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Certified Weird (The List), Free Online Weird Movies

301. FANTASY MISSION FORCE (1983)

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Mi ni te gong dui; AKA Dragon Attack

“If it sounds ridiculous, that’s only because it was.”– Jackie Chan on Fantasy Mission Force (quoted in Keith Bailey, “The Unknown Movies”)

DIRECTED BY: Yen-Ping Chu

FEATURING: Jackie Chan, Brigitte Lin, Yu Wang (Jimmy Wang Yu), Yueh Sun, David Tao, Jin Fang, Shiu Bu Lia, Ling Chang

PLOT: Four Allied generals have been captured by the Japanese. Mercenary Don Wen is hired to liberate them, and recruits a team which includes “Old Sun,” escape artist “Greased Lightning,” two kilt-wearing soldiers, con man Billy, and Lilly, Billy’s bazooka-toting on-and-off girlfriend who tags along when she hears about the cash reward. Tailed by rogues Sammy and Emily, the team encounters Amazons and a haunted house on their way to a surprisingly bloody showdown with the kidnappers.

Still from Fantasy Mission Force (1983)

BACKGROUND:

  • Director Yen-Ping Chu (sometimes credited as “Lawrence Full” or “Kevin Chu”) is the director of sixty-five (mostly kung fu and comedy) films; this is his only effort which is marginally well-known in the West.
  • According to persistent but unconfirmed rumors, a Triad-connected movie mogul ordered a hit on Jackie Chan when he decided to change studios. Jimmy Wang Yu intervened to settle the dispute, and as part of the deal Chan agreed to lend his growing star power to two of Wang’s movies (this being one).

INDELIBLE IMAGE: An ambush by ribbon-shooting ninjas? Bloody ghost hands waving wads of toilet paper? Assault of the Road Warrior-Japanese-punk Nazis? Your opinion on this one is as good as ours, and it’s likely to change many times during the movie as some new amazement pops up. We’ll just go with any shot of the assembled team: Old Sun in his top hat, Brigitte Lin in black leather with a bazooka, Billy in his white suit and Elvis sideburns, the kilt-wearing pair of misfits… as weird a group ever formed to fight an anachronistic battle against fascist kidnappers somewhere in Canada, Luxembourg, or Taiwan.

THREE WEIRD THINGS: Scottish/Chinese mercenaries; toilet paper ghosts; Japanese Nazis in Chevys

WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: Packed with kung fu, shootouts, flying ninjas, hopping vampires, and slapstick comedy reminiscent of Benny Hill, Fantasy Mission Force is one of the only commercial entertainments ever released where you can honestly say you have no idea what will happen next. It’s a pulp surrealism masterpiece, set in a previously undiscovered movie universe at the conjunction of the Shaw Brothers, , and the Three Stooges.


Original Cantonese trailer for Fantasy Mission Force

COMMENTS: Although some reviewers are reluctant to discuss the Continue reading 301. FANTASY MISSION FORCE (1983) →

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WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 9/8/2017

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Our weekly 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 at the official site links.

Summer is over and the weird movie world is heating up now that blockbuster season is past…

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

The Challenge (2017): Experimental low-dialogue documentary about the strange hobbies of wealthy Qatari sheiks who converge for a meeting in the desert. In a generally negative review, Variety nonetheless suggests it’s a “non-fictive but scarcely less fantastical (or mannered) equivalent to Matthew Barney’s cinematic oeuvre.” The Challenge U.S. distributor site.

Napping Princess (2017): In the near future a student discovers that the secret to freeing her arrested father may lie in her dreams of a science fantasy kingdom. Light, whimsical anime magic. Napping Princess U.S. distributor site.

FILM FESTIVALS – Toronto International Film Festival (Toronto, Ont., Canada, 9/7-9/17):

TIFF continues to be one of the world’s major film festivals, even as it continues to evolve and find its own niche in a crowded field. This year, they have narrowed down the slate (from 296 to 255 films) and appear to be focusing more on potential awards contenders, perhaps in an attempt to position themselves as Oscar kingmakers. (Thanks to Variety for recognizing the trend.) Unfortunately, this shift in emphasis means that a few scrappy, weirder films may be the first to be shunted aside for more conventional titles—but there’s still plenty of unusual stuff hiding in the program. Aside form a few titles we’ve noted elsewhere (like ‘s rock opera Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, James Franco’s biopic The Disaster Artist, ‘s The Shape of Water, ‘s mother!, and Palme d’Or winner The Square), here’s what caught our eye:

