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):

Splice:  A speculative strand of genetic horror/science fiction about DNA splicing experiments in the near future.  Unlikely to be truly weird, but it is from a visionary director (Vincenzo Natali, of Cube fame), and it has creepy, alien looking mutant kids; that counts for something.  Starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley.  Splice official site.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Double Take:  Archival footage of Alfred Hitchcock and a body double are used to create a new story involving the Master of Suspense meeting an evil doppelgänger during the Cold War.  Sounds utterly fascinating.  Opening in New York City this week, with scattered dates around the US until January 2011; hopefully more will be added.  Double Take official site.

Gone with the Pope (1975/2010):  Here’s an odd story: an ex-con plans to kidnap the Pope in order to extort one dollar from every Catholic in the world.  Now for the strange part: this movie was shot in 1975 by a nightclub singer as a vanity project, but never released; the old raw footage has been pieced by Sam Raimi‘s editor.  Supposedly, it’s a previously undiscovered camp classic that’s as tasteless as a John Waters flick in parts; either that, or it’s one of the best movie hoaxes ever.  It’s been playing for a while but we’ve only just learned about it.  Showing this week in New York City, with screenings to follow in Minneapolis, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and St. Louis.  Gone with the Pope official site.

Ondine: An Irish Fisherman (Colin Farrel) falls in love with a woman he catches in his fishing nets, whom he comes to believe might be a creature from a fairy tale.  Mild, sentimental-looking magical realism from sometimes-weird director Neil (The Company of Wolves, The Butcher Boy) Jordan.  Ondine official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Alice in Wonderland (2010): Read our capsule review.  Tim Burton’s “meh” vision of Wonderland arrives on home video.  Aimed at today’s kids, not Lewis Carrol fans. Buy Alice in Wonderland.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Vol 7:  A new volume of the popular Adult Swim cartoon.  Eleven short episodes from seasons 7 and 8, with extras to pad the runtime to two hours.  Fast food surrealism, in every sense of the coinage. Buy “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” Vol. 7.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Alice in Wonderland (2010): See entry in DVD above. Buy Alice in Wonderland [Blu-ray].

Pale Rider (1985): A treasure trove of Clint Eastwood movies are being released on Blu-ray this week, but as much as we love the Man With No Name, the guy’s frankly just not that weird.  The closest the legend’s ever come to making a “weird” movie is this Western with mystical overtones about a mysterious rider known only as “Preacher” who rescues miners from a greedy tycoon. Buy Pale Rider [Blu-ray].

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we’ve overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.

Our first review writing contest went fabulously: we landed Pamela de Graff, who’s turned into a valuable contributor for the site.

Our second review-writing contest went as badly as the first went well.  We got zero responses.

We’re upping the ante this time.  Last time, we offered a review copy of the experimental, surreal horror movie Frankenstein’s Bloody Nightmare.  We’re holding that offer over, and adding a review copy of the surreal indie horror Burning Inside (2010).  So, you can win two rare screener DVDs with a single review!

The rules of the contest are simple:

1. Write a review of a movie that you think should be on the List of the 366 Best Weird Movies, but that hasn’t been covered here yet.  Including the following sections: DIRECTOR, FEATURING (listing the most important actors), PLOT (a one sentence synopsis), WHY IT DESERVES TO MAKE THE LIST (a one sentence to one paragraph description of why you think the movie is weird), COMMENTS (one to two paragraphs describing the movie in more detail). If you have a suggestion for a still to represent the movie and/or a quote from a critic on the film, you can include those, but they are not required.
2. In rare cases, a well-thought out “second opinion” on a movie that we have already considered, but that you think we got wrong (either by putting it on the List when it shouldn’t have made it, or rejecting a film that should have made it), will be an acceptable subject for a review.  We would still prefer reviews of movies we haven’t yet covered.
3. Submit your work on our contact form. By submitting your entry on this form, you agree to allow 366weirdmovies.com to publish your work, either whole or in edited form, on this website. Your work may be selected for publication even if you are not chosen as the winner.
4. The contest is open to anyone whose work has not previously been published on 366weirdmovies.com.  If you submitted a review to the last contest and did not win, you are still eligible to enter this contest even if we published your review.
5. You may not write a review promoting a film which you were involved in the production of, or in which you have a financial interest.
6. This site strives to remain “PG” rated; do not use profanity in your review.
7. The contest will remain open for one month, until June 30, 2010, at which time the editor will select the best entry. The winner will be chosen on the basis of writing style, insight, and appropriateness of the movie chosen. The deadline may be extended, depending on the number of entries received.
8. In order to be eligible to receive the prize, you must supply a valid email address and a valid mailing address. International addresses are acceptable. If the winning entrant does not supply a valid mailing address, or declines the prize, the DVD will be given to a randomly selected entry with a mailing address in the United States. If no entries are from the United States, then the deadline to complete the contest will be extended.

TIPS: Avoid merely summarizing the plot in your comments. Avoid giving away “spoilers” in your descriptions that might ruin the enjoyment of the film. Obscure titles are fine—in fact, they may be worth bonus points—but try to pick a film that is available on DVD, or is at least likely to be released. If you write on a film no one will be able to view or locate, the movie may be judged as inappropriate.

One final tip: don’t be scared away by thinking you have to write something profoundly insightful. Simply consider it as a chance to describe and recommend a film to that narrow audience of people who are interested in the same kind of weird movies as you are.

