After completing the List of the 366 Canonically Weird Movies at the beginning of this year, we announced that we’d open up a second list of 366 Apocryphally Weird Movies, to catch the runners-up and the new movies that will inevitably be made in 2019 and beyond. The time has come to begin that process, and you will decide the inaugural entry—and maybe win a prize in the bargain.
Just tell us what movie you think we should put on the supplemental list in the comments below. You can see what’s already on the complete Canonical list in the sidebar to the left on desktops, or at the very bottom of your screen on mobile devices. Serious entries only; we will disregard any nominations for Pokemon Detective Pikachu, Transformers, or the like. Ideally, your choice should be available for us to screen on home video; we may make exceptions to that rule on a case-by-case basis.
After a week of nominations/contest entries, we’ll gather all the nominees and create a poll for voting for the official entries. If we receive more than eleven nominees, you’ll vote for two winners to achieve Apocrypha status; in the unlikely event we receive more than twenty-three nominations, we’ll allow you to vote three on the Apocryphal List.
You may nominate a movie even if you aren’t eligible for the contest or don’t wish to receive the prize; just mention you’re not in it for the swag when you announce your choice.
Contest eligibility rules: You must make a nomination by commenting on this post and informing us of your desire to be in the contest. To receive the DVD, you must supply us with a mailing address in the United States. (Don’t publish your address in your comment! We’ll contact the winner through email). 366 contributors are not eligible for the prize. You are not eligible for this prize if you have won a contest here in the last six months. We’ll stop accepting entries Tuesday, June 11, at midnight EST. The winner will be chosen randomly from all eligible comments. If the winner does not respond to our request for a mailing address within 48 hours we’ll email a runner-up, and so forth, until the prize is given away.
Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Blue Velvet (1986): Read the Canonically Weird entry! The Criterion Collection adds another David Lynch jewel to its crown; some special features (even the much ballyhooed “lost footage”) have appeared on other releases, but this one does boast remastering, the feature length doc Blue Velvet Revisited, and Lynch reading from his memoir “Room to Dream.” On two DVDs or one Blu-ray. Buy Blue Velvet.
Climax (2018): Read our review. Provacateur Gaspar Noe puts a megadose of LSD into his cinematic punch bowl. On DVD, Blu-ray and VOD. Buy Climax.
Starfish (2018): Read our review. It’s the end of the world, maybe, but Aubrey might be able to save all of us with a mixtape. This indie horror/sci-fi/drama-of-lonelieness is out on VOD only (for the moment, at least). Buy or rent Starfish.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: We’ve got a busy summer week coming up at 366, as Alfred Eaker starts off his summer blockbuster purgatory with a trip to see what may be the least Alfred Eaker movie ever, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Next up, Giles Edwards fills you in on 2018’s arty animation Ruben Brandt: Collector (about a psychiatrist with an art-thief clientele) and Pete Trbovich takes on Keoma (1976), the cult spaghetti western with a rather, um, unforgettable soundtrack. To top it all off, we’re going to start a new poll with an associated DVD giveaway contest (hint: it’s apocrypha time) Stay tuned, and onward and weirdward!
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.
Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Diamantino (2018): A Portuguese soccer star adopts an African lesbian immigrant, while his twin sisters are conducting secret genetic experiments. This bonkers-sounding comedy has garnered good reviews, and a limited stateside release, after a successful festival run. Diamantino official site.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009): Four friends find the titular Macguffin in the titular locale, which eventually leads to surreal confrontations with the Cowboy Pimp and the Almighty himself. A feminist work by identical twin sisters (the Soskas) whose title perhaps oversells the level of subtlety here. Makes its Blu-ray debut this week. Buy Dead Hooker in a Trunk.
The Image Book (2018): Jean-Luc Godard takes images from films of the past, digitally alters them, and philosophizes in voiceover. More late Godard for cinema masochists (we’ll probably end up joining them). On DVD or Blu-ray from Kino-Lorber. Buy The Image Book.
