The Best Elijah Wood Movies & Shows, Ranked By How Weird They Are

The Good Son centers on Mark (Wood), who goes to live with his aunt and uncle after losing his mother, only to find that his cousin, Henry (Macaulay Culkin), displays violent tendencies. As the film progresses, Mark must prove to Henry’s parents the nature of their son. From Children of the Corn (1984) to The Bad Seed (1956), The Good Son isn’t the only movie to take the evil-child route. 

However, The Good Son still tackles an obscure and controversial enough topic to earn a place on this list. It’s particularly strange watching Culkin go from the adorable Kevin McCallister to the manipulative, conniving Henry. Wood’s performance adds emotional weight to the film, which is an eccentric mix of chills, thrills, and tension, even if it’s not the most outlandish premise on this list.

Yellowjackets follows a group of high school soccer players after they survive a plane crash, as they fight for survival in the Canadian wilderness and grapple with the long-term effects of their ordeal. Wood appears in the series as Walter Tattersall, a quirky “citizen detective” with metal plates in his head and an uncanny skill of deduction. His strange, mysterious role fits perfectly into the dark, absurd premise of Yellowjackets.

Yellowjackets stands out for its genre-bending mix of mystery, surrealism, and horror. It’s not afraid to get into the deepest, darkest places of survival horror. Despite its chilling, dark nature, viewers can’t help but be fascinated by this tale and its quirky characters, such as Tattersall. While it’s odd and darkly comedic, Yellowjackets also has an eerie sense of realism as it explores the depths of survival and trauma.

Sin City is a neo-noir crime anthology that tells four interconnected stories of crime and vengeance in Basin City. Wood appears in “The Hard Goodbye” in one of his grisliest roles as cannibalistic serial killer Kevin. Despite his unassuming appearance and muteness, Kevin is a brutal and depraved killer who preys on prostitutes, getting on ex-convict Marv’s (Mickey Rourke) radar after he murders Marv’s one-time lover.

Without ever saying a word, Wood manages to be one of the creepiest and eeriest parts of Sin City. It’s saying a lot that Wood is the scariest character in the movie, which is filled with villains and anti-heroes. The only reason Sin City doesn’t rank higher on this list is that it’s darker than it is weird, attracting attention through its bold look at human cruelty rather than mere eccentricity. 

Bookworm follows Mildred (Nell Fisher), a precocious young bookworm who must team up with her estranged magician father, Strawn (Wood), to find proof of the Canterbury Panther to win a monetary reward and pay her mother’s (Morgana O’Reilly) hospital bills. The movie is an eccentric adventure comedy elevated by Fisher’s and Wood’s performances. Wood is excellent as the hapless father whose daughter is more mature than he is, though his quirks make him oddly likable.

At times, Bookworm feels like a modern fairy tale with its eccentric characters and mythical creatures, while other times it takes on the form of a dark comedy with the sheer absurdity of its tale. Despite its absurdities, it still manages to touch viewers through the father-daughter bond at the film’s center. Bookworm is wonderfully weird and funny, marking an excellent watch for viewers seeking a light, magical adventure.

The Toxic Avenger is a remake of the 1984 film of the same name. In the film, Winston (Peter Dinklage), a widowed janitor, becomes an unlikely hero after an accident transforms him into the Toxic Avenger. Wood stars in the film as Fritz Garbinger, a gang leader and the brother of seedy businessman Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon). His cartoonish villain performance fits well into the absurd and sometimes goofy premise of The Toxic Avenger.

The Toxic Avenger is a great remake that captures the original film's aesthetic. In fact, it will stir nostalgia for Troma Entertainment in general with its over-the-top violence and exaggerated superhero plotline. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, working well as a superhero spoof and a dark comedy, though it’s often sillier than it is weird.

In North, Wood stars as the titular character, a bright young boy who is so fed up with his parents’ shortcomings that he divorces them. Legally separating himself from them, he sets out to find the ideal mother and father. While his character isn’t overly eccentric, only bold and inquisitive to a fault, North is an extraordinarily strange movie.

The film is filled with the unexpected, including Bruce Willis in a number of roles, such as the Easter Bunny, a musical number, and a whole slate of unworthy, absurd parental candidates. It plays out a bit like a mix of Bookworm and Home Alone (1999), as an unlikely, vaguely magical adventure of one precocious child. Amusing and unpredictable, North is the weirdest children’s movie on this list but not the weirdest overall.

Much like the game, Among Us features several blob-like astronauts who must identify who the shapeshifting alien among them is before it sabotages their mission. The astronaut crew is quite an eccentric cast of characters, including Wood, who plays Green, an unpaid intern and former worm farmer chasing his dream of becoming a pilot someday. Among Us is a lot like The Angry Birds Movie (2016) in that it works surprisingly well given the limited source material it draws on.

Of course, it’s a very weird series considering it comes from a pandemic trend and draws inspiration from The Thing (1982). Still, the shape-shifting, raunchy adult humor, and franchise nods work together to make a bizarrely compelling show. It’s the perfect watch for fans seeking something weird and unserious, yet compelling in its murder mystery and offbeat humor.

Maniac is a remake of the 1980 film of the same name, and centers on the exploits of a brutal serial killer, Frank Zito. Much like in Sin City, Wood proves just how creepy and compelling he can be as a disturbed individual. Schizophrenic and reeling from childhood trauma, Zito stalks and kills women before scalping them and using their hair to decorate the mannequins at his mannequin restoration store.

Wood plays the brutal role to perfection, capturing Zito's stuntedness and creepiness. It’s especially chilling because it makes you walk in the shoes of a killer, telling the tale from Zito’s point of view. Often, Maniac leans into darkly absurd territory reminiscent of Netflix’s Monster anthology, leaving viewers shocked by the story's sheer twistedness. 

Wilfred tells the odd tale of Ryan Newman (Wood), a down-on-his-luck lawyer who discovers he’s the only person who sees his neighbor's dog, Wilfred, not as a dog, but as a man (Jason Gann) in a dog suit. Newman becomes best friends with the vulgar, foul-mouthed, dog-suited man, who often pushes Newman into difficult situations. While Wilfred complicates Newman’s life, Newman finds his vaguely abusive methods oddly helpful in teaching him life lessons.

Wilfred is a strange but also unexpectedly touching series. As far as premises go, few shows are as out-there as Wilfred. However, the show also gets into some heavy territory, probing mental health and the unexpected ways humans learn to cope with life's difficulties. Like Moral Orel (2005), it’s a darkly comedic, strange tale that’s not afraid to explore mature topics. Only one show on this list slightly surpasses the somber weirdness of Wilfred.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency follows the strange adventures of Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) and his reluctant sidekick Todd Brotzman (Wood). Dirk is a “holistic detective” who relies on fate, while Todd is a pathological liar who has no choice but to utilize Dirk’s help after he’s framed for a murder. However, Dirk’s presence further complicates Todd’s life by introducing a whole cast of eccentric characters, including a “holistic assassin.”

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is easily one of the weirdest and most absurd shows on television. The summary above only scratches the surface of the series' wonderful weirdness, which also features time travel, emotion-sucking vampires, and soul-swapping with corgis. At times, the series can get confusing because of the sheer number of things and oddities swirling about. It’s the weirdest show on this list, and a must-see for those who can’t resist the absurd.