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):

A Prophet [Un prohète] (2009): A huge stretch for weird interest, but since there’s nothing else in theaters you may want to go see this, the French nominee for “Best Foreign Language Film” Oscar.  It’s a gangster drama about the rise of an North African within an organized crime gang operating from inside the walls of a French prison, and it reportedly contains a few dream sequences.  Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes. A Prophet official site (English).

SCREENINGS – NEW YORK CITY:

ODDSAC (2010): A 53-minute “visual album” matching experimental visuals to the equally experimental music of Animal Collective. The trailer will verify that the visuals and audio are both definitely trippy. Playing at the Visual Arts Theater March 2 & 3; the official website indicates that both screenings are sold out. Screenings are taking place throughout March in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, ahead of a June DVD release.  We’ll remind you of screenings in your area, or you can check ODDSAC‘s homepage for future dates.

NEW ON DVD:

$9.99 (2008): Read our review.  Claymation adaptation of the absurdist short stories of Etgar Keret, including one about a young man who buys a book that promises to give him the meaning of life for $9.99 cash. Definitely weird at times, at other times flatly dramatic; as a whole, the movie has difficulty finding a workable tone. Buy $9.99.

The Box (2009): Read our review.  Opinions were split (even in-house) on the merits of Richard Kelly‘s mystifying sci-fi parable about a box offering moral dilemmas; if you missed it in theaters, now is your chance to weigh in on one side or the other. Buy The Box.

Dead Snow (2009): The Norwegian Nazi zombie movie.  Gory zombie comedies once seemed weird, but they’re fast becoming mainstream—even derivative. Buy Dead Snow .

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Box (2009): See entry in DVD above. Buy The Box [Blu-ray].

Dead Snow (2009): See entry in DVD above. Buy Dead Snow [Blu-ray].

Ichi the Killer (2001): Back in August, we prematurely announced this was coming to Blu-ray. This time we mean it! This perverted and extreme sadomasochistic classic from weird director Takashi Miike finally gets the Blu-ray treatment. No longer will viewers have to suffer the agonies of low-definition arterial spray! Ichi the Killer [Blu-ray].

Poutrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2007): More Troma madness. Zombie chickens arise from the grave when a fast food franchise is built on an Indian burial ground. Buy Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead [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.

Well, our first review writing contest went fabulously: we landed Pamela de Graff, who’s turned into a valuable contributor for the site.  So, we feel it’s time to trot out a second review-writing contest.

Now, multiple people have contacted us with offers to write reviews, but haven’t followed through.   If you’re one of them, here’s your chance to write that review and get a some swag for your trouble!

The prize is a “like new” DVD of the experimental, surreal horror movie Frankenstein’s Bloody Nightmare, which has only been previously viewed for review purposes.

Just like last time, 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 March 25, 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!

Next week, we have reviews planned for the strange and perverse Belgian horror Calvaire and Ken Russell‘s Gothic. Also, as I write, the 366 Weird Movies High Council is meeting to decide whether we should officially certify A Serious Man as one of the Best Weird Movies of all time; we hope to have the results of their deliberations for you next week.

Weirdest search term used to locate the site last week: “Sean Gullette actually drilled his head.”  Talk about your method actors!

The scary-long reader-suggested review queue now looks like this: Santa Sangre;  Monday (assuming I can find an English language version); The Abominable Dr. Phibes; Barton Fink; What? (Diary of Forbidden Dreams); Meatball Machine; Xtro; Basket Case; Suicide Club; O Lucky Man!; Trash Humpers (when/if released); Gozu; 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; Gothic (jumping in line to come out next week!); 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]; Necromania (1971, Ed Wood); 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; and Kairo [AKA Pulse].

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):

Shutter Island:  Psychological thriller about tough cops (Leonardo di Caprio and the ubiquitous Mark Ruffalo) who investigate a (possibly supernatural) disappearance in a spooky asylum for the criminally insane. Unlikely to be truly weird (although there are reports of some “small-s” surrealism), but the trailer is intriguing and a new Scorcese genre movie is always notable.  Shutter Island official site.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

2009 Oscar Nominated Shorts:  Showing in select cities across the US, UK, Mexico and Canada.  Usually something mildly weird (or at least mildly experimental) will make its way into the shorts field, usually in the animated category.  The big draw should be Nick Park’s latest 30 minute installment of the popular Wallace & Gromit series, “A Matter of Loaf and Death.”  The official site is still listing the lineup from last year’s offering.  2009 Oscar Nominated Shorts Official Site.

Happy Tears (2010): Parker Posie and Demi Moore star as two adult women returning home to confront their dad (Rip Torn) and search for his buried treasure, in a film that features “surrealistic” dream sequences (apparently de-emphasized in the trailer).  Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter called it “simply weird” (comparing it unfavorably to director Michael Lichenstein’s previous feature, Teeth, which he found “weird-funny”).  Happy Tears official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Black Dynamite (2009): Not weird, but notably offbeat.  A blaxploitation parody/spoof that authentically mimics the look and feel of the 1970s genre film, even including a visible boom mic. Buy Black Dynamite.

Georges Melies Encore: 26 new, recently unearthed short films (and some fragments) from Melies (A Trip to the Moon, 1902) the French cinema pioneer trickster who was the first to recognize cinema’s natural affinity for the fantastic.  Contains some intriguing titles, like “L’hallucination de l’alchimiste” (translated into English as “An Hallucinated Alchemist,” for some reason). Historical film fanatics will be delighted by this offering. Buy Georges Melies Encore.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Black Dynamite (2009): See review in DVD above. Buy Black Dynamite [Blu-ray].

OUT-OF-PRINT HEADS UP:

The Criterion Collection has lost the rights to more than a dozen StudioCanal films, and the Criterion editions (usually the industry standard for technical quality and extras) will be going out of print.  The most notable losses for our purposes are the entire Orphic trilogy and Jen-Luc Goddard’s Alphaville.  The rights are going to Lionsgate, so the DVDs may be reissued.  You can see the complete list of lost titles in Criterion’s official public announcement of the deal.  Criterion is offering $5 off if you purchase from their website.

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, we’re going to partially plug the gaping hole in our David Lynch coverage with two new reviews: Eric gives us his take on The Short Films of David Lynch, while 366 tackles Lynch’s latest, Inland Empire. Through in coverage of the little experimental film with the big name, Heads of Control: The Gorul Baheu Brain Expedition, and Alfred‘s take on 2009’s “event” movie Avatar, and you have yourself a week!

For the weirdest search term used to locate the site last week, we’ll go with “beethoven seventh vampire black,” simply because it suggests to us that Beethoven had six previous vampires, all of whom were white.

Here’s the updated reader-nominated review queue: Visitor Q (substituted for the currently unavailable in the US Survive Style 5+); The Short Films of David Lynch (next week); Santa Sangre; Inland Empire (next week); Monday (assuming I can find an English language version); The Abominable Dr. Phibes; Barton Fink; What? (Diary of Forbidden Dreams); Meatball Machine; Xtro; Basket Case; Suicide Club; O Lucky Man!; Trash Humpers (when/if released); Gozu; 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; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (jumping in line to come out next week!); Gothic; 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]; Necromania (1971, Ed Wood); 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; and 964 Pinocchio.