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 (WIDE RELEASE):

9: Mainly of interest do to the involvement of Tim Burton as producer, this feature by Shane Acker was expanded from a short film.  Early word is the visuals are spectacular; the story, far less so.   9 Official Site.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Ink: At critics has compared this visionary thriller about a father entering the nightmares of his daughter to save her to the work of Terry Gilliam and Jean-Pierre Jeunet; the official press release compares it to Brazil, Dark City and Donnie Darko, among others.  Opening this week in Los Angeles, and currently booked in only a few scattered US theaters the week after, this looks like it’s trying to position itself as the cult film of 2009 (although, of course, we’ll be the ultimate judge of that!)  Ink official site.

SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, MUSEUM OF MODERN ART):

Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly (2008): The feature debut of the Indonesian director known as “Edwin” is a surrealist-influenced series of interwoven stories on identity, using the identity of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia as a launching pad.  Stevie Wonder’s mediocre hit “I Just Called to Say I Love You” is the glue that binds these disparate stories.  Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly Official Site.

NEW ON DVD:

Crank 2: High Voltage (2009):  This deliberately ridiculous popcorn film about an action hero who must constantly recharge his battery-operated heart by sucking on electrical wires escaped our notice on its theatrical release, but subsequent reports lead us to believe this could just possibly be just demented and over-the-top enough to be considered weird. Buy from Amazon.  Also on Blu-ray.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Requiem for a Dream (2000):  Although there may be a few hallucination sequences, there’s nothing in the description of Requiem, a bleak and depressing story about drug addiction, that implies it’s truly weird (though, not having seen it yet, I could be wrong).  It’s mentioned here because it’s visionary director Darren Aronofsky‘s sophomore followup to the his (recently reviewed) weird debut Pi. With Ellen Burstyn, and Jennifer Connelly in a (reportedly) graphic and disturbing sex scene. 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.