I know I write a great deal about strange, bizarre and unusual films in this space, but trust me, nothing outdoes Even Dwarfs Started Small, Werner Herzog’s groundbreaking ’68 feature about a group of very angry little people.

The filmmaker begins when a group of dwarfs and various other little people, all of whom are apparently trapped in some sort of mental institution, begin to rebel against those who’ve imprisoned them. With maniacal laughter, they rip things up, stomp on things, set things on fire and generally make as much trouble as possible. Holed up inside an office is another dwarf, this one apparently a collaborator, who keeps yelling at them to stand down and stop rebelling. They shriek at him with delight, thrilled that they’re upsetting him.

This film has earned many noteworthy fans over the years, including David Lynch and Crispin Glover, and it’s pretty clear why. Lynch, in particular, seems to have based his entire oeuvre on this particular film and its nutty, surreal universe. My favourite sequences and imagery: when two dwarfs are forced into a bedroom together, but can’t have sex because he can’t leap up onto the bed; the monkey who’s strapped to a cross, Jesus-style, and the sight of a bunch of dwarfs chasing a driverless truck that runs in endless circles. :

» Matthew Hays