Now that we’ve Certified 242 of an eventual 366 movies as Weird, we’re now officially almost two-thirds through the List of the Best Weird Movies ever made (basic arithmetic tells us we’ll hit this landmark with entry #244). We’re passed the point of no return and are on the downhill slope. We’d like you, the loyal (and even the not-so-loyal) readers to chose the movies to celebrate this upcoming milestone.
As observant readers notice, some movies make the List on a first screening, while we nominate others as “List Candidates.” Sometimes these films are lovable classics with powerful imagery, but they’re only a little bit weird. Sometimes they’re amazingly bizarre, but utter crap. Sometimes the reviewer was in a bad mood when they screened it and didn’t give it a fair chance. And, although we’d never admit it, sometimes a movie was good enough to make the List on the first ballot, but we were too busy to write up a full Certified Entry that week and dashed off a List Candidate review instead. The end result is that any of the films listed below could have been placed on the List of the 366 Best Weird Movies, but we chickened out and made each of them “List Candidates” instead.
Although these movies arrived at this point by different routes, they’re all in the same boat now. They all need your help to ensure their rightful spot on the List! You can vote two films to be placed onto the List of the 366 Best Weird Movies of All Time: one candidate from Group A (movies up to 1990) and one from Group B (1991 to present). You can vote once per day, and we’ll leave the poll up for two weeks. Voting closes at midnight (EST) on July 20, 2016.
Movies that are not easily available on DVD at the present time are generally not listed in this poll as we keep our fingers crossed for an eventual release.
Comments are encouraged: maybe you can sway others to vote for your favorite?
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 at the official site links.
SCREENINGS – (Los Angeles, Cinefamily, 7/2-3, 6):
The Devils (1971): Yep, Cinefamily is getting the most out of their 35mm print of Ken Russell‘s hysterical study of Satanic sexual frenzy in the nunneries of 17th-century France while they still have it, with another four screenings this week. Also on tap in the “All of Them Witches” series: Dario Argento‘s witchy and irrational Suspiriasequel, Inferno, tonight at 10:00 PM PST, with stars Leigh McCloskey and Irene Miracle in attendance. “All of Them Witches” at Cinefamily.
SCREENINGS – (New York City, Lincoln Center, 7/2):
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974): Warren Oates plays a drunken piano player who collects a bounty on Señor Garcia, then drives through the Mexican desert with the bloody head in the passenger’s seat beside him in Sam Peckinpah’s strangest film. Part of an Oates retrospective (you might also want to check out Two-Lane Blacktop and, if you have a strong stomach for actual cockfighting footage, the surprisingly affecting Cockfighter). “Warren Oates: Hired Hand” at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
SCREENINGS – (Silver Springs, MD, AFI Silver Theater, 7/4):
Pierrot le Fou (1965): Read the Certified Weird entry! When the programmers at the American Film Institute’s east coast outpost heard that Jean-Luc Godard‘s cooly fractured road movie was recently named one of the 366 best weird movies of all time, they had to get it up on the big screen as quickly as possible. What better way to celebrate July 4 than with a French New Wave movie? Pierrot le Fou at AFI Silver Theater.
NEW ON DVD:
Francofonia (2015): A jumble of documentary footage, historical re-enactments, and fantasy sequences centered around the Nazis aborted attempts to loot the Louvre during WWII. Aleksandr Sokurov‘s spiritual successor to his Hermitage opus, Russian Ark. Buy Francofonia.
Really Weird Tales (1987): A comic anthology parodying “Twilight Zone”-type TV shows: a lounge performer meets a girlie-magazine publisher, aliens mix with real-estate hucksters, and a woman is cursed so that everyone she loves explodes. From SCTV veterans (it stars Joe Flaherty, Martin Short, John Candy and Catherie O’Hara), this was originally a made-for-HBO movie. Buy Really Weird Tales.
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 at the official site links.
Lots of strange happenings this week!
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
The Neon Demon (2016): An aspiring model (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles and is menaced by a cabal of mysterious women. Nicolas Winding Refn‘s allegorical horror tale is one of our most anticipated films of the year, and so far it’s divided critics right down the middle. The Neon Demon official site.
