Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
It was a strangely barren week, with nothing of serious surreal interest coming out in theaters or on DVD/Blu-ray. Hopefully this is just the calm before the big weird storm… but here’s what we did find going on this week.
SCREENINGS – (Cinefamily, Los Angeles, Fri. Mar. 18-20):
Repo Man (1984): Read the Certified Weird entry! Alex Cox‘s unclassifiable punk/sci-fi/comedy about L.A. car repossessors is one of the lynchpins of Cinefamily’s “Underground USA: Independent Cinema of the 80s” series. Cox himself will be in attendance at tonight’s 10:30 PM showing. Also playing in this series: 1980’s ultraweird 6th dimension fantasy Forbidden Zone (with director Richard Elfman on hand) on Saturday at 10PM. Then, for Sunday afternoon’s “hangover matinee” they’ll be showing no less weird a film than Mulholland Drive! Once again, we wish we lived in Los Angeles… though we wouldn’t get much done on the weekends. “Underground USA: Independent Cinema of the 80s” series at Cinefamily.
YOU LINK US! YOU REALLY LINK US!:
TV Tropes: TV Tropes becomes the largest site to recognize our existence with a dedicated entry (although they did write the name out as “Three Hundred Sixty Six Weird Movies,” for some reason, but hey, who’s complaining?) Now we just need to get Wikipedia on the ball. “Three Hundred Sixty Six Weird Movies” entry at TV Tropes.
366 Weird Movies has no advertising budget, and sucks at self-promotion. We rely on word of mouth to get visitors (and dare we say, fans?) And what’s the best way to get free exposure on the Internet?
An “Internet meme,” of course. (You’ve seen these things, right?)
In fact, the Certified Weird standard bearer Willy Wonka already has his own meme:
It seems like characters from other Certified Weird movies should be able to crawl their way across the Web. So we’re making that the basis of our giveaway contest: develop your own meme, which will then take the Internet by storm, resulting (somehow) in great riches for all of us (or, at least, a Blu-ray set for you). Here are the three 366-branded “image macros” we believe would make good viral candidates:
Notice that the “image macro meme” always has a form and a concept. In the “Willy Wonka” example, the format is: a question at the top of the image, followed by an answer implying hypocrisy or lack of depth on the bottom. (Other “memes” you may have seen have other formal concepts, such as “Conspiracy Keanu“‘s “what if…” structure). The contest winner won’t merely stamp a picture with a funny statement, they will develop their own concept around the chosen image that will allow others to create their own variations on the “meme.” Also, note that you don’t have to use both the top and bottom text areas. They can also be about anything; you don’t have to make the meme center around 366 or weird movies. Creativity (especially weird creativity) will win the contest.
Here’s an example of what a contest entry might look like (remember, develop your own concept!):
Use memegenerator.com to make these. Click on the image you’d like to use above, or follow these links:
Enter your own text. I recommend ticking the box that says “upload to imgur,” then taking the link from there and pasting it in the comments here as your submission. (We’re not going to walk you through how to do all this; that’s part of the contest). The winner will be chosen at the sole discretion of the Staff. Thinking outside the box and/or demonstrating an ability to actually propagate the meme in the wild will score you extra points. Bribery has also been known to work. Contestants should limit themselves to one entry per image macro (although you could show us multiple examples of the macro in practice, if you like). Remember to post a link to the result in the comments section.
Oh yes, and about the prize. “Sex, Murder, Art” is a four-disc Blu-ray (plus two soundtrack CD) set comprising the main work of transgressive provocateur Jörg Buttgereit, to be released this April. The films include Nekromantik, Nekromantik 2, Der Todesking, and the newly-released 1993 serial killer atrocity Schramm. The collection comes with tons of extra features and a 40-page booklet. More details at Cult Epics’ NSFW website.
Contest closes at Midnight, April 11. Winner must be 18 years of age and provide a mailing address within the U.S. or Canada for delivery of the prize. Employees of 366 Weird Movies and its affiliates are not eligible for this contest, but since 366 Weird Movies has no employees or affiliates, the impact of this disclaimer is minimal.
