Written by Zev Toledano
Contact: film at thelastexit.net
Last updated: 28th December, 2008
Created: July 2002
Movies: 1282
These pages contain a collection of concise reviews for movies and film-makers that are unusually extreme, twisted, surreal or bizarre. This is an encyclopedia of fringe, extreme, art and shock cinema, or pure cult/midnight movies, including works by classic Dadaists and Surrealists.
Film-maker pages contain a description of the kinds of films they make, their general approaches and trademarks, with reviews for all of their more extreme creations, rather than presenting full biographies and complete filmographies. Avant-garde shorts and short-film-makers are usually not included unless they are especially notable or classic.
Straightforward art, horror or creepy movies aren't included; They have to make you feel unusually disturbed or confused or that the director/writer is either a lunatic, a pervert, a psychopath, or on drugs. Many of these movies are very unique and memorable. They are not recommended to the faint of heart, the prude, the morally righteous or the Hollywood afficionado.
I never use rating systems because there are too many elements in a movie to allow a single number summary.
I simply classify a movie as either 'recommended', 'of some interest' (worth seeing at least once despite its flaws), or
'worthless'. The reviews are deliberately concise; For more information and reviews, click on the 
IMDB links.
All reviews and criticisms are subjective and personal. I don't make any attempts at objectivity, and there are bound to be many strong disagreements, especially when it comes to cult movies. If you want to know how big a grain of salt to take my reviews with, this is my taste in general: I generally favor either thought-provoking movies, or witty twisted entertainment, or fascinatingly bizarre and grippingly disturbing experiences. Gratuitously sick movies with nothing else going for them are worthless to me, as is exploitation trash, and I am not a fan of the so-bad-it's-good genre although I do enjoy the occasional campy b-movie. Classics receive the same criticisms and are not given special treatment just because they are revered by film schools. Low budgets are fine but not if the writing and acting are lacking. I have very high standards for the 'Recommended' listings.
What this means is that if you enjoy experiments, z-movies, exploitation, pointless sickness, or watching outrageous movies in order to poke fun at them with buddies, by all means use the 'worthless' lists as a shopping list.
If a movie isn't listed here it's either because I haven't gotten my hands on it yet or because I didn't find it to be extreme.
Also see the Honorable Mention section for names just beyond the scope of this site. Feel free to e-mail me with feedback.