As followers of this site know, we completed the list of the 366 Best Weird Movies last year.
And then we decided 366 movies were not enough to cover all the noteworthy strange films in cinema’s 100+ years, particularly considering the continual release of bizarre new features. So we announced that we would periodically be adding films to a supplemental list of 366 additional films, which we call Apocrypha (to distinguish them from the original “Canonical” weird entries).
We’re determining the next entrant onto the Apocrypha List through an elimination tournament of contestants nominated by you, the readers, last week.
We have seeded the twenty nominees you gave us according to their IMDB ratings (using number of votes as a tiebreaker). In order to narrow the field to an eventual sixteen, we have given the top twelve movies a pass into the second round. The top four seeds will face four movies from the following “play-in” group of the eight lowest rated movies. Then the tournament will proceed in single-elimination fashion according to your votes.
In this round, you may vote for up to four of the following films to advance. To help you make your decision, the hypertext links in the poll go either to our reviews, or to the IMDB page if we have not reviewed the film in question. You may vote once per day. Voting for this round closes at midnight on March 8.
FILM FESTIVALS – Keswick Film Festival (Keswick, UK, 2/29-3/1):
Keswick is an out-of-the-way festival, even for those in the U.K., and we’d never mention it—except that this year, they scored a real coup. Ken Russell‘s Dance of the Seven Veils (1970) was one of the director’s imaginary composer biopics, this time of Richard Strauss. It was broadcast once on the BBC then withdrawn after Mary Whitehouse launched a campaign complaining about its sex scenes. In a separate controversy, Strauss’ family, upset that Russell satirized the composer’s politics by depicting himn picnicking with Hitler, succeeded in having the film withdrawn on copyright grounds. The film just entered the public domain this month and will be legally screened (in unrestored form) for the first time in fifty years. Maybe it will get a restoration and show up on home video? More info here.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Two Taika Waititi projects: The Jojo Rabbit auteur is spending his Oscar nom cred on two longform projects with weird potential. First up is “The Auteur,” an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, as a miniseries for Showtime. It’s about a Hollywood director coming off a flop who takes a lot of drugs and enlists a serial killer to help revive his career, and it’s described as a “psychedelic slapstick gorefest.” Waititi will executive produce, co-write, and direct some episodes. Then, it’s off to Apple+ to co-write and direct the pilot for a miniseries adaptation of the Canonically Weird classic Time Bandits. Executive producer Terry Gilliam is onboard with the idea, saying “…after I saw Jojo Rabbit I thought, ‘Fantastic, couldn’t have chosen a better guy.’” Read more at IndieWire.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Can’t Kill This [AKA F*** You, Immortality] (2019): There’s little to go on with this one besides the trailer and plot synopsis: it’s a road trip mockumentary about two hippies who suspect that an old friend is immortal. The only review we found describes this indie as “over the top and wacky.” Only available on DVD or Blu-ray. Buy Can’t Kill This.
“The Maya Deren Collection”: The set contains essentially all of the avant-garde filmmaker’s output, including the Canonically Weird Meshes of the Afternoon. Kino’s set includes commentary tracks for the six major shorts, outtakes, and a 53-minute documentary. Buy “The Maya Deren Collection”.
“One Missed Call Trilogy”: The original One Missed Call (read our review), directed by Takashi Miike, had its weird moments; we have no idea about the two sequels, which were handed off to lesser directors. Arrow Academy releases all three in a Blu-ray set with their usual trove of special features. Buy “One Missed Call Trilogy“.
Spookies (1986): A sorcerer seeks to sacrifice the lives of some unfortunates who turn up on his doorstep. An 80s cult item that is in our reader-suggested review queue, now in a two Blu-ray set (!) from Vinegar Syndrome (who proclaim, “Of all of the bizarre horror films made in the 1980s, SPOOKIES easily ranks among the weirdest.”) Buy Spookies.
“Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman”: Czech artist Zeman’s wild fantasies mixed live action and animation and hugely influenced Terry Gilliam, among others. This Criterion Collection set includes his three most famous features—Journey to the Beginning of Time, Invention for Destruction, and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen—along with four shorts and numerous tributes and featurettes. Your choice of DVD or Blu-ray. Buy “Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman”.
Verotika (2019): A horror anthology sponsored by metalhead Glenn Danzig, inspired by his line of adult horror comics; the title is a portmanteau of “violent” and “erotica.” A couple of horror outlets hailed it as “insane,” while more mainstream critics called it unintentionally funny. Available for digital purchase only (at least, at present). Buy Verotika.
CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.
Best Movies To Watch Stoned: Our own Pete Trbovich, calling himself “a professional stoner critic,” penned this thoughtful guide for DabConnection.com. Spoiler: every one of his top nine choices was also a Canonically Weird selection… but which ones did he pick? WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
Next week, we’ll have the field set for our mini March Mad Movie Madness tournament (courtesy of this contest, which you can still enter until midnight tomorrow). We’ll also bring you reviews of Sion Sono‘s rap musical Tokyo Tribe and Netflix’s new schizophrenia drama Horse Girl. Until then, 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.
A recap, in case you haven’t been here in over a year: last year we completed the official List of the 366 Canonically Weird Movies. Rather than shutting down, we began a second list of 366 Apocryphally Weird Movies, to catch the runners-up and the new movies that will inevitably be made after the List closed. Your input and suggestions are now desired—and maybe you can win a prize in the bargain.
Here’s how this round works. Just nominate a movie not currently on the list for Apocryphally Weird status 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.
