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):

Dogtooth [Kynodontas] (2009):  A pair of children are sequestered away from the world in a mansion and taught bizarre life lessons by their dictatorial parents in this Greek film that won the “Un Certain Regarde” competition at Cannes last year.  It appears to be only screening in New York City this week; future play dates are uncertain.  We have been waiting for what seems like forever for this one to show up on these shores; hopefully a DVD will be available soon.  Dogtooth official site.

Wild Grass [Les herbes folles] (2009): The latest from now 88-year old Alain (Last Year in Marienbad) Resnais is about a possible romance between a man who finds a red wallet and it’s female owner.  Critics have described it as “fiercely odd” and “wonderfully eccentric,” which sounds just short of weird to us.  In New York this week, Los Angeles starting July 2, and hopefully more cities thereafter. Wild Grass official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Red Desert [Il deserto rosso] (1964):  Michelangelo (Blow Up) Antonini’s first color film is another alienation epic, apparently more concerned with painting a portrait of modern industrial society as hell on earth than with telling a story. From the Criterion Collection, of course. Buy Red Desert (Criterion Collection).

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Death Race 2000 (1975):  Those who only know of the mediocre, generic 2008 remake may be surprised to find out that the original Death Race 2000 was an ahead-of-its-time black comedy about a future in which cartoonish gladiatorial drivers mow down pedestrians to entertain the masses.  It’s also in our reader-suggested review queue. With David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone and Mary Woronov.  Part of the “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics” series. Buy Death Race 2000 [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.

Readers, don’t forget, there’s still a little time left to enter the June review-writing contest for a chance to win DVDs of Frankensteins Bloody Nightmare and Burning Inside. We have 4 entries total so far, 2 of which have already been published, so those odds aren’t too bad. Details here.

Reviews scheduled to appear on the site next week: Pamela de Graff is back after a short hiatus to give us the lowdown on the 1976 giallo The House with Laughing Windows.  We’ll get back to tackling the reader-suggested review queue with a discussion of Christopher Nolan’s groundbreaking thriller Memento. And we’ll be giving our old, outdated review of the undeservedly obscure Elevator Movie a complete makeover (and a promotion).

It was a good week for weird search terms used to locate the site. The usual perverts passed through looking for “sexo in Arkansas” and “whors of Mexico.” And we have to appreciate the person who was searching for “366 Weird Movies Academy,” though the request was a litte premature: the Academy isn’t scheduled to open until 2012. Our favorite search term of the week, however, describes an unknown movie we’d love to see: “video of a bunny running and getting talking weird but at the he hits himself.’

But we have to comment on a disturbing trend: more and more people seem to be searching for “strange movies” (we even noticed someone looking for “366 Strange Movies”). Guys, it’s weird movies, not strange movies. There’s no such genre as “strange movies.” Don’t be afraid to go all the way to weird!

