Monthly Archives: November 2010

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READERS CHOICE! PICK TWO FILMS TO GO ON THE LIST OF THE 366 BEST WEIRD MOVIES OF ALL TIME

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12/15/2010: The poll is completed! Visitor Q was the winner of Group A, with 35 votes (Adaptation was the runner-up with 19 votes).  As I suspected, Alice was the runaway winner in Group B with 42 votes, but Dead Man made an honorable showing with a respectable 14 votes.  The “reconsider” category was the tightest race, with What? [Che?] making a late surge to nip The Wizard of Oz, 18-14.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  The data is extremely useful in determining what our audience regards as weird movie musts.  Visitor Q and Alice will be added to the List and get full-scale write-ups very soon.

We’ve looked at a lot of weird movies in two years of operation here at 366 Weird Movies, and to date we’ve Certified 71 of the eventual 366 movies as among the best weird movies of all time. That’s about 20% of the List completed.

Now it’s your turn to add a couple of movies to the List.

The movies listed below were all nominated as candidates to go on the List, but for one reason or another were not selected on the first pass. Many of them should eventually show up, but we want to make sure your favorites actually make it onto the final List. (Remember, we prefer movies that are both weird and good, but we’ll take either very good movies that aren’t that weird or very weird movies that aren’t that good).

You may vote for two movies: one from “Group A” (movies from 2001 on) and one from “Group B” (movies made before 2001). The movie receiving the highest number of votes in each group will be Certified for the List. You may vote once per 24 hours, and the poll will remain open until December 14.

Feel free to explain your vote in the “Comments” section. Maybe you can mobilize others to elevate your choice onto the List.



Still here? OK, we have one more thing for you to vote on… Occasionally we have rejected movies outright for consideration. Maybe the movie just didn’t suit the reviewers taste. We want to give you the chance to rescue one of the following movies from oblivion. We’ll make the winner of this poll into a List Candidate, meaning that it may get consideration for the List again at a later date. Vote to give one of the following movies a new lease on life:


Free Online Weird Movies, List Candidates

LIST CANDIDATE: MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE (1966)

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Beware

DIRECTED BY: Harold P. Warren

FEATURING: John Reynolds, Tom Neyman, Diane Mahree, Harold P. Warren

PLOT:  Lost in the desert, a vacationing family seeks lodging from Torgo, who takes care of the place while the Master is away.

Still from Manos, the Hands of Fate (1966)

WHY IT MIGHT MAKE THE LIST: With The Horror of Spider Island and The Beast of Yucca Flats already certified weird, it’s hard to argue that any movie could be ruled off the List solely because it was “too bad.”  But as painful as those movies can be to watch, the dreadfully dull and incompetent Manos is another kettle of stinky fish entirely.  Spider Island and Yucca Flats developed slight cult followings on their own bizarre merits, but for decades 1966’s Manos had been completely resigned to the grindhouse dustbin, only gaining notice after being featured on the bad movie-mocking cult TV show “Mystery Science Theater 3000” in 1993.  Like most misguided amateur efforts, Manos notches a few weird points from anti-naturalistic acting, incoherent editing and negligent continuity.  In the case of Hal Warren’s sole feature, the staggering ineptitude magnifies the movie’s strange little bumps until they become looming mountains; the story takes place in some uncanny desert that’s somewhat similar to our own world, but permeated by a dreamlike offness.  The question is, is that weird undercurrent enough to overcome Manos‘ dead air?

COMMENTS:  Abraham pleaded with God to save the city of Sodom from eradication via brimstone, if he could find only a few good men inside the city limits; similarly, I won’t condemn Manos as a completely worthless endeavor if I can ferret out just a few good things about it.  A brief recital of Manos‘ cinematic sins, however, makes the judgment look dire for this microbudget brainchild of a fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas. The issues begin with the film stock itself: Manos was shot with a hand-wound 16 mm camera that could only capture thirty seconds of footage at a time.  The camera was probably intended to be used by families making silent vacation films, and the results look exactly like home movies from the 1960s, complete with barely adequate, dull coloration and hazy definition.  Since the Continue reading LIST CANDIDATE: MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE (1966) →

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WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE

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Things are returning to normal here as we recover from the Great Server Crash of 2010.  Next week we will cover two movie from the reader-suggested review queue: the notorious amateur horror snoozer Manos, the Hands of Fate and our long- awaited review of Harmony Korine‘s latest provocation, Trash Humpers.  (Korine fans will be happy to learn that Netflix has changed their stance and agreed to carry Trash Humpers.  Lesson learned: public whining by the distributor works!)