We’ll take nominations and contest entries up until February 29 (Leap Day—the weirdest day of the year). We’ll gather all the nominees and create a tournament bracket from them, for our irregularly held March Mad Movie Madness competition. The winner of that contest will be officially named as Apocrypha.
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. Due to the adult nature of the prize, you must be over 18 years of age to enter. To receive the Blu-ray, 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 to win the prize, but may nominate a movie for the competition. We’ll stop accepting entries this Saturday, Feb. 29, 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.
As for the prize: It’s a fresh Blu-ray copy of the newly-released nihilist teen drama We (2018). Film International says “We holds viewers’ attention” but goes on to warn “Sometimes, however, it is hard to watch.” The box cover explains, “During one hot summer, a group of suburban teens hang out and play increasingly depraved games to break the listless monotony. Their descent from innocence to ruthless predators involve arson, prostitution, pornography, assault and blackmail. This controversial and explicit coming-of-age tale is imbued with sex, nihilism and amorality and is reminiscent of the films of Hamony Korine, Larry Clark and Lars von Trier.” Contains explicit scenes. (Note: the cover to the right is the safe-for-work version; the Blu-ray the winner actually receives features rear nudity. You can see it and read more about the film at distributor Artsploitation Films’ slightly NSFW We page).
366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.
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:
Je t’aime moi non plus (1976): A truck stop waitress (Jane Birkin) falls in love with a gay garbage truck driver (Joe Dallesandro) and convinces him to sleep with her—but there’s a catch. Directed by musician Serge Gainsbourg, who put out an album of the same title. Out on Blu-ray or DVD from Kino Classics with a commentary track and interviews. Buy Je t’aime moi non plus.
Teorema (1968): Read the Canonically Weird review! Pier Paolo Pasolini‘s chilly, ambiguous fable about a mysterious stranger who sleeps with, and destroys, a bourgeois family is now in the Criterion Collection, your choice of Blu-ray or DVD. Buy Teorema.
CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week, Giles Edwards gets to The Point (1971) (the reader-suggested TV feature cartoon dreamt up by Harry Nillson during an acid trip) and G. Smalley looks into the Disappearance at Clifton Hill (2020). We’re thinking of throwing a new contest/poll in there as well; check in for that. 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.
366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.
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):
Impossible Monsters (2019): A sleep-study participant is murdered; is it a literal nightmare? Another “blurring the line between dreams and reality” psychothriller. Impossible Monsters official site.
FILM FESTIVALS – South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) (Austin, TX, Mar. 13-22):
If you can’t get your indie film into Sundance, the massive SXSW festival in Austin, Texas is your next best bet. With the continued mainstreaming of Sundance, and the increasingly homogenized “indie” product spotlighted there, if your movie’s a bit on the weirder side, SWSX may even be a better fit. Among this year’s offerings are the surreal St. Vincent mockumentary The Nowhere Inn, a holdover from Sundance. Here are some newbies we’ll look out for down the road:
Nine Days – A man pits spirits in a competition; the winner will be born into our world. This debuted at Sundance, but the brief synopsis gave little hint it might be weird; subsequent reviews have raised our expectations a tad.
PG (Psycho Goreman) – Kids use a magical amulet to control an alien bent on destroying the world. Competing in the “Midnighters” category.
The Show – Highly anticipated (by us) story of a parallel fantasy world existing alongside the mundane British town of Northampton, scripted by Alan (Watchmen) Moore.
Witch Hunt – A teenager helps smuggle two witches into Mexico in an alternate reality where witchcraft is real (and banned in the USA).
Listen, Little Man[Čuj mali čoveče] (2020): We can’t really make heads or tails of Marko Žunić‘s underground feature from the trailer; you try. The movie is completed and has played at least once in its native Serbia; it’s seeking festival bookings as we speak. Keep your eyes open.
Heartbeeps (1981): Robot Andy Kaufman falls in love with robot Bernadette Peters. Somehow, this family-friendly comedy ended up in our reader-suggested review queue, and on Blu-ray. Buy Heartbeeps.
In Fabric (2018): Peter Strickland‘s latest is a surreal horror about a haunted dress. On Blu-ray only. Buy In Fabric.
The Point (1971): An oblong-headed boy is ostracized in a community where everyone has pointed heads. Singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson supposedly came up with the idea for this children’s special while tripping on acid. It’s been in our reader-suggested queue, and now it’s on Blu-ray with a bunch of featurettes. Buy The Point.
Suburban Birds [Jiao qu de niao] (2018): An engineer investigating a sinkhole discovers a diary what seems to contain prophecies about his own life. A 5.7 on IMDB and 81% positive on Rotten Tomatoes; that’s the kind of spread that suggests a movie is either really boring, or really weird (or both). Buy Suburban Birds.
Terror Firmer (1999): A low-budget film crew is picked off by a serial killer; Lloyd Kaufman directs and casts himself as the director. This 20th anniversary Blu-ray includes a couple documentaries (including one of feature-length) you won’t get if you stream the thing. Buy Terror Firmer.
The Wave (2019): Read our review. This tale of an insurance lawyer taking a mysterious and powerful psychedelic rolls out on Blu-ray and VOD this week. Buy The Wave.
CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Happy Valentine’s Day to you! We don’t have a holiday-themed post for you, but if you don’t mind something recycled you can always re-read this one. We love you that much!
We’ll have three more reviews next week, as Pete Trbovich will weigh in on Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, Giles Edwards looks at the low-budget Malaysian feature Shadowplay, and G. Smalley describes the black comedy The Death of Dick Long. That should help you get through the late winter; don’t worry, spring is coming. 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!
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As for the prize: It’s a fresh Blu-ray copy of the newly-released nihilist teen drama We (2018).