WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 6/19/09

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):

$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 subject, priced at an affordable $9.99.  From an Etgar Keret short story, with voices provided by Geoffrey Rush and Anthony LaPaglia.  We mentioned this one way back in January, and it’s finally getting a US release.    $9.99 Official Site.

Dead Snow [Død snø]: A gory Nazi-zombie horror comedy from Norway.  We’re unsure there’s much traction (or weirdness) left in the gore zom-com genre, but some horror fans may want to check it out as a bloody alternative to Drag Me to Hell.  Død snø Official Site (in Norwegian).

NEW ON DVD:

Bergman Island (Criterion Collection) (2004):  Released in conjunction with the Criterion edition of The Seventh Seal (see below), this is a series of interviews with late, reclusive, and oft-weird director Ingmar Bergman. Buy from Amazon.

Rifftrax: Carnival of Souls (2009): Mystery Science Theater alums riff on the low-budget weird creepfest Carnival of Souls.  We’ve got a sense of humor, so we don’t object to them making fun of a classic film–as long as they make it funny. Buy from Amazon.

The Seventh Seal [Det sjunde inseglet] (Criterion Collection edition) (1957): Ingmar Bergman’s classic, which features the iconic chess match between a knight and Death, receives the Criterion Collection 2-disc treatment. A major, major release. Buy from Amazon.

What’s Up Tiger Lilly? (1966):  Woody Allen‘s debut feature was an effectively absurd comic experiment: he took a crappy Japanese secret agent movie and re-dubbed it so that the action revolves around finding an egg salad recipe. Buy from Amazon.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964):  The classic black comedy, with outstanding performances by Peter Sellers (in three roles) and George C. Scott (who steals every scene he’s in).  Not very weird, but an indisputable classic by a director (Stanley Kubrick) who knew how to amp up the weird when necessary (2001: A Space Odyssey). Buy from Amazon.

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.