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- There's no shortage of popular movies with weird plots, jarring endings, or unique aesthetic choices that will leave viewers with some unanswered questions. These wild movies can be good or bad, depending on whether they manage to have their intended effect on audiences.
Countless films with convoluted plots and sequences cause viewers to scour the internet for answers to explain what played out across the screen. Some filmmakers and their projects accomplish this feat well (Christopher Nolan is the king of the hill on those terms), others don't, and then there's the group that falls in the middle.
Several movies are so bad they're good or just so well-made that you have to watch them again to catch all the pieces to answer that familiar question. Whether for comedic value, wild storylines, or confusing endings, audiences are left asking themselves after certain films, "What did I just watch?"
Updated on October 24th, 2022, by Hannah Saab:
There's no shortage of popular movies with weird plots, jarring endings, or unique aesthetic choices that will leave viewers with some unanswered questions. These wild movies can be good or bad, depending on whether they manage to have their intended effect on audiences.
'Pulp Fiction' (1994)
The recipient of seven Oscar nominations and one win at the 67th Academy Awards, Pulp Fiction is perhaps the most iconic "What?" film. Writer and director Quentin Tarantino took '90s moviegoers on a rollercoaster experience with the tale of two hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits, their stories all colliding by the film's end.
Number eight on IMDb's list of top films, this crime genre remains a staple in cinematic history, especially for its quotable lines and scenes; however, the film is pure chaos, and by the end of it, critics and audiences were deliriously stunned with delight as they rated the film highly, still unsure about what just happened.
'Midsommar' (2019)
It could be writer/director Ari Aster's style, given that Hereditary conjured the same visceral reactions, but Midsommar left audiences' jaws on the floor from start to finish. After a family tragedy, Dani (Florence Pugh) travels abroad with her boyfriend and his friends to attend a Swedish midsummer festival. As her relationship hangs in the balance, Dani and the others discover the festival is much more sinister.
From the graphic deaths to the cult traditions, critics and audiences were taken for a disturbing ride throughout the film's almost two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Scoring higher with critics, Aster's work continues to set him apart in the horror genre with films that leave audiences appreciative of the cinematic value but stunned into silence.
'The Lighthouse' (2019)
Another fine film from director and co-writer Robert Eggers, The Lighthouse is a black-and-white mystery drama that left viewers questioning what just happened and why were they okay with it. Starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, the film follows a pair of lighthouse keepers trying to hang onto their sanity in late 1800s New England.
With excellent performances from both stars, The Lighthouse drew in critics and audiences by using cinematography to build a claustrophobic tension for the characters and the viewers. The film comes in just under two hours in runtime, balancing drama, mystery, and horror elements that caused moviegoers to question anything and everything about what went on at that lighthouse.
'Sausage Party' (2016)
An R-rated animated feature produced by the comedic voices of Seth Rogan, Kristin Wiig, Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll, and James Franco, Sausage Party received a mixed bag of reviews from critics and moviegoers. A group of grocery store food items learns that life is not as perfect as it seems when they discover what lies beyond the checkout. The various foods band together to escape the grocery store employees and humans who want to purchase them.
Audiences seemed off-put by the excessive language and sexual content, while critics thought it thoroughly original as it backed up its offensive humor with timing and other gags. Either way, the film is thought-provoking no matter which side of the aisle viewers fall on. Without spoiling the film, the ending scene certainly seemed to divide viewers and elicit the "What am I watching?" response.
'Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas' (1998)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's novel, is a sensory overload, causing a divide between critics and viewers. The comedy stars Johnny Depp as journalist Raoul Duke and his psychopathic lawyer Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) as they engage in a drug binge full of psychedelic shenanigans on the way to Las Vegas.
Two minutes short of a two-hour runtime, the film is co-written and directed by Monty Python co-creator Terry Gilliam. Critics were not impressed with this installment in his filmography, but the audiences that managed to sit through the whole film were satisfied with the film's commentary on the '70s drug culture.
'The Snowman' (2017)
An icy thriller bogged down by production woes; The Snowman failed to live up to the standard of the best-selling novel it’s based on. A detective investigates a serial killer who leaves his victims built into snowmen. Martin Scorsese was briefly attached to the film before director Tomas Alfredson took on the job.
A jumbled mess of scenes with poor editing, voice dubbing, and more, the film's stars, Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson, managed to somehow convey a beginning, middle, and end even though audiences weren't sure how they got there. The film is still manageable, even laughable, to get through despite its filmmaking stumbles.
'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2022)
There's no way around it; after watching Netflix's continuation of the Leatherface saga, audiences questioned, "what was the point?" Set 50 years after the first installment, a group of idyllic entrepreneurs attempts to buy out a remote Texas town, disturbing one of horror's established villains, Leatherface (played by Mark Burnham in this installment). The filmmakers opted for an obsessive amount of gore, sacrificing the scare factor and other cinematic techniques that made the 1974 original so highly rated.
The film's saving grace is that its runtime is 81 minutes. Despite casting up-and-coming actress Elsie Fisher (Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade), Texas Chainsaw Massacre didn't seem to sit well with either critics or Netflix subscribers, making it one of the worst films of 2022 where audiences went, "What did I just watch?"
'Swiss Army Man' (2016)
Directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, Swiss Army Man is a bizarre absurdist comedy film with an original story. It's obvious from the premise that viewers are in for a zany ride, as it revolves around a man named Hank (Paul Dano), who's stuck on an island and befriends a corpse, Manny (Daniel Radcliffe). He may be dead, but Manny has a few tricks up his sleeve, some of which they try to use to get out of there.
As strange as it is, the comedic movie just works on so many levels. From the slapstick humor that relies on fart jokes to the moving story about a genuine friendship that develops between a man and a corpse, viewers are bound to find something they enjoy about the underrated film.
'I'm Thinking Of Ending Things' (2020)
Based on the eponymous novel by Iain Reid, director Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a surrealist psychological thriller that has a deceptively simple premise. It tells the story of a young woman (Jessie Buckley) who is about to meet her boyfriend's (Jesse Plemons) parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis) for the first time.
It initially seems like it may be a visually beautiful movie about heartbreak and loss, but soon becomes something mind-bending and somewhat confusing. It's the kind of movie that keeps getting weirder until its ambiguous ending, which will have audiences either scratching their heads or wiping away tears.
'Everything Everywhere All At Once' (2022)
Life isn't easy for Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh) in Everything Everywhere All at Once, as she has to deal with an angsty daughter (Stephanie Hsu) and an incompetent partner (Ke Huy Quan). Everything changes when she's contacted by representatives from the multiverse, though, who seem convinced that she's the only one who can save the world.
The intense, vibrant, and often outrageously wild film became an international hit when it was first released. Directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, its stunning take on the multiverse is flawlessly woven with its tear-jerking story about a broken relationship between a mother and daughter. Audiences will be on the edge of their seats until the very end, and likely ask what they just watched in the best way possible.