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 on the official site links.

Nothing new and weird in theaters this week, but anytime we see two Certified Weird classics released on Blu-ray, it’s a banner week in bizarreness in our book.

SCREENINGS – (Cinefamily, Los Angeles, CA,  June 12-13, 15-16):

Angst (1983): Intense, stylish serial killer film from Poland, made by experimental filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczynski. Rybczynski will be in attendance tonight (Friday June 12) at the 7PM PST showing. Screening with a selection of his experimental films, music videos and animated 80s MTV bumpers (separate ticket purchase may be required). Zbigniew Rybczynski at Cinefamily.

NEW ON DVD:

Der Samurai (2014): A small German town believes it’s being menaced by a wolf, but one policeman discovers the killer is actually a samurai in lipstick and a dress. The film appears to be surreal mix of violence and explicit homoeroticism, and so has naturally found a home with Artsploitation Films. Buy Der Samurai.

Der Todesknig [The Death King] (1990): Seven stories about death and suicide. It’s in our reader-suggested review queue, but after suffering through this director’s Nekromantik, we can’t say we’re too enthused about the prospect. Still, everyone deserves a second chance in life… er, death… Buy Der Todesking [The Death King].

The Pillow Book (1996): Read the Certified Weird entry! This remastered version of the visually stunning film inspired by Sei Shōnagon’s memoirs of life as a literary noblewoman in Edo-era Japan includes a new commentary by Peter Greenaway.  Buy The Pillow Book.

Society (1989): See film description in Blu-ray. This product is a “box set” from Arrow Films containing the DVD, Blu-ray, pamphlet and a short comic book sequel to the movie. Buy Society [Blu-ray + DVD].

Spider Baby (1967): See description in Blu-ray below. A DVD/Blu-ray combo set. Buy Spider Baby [Blu-ray + DVD].

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Der Samurai (2014): See description in DVD above. Buy Der Samurai [Blu-ray].

Der Todesking [The Death King] (1990): See description in DVD above. This is advertized as a limited edition of 3000 copies (and was out-of-stock at Amazon at this writing). Buy Der Todesking [The Death King] [Blu-ray].

The Pillow Book (1996): See description in DVD above. More Greenaway on Blu-ray, please (a proper Prospero’s Books, anyone?) Buy The Pillow Book [Blu-ray].

Society (1989): Read the reader recommendation. We’ve been waiting ages for this re-release of Brian Yuzna‘s surreal/satirical shocker. Buy Society [Blu-ray + DVD].

Spider Baby (1967): Read the Certified Weird entry! Another elaborate Arrow Films release, with numerous new extras including The Host, Jack Hill‘s 30-minute student film that was also Sid Haig‘s first starring role.  Buy Spider Baby [Blu-ray + DVD].

FREE MOVIES ON THE INTERNET ARCHIVE:

A Page of Madness (1926): This hallucinatory tale of madness, about a janitor at a mental asylum where his wife is a patient, is perhaps the oldest surviving example of a Japanese film influenced by European Surrealism. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa went on to make the classic samurai tragedy The Gate of Hell in 1953. Thanks to Laura Thébaud Gibbs for the suggestion. Learn more about A Page of Madness at Open Culture.

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 on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Patch Town (2014): The story of what happens to those “Cabbage Patch” dolls when they grow up; they become factory workers, creating more dolls for their cruel overlords in an endless cycle of toy exploitation. The Dissolve warns that “anybody unable to get on its weirdo wavelength may grow fatigued by the film’s many flights of fancy“; we suspect our readers are just the sort to get on its weirdo wavelength. Patch Town official site.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014): A series of bleak, absurdist sketches, framed around a pair of novelty salesman. Roy Andersson‘s other two films in this unofficial trilogy, Songs from the Second Floor and You, the Living, were both Certified Weird, so we have high hopes for this one. Opening in NYC with selected showings across this great land through the summer. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT (PRE-PRODUCTION):

“Night on Bald Mountain” project: The Hollywood Reporter and Variety are reporting that Disney Studios plans to make a live-action version of the demonic “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence from Fantasia. No word on whether Chernabog will be defeated by “Ave Maria”-chanting monks. Given Disney’s spate of live-action reimaginings of animated features (Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella), it’s hard to imagine this will wind up weird in any way, but the idea is odd and it’s worth noting. We’ll keep our antennae up. Read more at Variety.

NEW ON DVD:

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015): Read our review. This kids’ movie turned out to be much weirder than expected, thanks in part to an Illuminati-connected cosmic dolphin. Buy The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.

