2012 is drawing to a close faster than we realize, and it’s time to look for this year’s overlooked weird gems. To that end, next week we’ll be taking a taste of the luscious Chicken with Plums (the live-action romantic fantasy from the makers of Persepolis); investigating Nobody Else But You, the French mystery about a dead cheese model who believed herself to be the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe; and we’ll take a trip In the Realms of the Unreal, the documentary about outsider artist (and definite weirdo) Henry Darger and his fantasy world where little girl warriors battle evil adult slavers. Alfred will actually look ahead to 2013 as he gives us more inside info on the creation of the upcoming Creeporia. Oh, and on Thursday, we’re going to try and fit in some turkey and football as well… just saying.
Weird search terms used to locate the site this week were more quantity than quality, but at least we have lots of candidates to pick from in our weekly quest to isolate the Weirdest Search Term of the Week. We strongly considered making “super despondent japanese nurses sucking part1” our weirdest search term of the week, but we disqualified the query when we discovered there actually is a video by this exact name (obviously it’s a highly adult material, so don’t search for it—you’ll probably just end up back here, anyway). If super despondent Japanese nurse porn is out there, then you have to feel for the guy asking “where’s the snake midget porn”? Speaking of questions that confound even Google, we can think of no possible advice for the person asking “wherees fur mat thing? lounge on it naked facedown?” Our official Weirdest Search Term of the Week, however, is the ambiguous “wordpress putting a table above midgets.” Are they saying that content management system WordPress values tables more than midgets, or that if you try to insert a midget into your WordPress blog, it automatically inserts a table above it?
Here’s how the ridiculously-long-and-ever-growing reader-suggested review queue now stands: The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; Liquid Sky (re-review); Society; Final Programme; “Foutaises”; Bloodsucking Freaks; Lost Highway; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (official review); Dogville; Julien Donkey-boy; Amelie; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao; 1; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Tokyo Gore Police; At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul; The Trial [Le procès] (1962); Marquis; Hell Comes to Frogtown; Seom [The Isle]; Allegro Non Troppo; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Lust in the Dust; Celine and Julie Go Boating; “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life;” The Magic Christian; Black Cat, White Cat; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Abnormal: The Sinema of Nick Zedd; Robot Monster; Nightdreams; 3 Women; “To Oblivion”; Rubin & Ed; Teeth; Vera; Weirdsville; Prospero’s Books; Inferno; Garden State; Persona; The Real McCoy; Rat Pfink a Boo Boo; Themroc; Candy (1968); Run Lola Run; Pink Flamingos; Buffalo ’66; Northfork; Weekend; The Room; Glen or Glenda?; Night of the Hunter; The Fox Family; Midnight Skater; Angelus; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; Twister (1989); Yokai Monsters, Vol. 1: Spook Warfare [AKA Big Monster War]; Britannia Hospital; This Filthy Earth; Conspirators of Pleasure; Piano Tuner of Earthquakes; Clean, Shaven; Bubba Ho-Tep; Sheitan; Innocence; “Chingsao the Clown”; Léolo; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Blue Velvet; ID (2005); Master of the Flying Guillotine; Yesterday Was a Lie; The Ninth Configuration; Love Me If You Dare; Forbidden Zone; The Cell; My Dinner with Andre; The Illustrated Man; Fando y Lis; Rampo Noir; Head; Christmas on Mars; “Broken Glass”; Videodrome; Air Doll; The Ossuary and Other Tales; Arrebato; Symbol; Wicked City (1992 live action); Picnic at Hanging Rock; The Cars that Ate Paris; The Boxer’s Omen [aka Mo]; Portrait of Jennie; Salo, the 120 Days of Sodom; The Last Sunset (1961); Orpheus (1950); A Scanner Darkly; Safe; The Atrocity Exhibition; Slacker; Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell; Color of Pomegranates; Horror Express; Noroi; Cutie Honey; The Shape of Things; On the Silver Globe; Monty Python and the Holy Grail; 2012 Aficionado DVD Zine Issue #0; The Last Days of Planet Earth; “Charleston Parade”; Tales from the Quadead Zone; A Snake of June; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; The Neverending Story; Cat Soup; Jack and the Beanstalk (1974, Japan); Drowning by Numbers; Fudge 44; From Beyond; The Saragossa Manuscript; The Drifting Classroom; Brain Dead; Uncle Meat; Meet the Hollowheads; Nuit Noire; Screamplay; Grendel Grendel Grendel; Eyes Wide Shut; Twilight of the Cockroaches; The Ruling Class; Indecent Desires; Daughter of Horror [AKA Dementia]; The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie; Daisies; Beauty and the Beast [Panna a Netvor] (1978); Parents; Dark City; Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters; 1 Day; The Doom Generation; Black Devil Doll; Multiple Maniacs; Phantasm IV; and Vermilion Souls (2007) (depending on availability); Lovers on the Bridge; No Smoking (2007); Reflections of Evil; The War Zone; Gahjini; Natural Born Killers; The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb; One