjamin Stewart

Labyrinth (1986), Dir. Jim Henson

Land Without Bread (1932), Dir. Luis Buñuel

The Last Unicorn (1982), Dir. Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin

Late Night with the Devil (2023), Dir. Cameron and Colin Cairnes

Legend (1985), Dir. Ridley Scott

Léon: The Professional (1994), Dir. Luc Besson

Less Than Zero (1987), Dir. Marek Kanievska

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Dir. Wes Anderson

The Limey (1999), Dir. Steven Soderbergh

Llamageddon (2015), Dir. Howie Dewin

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Dir. Guy Ritchie

The Lost Boys (1988), Dir. Joel Schumacher

Lost Highway (1997), Dir. David Lynch

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001), Dir. Larry Blamire

Made In Heaven (1987), Dir. Alan Rudolph

Mallrats (1995), Dir. Kevin Smith

Meet The Feebles (1989), Dir. Peter Jackson

Melancholia (2011), Dir. Lars Von Trier

The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009), Dir. Grant Heslov

Metropolis (1927), Dir. Fritz Lang

MirrorMask (2005), Dir. Dave McKean

The Monster Squad (1987), Dir. Fred Dekker

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Dir. Terry Gilliam

Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Dir. Wes Anderson

Moulin Rouge! (2001), Dir. Baz Luhrmann

Multiplicity (1996), Dir. Harold Ramis

Natural Born Killers (1994), Dir. Oliver Stone

The NeverEnding Story (1984), Dir. Wolfgang Petersen

Next (2007), Dir. Lee Tamahori

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Dir. Tim Burton

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen

Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Dir. Steven Soderbergh

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), Dir. Steven Soderbergh

Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Dir. Steven Soderbergh

Once Upon A Time In America (1984), Dir. Sergio Leone

Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood (2019), Dir. Quentin Tarantino

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Dir. Guillermo del Toro

PCU (1994), Dir. Hart Bochner

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Dir. Tim Burton

Pi (1998), Dir. Darren Aronofsky

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957), Dir. Ed Wood

The Player (1992), Dir. Robert Altman

Poolhall Junkies (2003), Dir. Mars Callahan

The Prestige (2006), Dir. Christopher Nolan

Pride and Prejudice (2005), Dir. Joe Wright

Primer (2004), Dir. Shane Carruth

Prince of Darkness (1987), Dir. John Carpenter

The Princess Bride (1987), Dir. Rob Reiner

The Producers (1967), Dir. Mel Brooks

Prometheus (2012), Dir. Ridley Scott

Psycho (1960), Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Pulp Fiction (1994), Dir. Quentin Tarantino

Pump Up The Volume (1990), Dir. Allan Moyle

Rambling Rose (1991), Dir. Martha Coolidge

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Dir. Steven Spielberg

Real Genius (1985), Dir. Martha Coolidge

Reality Bites (1994), Dir. Ben Stiller

Real Men (1987), Dir. Dennis Feldman

Rear Window (1954), Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Requiem For A Dream (2000), Dir. Darren Aronofsky

Reservoir Dogs (1992), Dir. Quentin Tarantino

Return To Oz (1985), Dir. Walter Murch

The Ring (2002), Dir. Gore Verbinski

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1991), Dir. Tom Stoppard

Rounders (1998), Dir. John Dahl

Rushmore (1998), Dir. Wes Anderson

Say Anything… (1989), Dir. Cameron Crowe

A Scanner Darkly (2006), Dir. Richard Linklater

Schizopolis (1996), Dir. Steven Soderbergh

Se7en (1995), Dir. David Fincher

The Secret of NIMH (1982), Dir. Don Bluth

Serenity (2005), Dir. Joss Whedon

Shallow Grave (1994), Dir. Danny Boyle

Shaun of the Dead (2004), Dir. Edgar Wright

The Shining (1980), Dir. Stanley Kubrick

Shutter Island (2010), Dir. Martin Scorsese

The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Dir. Jonathan Demme

Sin City (2005), Dir. Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino

Six-String Samurai (1998), Dir. Lance Mungia

Snatch (2000), Dir. Guy Ritchie

Sneakers (1992), Dir. Phil Alden Robinson

Spaceballs (1987), Dir. Mel Brooks

SpaceCamp (1986), Dir. Harry Winer

Stand By Me (1986), Dir. Rob Reiner

Stardust (2007), Dir. Matthew Vaughn

St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), Dir. Joel Schumacher

Strange Days (1995), Dir. Kathryn Bigelow

Sucker Punch (2011), Dir. Zach Snyder

Suicide Kings (1998), Dir. Peter O’Fallon

The Sword in the Stone (1963), Dir. Wolfgang Reitherman

Tarnation (2004), Dir. Jonathan Caoette

Tenet (2020), Dir. Christopher Nolan

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Dir. Shinya Tsukamoto

ThanksKilling (2009), Dir. Jordan Downey

There Will Be Blood (2007), Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

Third Eye Spies (2019), Dir. Lance Mungia

Time Lapse (2014), Dir. Bradley King

Tideland (2006), Dir. Terry Gilliam

Time Bandits (1981), Dir. Terry Gilliam

Total Recall (1990), Dir. Paul Verhoeven

Trainspotting (1996), Dir. Danny Boyle

True Romance (1993), Dir. Tony Scott

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Dir. Steven Spielberg, John Landis, George Miller, and Joe Dante

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), Dir. David Lynch

Uncle Buck (1989), Dir. John Hughes

Upstream Color (2013), Dir. Shane Carruth

The Usual Suspects (1995), Dir. Bryan Singer

Wag the Dog (1997), Dir. Barry Levinson

WarGames (1983), Dir. John Badham

Watchmen (2009), Dir. Zack Snyder

Weird Science (1985), Dir. John Hughes

When Harry Met Sally (1989), Dir. Rob Reiner

Wild At Heart (1990), Dir. David Lynch

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), Dir. Mel Stuart

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Dir. Martin Scorsese

Wonder Boys (2000), Dir. Curtis Hanson

Yellow Submarine (1968), Dir. George Dunning

Young Frankenstein (1974), Dir. Mel Brooks

The Young Poisoner’s Handbook (1995), Dir. Benjamin Ross

Zardoz (1974), Dir. John Boorman

Zelly and Me (1988), Dir. Tina Rathborne

Special thanks to

The Brothers Krynn

and

Jacqueline Rendell

.