Spring (2014): A disaffected American flees to Europe where he strikes up a romance with an Italian woman who harbors a deep secret. From the guys behind Resolution comes another under-the-radar horror that Colin Colvert called “a landmark of irresistible weirdness.” Buy Spring.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

“Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works”: Read our review of Man with the Movie Camera. Historically significant experimental films from the dawn of Soviet cinema. Buy “Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works” [Blu-ray]

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015): See description in DVD above. This three disc combo included a DVD and Blu-ray 3d. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water [Blu-ray/DVD/Blu-ray 3D].

Spring (2014): See description in DVD above. Buy Spring [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Visioneers (2008): Read Pamela De Graff’s review. Corporate satire starring a young Zach Galifianakis, about a near-future where people literally explode from stress. Watch Visioneers 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.

We’re late again… but we have a very cool and custom-made fine art cover from Todd M. Coe to make up for it.

We think the ad copy speaks for itself:

Covering everything bizarre in cinema, from art house surrealism to next-generation cult movies to so-bad-they’re-weird B-movie atrocities, 366 Weird Movies has been meeting all of your weird movie needs since 2009 with a combination of sly humor and serious insight. This is our annual Yearbook covering all the weird movies released and re-released in 2013, from “The ABC’s of Death” to “Zeta One”, with over 45 full-length reviews, extensive supplemental listings, and exclusive interviews and director’s statements. If it’s weird, and it’s a movie, and it’s from 2014, and 366 Weird Movies covered it, you’ll find it here.

You can buy the 366 Weird Movies 2014 Yearbook (Kindle Version) from Amazon. We’re so confident you’ll like it, we raised the price from $2.99 last year to a robust $3.49 this year!

Or you may want to wait for the print version, which will be coming (we hope) in a couple weeks. It will feature the same great content, but with even more deranged custom artwork, suitable for placing on a coffee table to upset your parents and other uptight types!

As always, all profits derived from your kind purchase will go towards paying our hosting costs. Any leftover monies will be used to fly the 366 Weird Movies staff out to Cannes (but not for the film festival; we just want to hit the beach).

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 on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

The Rumperbutts (2015): A married musical couple sell out to become children’s entertainers. A kickstarter-funded indie with magical realist elements, starring the singing duo Mates of State. Opening in L.A. The Rumperbutts Facebook page.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016): Remember Tim Burton reimagining Alice in Wonderland as a video game, with Johnny Depp sleepingwalking his way through another role as a nutty eccentric, letting his makeup do the acting? Well, despite, by any sane measure of quality, sucking, Alice made a ton of money, so Disney is sending our aging Victorian lass through the looking glass next year. Good news: Mia Wasikowska is back as Alice. Bad news: Depp is back as the Hatter. Good news: Burton will not direct (that duty goes to James “The Muppets” Bobin). Bad news: Alice scripter Linda Woolverton will write the screenplay. Overall, we’re not hopeful. Alice Through the Looking Glass IMDB entry.

Forbidden Zone 2 (201?): Richard Elfman continues to make (slow) progress on producing a sequel to his 1980 Certified Weird original Forbidden Zone, which has been stuck in whatever the Sixth Dimension’s version of Development Hell is for over 30 years now. The latest encouraging info says Jenna Elfman is definitely attached and that Richard has signed a three-film development deal with Belgium’s Galaxy Studios. Read more at Screen Daily.

NEW ON DVD:

Despite the Gods (2012): Documentary chronicling Jennifer (daughter of David) Lynch’s near-breakdown as she tries to make a movie (entitled Hisss) about a shape-shifting snake goddess within the Bollywood studio system. Doesn’t sound weird per se, but it is a very conventional week for home video releases. Buy Despite The Gods.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Ninja Scroll (1993): Read our review. The popular, violent, beautifully drawn, but not so weird anime fantasy gets a (reportedly mediocre) Blu-ray transfer. Buy Ninja Scroll [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Seance [AKA Killer in the Dark] (2001): A never-released horror flick starring the crap movie dream team of Corey Feldman and Adam West. In one scene, a ghost kills a man with a CD ejected at high speed from a possessed computer. Cinematic masochists will be in Heaven (er, I mean Hell). Watch Seance 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.