We’d like to note that we’re coming up on our 72nd Certified Weird review: that represents about 20% of the List completed.  Check in Tuesday for a “special event” commemorating that benchmark.

As traffic starts to flood back to 366 after our involuntary week-long break, we’re starting to notice those weird search terms popping up again.  Although we liked the courteous request for advice on “what did george melies do with his life and how can we thank him today?,” our favorite weird search term of the week was a bit more vulgar: “b-movie farts review.”

We’re making a tiny bit of progress on that reader-suggested review queue, but it’s still ridiculously long.  See for yourself: Manos: the Hands of Fate (next week); Trash Humpers (next week); Songs From The Second Floor; Possession; Wild Zero; Nothing (2003); The Peanut Butter Solution; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; Faust; Sublime; Battle Royale; Pink Floyd: The Wall; Escanaba In Da Moonlight; Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter; Zardoz; The Films of Suzan Pitt; Toto the Hero [Toto le Héros]; Paprika; The Holy Mountain; Brazil; The Casserole Masters; Dark Crystal; Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets; The Nines; The Pillow Book; Final Flesh; Lunacy [Sílení]; Inmortel (2004); Tetsuo; Dead Ringers; Kairo [AKA Pulse]; The Guatemalan Handshake; Dead Leaves; The Seventh Seal; Primer;  A Boy and His Dog; 200 Motels; Private Parts (1972); Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among others); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; The Bride of Frank; La Grande Bouffe; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Even Dwarves Started Small; Bunny & the Bull; “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney” (assuming I can find it); Cinema 16: European Short Films; Freaked; Session 9; Schizopolis; Strings; Dellamorte Dellamore [AKA Cemetery Man]; The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; Liquid Sky; The Quiet; Shock Treatment; Tuvalu; “Zombie Jesus” (if we can locate it); The Bed-Sitting Room; 3 Dev Adam; Fantastic Planet; “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Society; May; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension; Little Otik; Final Programme; Careful; Sweet Movie; The Triplets of Belleville; “Foutaises” (short); Johnny Suede; “Jam” (TV, UK, 2000), The Tale of the Floating World, Un Chien Andalou, Bloodsucking Freaks; Fellini Satyricon; Three Crowns of the Sailor; 8 1/2; Dororo; Lost Highway; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders; Dogville; Julien Donkey-boy; Amelie; The Ten; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao; 1; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Tokyo Gore Police; At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul; The Trial [Le procès) (1962); Marquis; Hell Comes to Frogtown; Hellzapoppin’; Seom [The Isle]; Allegro Non Troppo; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Lust in the Dust; Celine and Julie Go Boating; “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life;” The Magic Christian; Black Cat, White Cat; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Abnormal: The Sinema of Nick Zedd; Robot Monster; Nightdreams; 3 Women; “To Oblivion”; Rubin & Ed; Teeth; Vera; Weirdsville; Prospero’s Books; Inferno; Garden State; Persona; The Real McCoy; Rat Pfink a Boo Boo; Themroc; Candy (1968); Run Lola Run; Pink Flamingos; Buffalo ’66; Northfork; Weekend; The Room; Glen or Glenda?; Night of the Hunter; The Fox Family; Midnight Skater; Angelus; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; Twister (1989); Yokai Monsters, Vol. 1: Spook Warfare [AKA Big Monster War]; Britannia Hospital; This Filthy Earth; Conspirators of Pleasure; Piano Tuner of Earthquakes; Clean, Shaven; Bubba Ho-Tep; Sheitan; Innocence; “Chingsao the Clown”; Léolo; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Blue Velvet; ID (2005); Master of the Flying Guillotine; Yesterday Was a Lie; The Ninth Configuration; Love Me If You Dare; Forbidden Zone; The Cell; My Dinner with Andre; The Illustrated Man; The Man Who Fell to Earth; Fando y Lis; Rampo Noir; Head; Christmas on Mars; “Broken Glass”; Videodrome; Air Doll; The Ossuary and Other Tales; Arrebato; Symbol; Wicked City (1992 live action); Barbarella; Picnic at Hanging Rock; The Cars that Ate Paris; The Boxer’s Omen [aka Mo]; Solyaris (1972); Portrait of Jennie; Salo, the 120 Days of Sodom; The Last Sunset (1961); Orpheus (1950); A Scanner Darkly; Safe; The Atrocity Exhibition; Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque); Slacker; Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell; Color of Pomegranates; Horror Express; Noroi; A Serbian Film (if ever released on DVD, which seems questionable at this point); Cutie Honey; The Shape of Things; On the Silver Globe; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; 2012 Aficionado DVD Zine Issue #0; The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle; What Dreams May Come; The Last Days of Planet Earth; “Charleston Parade”; Tales from the Quadead Zone; A Snake of June; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; The Neverending Story; Cat Soup; Jack and the Beanstalk (1974, Japan); Drowning by Numbers; Fudge 44; From Beyond; The Saragossa Manuscript; The Drifting Classroom; Brain Dead; Uncle Meat; and Meet the Hollowheads.

Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 11/26/2010

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A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

The Nutcracker in 3D:  This is a bit curious: a version of the Nutcracker re-imagined as a sci-fi-styled quest to restore the deposed Nutcracker to his throne usurped by the Rat King.  This looks to dumb down Tchaikovsky for kids the way Tim Burton’s latest did for Lewis Carrol, except this one looks even dumber.  Still, out of the nearly universally negative reviews, the one that caught our attention was the following: “Imagine watching Tchaikovsky’s ballet after taking a handful of peyote…” (Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle).  From the extremely uneven Andrei Konchalovsky (who wrote Andrei Rublev and nearly erased that accomplishment by directing Tango & Cash), starring Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane and John Turturro.  The Nutcracker in 3D official site.

Undertow [Contracorriente]:  We’re going to let The Guardian‘s Steve Rose sum this one up for us: “...if you only see one gay Peruvian fisherman ghost story this year…“ It’s south-of-the-equator magical realism, natch, and Peru’s official selection for foreign film Oscar consideration.  Undertow [Contracorriente] official site (in Spanish).

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Melancholia (upcoming 2011):  Lars von Trier’s post-Antichrist feature is also inspired by depression.  It’s described as a “psychological disaster film” about the end of the world, and the tagline promises “no more happy endings.”  Shooting is complete and they are in the process of editing.  Lars von Trier’s Melancholia Facebook page.

The Theater Bizarre (upcoming 2011): Upcoming omnibus horror film, with directors granted “total creative freedom” so long as their segments are “inspired by the term Grand Guignol.” The six directors are Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo (Combat Shock), David Gregory, Karim Hussain , Tom Savini, and (most notably to us) South Africa’s Richard Stanley (Hardware).  The Theater Bizarre press release.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

America Lost and Found: The BBS Story: A Criterion Collection box set of the six revolutionary movies made between 1968 and 1972 by BBS Productions (the letters stood for Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner).  The titles include the widely acknowledged American classics Easy Rider (with its influentially weird cemetery acid trip scene), Five Easy Pieces, and The Last Picture Show, along with the slightly less heralded gems Drive She Said, A Safe Place, and The King of Marvin Gardens.  Most important for our purposes is the Monkee’s pop-surreal trip Head (1968), the weirdest (if not the best) of the lot and the movie that kicked off BBS.  Head and Easy Rider (at least) include new supplemental material from Criterion. A Christmas idea for the cinephile in your life. Buy America Lost and Found: The BBS Story (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray].

Angel Heart (1987) / Johnny Handsome (1989): Read our capsule review of Angel Heart.  Mixing Alan Parker’s weirdish/noirish metaphysical thriller with a relatively ordinary crime/revenge tale strikes us as thoughtless, callow marketing, but casual Mickey Rourke fans may be interested, and it offers a discount alternative to purchasing Angel Heart on a single Blu-ray (at the time of this writing, buying the two-pack was actually cheaper than buying the single disc version—we can’t guarantee any extras have been ported over from the single disc, though). Buy Angel Heart / Johnny Handsome (Two-Pack) [Blu-ray].

Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991) / Total Recall (1990): Stretch your definition of weird far enough and you may be able to fit in Total Recall, the blockbuster psychological thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a construction worker who takes a virtual reality trip to Mars (bizarre bonus points granted for being an adaptation of a Phillip K. Dick story). It’s paired with the ordinary but crowd-pleasing sci-fi actioner Terminator II from doubtable James Cameron for another bargain stocking stuffer. Buy Terminator 2: Judgment Day / Total Recall (Two-Pack) [Blu-ray].

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.