Eyed Monster; Reflections of Evil; Natural Born Killers; The Fountain; Save the Green Planet; Crimewave (d. Sam Raimi); Wool 100%; Murder Party; The Annunciation (1984); Funeral Parade of Roses; Stroszek; Bad Taste; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Audition; The Fall; Me and You and Everyone We Know; Visitor of a Museum [Posetitel muzeya]; “Serial Experiments: Lain” (TV show); Darc Arc; Russian Ark; Genius Party; Watership Down; Tampopo; Goodbye Uncle Tom; The Idiots; Repo Man; Der Todersking [The Death King]; Titicut Follies; Mr. Nobody; The Shout; “Premium” (depending on availability); Sleepaway Camp; The Pit (1981); Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams; The Falls; Spermula; Killer Condom; The Godmonster of Indian Flats; Perfect Blue; I Am Here Now; Sir Henry at Rawlinson End; The Bothersome Man; Moebius; Skeletons; Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song; The Brave Little Toaster; The Adventures of Picasso; Charly: Dias de Sangre (depending on availability); Meet the Feebles; The Adventures of Mark Twain; Tourist Trap (1979); Thundercrack!; SLC Punk; Anguish (1987); Buddy Boy (1999); Bliss (1986); La cicatrice intérieure; Avida (2006); Brain Damage; Amazon Women on the Moon; Chronopolis; Blue (1993); Metropia; Zachariah; Labyrinth; Battle in Heaven; The Taste of Tea; Evil Ed; I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse; Cafe Flesh; Buffet Froid; Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam [AKA Turkish Star Wars]; The Signal; “Alma” (short); The Double Life of Veronique; “Chick”, Felidae; Spirited Away; Decasia (2002); Killdozer; I (heart) Huckabees; Electric Dragon 80,000 V; Santa Claus (1959); Strange Circus; Mad Detective; Wild at Heart; Revolver; The Tenant; A Zed and Two Noughts; Litan (1982) (depending on availability); Dark Waters; La Razon de Mi Vida (pending English language DVD release); The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea; Bernie (1996) ( depending on availability); The Ruling Class; Tank Girl; Things (1989); Hair Extensions; Haggard; Svidd neger (depending on availability); RoboGeisha; Schramm; Executive Koala; Coonskin; Time Masters; Hard Candy; Waiting for Godot (2001); Crash (1996); La Dolce Vita; La Cravate; Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (depending on availability); Last Year in Marienbad; Alphaville; Savages; Big River Man; This Must Be the Place; Heart of Glass; Little Deaths; Akira; L’Ange; La Teta y La Luna; Finisterrae; L’Âge d’or; Breakfast of Champions; Heavenly Creatures; Vase de Noces; Lucky; Ichi the Killer; La antena; Mystics in Bali; Feherlofia; Versus; Birth of the Overfiend; A Dog Called Pain; The Bed Sitting Room; Memento Mori; That Deadwood Feeling; Happiness; Let the Right One In; Porcile [AKA Pigpen]; Lisa and the Devil; Django, Kill!; Underground; Caligula; Hotel (2004); Hardgore; Survive Style 5+; Fantasia; Philosophy of a Knife; The Last Movie; Lord Love a Duck; Amarcord; The Swimmer (official re-review); I Married a Strange Person; Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale; The Canadian Films of Paul Driessen; And The Ship Sails On; Mondo Trasho; Teorema; Marat/Sade; Darjeeling Limited; Casino Royale; The Phantom of Liberty; Space Thang; Drunken Wu Tang; Insidious (2010); The Earl Sessions (2011); Sitcom; They Came Back, Prometheus’ Garden, “Harpya”; Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power; Dumplings; Return to Oz; “Star Maidens”; “The Mighty Boosh”; The Element of Crime; Lo; Roller Blade; “The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes”; Mind Game (2004); Down and Dirty Duck; Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure; The Tin Drum; Dante’s Inferno; Bad Timing (AKA Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession); Troll 2; Calamari Wrestler; Death Powder (1986); Big Man Japan (official review); Angel in the Flesh: The Confidential Report on Mr. Dennis Duggan aka The King of Super 8 (if it’s released; the director says it might be); Static; “The Big Shave”; Incubus; W.R.-Mysteries of the Organism; Marebito; The Appointment (1981); “The Big Shave,” Pierrot Le Fou; and The Cement Garden; Visions of Suffering; Singapore Sling (re-review); Koyaanisqatsi; In the Mouth of Madness; Uzumaki [AKA Spiral] (official re-review); The Exterminating Angel; All That Jazz; Hanger (2009); “Analog”; Daymaker; Nails; Monobloc (2005); Big Time; “Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions”; Vakvagany; Momo (1986); Organ; Dance with the Devil; Frankestein Meets the Space Monster; “Alicia”; Space Is the Place (official review); Killer Nun; The Beyond; The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz; Ascension; Mind Last Life in the Universe; Street Trash; Brick; Rubber (official re-review); Wax, or The Discovery of Television Among the Bees; Bliss (1985); Creatures of Destiny; Strange Circus; Goodbye 20th Century; Conspirators of Pleasure; Holy Motors, Boxing Helena; Chappaqua; The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai; Man Facing Southeast; Night Across the Street; City of Pirates; Pink Narcissus; 11:14; Teknolust; Dark Side of the Heart; Period Piece; “One Soldier”; Thriller: A Cruel Picture; Phantom of the Paradise; The Million Dollar Hotel; Killer Joe, Peeping Tom; Diamond Flash; Green Snake; The 10th Victim, City of Women, and Anatomy of Hell.
