11. Pound

(Robert Downey Sr, 1970)

What’s The Story? Eighteen dogs await either adoption or gassing. The twist? The mutts – including a boxer, Pekinese and mad Mexican hairless – are played by real human actors. Barking...

What’s It About? Life. That horrible limbo between birth and death; the terrible unknowingness of when you will be taken. What with dogs being man’s best friend, their plight feels all the more unsettling.

Would it have worked as well with humans? Of course not. We hate other people; we love cute little doggies. Er, even when played by humans.

Robert Downey Sr’s film asks, “When life goes to the dogs, where do the dogs go?” Caught up in the hellish whirlwind of survival, it’s a question no one thinks to ask.

Weird Fact Robert Downey Jr features in his first role. As a puppy.

10. Tetsuo: The Iron Man

(Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989)

What’s The Story? A regular Japanese Joe (Tomorowo Taguchi) accidentally runs over a freaky fella (Tsukamoto) with a stomach-churning penchant for pushing big bits of scrap metal into festering wounds on his body.

Assuming he’s killed the perve, our protagonist dumps the ‘corpse’. But then, oddly, he starts to morph into a walking cutlery drawer...

What’s It About? Many view Tetsuo’s sleazy but sterile dystopia as a protracted whine about the dehumanisation of Japan in the wake of her industrial megaboom.

Others cite several scenes – particularly the massively controversial ‘drill dick’ murder bit – as evidence of a general riff on male impotence and the ultimate weakness of the flesh. See also Number 23 (Videodrome).

Weird Fact: Director Tsukamoto also starred in Ichi The Killer (2001). At least a quarter of the alleged bucket of man-fat used in the icky Ichi title sequence was his.

9. Altered States

(Ken Russell, 1980)

What’s The Story? Over-eager psychophysiologist Dr Jessup (William Hurt) is anxious to progress in exploring consciousness, so he sets out to experiment on himself...

A few ethical dilemmas, hours of sensory deprivation and LSD-aping Ken Russell visuals later and he’s a slobbering neo-Neanderthal living RIGHT ON THE EDGE.

What’s It About? From the pen of Network scribbler Paddy Chayefsky, Altered States could be seen as a satire on babyboomers’ attempts to conquer the beast within and expand the mind via LSD and free love.

From Russell’s demented POV, it’s an excuse to tear people apart, scare epileptics and traumatise William Hurt.

Weird Fact: During shooting Ken Russell insisted mega-bore Hurt was silent at meal-times, or foot the bill. Hurt paid for every dinner.

Next: Visitor Q, Dwarfs, Society...