The Perfection (2019): Psychological thriller about a musical prodigy. The trailer makes it look like Black Swanmeets Get Out. A Netflix exclusive movie exclusively streaming on Netflix.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week Shane Wilson digs into the long-neglected reader-suggested review queue for a look at Jean-Luc Godard‘s Alphaville, a strange 1965 noir-sci fi-philosophy mashup, while G. Smalley is back from vacation with a report on the fake-Japanese-TV-show mockumentary Top Knot Detective. That rapscallion Smalley’s vacation has delayed the upcoming print release of the 2018 Yearbook—proofing revealed a new problem with the margins that cropped up just before his departure—so hopefully next week we’ll get that little issue sorted out and get those collectible items up for sale before too long. We swear, next year the Yearbook will arrive much earlier… well, at least we plan on it. Onward and weirdward!
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.
Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Perfect (2018): A troubled young man is sent to a clinic where he is given various implants to remove his imperfections. Co-produced by Flying Lotus (who also scored the film) and Steven Soderbergh, and clearly made under the influence of a heavy dose of Panos Cosmatos. .Perfect official site.
The Wandering Soap Opera [La Telenovella Errante]: A surreal and satirical spoof of Chilean soap operas. Raoul Ruiz‘s widow, Valeria Sarmiento, completed this project, which her late husband left unfinished in 1990. The Wandering Soap Opera official site.
FILM FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival (Cannes, France, May 14-25):
Cannes is an odd duck. Not known as a “weird-friendly” festival—movies like David Cronenberg‘s Crash and Antichrist have been famously hooted at by Cannes crowds who were having none of that—it aims to flatter the mainstream arthouse crowd with middle-of-the-road dramas (and, rarely, dramadies, so long as they are not too funny to be taken seriously). Cannes programmers revel in the dry, the conventional, and the pompous; Cannes’ juries’ tastes resemble those of Academy Awards voters, but with an even higher premium placed on boringness. Many years, an unusual film will sneak it’s way onto the card and Cannes debut may even end up Certified Weird: it’s happened for three films in the past seven years, including, most recently, 2012’s Holy Motors. This year looks particularly bleak, however; maybe they should invite Netflix to screen films there to liven things up? Movies at Cannes may either be screened “in competition” for the big prize, the Palm D’or; screen out-of-competition; or be entered in the “Un Certain Regard” section (a sort of also-ran competition for films that are either from first time directors, or are considered too daring or different to have a shot at the Palme d’Or). Recently, many filmmakers have been debuting their films in the parallel festival called Directors’ Fortnight, which runs contemporaneous to Cannes proper but does not hand out awards for individual films; it offers a more exciting slate this year.
Here’s what we would be keeping tabs on if we were in Cannes next week:
The Dead Don’t Die – A zombie comedy by Jim Jarmusch starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Selena Gomez, and more; probably not weird but special, and the cast alone makes it worth checking out. In competition, opening night.
Deerskin [Le Daim] – The seventh feature from Quentin Dupieux; no plot synopsis was provided. Director’s Fortnight.
First Love [Hatsokui] – Takashi Miike‘s latest, about a noxer and a call girl who get on the wrong side of some drug dealers. Miike han’t made a truly weird (or great) movie in years, but his name always sparks hope. Director’s Fortnight.
Jeanne – Bruno Dumont continues the Joan of Arc story from his previous Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc; this sequel features the same actress (now 10, playing the warrior-saint at 19) but dropping the musical numbers for a more serious presentation. Un Certain Regard.
Saint Bernard (2013): An orchestra conductor named Bernard (natch) goes insane and sees surreal visions. One of only two sole writing/directing efforts by special effects guru Gabe Bartalos, who worked on everything from Leprechaun to multiple Frank Henenlotter to Matthew Barney’s “Cremaster” movies, with special appearances by Andy Kaufman henchman Bob Zmuda to Warwick Davis. All of this, and unreleased for six years? Severin rectifies the oversight on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD. Buy Saint Bernard.
