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

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Kill List: A psychologically scarred hit man agrees to the proverbial “one last mission” and finds it ironically horrifying.  This off-the-radar British horror-thriller is drawing a lot of comparisons to The Wicker Man (something that didn’t happen for the “official sequel,” The Wicker Tree).  Kill List official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (June 2012 release):  The title tells all: this is a movie about the Great Emancipator freeing the undead from the curse of living death.  A silly concept, but the talent behind it makes it of some interest: Timur Bekmambetov (Nightwatch) is directing and Tim Burton is producing.  It’s being filmed in 3D, unfortunately.  No official site (yet).

NEW ON DVD:

Blubberella (2011): Another exercise in tasteful restraint from the inimitable Uwe Boll: a comedy about a fat, half-vampire superheroine who fights Nazis in WWII.  Boll gives himself a cameo as Hitler. Buy Blubberella.

Dream House (2011): Psychological thriller about a man who relocates his family to a suburban house where a murder once took place and starts seeing strange things, etc.  A troubled production which was virtually shelved by the Universal despite the presence of box office draws Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, and Naomi Watts in the cast.  The director tried to have his name removed. Buy Dream House.

The Mill and the Cross (2011):  Artist/director Lech Majewski brings Pieter Brueghel’s sprawling canvas “The Way to Calvary”—which set the Crucifixion in the painter’s own 16th century Flanders—to life, using CGI to overlap real actors with the artwork.  Maybe it’s not all that weird, but it’s certainly not normal.  Rutger Hauer stars as Brueghel and becomes the first actor ever to portray a Flemish painter and a hobo with a shotgun in the same year. Buy The Mill & The Cross.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Adaptation (2002):  Read our capsule review.  Nicolas Cage stars as twin screenwriters Donald and Charlie Kaufman in this seminal metamovie scripted by Charlie Kaufman.  From bargain label Image Entertainment, so there are no special features. Buy Adaptation [Blu-ray].

Dream House (2011): See description in DVD above. Buy Dream House [Blu-ray].

The Mill and the Cross (2011): See description in DVD above. Buy The Mill & The Cross [Blu-ray].

Monkeybone (2001):  Brendan Fraser plays an underground cartoonist who meets his libidinal alter-ego, Monkeybone, in a coma in this Roger Rabbit-style feature mixing animated and real life characters.  It’s from Henry Selick, co-stars Whoopi Goldberg as Death, and is actually pretty nasty for a PG-13 movie. Buy Monkeybone [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2002): Korean animation about a boy’s first love, with a girl who may be a spirit of some sort.  Critic were divided but it looks mildly weird (though audiences and critics used the word “confusing” instead).  Watch My Beautiful Girl, Mari free on YouTube.

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.

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

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

The Theater Bizarre:  A six-film horror anthology from directors Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Jeremy Kasten, Tom Savini, and Richard Stanley.  Apparently Hussain’s segment is surreal.  The Theater Bizarre official Facebook page.

The Wicker Tree:  Two missionaries travel to a remote Scottish town where the villagers still worship the old pagan gods in this re-make/boot/hash of the Certified Weird The Wicker Man (1973).  It’s from original director Robin Hardy and brings back star Christopher Lee for a cameo, but early reviews suggest Hardy should have left the old gods sleeping.  We’ll probably check it out anyway: could it be worse than the infamous 2006 remake with Nicolas Cage?  The Wicker Tree official site.

VIDEO-ON-DEMAND:

Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie:  The Cartoon Network cult comics get their own billion dollar extravaganza, but blow the entire budget on celebrity cameos by Jeff Goldblum, Zach Galifianakis, and Will Ferrell, among others.  The plot has something to do with shrim [sic].  This will be released to theaters in early March, but you can rent the movie now. Rent Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie on Video-on-Demand.

The Wholly Family:  Terry Gilliam‘s much anticipated short film is set in Naples and involves Fellini-esque clowns and the director’s typically visionary visuals.  It was commissioned by a pasta company and is believed to run around 15 minutes; it’s available for a $3 rental from Gilliam’s official site.  Rent The Wholly Family at Terry Gilliam’s official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Fascination (1979):  This week, Redemption Video is remastering and re-releasing five of the seldom-seen, dreamlike erotic vampire films of the infamous Jean Rollin (a box set would have been nice, but we’ll take what we can get).  Fascination, the most recent of this bunch, features ex-porn star Brigitte Lahaie as a bisexual vampire aristocrat with a scythe, and is one of the director’s most popular and well-received movies.  Buy Fascination.

