Every now and then, there is a movie with such a bizarre conceit that you have to wonder, “Exactly what the hell were you thinking and who the fuck let you do it?” Roar is an oddity of such caliber recently resurrected from the obscure by Austin, TX distributor Drafthouse Films. The most recent claim to fame is that the production of the film caused hundreds of injuries, including scalpings, even causing reconstructive surgery. The pure nuttiness of the film is enough to make you curious about Hollywood and its detrimental effects on people’s sanity.

In Roar, Tippi Hedren finds herself at the mercy of yet another group of animals, upgrading San Francisco birds for African jungle cats. Madeline’s husband Hank (played by director, co-producer, writer, and Hedren’s then-husband Noel Marshall) lives on an African safari among a menagerie of gigantic cats: lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, cougars, and jaguars. When she comes to visit with their children (played by their real life kids, Melanie Griffith, and John and Jerry Marshall), Hank is gone but the cats are around and they’re curious and kinda hungry.

That’s kind of the whole movie. Tippi, Melanie, John and Jerry all hang out around the house as a bunch of very large kitties prowl around looking for their play toys/prey. The animals are very real, and very wild, leading to many uncontrolled attacks with severe injuries. Actors get trapped in the props, attacked, injured, and otherwise harmed throughout the movie as the cats take up resident in their new habitat.

So, why the hell would anybody make a movie filled to the brim with untrained wild animals known for having big teeth and claws? Well, the movie was made on Marshall’s 11-acre ranch that was filled with rescued wildlife, and they were making a very earnest plea to save the African wilderness. He intended to show humans and wildlife cohabiting, but it turned into a horror show. It’s a backfire of epic performances because, if I were being attacked like that, I would run away from the set demanding the whole project be nuked from orbit.

Roar airs on TCM on Saturday night at 11pmPST/2am EST.