A failing stand-up comedian grows a third arm out of his back. His best friend, a garbageman who plays the accordion, decides this is exactly what the act has been missing.

THE DARK BACKWARD (1991) takes place in a world that looks like a landfill nobody bothered to stop filling. Judd Nelson plays the comedian, who is hopelessly unfunny. Bill Paxton plays the friend, a sweaty, scheming grotesque. Wayne Newton, of all people, turns up as a sleazy Vegas talent agent, and Rob Lowe spends the film in a set of buckteeth. The whole thing is grimy, surreal, and indebted to John Waters at his most depraved.

Nelson reportedly won the role by showing up to real comedy clubs performing in character as the pathetic Marty Malt, refusing to break, until the production gave in.

It cost $700,000 and made $28,654. Almost nobody saw it in 1991. The ones who did never quite recovered, and it has been quietly gathering a cult ever since.

What's the strangest flop you have ever pushed on people who didn't ask for it?

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The Dark Backward was independently financed and brought to life by producers Brad Wyman and Cassian Elwes. It was picked up for domestic distribution by Greycat Films, a small distributor specializing in avant-garde and independent cinema.