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):

Cold Souls: Described as “a surreal comedy in which souls can be extracted and traded as commodities,” starring indie icon Paul Giamatti. Well-reviewed film from first time director Sophie Barthes. Cold Souls official site.

SCREENINGS (LOS ANGELES): JOE DANTE’S “DANTE’S INFERNO”:

Director Joe Dante (Gremlins) won’t return my calls, and probably wouldn’t even if he had my number; to prove I’m not bitter, I’m going to plug a couple of weird titles from his adventurous “Dante’s Inferno” series now screening at the New Beverly Cinema in Hollywood (check here for the complete schedule).

The Movie Orgy (1968/2009): This is a pastiche of clips from a variety of pre-1968 movies, serials, newsreels, and TV shows, prominently featuring many B-movies such as Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, arranged into what Dante characterizes as “a crazy 16mm cinematic farrago.”  Originally over four hours in length, Dante has added footage to carry the film over the 5 hour mark.  This film is rarely screened, for obvious reasons.  Showing August 8 only, admission is free (!)

The President’s Analyst (1967):  A crazy, underseen paranoid satire—one that could only have come out of the 1960s—about the titular character, who finds himself at the center of a dastardly plot masterminded by an unlikely enemy.  On a double bill with the 1971 tobacco company satire Cold Turkey.  August 11 & 12 only.

ON DEMAND FREE MOVIES (SOME U.S. CABLE SYSTEMS):

Army of Darkness (1992):  The third movie in the Evil Dead trilogy.  In this campy horror/comedy entry, Ash (Bruce Campbell), chainsaw in hand,  finds that the vortex he was sucked into at the end of Evil Dead II leads to a medieval land teeming with yet more evil dead.  Available on Fearnet until August 31.

Dracula (1992): Francis Ford Coppola’s take on the Dracula legend was ruined for many by the terrible decision to cast Keanu Reeves and Wynona Ryder as Jonathan and Mina Harker, but there’s no doubt that it contains some great, hallucinatory visual sequences that make it worth catching.  Available on Fearnet until Spetember 2.

Evil Dead II (1987):  With money and experience under his belt, director Sam Raimi remade his own low-budget hit The Evil Dead (1981) as one of the greatest horror-comedies of all time, full of over-the-top weird touches.  Available on Fearnet until August 31.

Oldboy (2003): The middle entry in Chan-wook Park‘s Vengeance Trilogy, about a man who hunts a unknown enemy after he is imprisoned without explanation for years and just as mysteriously freed.  It’s Park’s most popular film, and probably his best, despite (or because of) it’s violent and stylistic excesses.  Available on the Sundance Channel until September 1st.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Big Trouble in Little China (1986): John Carpenter’s Americanized version of a zany Hong Kong action-kung fu-fantasy-comedy doesn’t seem quite as weird and wacky as it did when it flopped in theaters in the 1980s. Word of mouth turned it into a video hit.  Carpenter was ahead of the curve; Westerners would discover the delirious delights of Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan and John Woo on their own within a few years. Buy from Amazon.

AMAZON ARTHOUSE AND INTERNATIONAL SALE:

Through the month of August, Amazon is discounting titles in its international, indie and arthouse catagories, with DVD deals as low as $5.99.  Browse the sale items here: we noticed the 2-disc Criterion collection version of Fellini’s 8 1/2 for $16.49, more than half off list price, among other deals.

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.

We’d love to get our readers more involved in the forum and to discover new contributors, so we’re offering an incentive: write a review of a weird movie, win an A Clockwork Orange Blu-Ray!  (This is the slightly used copy of the film used to compose the review on this site).

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 weirdest movies ever made, but that hasn’t been covered here yet (you can find the titles we have covered here). 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. 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.
3. The contest is open to anyone whose work has not previously been published on 366weirdmovies.com.
4. 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.
5. This site strives to remain “PG” rated; do not use profanity in your review.
6. The contest will remain open for one month, until September 3, 2009, 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.
7. 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, the Blu-Ray 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 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!

Tune in tomorrow for a review of Bad Boy Bubby and later in the week for Funky Forest: The First Contact.  Also this week: sharpen your pencils as we announce our first review writing contest (with a prize!).  Tune in Tuesday for details.

