Last week, we received a DVD from Netflix of a really, really weird flick.  Unfortunately, there was a large crack in it that made it unplayable—a flaw far too prominent to have gone unnoticed.  Is Netflix now deliberately sabotaging their more obscure and bizarre offerings to prop up rentals of the latest Transformers movie?  Or was it a single weird-movie-hating employee, acting alone?  Whatever the shadowy force behind this Conspiracy for Conventionality, the miscue forced us to adjust our lineup at the last moment.  But have no fear!  Next week you can still count on reports on weird and obscure movies, including the return of 366 Underground with coverage of the 2.5 hour B-movie opus Vixen Highway 2006: It Came from Uranus (2010).  We’ll also take looks at the Chinese marital ghost story Matrimony (2010) and the unusual (to say the least) hardcore porn documentary Aphrodisiac! The Sexual Secret of Marijuana (1971).   Throw in patr 1 of a two-part series on “Chaplin at Keystone,” and that should keep you busy until Netflix gets us replacement weirdness.

When we’re looking for our Weirdest Search Term of the Week, the bizarrely fetishistic porn searcher contingent always leads the way.  We’re not sure, however, whether the following contender fits into that group or not: “deaf asian bush in movie.”  Most of this week’s other entrants aren’t so ambiguous, such as the fellow who was looking for “sex porn italy between trees” (we tried the search ourselves and could only locate sex porn Italy between people—sorry).  Then there are the searchers that are obviously sexual in nature, but were clearly typed in by drunken non-English speakers of sub-normal intelligence.  In this category we include both “estonis a vagina bb movie movie” and  “best black ninjaz of brug porno.com.”  The clear winner Weirdest Search Term of the Week, however, was “hıgh black penısy sex.”  The crazed searcher gets bonus points for inventing the peculiar adjective “penisy,” and even more bonus points for somehow replacing the “i” key on his keyboard with the symbol “ı.”  That’s thinking outside the box in the field of weird searching!

Here’s the long-neglected reader-suggested review queue for your perusal (if not for the Netflix conspiracy mentioned above we would have knocked a title off this week): Kairo [AKA Pulse];The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among others); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; The Bride of  Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →

A 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):

Sleeping Beauty (2011):  From Australia comes this modern folktale that sounds like it has more to do with The House of Sleeping Beauties than with the classic fairy tale.  We like writer/director Julia Leigh’s quote: “I’m interested in Wonder Cinema…”  On the other hand, we don’t like the reviewers’ quotes, like David Rooney’s “Soporific in every sense.”  Not to be confused with Catherine Breillat‘s 2010 The Sleeping Beauty.  Sleeping Beauty official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010):  Read our capsule review.  This documentary on the world’s oldest cave paintings may not be per se weird, but fans of Werner Herzog, and of beauty, may find it interesting. Buy Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010).

Chillerama (2011): A horror/comedy anthology built around the conceit of a drive-in owner screening four outrageous and obscure movies on the theater’s last night of operation.  The best fake movie title is The Diary of Anne Frankenstein.  Billing itself as “the ultimate midnight movie,” but it looks geared to the Troma crowd. Buy Chillerama (2011).

The Flying Guillotine (1975):  Not as famous or notable as its crazed sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine (which is languishing in our reader-suggested review queue), the original tells the story of how the titular distance-decapitation weapon was discovered.  The Shaw Brothers produced four movies in the Flying Guillotine series (with Master being the most remembered).  Buy The Flying Guillotine (1975).

Flying Guillotine 2 (1978): Of the four Shaw Brothers movies with Flying Guillotine in the title, this one (also known as Palace Carnage) is the last chronologically, yet it is the direct sequel to the first. To make things even more confusing, Master, the second movie in the series, was a direct sequel to One Armed Boxer, an otherwise unrelated movie. Buy Flying Guillotine 2 (1978).

Vampires (2010): Belgian mockumentary focusing on the domestic life of a family of vampires, including a rebellious teenage daughter who wants to become human.  Offbeat, at least. Buy Vampires (2010).

Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City (2010):  This sequel sees Zebraman split into good (white, male) and evil (black, female) versions.  We never even knew there was a sequel to the crazy original by weird favorite Takashi Miike; we admit we’ll be a bit disappointed if Zebranurse fails to make an appearance. Buy Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City (2010) [Blu-ray/DVD Combo].

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010): See description in DVD above. This 2-disc set contains the 3D Blu-ray (which is your only chance to see the film in three dimensions, as intended) as well as a standard disc. Buy Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) [Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray Combo] .

Chillerama (2011): See description in DVD above. Buy Chillerama (2011) [Blu-ray].

Horror Express (1972):  Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are a pair of archeologists fighting off a train full of zombies and a Cossack Telly Savalas in this Hammer horror classic that’s currently in our reader-suggested review queue.  Appearing for the first time on Blu-ray, this release also contains a DVD copy of the movie (which is available separately from several competing sources).  It’s supposedly remastered from a print discovered in Mongolia (!), but customer reports disagree on whether the visuals are much improved.   Buy Horror Express (1972) [DVD/Blu-ray Combo] .

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

American Zombie (2008):  Since we mentioned the Belgian horror mockumentary Vampire, the equal time rule suggests we must also mention this American mockumentary covering a zombie uprising in Los Angeles, from the standpoint of the misunderstood living dead.  Watch American Zombie (2008) 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.

With December about to dawn, we continue our look at weirdness in 2011 with coverage of Lars von Trier‘s latest, Melancholia, about clinical depression and a giant planet named “Melancholia” that’s set to collide with Earth (metaphor anyone?); and we’ll take a trip with gonzo documentarian Werner Herzog into the Cave of Forgotten Dreams.  Those who follow 366 very closely will be surprised at the third 2011 movie we cover this week, and at what we do with it.  In bonus coverage, Alfred will give us the lowdown on another operatic Alban Berg atrocity when he gives Calixto Bieto’s Wozzeck a spin.