Swiss Army Man (2016): Stranded on a desert island, a man makes friends with a dead body that washes ashore, using it to survive and to make his way home. A surprise sensation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the “farting corpse” movie came out of nowhere to be one of the most talked about films (if not the most acclaimed). Swiss Army Man official site.
Suspiria (1977): Read the Certified Weird entry! The Cinefamily caps off its month-long “All of Them Witches” series with Dario Argento‘s eye-popping occult classic. If you miss it at the witching hour tonight, you can still catch it Saturday, Sunday or Tuesday. Suspiria at Cinefamily.
SCREENINGS – (Silver Springs, MD, AFI Silver Theater, 6/27-28):
FILM FESTIVALS – New York Asian Film Festival (New York City, June 22 – July 9):
Now in its 15th year, the NYAFF (hosted by Lincoln Center) seems to get high quality Asian movies overlooked by other festivals. It doesn’t hurt that this year’s fest is anchored by a couple of Certified Weird revival screenings: 1989’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man (this Saturday, June 25) followed by Tekkonkinkreet (a June 26th screening commemorating the anime’s 10th anniversary).
Alone – A Korean photographer becomes lost in a mental labyrinth when he keeps blacking out and awakening in a different spot. Screens July 6.
Creepy – Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s latest is a return to his horror roots, as a detective comes out of retirement to investigate a cold case and finds an irrational world instead. June 29.
Hentai Kamen 2: The Abnormal Crisis – The sequel to the reader-suggested movie we still haven’t reviewed about a superhero who gets his powers from wearing women’s panties. Catch it July 6.
The Mermaid – A mermaid assassin is sent to kill a businessman whose dolphin-killing sonar is massacring her people in Stephen Chow‘s latest weird comedy. July 2.
The Tenants Downstairs – A devilish landlord spies on his perverted tenants in this extreme Taiwanese film. International premiere July 9 (it’s the closing film).
Too Young to Die! – A high school metalhead finds himself in Buddhist hell after a bus crash. Screens July 1 & 9.
About Endlessness (est 20??): Post “living” trilogy, 366-fave Roy Andersson has secured funding for a new feature film (apparently retitled from the working title “1001 Nights”). This one will involve stories from India and the Middle East and a Scheherazade-style framing device, which should allow Andersson to continue his favored sketch format. Read the footnote at Screen Daily and an older article at Cinema Scandinavia.
IN DEVELOPMENT (completed):
Atmo HorrorX (2016): It’s hard to tell exactly what happens here, but it looks like the movie follows an assassin creature through a future world run by pharmaceutical companies. Director Pat Tremblay promises that “[t]he movie is a VERY weird one, it’s kind of a psychedelic horror b-movie inside an experimental satire and then wrapped into a cryptic mystery thriller…” Chances are pretty good we’ll review it. Atmo HorrorX official site.
Fantastic Planet (1973): Read the Certified Weird entry! An outfit called Accent Cinema released a wonderful DVD of René Laloux and Roland Topor’s psychedelic science fiction allegory in 2007, but it went out of print; the Criterion Collection to the rescue! Buy Fantastic Planet [Criterion Collection].
Human Highway (1982): The owner of a roadside diner built next to a nuclear power plant tries to torch the place for the insurance money. This bizarre comic vanity project from singer Neil Young co-stars members of Devo (who sing a version of Young’s “Out of the Blue, Into the Black”) and debuts on DVD in a director’s cut that’s different than the old VHS tapes that were kicking around. Buy Human Highway.
Knight of Cups (2016): Impressionistic survey of a hedonistic writer searching for meaning in the modern world. The six main sections of Terrence Malick‘s latest mystical drama are named after Tarot cards, so study up on your symbolism. Buy Knight of Cups.
Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision of Paradise (2015): “Fairytale documentary” about the legendary and eccentric Rastafarian music producer, with animation sequences depicting Scratch as a superhero fighting evil. Perry is the Sun Ra of reggae, and he “conquer[s] all the vampires.” Buy Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision of Paradise.
Shark Exorcist (2015): A priest must exorcise a great white shark who’s possessed by Satan. Just when we think the shark spoof cycle has, er, “jumped the shark,” they pull us back in with a new gimmick. Buy Shark Exorcist.
Fantastic Planet (1973): See description in DVD above. The Criterion release ports over most of the special features from the Accent Cinema release, and adds a second short cartoon (1965’s Les temps morts) and a few additional interviews. Buy Fantastic Planet [Blu-ray].
Lady in White (1988): A young boy witnesses the ghostly recreation of a murder, and the victim enlists him to help bring her killer to justice. Atmospheric (some say “surreal”) horror with a small following. Buy Lady in White [Blu-ray].
NEPOTISM CORNER:
“See Hear Podcast episode 29 – Catch My Soul”: “El” Rob Hubbard guests on this podcast about music in film. This episode’s topic, as you might have guessed, is the obscure “Othello” rock opera Catch My Soul (reviewed here). 366 gets name-checked, and Rob does a great job as the guest expert, so if you have a passing interest in the film you’ll want to give this podcast a listen. Listen to the “See Hear Podcast episode 29 – Catch My Soul”
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.
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 at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Cosmos (2015): Andrzej Zulawski‘s first film in 15 years—and the last before his death in 2016—is a metaphysical farce about a law school flunkout vacationing in a strange house. Based on a novel by Witold Gombrowicz.
Tickled (2016): Investigating a “competitive tickling” video, a journalist finds himself harassed by cyberbullies. Reviewers have called this documentary “strange,” “offbeat,” and yes, “weird.” Tickled official site.
SCREENINGS – (Tribeca Screening Room, New York City, Jun. 17):
“In the Bight”: Ben Finer is offering a free screening of his latest 28-minute short, a moody, weird horror about two eight-year-olds who make macabre discoveries while playing in the woods. There are two screenings, at 7:00 and 8:00 PM, so you still have time to make a midnight movie (see below) afterwards. The screening room is at 375 Greenwich St. Tribeca Film Center.
SCREENINGS – (Nitehawk Cinema, New York City, Jun. 17-18):
Cemetery of Splendor (2015): A medium helps a woman explore the troubled dreams of a soldier with sleeping sickness in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s latest mystical drama. Anxiously awaited by “Joe”‘s fans, this release contains behind-the-scenes footage and deleted scenes. Buy Cemetery of Splendor.
“Nikkatsu Diamond Guys: Vol. 2”: A collection of obscure yakuza comedies produced by Nikkatsu in the early 1960s: Tokyo Mighty Guy, Danger Paws and Murder Unincorporated. Unincorporated is the one that caught our attention: from what we can gather from the few fans who caught it, it features assassins named “Joe of Spades” and “Al Capone III” (who uses an exploding slingshot) and features bizarrely-staged killings Seijun Suzuki might have approved of. Buy “Nikkatsu Diamond Guys: Vol. 2”.
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.
SCREENINGS – (IFC Center, New York City, Jun 10 & 11 at midnight):
El Topo (1970): Read the Certified Weird entry! IFC has already screened their restored print of Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s surreal Biblical spaghetti western a couple of times this summer; this could be your only chance to see this weird classic on the big screen. El Topo at IFC Center.
SCREENINGS – (Cinefamily, Los Angeles, CA, Jun 11, 13-14):
The Devils (1971): Due to a new print in circulation, screenings of Ken Russell‘s hysterical arthouse nunsploitation classic no longer qualify as “rare.” But the question remains: where the hell is the DVD/Blu-ray? The Devils at Cinefamily.
Dead 7 (2016): In a post-apocalyptic world, a cowboy, a samurai, a mime, and four others team up to fight zombies. In one of the Sharknado producers trademark gimmicks, the SyFy channel hired ex-members of the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and other boy bands to play the heroes. Buy Dead 7.
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953): Read the Certified Weird entry! Dress us up in bock beer suds! It’s fantabulous to see Dr. Seuss’s surreal musical finally on Blu-ray—we do wish it was in an elaborate Criterion edition rather than this bare-bones Mill Creek release, but beggars can’t be choosers. Buy The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T [Blu-ray].
Jacob’s Ladder (1990): Read the Certified Weird entry! Among major studios, Paramount has become the standard-bearer for free online content; now they’ve put up the Certified Weird psychological thriller about a Vietnam vet seeing demons (and worse) on the streets of New York. Watch Jacob’s Ladder free on YouTube.
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.
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!
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