Editors note: Richard Baxstrom, co-author (along with Todd Meyers) of “Realizing the Witch: Science, Cinema, and the Mastery of the Invisible”, contacted us with a request that we add the recently included book to the bibliography on our Häxan [Witchcraft Through the Ages] Certified Weird entry. He also included some thoughts on the book and why this academic work would be of interest to readers of this site. His commentary was long and detailed enough that we thought it merited its own post. Neither 366 Weird Movies nor Mr. Baxtrom were paid for this article; we simply thought it was an unusual situation which might be of interest to our readers.
Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 film Häxan certainly qualifies as one of the strangest films ever made. This is the power the film possesses, and it caught Todd Meyers and me in its spell from the first time we encountered it. And this is what compelled us to write a book about it. We begin our book Realizing the Witch this way:
The Wild Ride. The Sabbat. Child sacrifice. Diseases, ruin and torture. The old hag. The kleptomaniac. The modern hysteric. Benjamin Christensen took the threads of phantasm and wove them into a film thesis that would not talk about witches, but would give the witch life. Häxan is a document, an amplified account of the witch insistent on its historical and anthropological qualities, presented through excesses so great that they toyed with his audience’s skepticism as much as their sensitivity. Christensen created an artistic work filled with irrationalities that not only made the witch plausible, but real.
Yes, you read that correctly—we argue that Benjamin Christensen shows us how the witch was real for sixteenth century Europeans. Our book is ultimately an attempt to understand how this could possibly be so. Even more strangely, we assert without shame or irony that Häxan has a great deal to say about what we take to be real or true today. Christensen always insisted that Häxan was a non-fiction film. We take his assertion very seriously and it is only by giving one’s self over to the utterly excessive, outlandish weirdness of Christensen’s creation that his claim and our agreement with it makes any sense at all. Anyone who has truly seen Häxan will immediately understand what we mean by this – the reality of the dark power of the witch is made known to us through her excessiveness, her weirdness.
We wrote this book for scholars and for fans of the film alike. This is a tricky balance to achieve. Our solution was to go as far as we could with Christensen and Häxan, to embrace and immerse ourselves in the film’s weirdness and try to come back from this journey with our own expression of why “the weird” is powerful, important, and truthful in its own way. This seems to be entirely consistent with what we perceive 366 Weird Movies is seeking to do and we are quite happy to find Häxan presented in the company of so many other wonderful, weird, and important films.
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 – (IFC Center, New York City, Mar. 11-12):
El Topo (1970): Read the Certified Weird entry! The acidiest of all acid westerns, and the first notable Midnight Movie thanks to its legendary run at the Elgin, is back on the big screen once more. Worth a pilgrimage. El Topo at IFC center.
SCREENINGS – (Videology Bar & Cinema, Brooklyn, Mar. 11-12):
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010): Read the Certified Weird entry. The first time we watched this Playstation romantic slacker epic about a nerdy hipster bro fighting off seven evil exes for the hand of a sexy hipster chick, we were certain it was destined to be a cult film. Six years later, our prediction has come true. Also playing: Trent Scott Harris‘s documentary/satire hybrid The Beaver Trilogy, starring both Sean Penn and Crispin Glover as the same Olivia Newton John impersonator, at 7 PM. Make it a long night!Scott Pilgrim vs. the World at Videology Bar & Cinema.
FILM FESTIVALS – South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival (Austin, TX, Mar. 11-19):
If you can’t get your indie film into Sundance, the massive SXSW festival in Austin, Texas has become 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. (The Greasy Strangler, which is playing at both fests, is an exception). Here are some of this year’s weirder offerings:
The Alchemist’s Cookbook – Joel Potrykus is a director to keep an eye on, and this is an intriguing departure: another portrait of an anti-authority antihero, but this time in a supernatural horror context. Mar. 14 & 16.
collective:unconscious – five underground directors take turns interpreting each others’ dreams on Mar. 14 & 16.
Papagajka – a socially awkward parking attendant finds his life is being taken over by a mysterious stranger in this art house debut from a graduate of Bela Tarr‘s (literal) film school; screening Mar. 14 & 17.
Pee Wee’s Big Holiday – sure to be one of the fest’s most sought-after tickets, this is a chance for a lucky handful to see Pee Wee’s latest film on the big screen one day before it premieres on Netflix. Catch it if you can on Mar. 17.
Phantasm – a remastered print of the Certified Weird horror classic screens Mar 16.
Dickshark (2016): Bill Zebub calls this story about a penile-enhancement cream that turns the male member into a marine predator a work of “absurdism”—which, for some reason, he puts in quotes. Zebub’s movies always catch our eye, but we’d never actually pay to see if they’re as astoundingly stupid as they look. If you would, then buy Dickshark.