In coming weeks, we’ll continue to do at least one reader-suggested review per week, sprinkling in some choices of our own along the way.  For reference, here’s the queue of movies we’ll be reviewing in the upcoming weeks and months:  Dr. Caligari (1989), Nekromantic, Stalker, UHF, Delicatessen, Pi, Angel’s Egg, Institute Benjamenta, Pan’s Labyrinth, Ex Drummer, Waking Life, Survive Style 5+, and The Dark Backward.

Weirdest Google search term used to find 366weirdmovies last week: “Film amanda virgin having sex with crosses snake.”

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):

Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2009):  This documentary on Australian exploitation films of the 1970s and 1980s—the sleaze that was even madder than Mad Max—is unexpectedly getting rave reviews from mainstream critics.  Definitely wacky stuff that probably plays better as a compendium of clips of the “good bits.”  Currently showing in New York and L.A. only, and seems unlikely to move to screens in the center of the country.  Not Quite Hollywood Official Site (trailer is Not Safe For Work!).

Thirst [Bakjwi] (2009):  Chan-wook Park sinking his stylistic fangs into a vampire film?  If you’re not salivating at the possibilities, you may be reading the wrong site.  It tied for the Jury Prize at Cannes (impressive, even though “Jury Prize” translates into “Third Place”).  Thirst Official site.

Clip from Thirst

SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY: FILM FORUM)

You, The Living [Du levande] (2007):  Swede Roy Andersson’s episodic 2007 film is universally described as “absurdist,” although it’s also universally described as “brilliant” and “funny.”  New Yorkers are lucky people, to be able to see reputed hidden masterpieces on the big screen, while the rest of us have to wait and wait for a Region 1 DVD release that may never come.  You, the Living Official Site.

NEW ON DVD:

Bad Lieutenant (1992) (Special Edition):  Always over-the-top auteur Abel Ferrara gives us a blast of NC-17 nastiness and overwrought Catholicism that is unexpectedly real and powerful.  Only borderline weird, but a naked, strung-out Harvey Keitel simpering on a deserted cathedral floor as he hallucinates a visit from Jesus Christ is definitely a sight you don’t see everyday (and wouldn’t want to). Is this Special Edition being released now in anticipation of Herzog’s version (see below)?  Buy from Amazon.

Combat Shock (1985) (Special Edition) : A 2-disc (!) special treatment edition of this low-budget flick about a Vietnam veteran suffering from terrible flashbacks is rumored to be one of the most demented exploitation films ever made, often described as a cross between Taxi Driver and Eraserhead.  Distributed by, but not originally produced by, Troma.  Based on the underground buzz from folks I trust, this is a movie that must at least get consideration for inclusion on the List. Buy from Amazon.

Repulsion (1965):  Roman Polanski’s peek inside Catherine Deneuve’s disintegrating mind is a five-star classic has already been certified as one of the 366 weirdest movies of all time (read our full review).  Joy of joys!  Now the Criterion Collection has given the film, previously available in inferior versions, a proper 2-disc release.  Buy from Amazon. Also available on Blu-ray (buy).

Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America (2007):  To quote our 3/13/09 notice: “This micro-budget, DIY film about two Vikings stranded in North America in 1007 AD has been savaged by critics who are unimpressed by its ‘independent spirit.’  With a black metal soundtrack, amateur production values, dialogue in Old Norse, rape and defecation, this appears to be a genuine el cheapo oddity of the sort that in years past might have played at the bottom third of a drive-in triple bill.”  Watch at your own risk, but if you do, be sure to tell us what you think.  Buy from Amazon.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

12 Monkeys (1995):  Terry Gilliam‘s remake of the time-travel classic 1962 short La Jetée is as visionary and disorienting as anything the master fantasist has ever done. With big-time movie stars Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. Buy from Amazon.

IN PRODUCTION:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009):  A remake of the inimitable 1992 cult classic?   With the action moved from New York to New Orleans?  Starring Nic Cage as the Bad Lieutenant?  With Val Kilmer as a sidekick?  Directed by Werner Herzog?  With a leaked trailer that makes it look like a standard cop action comedy?  There’s no telling what this is going to be—but there’s an excellent chance that, whatever it is, it’s going to be weird.

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.

Fringe Cinema, normally published on Thursdays, will not appear this week. In it’s place is this guest essay is by Alfred Eaker, originally published Mar. 26, 2009, which offers some additional insights on Stanley Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange.