Even with Google’s new privacy measures now making almost 10% 0f all queries invisible to us, there are plenty of bizarre keyword strings to consider for our Weirdest Search Term of the Week contest.  We start off with the befuddling “scram 1980 scram,” before moving on to the more conventionally weird, holiday-themed “movie with old st. nicholas lady oinks like pig.”  We also have to mention “placenta encapsulation vermilion.”  Now, we know placenta encapsulation is a great innovation for moms who are grossed out by eating raw placenta, but come on, it’s still weird—and the “vermillion” part doesn’t make it any less strange.  Still, for our Weirdest Search Term of the Week we once again turn to the sick world of human sexual perversion—or we assume we do, although maybe the phrase actually comes from the world of antique railroad enthusiasts?—for our winner, “geriatric steam train porn.”

Here’s that ridiculously long list of reader-suggested titles for review (more titles after the break—seriously, you won’t believe how long this list goes on): Kairo [AKA Pulse];The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →

A 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.

The holiday/awards season is here, which means that you can forget about seeing anything outstandingly weird in theaters for a while.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

House of Pleasures:  The story of a Parisian bordello circa 1899, told in a deliberately anachronistic style (a 1960s soundtrack, split screens, etc.)  David Fear of Time Out gave it a good review, while admitting it’s “occasionally WTF hilarious” (to us, as to him, a big plus). Playing NYC this week, other dates unknown.  House of Pleasures official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Emmanuelle in Wonderland (completed 2011):  We mentioned this erotic musical thingee in passing last week, but after coming across this—um, “interesting”—YouTube footage, the title bears repeating.  Emmanuelle in Wonderland is part of an “Emmanuelle” reboot(y) series from director Rolfe Kanefsky, featuring many actors and actresses from the porn world stretching their chops.  We can’t discern anything about distribution for this movie (it appears aimed at the Skinemax market) but surely something this—um, “special?”—will show up on DVD soon?  Emmanuelle in Wonderland Facebook page.

NEW ON DVD:

Darkroom (2008):  Another “what is real and what is fantasy” movie, this time revolving around a crime scene photographer.  Not much information on this one to be found. Buy Darkroom.

An Evening with the Residents: Bimbo’s [Talking Light] (2011):  If you’re as much a fan of weird music as of weird movies, you know of The Residents, the avant-garde music collective known for performing in tuxedos and giant eyeball head masks.  This is a live recording of their album/spoken word piece “Talking Light,” which revolves around ghost stories and the paranormal (and features a trio lineup and new costumes). Buy An Evening with Residents – Bimbo’s.

Helldriver (2010): The team behind Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is back with another wild one featuring ninjas, zombies, cannibalism, a sexy samurai babe with a chainsaw blade, and of course, splatter.  An Amazon reviewer offers the advice “save yourselves from the sheer fatuous inanity of this drivel,” which could be seen as a warning, a perverse endorsement, or a dare. Buy Helldriver.

Saki the Killer (2011): The synopsis suggests something about a female art teacher who battles yakuza demons with the power of her paintbrush.  Direct to video and unreviewed elsewhere, yet something about the premise strikes us as noteworthy. Buy Saki The Killer.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Helldriver (2010): See description in DVD above. Buy Helldriver [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Crowley [AKA Chemical Wedding] (2008): Read our capsule review.  Aleister Crowley is reincarnated with an assist from pseudoscience.  Intentionally campy occult parody, or Bruce Dickinson vanity project gone awry?  You can only decide by watching.  Watch Crowley [Chemical Wedding] 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.

2011 is winding down, and we at 366 are already starting to obsess about year-end “best of” lists and stuff like that.  There’s still much fresh weirdness to take in before the big ball falls on December 31.  So, forgive us if things are a bit messy around here.  We’re not 100% sure what we’ll feature next week, but you will see reports on two out of three of the following new offerings: The Rum Diary, the sorta-pseudo prequel to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Zenith, an independent mindbender about the Illuminati and their possible role in a future in which people buy illegal drugs in order to make them feel pain; and/or Father’s Day, the absurdist mock-grindhouse feature about a patricidal serial killer.  Just because we’re focusing on new releases, however, doesn’t mean we’re only covering new movies, because (thanks to the Criterion Collection) we’ll also be visiting Jean Vigo’s influential and forbidden 1933 anarchist boarding school featurette Zéro de conduite (courtesy of “The Complete Jean Vigo” disc), as well as the anti-vivisectionist 1932 horror classic Island of Lost Souls (with Charles Laughton as the mad scientist and Bela Lugosi as the “Sayer of the Law”).

We had another challenge time determining the Weirdest Search Term of the Week; lots of candidates, but nothing really stood out as mind-boggling.  We start with the English-as-a-Second-Language porn surfers, who dependably supply plenty of weird (and frequently unprintable and disturbing) search terms each and every week.  This time around they bring us the indecisive “seks anal bull bill boll” and the cryptically erotic “sexing black toto story in nigeria.”  Because picking the peculiar porn query as the weekly winner is too predictable, so we turn to other head-scratching searches for our finalists, starting with the declarative “wealthy powerful older fat women lust for gladiators.”  Unexpected, interesting information, that.  But our official winner for Weirdest Search of the Week is the honest (?) but unexpected query “do reptilians wear hoodies,” which earned bonus points because we actually provide the answer to that question in this review.

Here’s the neglected but still growing reader-suggested review queue: Kairo [AKA Pulse];The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among  others); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; The Bride of  Frank; Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →