Our weekly 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):

Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan: Kids at a boot-camp learn the homicidal real history of the beloved American legend, firsthand. Dan (“Grizzly Adams”) Haggerty and Joe (son of Martin Sheen) Estevez lead the cast. Screening in Pittsburgh, PA and Duluth, MN (with scattered midnight showings elsewhere) before heading to DVD in June.  Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Rage of Innocence: It’s described as a “psychological thriller in the vein of such classics as ‘Fatal Attraction,’ ‘The Crush,’ and ‘Fear.’ Nothing so weird about that synopsis, but we mention it because it’s from Mark Pirro, the director of such classics as A Polish Vampire in Burbank, Nudist Colony of the Dead and Curse of the Queerwolf. Let’s hope he’s not trying to go too straight on this one. Rage of Innocence Facebook page.

NEW ON DVD:

The Magic Christian (1969): The richest man in the world (Peter Sellers) sets out to prove his misanthropic theory that people will go to any lengths to degrade themselves for money. From Terry Southern’s acid novel with script contributions from future Monty Python members, this occasionally bizarre and disgusting satire features one of those fascinating all 1960s all-star casts including Ringo Starr, Richard Attenborough, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Roman Polanski, Yul Brenner and more. This film is already in our reader-suggested review queue. Buy The Magic Christian.

Shanks (1974): Gimmickmeister William Castle‘s final film is a strange egg about a mute puppeteer (played by famous mime Marcel Marceau!) who reanimates the dead. Castle (Tingler) made B-movies that often teetered on the edge of a surreal abyss; this one arguably fell in. Buy Shanks.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Magic Christian (1969): See description in DVD above. Buy The Magic Christian [Blu-ray].

Shanks (1974): See description in DVD above. Buy Shanks [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Badasssss! (2003): Mario Van Peebles’ fictionalized account of his eccentric father Melvin’s quest to create Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, arguably the first (and arguably the strangest) blaxploitation movie. Not directly weird, but definitely offbeat, and very much worth seeing. Watch Badasssss! free on YouTube.

NEPOTISM CORNER!:

“Pets in the City” (album): When he’s not scouring the web looking for the bizarrest short videos for your Saturday enjoyment, Cameron Jorgensen is keeping time for the laid-back psychedelic SLC band “Cliffs.” I’m no expert on the modern indie rock scene, but they remind me a little bit of “of Montreal,” if you played one of their 45 singles at 33 RPM. Here’s a sample off their debut album; it’s also available on Itunes.

[bandcamp album=1051402467 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=0687f5 size=grande]

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.