“We must be cultural omnivores and raid all the art forms to enhance our own art”– Pierre Boulez; Modernist French composer.

Although, the meaning of postmodernism is replete with vagaries, one prominent characteristic of the so-called movement is that it abounds in eclecticism. Pierre Boulez’s advice for artists to mantle a mental state of being cultural omnivores seems tailor made for much that is pronounced in postmodernism. In that light, the movement had one of it’s most well-known, brilliantly driven, unofficial spokespersons in the late Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick, of course, patterned his body of film work after a Beethoven aesthetic. Each of Beethoven’s nine symphonies had an individual theme. The Eroica was Beethoven’s initial support, later renounced, bio-portrait of Napoleon. The 4th, according to Robert Schumann, was a Greek maiden between two Norse gods. The immortal fifth was THE anti-war statement. The 6th , a pastorale; the 7th, a series of rhythmic movements; the 8th, more abstract, is a favorite among modernist conductors; and, of course, the mighty Ode to Joy.

Kubrick wanted to create a work in each of the genres and it’s unfortunate he never got to make his western (Marlon Brando foolishly took over directing One Eyed Jacks, after having Kubrick sacked). Regardless of genre, each Kubrick film is filtered through his own unique sensibilities (i.e., the dehumanization of man), thus rendering the idea of applying something as superfluous as a genre akin to hopelessly trivial labeling. When it comes to Kubrick, the genre/subject is almost incidental. Kubrick defiantly stamped his personal vision onto everything he approached (as author Stephen King would discover, to his complete dismay, when Kubrick took on The Shining. Kubrick was no assignment director).

Volumes have been written about Kubrick’s body of work with wildly varying and opposing opinions, but the almost unanimous conclusion that can be drawn is that Kubrick’s films are not designed for casual viewing.

Indeed, upon repeated absorption, Kubrick’s films reveal the degree to which Kubrick was a cultural omnivore.

Kubrick’s rep as being a “supremely controlled” artist is a misnomer. He was just as apt for experimentation, improvisation, and utilizing ideas from actors, etc. Hence, Kubrick’s reason for disallowing the publishing of his scripts (which he often deviated from) and ordering the destruction of all unused footage. In it’s rough cut, Clockwork Orange was originally a four hour film.

One of Kubrick’s most compelling scenes in Clockwork Orange was, by turns, supremely controlled and experimental, yet gives compelling insight into Kubrick’s multi-hued layering and eclectic aesthetics.

Alex and the droogs appear at an ultra modernist home, which welcomes visitors with a lit sign, marked simply “Home.” Kubrick’s customary symbolic red and white design work is as heavy laden here as it is throughout the rest of the film.

Husband Patrick Magee types away at his typewrite when the doorbell rings. The doorbell sounds of the overly familiar first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth: Fate knocking at the door. However, those four notes sound deceptively innocuous here, almost tinkling.

The camera pans across the room revealing Magee’s redhead wife, Adrienne Corri, dressed in red pajamas, sitting comfortably in a white, plastic chair in the next room. Husband and wife are detached from one another, echoing the barrenness of the house. Corri answers the door to hear Alex proclaim “there has been an accident outside” and his request to use the telephone. Corri is reluctant, but Magee instructs her to let the visitors in. With the unlocking of door, Fate enters in like a Beethovenian storm.

The “Singing in the Rain” beating/dance was not scripted and was improvised, worked, and re-worked until Kubrick was satisfied with the flowing tone. Adding this element was a brilliant instinct on Kubrick’s part. Without it, the breaking-in would have felt more like a tempest than a storm.

After Magee is tied up and beaten, Alex and the droogs turn to Corri. They take her in front of painting on the wall and begin to rape her. The visuals in this vignette reveal a homage narrative, akin to developing patterns in an unfolding puzzle. The design of the painting on the wall has a pronounced familiarity. In it’s colors and forms, it is a homage to Gustav Klimt and bears striking resemblance to Klimt works like “Farmhouse with Birch Trees”. Corri appears as a Klimt model personified. She is Klimt’s mysterious red head, pale and thin (i.e., “Hope 1”). She and the scene call to mind imagery from Klimt’s “The Beethoven Frieze” (especially in the sections, “The Longing for Happiness Finds Repose in Poetry” and “Hostile Powers”). In essence, Kubrick is paying homage to Klimt paying homage to Beethoven.

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