'El Topo'

I can say with all honesty that I have never, ever seen a film quite like El Topo.

It mixes the standard 1970s western with Christian imagery, Eastern philosophy, surrealism and unparalleled violence. It's one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen and ever will see.

Yet, I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

It is directed by and stars Alejandro Jodorowsky, a Chilean filmmaker, who has had almost zero commecial appeal, but a billion dollar's worth of cult appeal from counterculture types.

El Topo wasn't available in wide release until 2007. Before that, you had to catch it in midnight arthouse screenings and Japanese laserdiscs and the such.

It's fans include every weirdo and counterculture type from Marilyn Manson and David Lynch to John Lennon, Peter Fonda and Roger Waters.

There's also been a bunch of rumors of a sequel starting in the late-1990s and through the 2000s. It was set to be called The Sons of El Topo or El Toro. As late as 2009, there's been talks of the sequel, which was rumored to star Marilyn Manson.

Jodorowsky is an interesting cat. Deeply spiritual, he's been associated with everything from the occult to Zen Buddhism and Mexican shamanism. However, he's since developed his own belief system called psychomagic or psychoshamanism. Awesome.