4. A Midsummer Night’s Rave (2002)
Based on: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The title of A Midsummer Night’s Rave essentially tells you everything you need to know. It’s a relatively unimaginative adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream transposed to early ‘00s rave culture. Outside of the switched setting and time period, it’s a pretty straightforward take on Shakespeare’s original story.
Perhaps the main difference is that A Midsummer Night’s Rave features some subplots about the dangers of substance misuse, and character names have been given modern twists. Unsurprisingly, it failed to even grab the attention of critics, and almost immediately passed into obscurity. However, in a sense, that’s exactly what qualifies it for this list.
What makes A Midsummer Night’s Rave one of the weirdest movie adaptations of Shakespeare is the idea behind it. Taking the story and entangling it with a more modern subculture might have seemed an excellent idea at the time, but it seriously lacks in the execution. As a result, the film feels incredibly forced, and has already grown remarkably dated.