TELEVISION (HULU, DEBUTS 5/17):
“Catch-22”: A six-episode miniseries adaptation of Joseph Heller’s groundbreaking comic novel on the absurdity of war. We already declared Mike Nichols’ cinema version one of the 366 Weirdest Movies ever made. You’d have to be insane to remake it; George Clooney did. The total series runs for a little over 4 hours, allowing more of the novel to make it onscreen. Watch “Catch-22” on Hulu.
BOOKS:
“Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dalí, the Marx Brothers, The Strangest Movie Never Made” (2019): A graphic novel recreation of a propsed collaboration between Salvador Dalí and the Marx Brothers, recreated from about 4 pages of notes Dalí scribbled for the non-stater project. Comedian Tim Heidecker joined author Josh Frank in fleshing out the “screenplay,” and Manuela Pertega illustrated. Buy “Giraffes on Horseback Salad”.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Not that this matters much to the end reader, but next week editor-in-chief G. Smalley will be on vacation (not in Cannes, sadly). Although everything should continue as normal, limited access to wi-fi could cause some delays in content being posted. As far as what that content will be: Shane Wilson will give you the scoop on the free-to-watch micobudget thriler (?) She Found Now, while Giles Edwards retains his humanity while watching Rhinoceros, the 1974 film adaptation (with Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel) of Eugene Ionesco’s famous absurdist play about… people turning into rhinos.
One final note: the print version of the 2019 Yearbook is nearly ready to go, just needing one more proof review before finalization. Were that Smalley guy not on vacation, the thing would be available for purchase next week for sure… we’ll try to get it out as soon as it’s ready, but you may have to wait one additional week to place an order.
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.
Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Gutboy: A Badtime Story (2015): An (almost) all-marionette feature about a flayed puppet who fights the Man that proudly advertises itself as “the weirdest movie in the world.” Finally on Blu-ray after being exclusive to Troma’s streaming service for years. Buy Gutboy: A Badtime Story.
The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970): A pre-007 Roger Moore stars as a man who senses he has a doppelganger running around after a near-death experience in a car crash. A somewhat obscure mindbender, now out on DVD or Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Buy The Man Who Haunted Himself.
Rhinoceros (1974): An adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s quintessential absurdist play about a town where everyone is slowly turning into rhinoceroses (rhinoceri?) We had no idea that a film version of this existed—starring The Producers‘ Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder! Via Kino Classics, DVD and Blu-ray only. Buy Rhinoceros.
Sex Madness Revealed (2018): The (fictional) “Film Dick” podcaster (Patton Oswalt) interviews (fictional) experts about the (real) sexploitation film Sex Madness (1939) as it plays, and discovers (fictional) shocking secrets about the production. From the producer of Room 237, this appears to be another satire about people who read too much significance into cult movies. Released straight to DVD and Blu-ray. Buy Sex Madness Revealed.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week, Giles Edwards gives you his impressions of the brand-new eldritch German art-house horror Hagazussa. Meanwhile, G. Smalley finally got around to viewing Bill Morrison‘s decayed-footage fantasia Decasia (Alfred Eaker’s original review is here), and will bring you his (redundant?) opinions on that one. We’re also aware that, once again, we’re way overdue on the print version of the annual Yearbook, but we wanted you to know that it’s all done but the final proofing—you should see an announcement soon! Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!
As for the prize: It’s a fresh DVD copy of the newly-released revenge-sploitation feature Rondo (2018). Giles Edwards immediately nominated this one for the List when he saw it at the Fantasia Film Festival last year, gushing that he was “impressed at not only its vitality, violence, and humor, but also its incredible audacity” and concluding “In Rondo, baroque verbiage and baroque violence come together in a celebration of blood-sodden deadpan.” If you need more hype, Giles conducted an interview with the director and producer, and you can check out the NSFW trailer, too.
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