You know, I think this weeks search terms may be telling a story. The first searcher pointed out that you can find porn with super despondent nurses in Japan. Then the second searcher quite reasonably responded “Yes okay, but what about snake midget porn where can you find that?”. And the winner was trying to help out by posting some pornographic snake midgets on his blog but this content was automatically censored by WordPress through covering it with a table. I’m not quite sure where the fur mat thing fits in though.
I’m not telling you how to run your website or anything, but I can’t help noticing that you have this insanely huge list of movies that you feel you ought to review at some point, and a forum that basically contains nothing at all except the “What was that film I once saw that I enjoyed so much I’ve forgotten absolutely everything about it except I think the guy who stabbed the women had a hat on?” thread, which is dominated by impossibly vague questions posed by people most of whom will never come back, and therefore of limited interest to the serious film buff.
Here’s a thought. Every film on the above list becomes an empty forum topic waiting to be filled. Anyone who has anything to say for or against including that film can conveniently say it there. If there seems to be support for a particular movie, or, even better, it generates controversy, then you have an incentive to put that one on your shortlist.
If, on the other hand, nobody seems to give a fig about a certain film except that one guy who once spent a few seconds typing a suggestion and quite possibly never visited this site again, why should you trouble yourself to find a copy, watch it even if you’re not sure you want to, and then write a long essay explaining why you hated it? And a nice simple little like/dislike button for each movie might tell you rather a lot.
Seriously, I’ve just looked at your forum. You have 4,027 members, but your most popular topic has 23 replies and has been viewed a whopping 63 times! People must be taking a quick look at the topics and deciding there’s nothing there worth bothering with. Now, if you had a nice big bit of the forum inviting comments on all those films you haven’t reviewed yet (ideally presented in alphabetical order for a change), plus a fairly prominent notice on the homepage pointing out that this site now has a forum and you’d value everybody’s considered opinions on all those movies you haven’t looked at yet – well, it might save you a bit of time, and also save you from having to watch Tokyo Poop Fungus Eats Despondent Nurse’s Face just because a complete stranger was kind enough to mention it. (I’m fairly sure there’s no such film, but I’m afraid to look it up in case there is.)
Hey, it’s a movie site and it’s got a forum. It’s kind of ironic that the only part of the forum that in any way encourages people to talk about films is aimed at people who don’t have the faintest idea which film they’re talking about.
I also quite like the idea of having a place for us to discuss movies on the review queue. Perhaps just opening a new subforum with an opening post explaining that it is for discussing whether movies on the review queue are to be considered weird would be enough. Then forum members could start threads for movies they have seen and write arguments in favour or against their status as weird movies. This would give us a source of information on movies that are yet to reviewed and could perhaps be used to up- or down- prioritise movies on the queue as well, or maybe even remove something from the queue altogether if there are many voices saying it is not weird and no one rises to it’s defence.
Thanks Orloff and Dreamer, I appreciate the comments and suggestions. First, I need to explain that 4,000+ people haven’t signed up separately for the forums. Anyone who has registered on the site is automatically enrolled in the forums, so the 4,000 figure includes lots of people who signed up for the site before the forum even existed.
I’d love for more people to utilize the forum to discuss movies. I like your ideas, but why don’t you just start the topics you’d like to discuss there? There are a few things I can do to promote them, but basically the only way people will start using the forums is if people start using the forums.
Also don’t forget that you can always review a movie in the queue yourself as a Reader Recommendation!
Sure, we could start discussing movies in the review queue in the “General Discussion” section of the forum (I assume that’s what you meant?). I just feel like it might be worth having a separate “Discuss a Weird Movie” (or something like that) section just like there is a “What Was That Weird Movie?” section. It would somehow give discussing movies in the forum the same status as asking about unknown movies and I feel like it would encourage discussion of movies in a way that just having a “General Disussion” section apart from the “What Was That Weird Movie?” section doesn’t.