366 Weird Movies

Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, psychotronic, and the just plain WEIRD!

Entries for January, 2009

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 1/30/09

A new feature looking at potentially weird films that are currently in theaters, coming to DVD soon or in production. Visit the official sites to see trailers.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
The Toe Tactic:  A card game played by dogs in an alternate dimension effects the fate of a grieving girl on earth.  The dogs are crude [...]

9. HELP! HELP! THE GLOBOLINKS [HILFE! HILFE! DIE GLOBOLINKS] (1969)

“Headmasters never sing!” –line sung by the headmaster in Help!  Help!  The Globolinks

DIRECTED BY:  Joachim Hess, from a production of composer/librettist Giancarlo Menotti
FEATURING:  The Hamburg State Opera
PLOT:  In this children’s opera, the world has been invaded by bizarre alien creatures named Globolinks, who are allergic to music.   A bus full of children returning to boarding school breaks down [...]

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 1/23/09

A new feature looking at potentially weird films that are currently in theaters, coming to DVD soon or in production. Visit the official sites to see trailers.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED REALEASE):
Growing Out: There’s not a lot of information or many early reviews about this low-budget independent horror (?) production, but the plot summary states that it’s [...]

CAPSULE: CUBE ZERO (2004)

DIRECTED BY: Ernie Barbarash
FEATURING: Zachary Bennet, Stephanie Moore, Michael Riley
PLOT:  Audiences return to the cube from Cube in this prequel, only this time

we see the diabolical prison from the vantage point of its bureaucratic overseers as well as the poor souls trapped inside.

WHY IT WON’T MAKE THE LIST:  While the first Cube sequel (Cube 2: Hypercube) [...]

CAPSULE: CUBE 2: HYPERCUBE (2002)

DIRECTED BY: Andrzej Sekula
FEATURING: Kari Matchett
PLOT: Just as in the 1997 surprise hit, eight strangers wake up stripped of

their memories in a mysterious, deadly cube composed of indistinguishable rooms–but this second generation “hypercube” has some new tricks to play on its captives.

WHY IT WON’T MAKE THE LIST:  Cube 2: Hypercube can get pretty weird, especially when [...]

8. DONNIE DARKO (2001)

Gretchen: “You’re weird.”
Donnie: “Sorry.”
Gretchen: “No, it was a compliment.”

(Theatrical Cut)

(Director’s Cut)
DIRECTED BY: Richard Kelly
FEATURING: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnel, Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore, Kathryn Ross
PLOT:  Troubled teen Donnie sees visions of a six foot tall demonic bunny rabbit named Frank, who demands that commits acts of vandalism in a sleepy suburban town in 1988.  Donnie narrowly [...]

WHY DONNIE DARKO’S LITERAL PLOT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE (AND WHY IT DOESN’T MATTER)

This post contains nothing but spoilers for the movie Donnie Darko.  Click “more” below to read the spoilers.  To go to the spoiler-free main review instead, click here.

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 1/16/09

A new feature looking at potentially weird films that are currently in theaters, coming to DVD soon or in production. Visit the official sites to see trailers.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
$9.99: A Claymation feature about a young unemployed man’s search for the Meaning of Life through the wisdom to be found in a booklet on the [...]

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 1/9/09

A new feature looking at potentially weird films that are currently in theaters, coming to DVD soon or in production. Visit the official sites to see trailers.
IN THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: An adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who is born elderly, but grows younger as he [...]

CAPSULE: CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980)

AKA You Better Watch Out

DIRECTED BY: Lewis Jackson
FEATURING: Brandon Maggart
PLOT: After young Harry sees his father making love to his mother while

dressed as Santa Claus, he grows up obsessed with jolly old St. Nick; one Christmas Eve, he snaps.

WHY IT WON’T MAKE THE LIST:  Christmas Evil has a few nice, weird little touches scattered throughout.  Several [...]