Here’s the ever-growing reader-suggested review queue: Trash Humpers (we’re waiting for the DVD release); Memento (coming next week); Kwaidan; Six-String Samurai; Andy Warhol’s Trash; Altered States; Nightmare Before Christmas/Vincent/Frankenweenie; The Science of Sleep; The Attic Expeditions; After Last Season; Getting Any?; Performance; Being John Malkovich; The Apple; Southland Tales; Arizona Dream; Spider (2002); Songs From The Second Floor; Singapore Sling; Alice [Neco z Alenky]; Necromentia; Hour of the Wolf; MirrorMask; Possession; Suspiria; Mary and Max; Wild Zero; 4; Nothing (2003); The Peanut Butter Solution; Ninja Scroll; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; Danger: Diabolik; Faust; Sublime; Battle Royale; Pink Floyd: The Wall; Escanaba In Da Moonlight; Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter; Zardoz; The Films of Suzan Pitt; Toto the Hero [Toto le Héros]; Paprika; The Holy Mountain; Brazil; The Casserole Masters; Dark Crystal; Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets; The Nines; 964 Pinocchio; The Pillow Book; Final Flesh; Lunacy [Sílení]; Inmortel; Tetsuo; Dead Ringers; Kairo [AKA Pulse]; The Guatemalan Handshake; Dead Leaves; The Seventh Seal; Primer; Maniac (1934); Hausu; A Boy and His Dog; 200 Motels; Walkabout; Private Parts (1972); Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; 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; La Grande Bouffe; Uzumaki [Spiral]; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Even Dwarves Started Small; Bunny & the Bull; “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney” (assuming I can find it); Cinema 16: European Short Films; Freaked; Session 9; Schizopolis; Strings; Dellamorte Dellamore [AKA Cemetery Man]; The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; The Addiction; Liquid Sky; The Quiet; Shock Treatment; Tuvalu; “Zombie Jesus” (if we can locate it); 3 Dev Adam; Fantastic Planet; “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Society; May; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension; Little Otik; Final Programme; Careful; Sweet Movie; The Triplets of Belleville; “Foutaises” (short); Johnny Suede; “Jam” (TV, UK, 2000), The Tale of the Floating World, Un Chien Andalou, Bloodsucking Freaks; Fellini Satyricon; Three Crowns of the Sailor; 8 1/2; Death Race 2000; Dororo; Lost Highway; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders; Dogville; and Julien Donkey-boy; Amelie; The Ten; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao; 1; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Tokyo Gore Police; At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul; The Trial [Le procès) (1962); Marquis; Hell Comes to Frogtown; Hellzapoppin’; Seom [The Isle]; Allegro Non Troppo; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Lust in the Dust; Celine and Julie Go Boating; “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life;” The Magic Christian; Black Cat, White Cat; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Abnormal: The Sinema of Nick Zedd; Robot Monster; Nightdreams; 3 Women; Rubin & Ed; Teeth; Vera; Funny Games; Weirdsville; Prospero’s Books; Inferno; Garden State; Persona; and The Real McCoy.

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 (WIDE RELEASE):

Jonah Hex (2010): Possibly the weirdest looking summer blockbuster (with the exception of Christoper Nolan’s Inception), this adaptation of a relatively obscure DC comics mixes the western and fantasy genres with action movie cliches.  The fact that certain sequences in the trailer look to be inspired by Django (and even Jodorowsky) is a plus, lack of buzz and no advance screenings combine to make a big minus. With Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, and ubiquitous eye candy Megan Fox.  A long shot for weirdness, but the summer doldrums are upon us. Jonah Hex official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Mary and Max (2009): This Australian claymation release about an unlikely online friendship between an eight-year old goth girl in Melbourne and a friendless middle-aged New Yorker with Asperger’s syndrome is currently languishing in our reader-suggested review queue. This DVD release helps its reviewability. Buy Mary and Max.

Mystery Train (1989):  This anthology of three short films set in Memphis is not particularly weird, though Elvis’ ghost does appear.  This Criterion Collection release is notable for Jim Jarmusch completists, however. Buy Mystery Train (Criterion Collection).

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Mary and Max (2009): See entry in DVD above. Buy Mary and Max [Blu-ray].

Mystery Train (1989): See entry in DVD above. Buy Mystery Train (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray].

NEW ON ITUNES:

Burning Inside (2010): Read our capsule review.  Priced at $4.99.  We’re not going to be tracking everything that’s released on ITunes, at least not until this format gets a much larger market share, but it is interesting to note this new distribution avenue for independent films. Buy Burning Inside at Itunes.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Samurai Princess (2009):  Another Japanese splatterpunk fantasy in the Meatball Machine vein.  In a weird mythical fantasy forest fusing feudal elements with modern anachronisms, a rape victim is turned into a “mecha” and infused with the eleven souls of her fellow victims to seek revenge.  A review of this one has been pending for quite a while (it’s also available on Netflix streaming, where I saw it); it’s not great, but fans of the genre will get the weird gore they’re looking for.   Shocked to see this show up on YouTube.  Watch Samurai Princess 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.