The Iron Rose [AKA Rose of Iron] (1973):  A couple wander into a cemetery and can’t find their way out.  There’s a vampire, Gothic atmosphere, and a clown delivering flowers to a grave. Buy The Iron Rose.

Lips of Blood (1975):  An amnesiac man is reminded of his life as a vampire after seeing a his family castle on a poster. Rollins was nearly killed making this film when he dived into the sea to try to save a coffin prop and was struck on the head and knocked unconscious. Buy Lips of Blood.

The Nude Vampire (1970): This is the immediate followup to Rollin’s Rape of the Vampire (1968), the movie that kicked off the director’s mildly surrealistic, exploitative erotic vampire fetish formula.  This one throws in interdimensional portals and a stag-headed man alongside the marquee vampire(s).  Buy The Nude Vampire.

Shiver of the Vampires [AKA Strange Things Happen at Night] (1971):  A honeymooning couple stay in a castle run by vampires.  The usual nonsensical atmosphere and nude women Rollin fans crave. Buy Shiver of the Vampires.

Sister Mary (2011): We’re going entirely off the plot synopsis here, but this does sound weird: a homophobic cop teams up with a flamboyantly gay partner to stop a serial killing nun, and they end up uncovering a conspiracy by the Catholic Church.  So it’s a homoerotic blasphemous comedy thriller; oh, and it’s listed as a musical, too.  Starring Judy Tenuda (remember her?) as the serial Sister. Buy Sister Mary.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Annie Hall (1977): Read our capsule review.  Not a weird movie per se, but a classic fourth wall breaker. Buy Annie Hall [Blu-ray].

Fascination (1979):  See description in DVD above.  Buy Fascination [Blu-ray].

The Iron Rose [AKA Rose of Iron] (1973): See description in DVD above. Buy The Iron Rose [Blu-ray].

Lips of Blood (1975): See description in DVD above. Buy Lips of Blood [Blu-ray].

The Nude Vampire (1970): See description in DVD above. Buy The Nude Vampire [Blu-ray].

Restless (2011):  In Gus van Sant’s latest, a boy obsessed with funerals (a la Harold in Harold and Maude) romances a girl with terminal cancer.  Also, his best friend is the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot.  We chose to skip this bit of sentimental quirky magical realism when it briefly played in theaters, but it might make for an OK rental.  This offering is a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack. Buy Restless (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo).

Shiver of the Vampires [Strange Things Happen at Night] (1971): See description in DVD above. Buy Shiver of the Vampires [Blu-ray].

Spellbound (1945):  The new psychiatrist (Gregory Peck) at a mental hospital has amnesia and may actually be crazier then any of the patients; a glacial female doctor (Ingrid Bergman) helps him work though his repressed memories to discover a horrifying secret.  So may of Hitchcock’s great movies tease us with near-weirdness; this flirtation is the director’s most serious, as Hitch actually hired Salvador Dalí to prepare the dream sequences. Buy Spellbound [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Star Wars Uncut (2012): You may remember this project.  Hundreds of amateurs and semi-professionals were invited to recreate scenes from Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).  The resulting pastiche switches styles from one submission to another every 15 seconds, turning the completed movie into a disorientingly hilarious experience.  Contributions range from relatively sophisticated animations to textspeak iPhone transcripts to people acting out the scenes using their pets, and it features more hairy guys playing Princess Leia in drag than you’d ever want to see in one lifetime. Worth a watch.  Watch Star Wars Uncut on YouTube.

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.

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

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (2011):  The heroes of the long running anime series find themselves embroiled in a rebellion.  This is being released in the original Japanese with English subtitles to please purists.  It’s playing all over the U.S. and Canada, but for one day only in some locales, so schedule accordingly if you want to catch it.  Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos official Facebook page.

FILM FESTIVALS – SUNDANCE (Park City, Utah, Jan 19-29):

It’s that time again: time for Sundance, the make-or-break festival for American indies.  If last year’s slate is a predictor, about a third of the movies listed here will fail to find a distributor and virtually disappear, another third will struggle hard to earn only a limited release, and of the remainder one or two will become minor hits.  Nonetheless, it’s still our earliest indicator for what we’ll be anointing as “weird” in 2012.  Sundance festival home page.

• Beasts of the Southern Wild – A six-year old girl named Hushpuppy contracts a fever, which seems to usher in the apocalypse and a plague of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. Screening Jan 20-24, 26.
• Bobby Yeah – We don’t usual spotlight shorts, but this 23-minute film by the talented and macabre Robert Morgan is an exception.  Watch the trailer to see why. Jan 20, 21, 24 & 27.
• Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared -  We’re breaking our rule of not mentioning short films for a second time, but this time it’s because we scooped Sundance by featuring this creepy kids song about creativity gone too far way back in August.  If  you must see it on the big screen, then you can catch it screening before the indie drama Kid-Thing Jan 23-24 or 26-28.
• Elena – Modern Russian class-struggle drama about an aging woman maneuvering to secure her husband’s inheritance.  Yawn, Sundance, we already reviewed this one.  Give us something new.  Jan 21-22, 24, 27-28.
• Excision – Horror film about a spooky, morbid teen girl who decides to lose her virginity and then, per the synopsis, “the weirdness really begins.”  Not much is known about this one except that it’s playing in the “Midnight” category and it features both Traci Lords and the man who gave disgraced Traci her “big” break— John Waters.  Jan 21, 25, 27-28.
• Grabbers – Irish monster movie where potential victims discover they can dissuade alien invaders from snacking on them by raising their blood alcohol levels. A “Midnight” feature.  Jan 23, 25-27.
• It’s Such a Beautiful Day – Once again, we don’t focus on festival shorts, but we’ll make a third exception for Don Hertzfeldt‘s latest, since it’s the third installment of the stick-figure psychodrama Everything Will Be OK, which we first embedded way back in May.  See it Jan. 21, 23, or 27-28, screened in the animated shorts program.
• John Dies in the End – Cult director Don Coscarelli adapts a popular webseries about two losers saving the world from a psychedelic drug being used by aliens to take over the planet.  In the “Midnight” category, natch.  Jan 23, 25-26, 28.
• L – A man lives in his car and delivers honey to a narcoleptic for a living in this “willfully bizarre,” bear-obsessed Greek feature.  Co-written by the co-writer of Dogtooth, so it starts with weird Hellenic cred.  Jan 23-25, 27-28.
• Oversimplification of Her Beauty – An impressionistic, experimental, partially animated portrait of a young artist and his desire for a beautiful woman.  Part of the “New Frontier” series.  Jan 21, 23-24, 28.
• Room 237 – Documentary about a phenomenon I didn’t realize existed, but am not at all surprised by: people who believe that Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining contains hidden messages revealing vast international conspiracies.  One loony theorizes that the entire movie is Kubrick’s coded confession that he helped fake the footage of Americans landing on the moon.  Jan 23-24, 26, 28.
• This Must Be the Place – Here’s a truly odd premise for a comedy: a retired goth-rock star hunts the Nazi who persecuted his father at Auschwitz.  Starring Sean Penn, of all people, as the laconic, androgynous angel of vengeance. Jan. 21-22, 25, 28.
• Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie – The Cartoon Network cult comics get their own billion dollar extravaganza, but blow the entire budget on celebrity cameos by Jeff Goldblum, Zach Galifianakis, and Will Ferrell, among others.  The plot has something to do with shrim [sic]. Jan 20-21, 24, 27-28.
• V/H/S – A horror anthology wherein burglars are hired to break in to a home to steal a rare VHS tape, but find that every cassette they watch is stranger and more disturbing than the last one.  Playing at Midnight.  Jan 22-24, 28.
• whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir – Here’s something you’ll probably never see on home video.  If I’ve understood the synopsis correctly, this black and white dystopian noir selects, semi-randomly and in real time, a combination of film clips, voiceover dialogue, and background music to create an experience that’s different with every showing.  Catch it Jan. 22, 24-25.
• Wrong – A man looking for his lost dog encounters bizarre characters and risks losing his sanity.  This is director Quentin Dupieux ‘s followup to his weird hit Rubber, and per the synopsis this one is “equally bizarre.”  Jan 21-22, 24, 26-27.

NEW ON DVD:

Belle de Jour (1967): Catherine Deneuve is a housewife by day, hooker by night in this masochistic, surrealistic erotic fantasy from Luis Buñuel.  At one point she’s tied up and splattered with shovelfuls of mud while workers insult her; strong stuff for a 1967 art film.  The Criterion disc comes with 30 minutes of supplemental material.  Buy Belle de Jour (Criterion Collection).

Bombay Beach (2011):  Footage of three residents of the decaying Salton Sea region—a bipolar boy, a high school athlete fleeing gang violence, and a retired oil-rig worker—is mixed with musical montages from Beirut and Bob Dylan to create what the makers describe as a “slightly surreal documentary experience.” Buy Bombay Beach.

Caterpillar (2010):  The Japanese emperor declares a deaf-mute quadruple amputee a Sino-Japanese war hero and orders his wife to take care of him—including sexually.  Not so surreal, but certainly unusual, and the scenario recalls the weird anti-war classic Johnny Got His Gun. Buy Caterpillar.

Cold Sweat (2010):  An elderly couple abduct women, strip them to their underwear, and douse them in liquid nitroglycerin to force their obedience in this odd low-budget Argentinian horror-thriller.  The consensus seems to be its utterly ludicrous but shamelessly fun. Buy Cold Sweat.

The Overcoat [Il Cappotto] (1952): A lowly bureaucrat buys, then loses, a fancy overcoat, then returns from the dead to look for it.  No idea how strange this seldom-seen Italian adaptation of Nicolai Gogol’s short story is, but the original tale was odd enough that Vladmir Nabokov gave a famous lecture on it in which he concluded “great literature skirts the irrational.” Buy The Overcoat [Il Cappotto].

The Platinum Pussycat (1968)/The Sexploiters (1965):  We mention this Retro-Seduction Cinema double-feature release for Pussycat [AKA The Losers]; it’s a gangster sexploitation/action feature, and simultaneously a silent film with tinted footage.  It may not be good, but at least it’s sure to be bad in a different way.  Less is known about The Sexploiters. Buy Platinum Pussycat/The Sexploiters.

Redline (2009): An anime about a futuristic race, and a rebel who tries to win it while foregoing the customary arsenal of weaponry.  It sounds like an animated Japanese version of Death Race 2000, from a director who worked as an animator on Ninja Scroll and Funky Forest.  Buy Redline.

Simon (1980): A psychology professor is brainwashed into thinking he’s a space alien, and winds up living with a hippie cult who worship TV Guide.  Starring Alan Arkin and Madelaine Kahn, we had to mention this long-forgotten satire based on the plot synopsis.  On DVD-R from Warner Archive.  Buy Simon.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Belle de Jour (1967):  See description in DVD above. Buy Belle de Jour (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray].

Redline (2009): See description in DVD above. Buy Redline [Blu-ray].

NEW ON VIDEO ON DEMAND:

The Oregonian (2011):  Read our capsule review.  Many readers have asked about the availability of this movie (which debuted at Sundance last year). Here’s your chance to see what the fuss is about.  We’ll keep an eye out for a DVD release. Rent The Oregonian on Video on Demand.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Flatliners (1990):  Medical students experiment with inducing near-death experiences by deliberately stopping their own hearts; they have postmortem hallucinations.  The cast features then up-and-comers Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, and Kevin Bacon; it’s somewhat mainstream, but hey, it’s free.  Watch Flatliners free on YouTube.

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.

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

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

We Need to Talk About Kevin: After her son commits an atrocity, a mom looks back on their troubled relationship and wonders if she was to blame, or if Kevin was evil from the womb.  Not thoroughly weird, but it is heavily stylized and impressionistic, and it does inexplicably begin with the protagonist being hoisted over a vat of tomatoes.  Expect an Oscar nom for Tilda Swinton.  Opening in New York, then L.A., then the rest of us.  We Need to Talk About Kevin official site.

SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, Jan 12-16, 18):

Toll Booth [Gise Memuru] (2010): A psychological drama from Turkey about an unbalanced tollbooth operator who hallucinates on the job. Few reviewers have seen it but their notices have all been positive.  No English language trailer exists for this interesting film. Playing at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the “Global Lens” series.  Toll Booth at the Global Film Initiative.

NEW ON DVD:

Film Socialisme (2010): Jean-Luc Goddard’s latest film is enigmatically described as “a symphony in three movements,” titled “Things Such As,” “Quo Vadis Europe,” and “Humanities.”  No one has been able to satisfactorily synopsize the plot.  It’s split critics right down the middle, and it looks very weird.  Buy Film Socialisme.

The Hellstrom Chronicle (1972): Today the fake documentary is considered a vehicle for comedy, but this 1972 mockumentary presents itself as a horror/sci-fi outing.  A fictional scientist explains the threat insects pose to humanity, illustrated with then state-of-the-art microphotography of the sick and perverse world of bugs.  A minor cult item that played college campuses in its heyday.  Buy The Hellstrom Chronicle.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973):  The film adaptation of the seminal Andrew Lloyd Weber/Tim Rice rock opera takes some weirdish liberties with the setting, putting  tanks and machine guns in ancient Judea (as if the rock music wasn’t anachronistic enough).  It’s an interesting staging of a surprisingly thoughtful play about the paradoxes of predestination, but a big downside is that the vocal performances suffer in comparison to the mesmerizing 1970 concept album.  We’re not aware of any special features (other than a digital copy) on this Universal re-release.  Buy Jesus Christ Superstar.

