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.

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 summer doldrums appear to have arrived early.  There’s nothing of weird interest opening in theaters this week.  Plan a picnic this weekend. Or better yet, catch up on some DVDs.

SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, FILM FORUM)

Two in the Wave [Deux de la Vague] (2009): Those living in New York City with a specific interest in French New Wave cinema might want to check out this documentary about the rocky personal relationship between Francois Truffant and the occasionally weird Jean-Luc Goddard.  Two in the Wave at the Film Forum.

NEW ON DVD:

Burning Inside (2009):  Low budget, self-proclaimed surrealist black and white horror movie about an amnesiac driven to seek revenge for a wrong he doesn’t remember suffering.  There is very little solid information available on this one, but it does seem to be offered in a weird, indie spirit.  Buy Burning Inside.

Eclipse 21: Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties:  Criterion Collection’s Eclipse series focuses on underground/cult collections that wouldn’t have a large enough audience to justify single disc releases.  This 5-disc set collects the 1960s movies of boundary-pushing director Nagisa Ôshima, who’s sexually provocative cinema—culminating in In the Realm of the Senses, his explicit, controversial exploration of a sadomasochistic love affair—helped cultivate the taste for some of the “extreme” stuff we see coming out of Japan today.  The set spans his work from 1965-1968 and includes Pleasures of the Flesh, Violence at Noon, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide, Sing a Song of Sex, and Three Resurrected Drunkards.  We have a duty to check out at least three or four of those movies as candidates to make the List of the 366 Best Weird Movies of All Time. Buy Eclipse 21: Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties.

Walkabout (1971):  The Criterion Collection releases this cult film from Nic Roeg (Performance, Don’t Look Now) about two young children stranded in the Australian outback who are rescued by an Aborigine on a quest for manhood (the “walkabout” ritual).  This release is welcome news, as the movie is currently in our reader-suggested review queue. Buy Walkabout (The Criterion Collection).

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Walkabout (1971): See entry in DVD above. Buy Walkabout (The Criterion Collection) [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.

Next week, look for a review of Marco Ferreri’s nearly forgotten avant-garde 1969 experiment, Dillinger Is Dead, which was recently resurrected by the Criterion Collection and issued on DVD for the first time this year.  There are several possibilities for other reviews to fill out the week, but we’re going to let them be a surprise…

It was a decent week for weird search terms used to locate the site.  We really wish we knew what the following searcher was looking for when he typed “WTF Japanese Horror Movie Trailer Destroy your lies lynch cronenberg” into Google.  But, just for the image it creates in our mind’s eyes, we’re going to go with “lactating dvd with plots” as the weirdest search term of the week.

The embarrassingly long reader suggested review queue looks like this: Suicide Club (soon);  Trash Humpers (DVD release is imminent, but this will probably be pushed back while we wait for it); Tales of Ordinary Madness; 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; and “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; and Dororo.