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 on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Two Shots Fired [Dos Disparos, AKA Two Gun Shots] (2014): Deadpan Argentinian absurdist comedy about a young man who finds a gun and impulsively shoots himself twice, but lives. No official site located, but it’s playing at Lincoln Center in NYC through Tuesday, at least. Rotten Tomatoes lists it under the alternate (probably wrong) title Two Gun Shots.

FILM FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival:

Cannes is an odd duck. Not known as a “weird-friendly” festival—movies like David Cronenberg‘s Crash and Antichrist have been famously hooted at by Cannes crowds who were having none of that—it aims to flatter the mainstream arthouse crowd with middle-of-the-road dramas. Cannes’ juries’ tastes resemble those of Academy Awards voters, but with an even higher premium placed on boringness. Still, there is always something worth looking at there. In many years a Cannes debut will end up Certified Weird: three films in the past five years, including, most recently, 2012’s Holy Motors. Recall that movies at Cannes may either be screened “in competition” for the big prize, screen out-of-competition, or be entered in the “Un Certain Regard” section (a sort of also-ran competition for films that are either from first time directors, or are considered too daring or different to have a shot at the Palme d’Or). Recently, several major filmmakers have been debuting their films in the parallel festival called Directors’ Fortnight, which runs contemporaneous to Cannes proper but does not hand out awards for individual films (Alejandro Jodorowsky chose to premiere The Dance of Reality at the Fortnight last year). We indicate which section each of these five films of interest is playing in below.

• Cemetery of Splendor – A medium helps a woman explore a soldier with sleeping sickness’ troubled dreams in Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s latest mystical drama. Un Certain Regard. May 18-19.
• The Lobster – Giorgos Lanthimos‘ long-awaited fable (and first English-language film) is about a world in which adults must find a mate in 45 days or be transformed into an animal of their choice. In Competition. May 15-16.
• The Brand New Testament – Jaco Van Dormael‘s comedy about God’s bratty daughter leaking the death dates of all of humanity. Director’s Fortnight. May 17-18.
• Tale of Tales – A triple fantasy of tales of three magical kingdoms; it’s sexy, it’s gory, and Salma Hayek eats a heart. In Competition (but it’s too weird to win). May 14-15.
• Yakuza Apocalypse – Takashi Miike‘s latest (now there’s a phrase we have to refresh every couple of months) is about a new yakuza boss who finds his rival is a vampire. Director’s Fortnight. May 21st.
  

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Revengenance (est. 2016): Bill Plympton‘s next project is a collaboration with YouTube animator Jim Lujan. It’s a comic biker noir about a “low-rent” bounty hunter hired to recover an item stolen from “Deathface,” a former pro-wrestler turned U.S. Senator. Dave Foley and Matthew Modine are attached as voice talent. The project is on Kickstarter, where it’s currently raised $59,000 of its $80K goal. Revengenance on Kickstarter.

NEW ON DVD:

The Sleepwalker (2014): A young couple’s lives are upended by the arrival of the woman’s sister, who is mentally ill and suffers bouts of sleepwalking, and her boyfriend. Reports say this Norwegian art film is slow and enigmatic, but with frequent nudity to keep you awake. Buy The Sleepwalker.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981):  See description in Blu-ray below. Buy The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne [Blu-ray/DVD combo pack].

The Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989): See description in Blu-ray below. Buy The Toxic Avenger Part III [Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack].

Vampyros Lesbos (1971): A lesbian vampire lures women to her Mediterranean island. From Jess Franco, which means it mixes surreal intentions with gratuitous exploitation and general incompetence. Buy Vampyros Lesbos.

White Rabbit (2013): A mentally ill teenage boy has visions of a talking bunny rabbit. Yeah, we know what it sounds like, but no mention of time travel in this one. Buy White Rabbit.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Orgazmo (1997): A Mormon missionary agrees to star in a porno film to raise some much-needed cash. Midnight movie-style NC-17 comedy from the makers of TV’s transgressive “South Park.” Buy Orgazmo [Blu-ray].

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981):  Cinema bad-boy Walerian Borowczyk directed this explicit, sexy and surreal version of Dr. Jekyll as an orgy of perversion, starring trash/art icon Udo Kier as the good doctor. When we saw that this was screening at Lincoln Center earlier this year, we hoped that meant a home video release was coming; this time, our prayers were answered. Sold in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack only. Buy The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne [Blu-ray/DVD combo pack].

The Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989): Read our review. If you’re a fan of “Toxie’s” silly, grossout, non-superhero antics, then you’ll probably want them on Blu-ray. Buy The Toxic Avenger Part III [Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack].

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.