Touch of Evil (1958):  Orson Welles’ overheated noir about a Mexican lawman (Charlton Heston!) who uncovers border town corruption, embodied in the massive, commanding personality of bad cop Hank Quinlan (Welles).  Maybe it’s not completely weird, but if you’ve never seen it you’ll likely be amazed at the ornate camerawork, frighteningly quirky characters, Code-challenging evocations of drugs and rape, and general ahead-of-its-time style.  Again, there are no known extras other than a digital copy but this classic crime film has historically been underrepresented on home video, so any release counts as a good one. Buy Touch of Evil.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Film Socialisme (2010):  See description in DVD above. Buy Film Socialisme [Blu-ray].

The Hellstrom Chronicle (1972): See description in DVD above. Buy The Hellstrom Chronicle [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Maniac (1934):  Read the certified weird entry! Here it is: all the orangutang men, eyeball-eating, cat-skinning, and syringe catfights one person can stand!  It’s widely considered one of the worst movies ever made, yet holds an 89% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes.  Can your sanity handle the unsettling madness that is Maniac?  It is not unlike a grape, or an oyster…  Watch Maniac free on YouTube.

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.

Not much going on this week as the studios tend to their holiday hangovers.  See you in 2012!

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Swet (est. 2012):  A conspiratorial musical horror satire (?), or something like that.  We only know writer/director Matthew Reel (Jessicka Rabid) promises it will be “a lot flashier and crazier than anything I have done in the past.”  Starring the familiar face of Damon Zex, alongside Damon (Reflections of Evil) Packard.  Swet Facebook page.

NEW ON DVD:

Fish Story (2009): Japanese movie about how a punk rock single from 1975 saves the world from destruction by a comet in 2012.  Not much information on this one but the synopsis does sound weird, plus it’s from “the team behind The Native Duck, the Foreign Duck and God in a Coin-locker” (!). Buy Fish Story.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Horrors of Spider Island (1960): Read our Certified Weird review!  Since it’s in the public domain, it was only a matter of time until someone put this so-bad-it’s-weird misogynist fever dream up on YouTube.  Watch Horrors of Spider Island free on YouTube.

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.

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

Spielberg and his minions have driven all traces of weirdness from theaters this week, under the guise of “Christmas spirit.”  We weirdophiles will have to cower in our hovels this week, regroup, and return to the cinemas in 2012.

IN “DEVELOPMENT“:

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story:  Tells the shocking true story of “Weird” Al Yankovic, from his days as an accordion-loving outcast to his multi-platinum “Eat It,” as his career magically survives alcoholism and sex with Madonna.  Our favorite line from the trailer?  “I’m the weird one!”  Reminder to readers: on this site, we occasionally include notices for films that don’t actually exist.

NEW ON DVD:

Columbiana (2011): A young woman (Zoe Saldana) grows up to be an assassin after witnessing her parents’ murder.  Thinking it was an ordinary action movie, we passed over this one when it played theaters (even though it came from mildly weird director Luc Besson); we just now noticed the Amazon editorial review says it contains “a dash of oddball surrealism.”  We prefer a lot more than a dash, but in a slow week we’ll take what we can get. Buy Colombiana.

Love Exposure (2008): Shion Sono’s 4 hour (!) comedy epic involves Roman Catholicism, candid panty photos, and a butt-kicking, man-hating schoolgirl. Thanks to Olive Films, who really earn our respect lately by releasing this and Skidoo in the same calendar year. Buy Love Exposure.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Columbiana (2011): See description in DVD above.  Includes an UltraViolet digital download. Buy Colombiana [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973):  Gaseous vapors turn an embryo into an eight-foot sheep monster.  Distributor Something Weird calls it “one of the weirdest, wackiest, oddballest monster movies ever made” (and they should know).  Watch Godmonster of Indian Flats free on YouTube.

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.

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

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel: If you’re not yet burned out on B-movie documentaries—and you live in New York or Los Angeles—you might want to head out to the cinema to soak in this survey of the life and work of independent impresario Roger Corman.  An odd assortment of Oscar winners and cult figures turn out to pay tribute to the King of the B’s, including Jack Nicholson, Pam Greer, Martin Scorsese and Traci Lords.  Corman’s World official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

1000 Kings [1000 Könige] (est. 2012): Sort of an abstract science fiction ballet set in a sky-ball dystopia where monks hate red sleeping bags, or something like that, this German first feature by Georgian-born Bidzina Kanchaveli is in post-production but still searching for completion funding. It looks like superlative weirdness; check out 1000 Kings at Indiegogo or at the 1000 Kings official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Astron-6 (2011): A 2-disc compilation of the 1980s-spoofing short films of the absurdist Canadian collective behind the pop-killer feature Father’s Day.  Titles include Inferno of the Dead, Gore Blade, and H.I.Z. (Erection der Zombi).  Avowed fans of the group include Uwe Boll, George Kuchar, Guy Maddin, and Jasmine from jasmines-panties.com.  Buy Astron-6.