The Tribe (2014): A graphically violent and sexually explicit Ukrainian film, with no dialogue, about students at a school for the deaf who run a prostitution ring. No extra features are advertised. Buy The Tribe.
Howard the Duck (1986): This notorious George Lucas produced 80s kiddie fantasy bomb about a cigar-smoking duck from an alternate universe who winds up saving the world from evil aliens in Cleveland didn’t even get a DVD release until 2009, so this is a relatively quick Blu-ray debut. Judge for yourself whether it deserves its reputation as one of the worst big-budget pictures ever, or (as a very few contend) its an underacknowleged masterpiece. Buy Howard the Duck [Blu-ray].
Jane B. par Agnes V. (1988)/Kung Fu Master! (1988): Two from Agnes Varda: Jane B. is an experimental biography of model/actress/singer/muse Jane Birkin, who acts in several fantasy sequences that cast her as Jane (of Tarzan fame) and Joan (d’Arc). Kung Fu Master! (AKA Le Petit Amour) is slightly more conventional drama—Birkin plays an older woman who embarks on an affair with a 14-year old boy. Buy Jane B. par Agnes V./Kung-fu Master [Blu-ray].
Xanadu (1980): A Greek muse convinces an elderly Gene Kelly to open a nightclub. A stunningly cheesy mixture of classical allusions and roller disco. Buy Xanadu [Blu-ray].
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):
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. Cemetery, which seemed like it would languish on the festival circuit forever, finally gets a limited release in the U.S. Cemetery of Splendor official site.
Knight of Cups (2016): Impressionistic survey of a hedonistic writer searching for meaning in the modern world. There is a growing critical consensus that Terrence Malick is starting to repeat himself, but we are at least eager to see how the director known for photographing the natural world will handle scenes set in a Vegas strip club. Knight of Cups official site.
Mekong Hotel (2012): Speaking of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, here’s a bonus film: a short (about an hour), partially improvised film about a director making a movie about a “vampiric” mother and daughter running a hotel. This was originally supposed to be a feature-length followup to Uncle Boonmee, but ended up as a half-completed experiment instead. Mekong Hotel official site.
SCREENINGS – (Brooklyn, NY, Spectacle Theater, Fri., Mar. 4):
Marquis (1989)/Themroc (1973): Read the Certified Weird entry for Marquis. Two extremely rare French films on offer tonight: at 7:30, Marquis, the biography of de Sade and his talking penis enacted by anthropomorphic puppets; then, Themroc, an anarchist/absurdist spectacle of Michel Piccoli speaking gibberish and living like a Parisian caveman, playing at midnight. Spectacle home page.
SCREENINGS – (Brooklyn, NY, Videology Bar & Theater, Fri. & Sat., Midnight, Mar. 4&5):
Hausu (1977): Read the Certified Weird entry. So if we were in Brooklyn and awake at midnight, we’d head out to Themroc (see above) on Friday night and catch this bizarre 70s Japan-pop haunted house movie on Saturday. Why are Brooklyners so blessed when it comes to weird revival cinema? Hausu at Videology Bar & Cinema.
SCREENINGS – (Manhattan, NY, IFC Center, Fri. & Sat., Midnight, Mar. 4&5):
The Wicker Man (1973): Read the Certified Weird entry. Or, if you’re in NYC but don’t want to take a train out to Brooklyn, you can check out the “Final Cut” of the British pagan horror classic at IFC Center. Introduced by the editors of “Diabolique” magazine, who will be giving away free copies of their latest Christopher Lee tribute issue to attendees. The Wicker Man: The Final Cut at IFC Center.
NEW ON DVD:
The Fear of Darkness (2014): A psychiatrist investigates a college student’s unexplained disappearance. This Australian psychological thriller generally left audiences both nonplussed and unimpressed. Buy The Fear of Darkness.
L’Inhumaine [AKA The Inhuman Woman] (1924): The titular “inhuman woman” runs a Parisian salon where men flock to vie for her affections; melodramatic complications intrude, eventually leading to a “Frankenstein”-style reanimation. This silent is more famous for its magnificent Cubist sets—painter Fernand Léger was one of the four designers—than for its plot. Buy L’Inhumaine [Blu-ray].
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