The premiere of Swiss Army Man reported a record number of Sundance walkouts. I still want to see the math on that because I don’t believe it could be more than I Melt With You in 2011. But buzz like that could spell doom for an indie movie, even one with the star clout of Daniel Radcliffe, so I’m here to report that the second screening played to the right crowd.

Swiss Army Man is a midnight movie. Not saying you can’t enjoy it at 3:30 in the afternoon, but it should at least be identified in a section that celebrates weird and bizarre stories. This is a movie where one of the main characters is dead the whole time. Not even in a Weekend at Bernie’s way. Bernie was a prop. The Swiss Army Man is a lead.

Radcliffe plays Manny, a dead body who washes up on shore just as Hank (Paul Dano) is about to kill himself. The natural gas emitted by the body propels Manny and Hank off the desert island to freedom, only to be stranded in a new jungle. As Hank struggles to survive, the unique properties of Manny’s decomposition gives Hank useful tools for survival.

Listen, I know my reputation. I like weird and different movies. I promise I am not just praising Swiss Army Man to be a contrarian. But, if you don’t want to see a movie about a dead body used as a jet ski or projectile weapon, I don’t understand why you came to Sundance. To see more movies about pretty actors not wearing makeup to show they’re brave? I like those too but I’m here to celebrate the truly unique.

Writer/directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert go Neveldine/Taylor crazy with this material. Hank makes things out of trash found scattered around. He must’ve landed on a landfill island or something but it works. He puts on shadow plays. There are so many levels of reality you never quite know which one you’re in, yet when it’s revealed it’s satisfying. It’s so crazy and fast you will need to see it again to catch it all. You certainly won’t know where it’s going next.

There were two ways to play Manny, and the Daniels didn’t go with the silent, rotting “Wilson the volleyball” version. They find a way to let Radcliffe talk and it makes sense for the world they established. Either it’s Hank’s fantasy that his dead friend regained the power of speech, or maybe Manny was only paralyzed. It’s gotta be the former because he’s still in rigor mortis and starting to decompose. I give Radcliffe credit for never blinking, even when he talks. Not that the takes are super long, but I couldn’t do it. In one longer take I did notice the left eye shudder. Maybe they can CGI that out.

The body keeps revealing new super powers. Hank eventually uses Manny as a weapon, as a cooking utensil, as an air and water source, as a motor. I won’t spoil how. The film follows its own rules. It’s not science per se, although maybe you could call it medically accurate in the way Human Centipede is, but the Daniels don’t cheat. Yet I also admire when they just play the immature sound effects for base laughs.

When Manny begins to speak, he’s like a newborn so Hank is explaining things to him like a child. He has to teach Manny what sex and masturbation are. It’s also slapsticky violent to Manny’s body in a morbidly humorous way. Yet it’s ultimately rather sensitive and nonjudgemental, considering the subject matter. The film has compassion for its characters. It’s not exploiting the shock value of this concept.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead has the Helen Hunt part. She’s mainly a picture on a cell phone, but we meet her eventually. Dano is fearless committing full throttle to this crazy movie that won’t win him an Oscar but deserves the same level of commitment.

This is what I love movies for. When I hear an outrageous, bizarre idea, I want to see how that director pulls it off. If you feel the Daniels didn’t, then that’s fair but the premise alone shouldn’t be a turnoff.