Philippe Mora- you're a crazy man.  Crazy, crazy, crazy.  In fact, you're so crazy that I can make a Top 12 List out of just FOUR of your movies.  This isn't even getting into movies like 'Pterodactyl Woman From Beverly Hills.'

Yeah, that's a real movie.

After my look at the works of Luigi Cozzi, I figured that another director deserved the same credit.  That man: Philippe Mora.  While he has made many films over the last forty years or so, he's still a pretty obscure director.  Is it because his films are weird as hell?  Is it because he makes films that nobody requested?  I like to think that people are just too confused by his heritage.  I mean, he's French, but was raised in Australia and got famous there.  Which one are you?!?  Anyhow, he's been making films since 1970 and they have ranged the spectrum from science-fiction to horror to comedy and whatever the hell Snide & Prejudice is supposed to be.  While I can't claim to have seen all of his films, I have seen a few of the more famous ones.  All you Spoony fans will recognize one of these films as his Halloween review.  Aside from that, he's done a movie with dancing werewolves, Nazis, Christopher Lee singing and aliens.  Yeah, you may also recognize his work from a Nostalgia Critic video too.  Will that that pimping of other peoples' work out of the way, let's get right to it...

12. You dress like that- why? (Communion): Communion is a film famous for one scene- but we'll get to that later.  Christopher Walken plays a science-fiction author who has not gotten a good idea in a long time.  In spite of that, he continues to sit around the New York apartment shared with his family and try.  While he does this, he dresses in very odd attire.  Monster mask- check.  No pants- check.  An attitude that says 'I'm okay with this'- big check!  In the grand scheme of things, it's still the least weird part of the film.

11. This section brought to you by the nWo (Snide & Prejudice): This movie is so weird that this Editing choice is relatively-sane.  The movie's plot is way too strange to get into here (I will later), but I'll give you a quick summary.  Basically, a psychologist uses his patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder to act out the rise of the Nazi party.  I'll give you a moment for that to sink in.  When you regain your sanity, let me tell you that every scene of the doctor explaining this in an interview- outside of the film's narrative- is shot in black & white and from odd, Dutch angles.  Did Eric Bischoff direct these segments or something?

10. Monster Ballet (Howling III): This movie is so random and bizarre that I can't explain it properly.  Basically, a tribe of Aborigine werewolves end up in Sydney, Australia and chaos ensues.  In addition to that, a Russian ballet dancer arrives in the city...and she's a werewolf too.  Thanks to the weird way that werewolves transform (see #3 for that), she turns into a monster during a practice session.  In one of the more infamous moments of the film, she finishes turning and leaps towards a man, who doesn't seem to figure out that she changed until it's too late.  How did you miss that?

9. They're aware of it...but not (Snide & Prejudice): Remember the plot?  Well, here's where it gets confusing.  In an early scene, the psychologist makes his lead guy- who is also Hitler- act out Hitler's 'suicide' in the bunker.  The man complains about how 'he's died three times today.'  Immediately following that statement, he goes right 'into character' and never looks back.  So...um, what?!?  He knows he's not Hitler and is just acting for you, except for the times when he does and isn't just acting?  My head hurts, Philippe!

8. Your powers work...but don't? (The Return of Captain Invincible): As much as I love films that came out the year that I was born, I still can't defend this movie.  The plot involves a 1940s Era superhero- the titular one- who returns to fame in the '80s, just when his old enemy is back.  He's discovered when he stops a falling satellite from crushing the Sydney Opera House, a scene deemed 'not important enough to show.'  Once he's actually recruited, he can't use his powers in any feasible way.  How can you do something so powerful and then just sort of forget?!?  Aargh!

7. Hey, look- giant wolf! (Howling III): As the movie goes on, the insanity only grows!  Our hero and his lady have run off into the Desert, with a group of hunters going after them.  Kill a few people as a lycanthrope and people just freak out!  They run into one of the original weresupials (see #3 again) and he agrees to help them out.  He channels the spirit of the original weresupial and turns into a giant werewolf- at least, that's what they say.  He kills the soldiers before one of them empties an R.P.G. into the thing's mouth.  So much for the only cool monster you had, movie.

6. Exploding dwarf (Howling II): How can I not talk about this movie?  The evil Stirba sets up a werewolf apocalypse (where's the game for this, Valve?) using her magic powers.  Only the trio of Reb Brown, Christopher Lee and a midget can stop her.  One of them proves much easier to kill, however, as Stirba uses her magic to kill the midget.  The spell is kind of vague, but it does cause the guy's head to explode.  Don't worry- he gets better...and dies again.  This is a Philippe Mora film, after all.

5. The 'Bullshit' Song (The Return of Captain Invincible): Yeah, there's no way that I could ignore this one.  During a meeting with his advisers about how to stop the evil Dr. Midnight (also Christopher Lee), the President gets upset with their stupid ideas.  To that end, he treats them to a song called 'Bullshit.'  The lyrics consist of one word- 'bullshit.'  This is possibly the most surreal 45 seconds of your life- bar none!

See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz2dr7bQ7KI

4. World's Most Random Opening (Howling II): Again- how could I ignore this?  The beginning of Howling II (a film that excised the word 'The' from it's title apparently) consists of Christopher Lee reading from the bible.  Oh yeah, he's also floating in space.  As a bonus, it's pretty clear that he's not reading from the book, as the selection is from Revelations and the book is open in the middle.  Yeah, good catch, Mora!

3. Okay, I give- why? (Howling II/Howling III): Both Howling films find ways to make werewolf lore their bitch, so let's break it down.  In Howling II, silver doesn't work- only titanium.  This point amounts to nothing, so let's just skip it.  In Howling III, the creatures are 'weresupials'- meaning that they are humans imbued with the spirit of the long-extinct Tasmanian Tiger.  No, really.  As a bonus, they only transform when exposed to flashing, strobe lights.  Is there a point to any of this?

2. That was...pointless (Snide & Prejudice): Let's wrap up this look at Mora's 1997 (although released in 2001) film with...well, the end.  The whole film builds up to 'Hitler' learning the truth about the psychologist's Jewish heritage.  In addition, another patient escapes and threatens violence with a gun.  In the end, the patient arrives, only to find out that he just imagined that he had a gun.  'Hitler' kills the psychologist, only to discover that this was also in his head.  After that, the movie just abruptly ends.  Okay then.

1. 'That Christopher Walken Scene' (Communion): How can this not be #1.  Communion is all about how the science-fiction author played by Walken has a meeting with aliens.  Much like L. Ron Hubbard, the guy wrote science-fiction, but we should totally believe his story about how he met aliens.  Don't shut me down just yet, Scientologists!  The alien abduction scene is completely-insane, features an almost-nude shot of Walken and jokes about anal probing.  This is why you rent/buy this movie.  Be warned though- it takes place over an hour into the movie.  You've been forewarned.

For more Phillipe Mora talk, go to my blog.  Mmm...turducken.

Next up, I take a look at some of the weirdest film trilogies in history.  You may know the films, but not the history.  Stay tuned...