Have fun! The winner, and even the runners-up, may be invited to become regular contributors to the site!

Reviews scheduled for next week include the surreal omnibus film Tokyo! (a triptych with contributions from Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Joon-ho Bong); the Norwegian Nazi zombie midnight feature Dead Snow; and, from the reader-suggested review queue, the Taiwanese romantic porn musical (yes, you read that right) The Wayward Cloud.

For the weirdest search term used to locate the site this week, we’ll go with “cross dess transvestite wook,park,tube.”

Here’s the updated reader-suggested review queue: The Wayward Cloud (next week); Trash Humpers (DVD release is imminent, but this will be pushed back while we wait for it); Kwaidan; Six-String Samurai; Andy Warhol’s Trash; Altered States; Memento; 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); Possession; Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; Malice in Wonderland; 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; and Tokyo Gore Police.

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):

Micmacs (2010): A carnivalesque team of misfits defeat a gang of black market arms dealers using an arsenal of gadgets in Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s latest slice of whimsy.  This director’s work may be a little less weird and a lot less dark since breaking up with partner Marc Caro, but like a new Gilliam, a new Jeunet is always an event.  Micmacs official site.

SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES)

Utopian Comedies: The Films of Jim Finn:  An experimental mockumentarian of sorts, award winning underground director Jim Finn’s “utopian comedies” poke fun at the USSR, the Shining Path regime in Peru, and contemporary North Korea.  The retrospective shows off his near-feature length films as well as some shorts.  The most recent, The Juche Idea (2010), paints its picture as a series of short films made by a fictional South Korean director brought across the border to to the North to help modernize the propaganda machine of Kim Jong Il.  Interkosmos (2006) was a fake Soviet sci-fi propaganda film in the mold of Aelita, Queen of Mars, and La Trinchera Luminosa del Presidente Gonzalo (2007) tracks guerrillas in a women’s prison.  Hopefully someday the rest of us will get to see what all the fuss is about.  Utopian Comedies: The Films of Jim Finn at Anthology Film Archives.

NEW ON DVD:

By Brakhage: An Anthology:  56 much talked about but seldom seen short films from the influential experimental director.  The movies cover 5 decades, from the 1950s to the 200s, and are spread over 3 discs.  This Criterion Collection adds the usual expansive extras.  Buy By Brakhage: An Anthology.

City of the Living Dead (1980): Another incoherent/weird Luigi Fulci zombie/gore outing rises from the out-of-print graveyard to terrify the living. In this one, a priest’s suicide causes the gates of hell to open and spew out the undead. Buy City of the Living Dead.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

By Brakhage: An Anthology: See entry in DVD above. Buy By Brakhage: An Anthology [Blu-ray].

City of the Living Dead (1980): See entry in DVD above. Buy City of the Living Dead [Blu-ray].

Class of Nuke ‘Em High (1986): This tale of high schoolers turned into mutants by nuclear waste was the first post-Toxic Avenger Troma film. The usual mix of nudity, gore, juvenile comedy, deliberately bad special effects and outrageous punk costuming, but before the formula got stale. Buy Class of Nuke ‘Em High [Blu-ray].

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (2008): Neil Patrick Harris stars as Dr. Horrible in this 42 minute supervillain romantic musical originally published as a free Internet series. The project was conceived by television’s Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) to keep the creative juices flowing during the 2008 Writer’s Guild strike. Copious extras are included to induce fans into buying this formerly-free web series: two commentary tracks (in what I think may be a first, an entire commentary is sung!), a 20 minute “making of” documentary, and ten auditions by fans seeking to join the series’ “Evil League of Evil.” Buy Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog [Blu-ray].

Tromeo and Juliet (1996): Read the Certified Weird review. In our view, this punked-out version of Shakespeare is Troma’s best and weirdest movie. Buy Tromeo and Juliet [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.

In a highly unusual development (for us), we actually have reviews prepared before the deadline, so we can tell you with absolute certainty that you what reviews are coming up next week:

• First up is the Tor Johnson opus The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961), the only atomic monster movie narrated by a Dadaist.  A blurry vision of things that never were nor could be from the incomparable, uncomprehending mind of the late great Coleman Francis.
• The short film omnibus Paris Je T’Aime (2006), 18 shorts films on love in the City of Light, which contains one weird outing about Chinese hairdressers and some semi-weird attempts involving vampires and Steve Buscemi making eye contact on the Metro among its dramatic stories.  Featuring offerings from the Coen Brothers, Vincenzo (Cube) Natali, and Wes Craven, among others.
• From the reader suggested review queue we’ll tackle Tales of Ordinary Madness, Marco Ferreri‘s boozy take on the Charles Bukowski myth.  Don’t worry, the “ordinary” in the title is meant ironically.

Not forgetting the weirdest search term used to locate the site this week: in most weeks, a search for info on the “bizarre growing penis cult” would win, hands down.  But this week, the extremely disturbing “boys motels that is but naked that show there pinus on a videos” wins, hands down.  Is this what happens when the Alabama penal system grants illiterate pedophiles Internet access, or is it just someone’s idea of a joke?

Here’s the reader-suggested review queue: Tales of Ordinary Madness (this week!); Trash Humpers (DVD release is imminent, but this will probably be pushed back while we wait for it); The Wayward Cloud; Kwaidan; Six-String Samurai; Andy Warhol’s Trash; Altered States; Memento; 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); Possession; Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; Malice in Wonderland; 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.