Branded to Kill (1967): Read the Certified Weird entry!  After years of promises the Criterion Collection has finally re-released Seijun Suzuki’s totally whacko rice-sniffing yakuza film, with a new restoration and extras including interviews with the director and chipmunk-faced star Joe Shishido.  This is the new #1 killer version of the classic of weirdness. Buy Branded to Kill [Criterion collection].

Def-con 4 (1985)/Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988): Def-con sounds like just another Mad Max ripoff (The Los Angeles Times called it a “suspenseful, action-packed drama”—yawn).  Hell is much cooler, featuring wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper fighting future frog-men for the right to impregnate Earth’s remaining fertile females.  Hell is in our reader-suggested review queue. Buy Def-Con 4 / Hell Comes to Frogtown (Double Feature).

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2011): Read our capsule review. Tsui Hark returns to form with this colorful action fantasy set in a magical version of Imperial China. Buy Detective Dee & The Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

Jessicka Rabid (2010): The sensitive story of a female sex slave who is raised like a dog until one day she’s bitten by a rabid canine and goes on a killing spree.  Shot in a style reminiscent of a 1960s home movie, it co-stars Troma veteran Trent Haaga, perhaps best known as the screenwriter of The Toxic Avenger 4: Citizen Toxie (2000) and Deadgirl (2008). Buy Jessicka Rabid.

Tokyo Drifter (1966):  An ex-yakuza hitman finds himself in trouble when a rival gang won’t recognize his retirement in this stylized, deconstructed gangster movie.  You wouldn’t expect the Criterion Collection to re-release Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill without giving equal time to this colorful ,comic book -styled warm up, and indeed they did not.  Buy Tokyo Drifter.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Branded to Kill (1967): See description in DVD above.  Buy Branded to Kill [Criterion Blu-ray].

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2011):  See description in DVD above.  Buy Detective Dee & The Mystery of the Phantom Flame [Blu-ray].

Heavenly Creatures (1994):  Two sheltered Kiwi girls develop an obsessive friendship and invent a fantasy world that they prefer to reality; their bond eventually ends in murder.  This was Peter Jackson‘s first arthouse movie after making three fun but tasteless underground cult provocations.  It’s also in our reader-suggested review queue.  Buy Heavenly Creatures [Blu-ray].

Tokyo Drifter (1966):  See description in DVD above.  Buy Tokyo Drifter [Criterion Blu-ray].

Velvet Goldmine (1998): An impressionistic, and frequently surrealistic, portrait of an aging androgynous glam-rock star (obviously modeled on David Bowie).  This visually splendiferous movie could not be more different than the film that first brought director Todd Haynes to the attention of the underground—Superstar, an unauthorized biography of anorexic pop star Karen Carpenter acted out by Barbie dolls.  Buy Velvet Goldmine [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Faust (1926): F.W. Murnau’s telling of the Faust legend owes little to Goethe or Marlowe, but it’s a classic of German expressionism.  Watch Faust (1926) free on YouTube.

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.

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

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Sleeping Beauty (2011):  From Australia comes this modern folktale that sounds like it has more to do with The House of Sleeping Beauties than with the classic fairy tale.  We like writer/director Julia Leigh’s quote: “I’m interested in Wonder Cinema…”  On the other hand, we don’t like the reviewers’ quotes, like David Rooney’s “Soporific in every sense.“  Not to be confused with Catherine Breillat‘s 2010 The Sleeping Beauty.  Sleeping Beauty official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010):  Read our capsule review.  This documentary on the world’s oldest cave paintings may not be per se weird, but fans of Werner Herzog, and of beauty, may find it interesting. Buy Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010).

Chillerama (2011): A horror/comedy anthology built around the conceit of a drive-in owner screening four outrageous and obscure movies on the theater’s last night of operation.  The best fake movie title is The Diary of Anne Frankenstein.  Billing itself as “the ultimate midnight movie,” but it looks geared to the Troma crowd. Buy Chillerama (2011).

The Flying Guillotine (1975):  Not as famous or notable as its crazed sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine (which is languishing in our reader-suggested review queue), the original tells the story of how the titular distance-decapitation weapon was discovered.  The Shaw Brothers produced four movies in the Flying Guillotine series (with Master being the most remembered).  Buy The Flying Guillotine (1975).

Flying Guillotine 2 (1978): Of the four Shaw Brothers movies with Flying Guillotine in the title, this one (also known as Palace Carnage) is the last chronologically, yet it is the direct sequel to the first. To make things even more confusing, Master, the second movie in the series, was a direct sequel to One Armed Boxer, an otherwise unrelated movie. Buy Flying Guillotine 2 (1978).

Vampires (2010): Belgian mockumentary focusing on the domestic life of a family of vampires, including a rebellious teenage daughter who wants to become human.  Offbeat, at least. Buy Vampires (2010).

Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City (2010):  This sequel sees Zebraman split into good (white, male) and evil (black, female) versions.  We never even knew there was a sequel to the crazy original by weird favorite Takashi Miike; we admit we’ll be a bit disappointed if Zebranurse fails to make an appearance. Buy Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City (2010) [Blu-ray/DVD Combo].

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010): See description in DVD above. This 2-disc set contains the 3D Blu-ray (which is your only chance to see the film in three dimensions, as intended) as well as a standard disc. Buy Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) [Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray Combo] .

Chillerama (2011): See description in DVD above. Buy Chillerama (2011) [Blu-ray].

Horror Express (1972):  Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are a pair of archeologists fighting off a train full of zombies and a Cossack Telly Savalas in this Hammer horror classic that’s currently in our reader-suggested review queue.  Appearing for the first time on Blu-ray, this release also contains a DVD copy of the movie (which is available separately from several competing sources).  It’s supposedly remastered from a print discovered in Mongolia (!), but customer reports disagree on whether the visuals are much improved.   Buy Horror Express (1972) [DVD/Blu-ray Combo] .

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

American Zombie (2008):  Since we mentioned the Belgian horror mockumentary Vampire, the equal time rule suggests we must also mention this American mockumentary covering a zombie uprising in Los Angeles, from the standpoint of the misunderstood living dead.  Watch American Zombie (2008) free on YouTube.

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.

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

The holiday/awards season is here, which means that you can forget about seeing anything outstandingly weird in theaters for a while.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

House of Pleasures:  The story of a Parisian bordello circa 1899, told in a deliberately anachronistic style (a 1960s soundtrack, split screens, etc.)  David Fear of Time Out gave it a good review, while admitting it’s “occasionally WTF hilarious” (to us, as to him, a big plus). Playing NYC this week, other dates unknown.  House of Pleasures official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Emmanuelle in Wonderland (completed 2011):  We mentioned this erotic musical thingee in passing last week, but after coming across this—um, “interesting”—YouTube footage, the title bears repeating.  Emmanuelle in Wonderland is part of an “Emmanuelle” reboot(y) series from director Rolfe Kanefsky, featuring many actors and actresses from the porn world stretching their chops.  We can’t discern anything about distribution for this movie (it appears aimed at the Skinemax market) but surely something this—um, “special?”—will show up on DVD soon?  Emmanuelle in Wonderland Facebook page.

NEW ON DVD:

Darkroom (2008):  Another “what is real and what is fantasy” movie, this time revolving around a crime scene photographer.  Not much information on this one to be found. Buy Darkroom.

An Evening with the Residents: Bimbo’s [Talking Light] (2011):  If you’re as much a fan of weird music as of weird movies, you know of The Residents, the avant-garde music collective known for performing in tuxedos and giant eyeball head masks.  This is a live recording of their album/spoken word piece “Talking Light,” which revolves around ghost stories and the paranormal (and features a trio lineup and new costumes). Buy An Evening with Residents – Bimbo’s.

Helldriver (2010): The team behind Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is back with another wild one featuring ninjas, zombies, cannibalism, a sexy samurai babe with a chainsaw blade, and of course, splatter.  An Amazon reviewer offers the advice “save yourselves from the sheer fatuous inanity of this drivel,” which could be seen as a warning, a perverse endorsement, or a dare. Buy Helldriver.

Saki the Killer (2011): The synopsis suggests something about a female art teacher who battles yakuza demons with the power of her paintbrush.  Direct to video and unreviewed elsewhere, yet something about the premise strikes us as noteworthy. Buy Saki The Killer.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Helldriver (2010): See description in DVD above. Buy Helldriver [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Crowley [AKA Chemical Wedding] (2008): Read our capsule review.  Aleister Crowley is reincarnated with an assist from pseudoscience.  Intentionally campy occult parody, or Bruce Dickinson vanity project gone awry?  You can only decide by watching.  Watch Crowley [Chemical Wedding] free on YouTube.

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.

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

NEW ON DVD:

Bellflower (2011):  Read our capsule review.  Two hard-drinking slackers who build post-apocalyptic vehicles in their spare time experience love, loss, and non-linear narrative. Side note: the marketers have removed the word “weird” from the critical quote they selected for the cover.  Buy Bellflower.

Evil Dead 2 (1987):  Read the Certified Weird entry!  All three of Sam Raimi ‘s Evil Dead moves are constantly being reissued in new packages.  Rights to 2 have switched hands from Anchor Bay to Lions Gate, and this “25th Anniversary” re-release promises an improved picture (although some reviewers have said the difference isn’t very noticeable) and a mix of old and new featurettes (the commentary track is old).  Buy Evil Dead 2 (25th Anniversary Edition).

Futurist Life Redux (2009): Viva Futurista is a lost film, created as a series of linked shorts by eleven founding members of the Futurist art movement in 1916.  Futurist Life Redux is an experimental, loose and modernized reconstruction of what that original movie may have looked like, re-imagined for the 21st century from the original creators notes and a few surviving stills.  Most of the directors come from the performance art world, with George (Sins of the Fleshapoids) Kuchar a noteworthy exception.  If the clip below is representative, then these are weird, yeah. Buy Futurist Life Redux.

Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis (1927/1984):  In 1984 composer Giorgi Moroder restored Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and in a controversial decision, colorized the movie and gave it a pop-music score by the likes of Billy Squier, John Anderson, Freddy Mercury, Pat Benetar, and so on.  At the time Moroder was fresh off an Academy Award for writing the song “What a Feeling” for Flashdance. Buy Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis.

Griff the Invisible (2010): A clerk who moonlights as a masked vigilante meets a girl lost in daydreams in this Australian romantic comedy.  Half the reviewers who’ve seen it use some form of the word “quirk” to describe it (and one even uses a form of “weird”). Buy Griff the Invisible.

“Half Pint Brawlers, Season 1″ (2010):  We never caught it on its brief Spike TV run, but the packaging (“WARNING: X-treme and Absurd!”), caught our eye.  It’s a reality show about a traveling troupe of wrestling little people led by a character who calls himself “Puppet the Psycho Dwarf.”  The performers call themselves “midgets,” which got them in trouble with the Little People of America.  As an aside, your editor sincerely hopes the word “midget” makes a comeback; it sounds far less demeaning than “little person.”  Buy “Half Pint Brawlers: Season 1″.

“Neverwhere” (1996): This 180-minute BBC miniseries concerns a chap who finds himself trapped in a fantastic underground world of demons and magic dubbed “London Below.”  Co-scripted by fantasy author Neil Gaiman, it has a cult reputation and special effects on the level of a “Dr. Who” episode. Gaimain later turned the screenplay into a novel. Buy “Neverwhere”.

The Tree (2011): An eight-year old girl becomes convinced that her dead father’s spirit inhabits a giant tree growing near the house. Life-affirming Australian magical realism starring the always-odd Charlotte Gainsbourg. Buy The Tree.

The Weird World of Blowfly (2011):  Documentary focusing on Clarence Reid, better known as his alter-ego Blowfly, the proto-rapper and x-rated auteur of 1970s “party albums” packed with brilliantly brain-dead song parodies like “Spermy Night In Georgia” and “My Baby Keeps Farting In My Face.”  Hey, it’s got “weird” right there in the title, of course we’re going to mention it!  Buy The Weird World Of Blowfly.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Bellflower (2011): See description in DVD above.  This is a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack. Buy Bellflower (Blu-ray/DVD Combo).

Despair (1978): A chocolate magnate goes mad; he watches himself making love to his wife and believes a laborer is his doppelgänger.  Rainer Werner Fassbinder directs Dirk Bogarde in Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel (is that enough name-dropping for one sentence?).  Buy Despair [Blu-ray].

Evil Dead 2 (1987):  See description in DVD above. Buy Evil Dead 2 (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray].

Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis (1927/1984): See description in DVD above. Buy Giorgio Moroder Presents: Metropolis [Blu-ray].

Griff the Invisible (2011):  See description in DVD above. Buy Griff the Invisible [Blu-ray].

The Weird World of Blowfly (2011):  See description in DVD above. Buy The Weird World Of Blowfly [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962): This tale of a mad-scientist who keeps his decapitated fiancée’s head alive while he searches for a stripper’s body to slap it on is one of the sleazier, and stranger, artifacts of its era.  “I’m just a head… and you’re whatever you are… but together, we’re strong!” Watch The Brain That Wouldn’t Die free on YouTube.

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.