  • All You Can Eat Buddha – A mysterious man performs miracles at a tropical result in this low-key film programmers describe as a “trippy and complex cinematic experience.” Screens Sep. 11-14.
  • The Crescent – Hallucinatory horror about a grieving woman and her 2-year old child. Sep. 13-15.
  • Gutland – Billed as a “surrealist rural noir,” the scenario involves a German drifter who wanders into a strange village in Luxembourg. Sep 8, 10, 12, 13, 16.
  • I Am Not a Witch – Magical realist story about an African girl exiled from her village on suspicion of witchcraft. Sep. 8, 13, 14, 16.
  • The Killing of a Sacred Deer – ‘ latest reunites him with The Lobster‘s , playing a cardiologist who befriends a 16-year old boy. The Sep 7 debut is passed, but you can still catch it Sep 9 or 10.
  • Let the Corpses Tan (Laissez Bronzer les Cadavres) – Gold thieves engage in a shootout with cops in this tribute to Italian poliziotteschi films; doesn’t look as weird as their previous giallo-inspired work, but it’s always interesting to see what and are up to. Sep. 9, 13, 14, 17.
  • Mom and Dad – Pitch black comedy wherein mass hysteria causes parents to hunt their own children; what makes it notable, however, is cranky director teaming up (again) with ever-hammy . Sep 9, 10, 13, 16.
  • Motorrad – Brazilian dirt biking kids are hunted by a machete-wielding biker gang; we probably wouldn’t have noticed this one except that the programmers called it “wild and weird” (twice!) Sep. 9, 11, 13, 16.
  • Oblivion Verses (Los Versos del Olvido) – An elderly cemetery caretaker sets out to bury a woman killed by the secret police in a world gone mad. Sep. 11, 12,. 13, 15.
  • Occidental – Set entirely inside a stylized French hotel, where the arrival of a gay couple sets off a series of absurd xenophobic events. Sep. 9, 10, 14, 16.
  • On Body and Soul – Two Hungarian slaughterhouse employees try to recreate the identical recurring dream they share. Sep. 15-17.
  • Redoubtable – This biopic portrait of at an artistic crisis point after making 1967’s flop La Chinoise is not weird, but potentially of interest. Sep 9, 14, 15, 17.
  • Simulation – Gritty Iranian drama told in reverse chronological order with dreamlike moments. Sep. 12, 14, 17.

Toronto Film Festival home page.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Cabin in the Woods (2012): Read our review. There’s nothing new in this Blu of the ultimate meta-horror except for the fact that it’s been updated to a 4K Ultra HD presentation for those with next generation TVs. Buy The Cabin in the Woods [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray].

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

“toco toco”: toco toco is a professional short documentary series profiling Japanese artists. Their latest offerings should be of interest to our readers: interviews with gurus (Robogeisha) and (Tokyo Gore Police). Both contain clips from these arterial auteurs gory films and therefore come with a “viewer discretion advised” warning. Highly recommended for fans. Watch them free on YouTube: Noboru Iguchi Episode — Yoshihiro Nishimura Episode.

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.

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 7/14/2017

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Our weekly 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 at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Endless Poetry: ’s second installment in the psychoautobiographical project that began with the Certified Weird The Dance of Reality, now concerning his experiences as a young bohemian artist in Santiago. We were shocked by how little Jodo had lost when Reality came out after a 21-year hiatus from filmmaking, making us even more excited for this second installment. Endless Poetry Indiegogo page.

The Persian Connection: A “neon-noir fever dream” set in the Persian and Russian gangster underworlds of L.A.. This drug, sex, and violence cocktail was originally titled The Loner when it played the Tribeca Film Festival. The Persian Connection Facebook page.

FILM FESTIVALS – Fantasia Festival (Montreal, Quebec, 7/13-8/2):

As its name implies, Montreal’s Fantasia Festival originally began as a showcase for fantastic films from Asia; it has since morphed into a major event on the genre cinema calendar. Not that they’ve let mainstream success get to their heads; there’s still more rare weirdness to be found at Fantasia than at just about any film festival on the globe. We make watch lists from Fantasia’s programming, and we’re always saddened when less than half of the most daring films find meaningful distribution in the U.S. (We’re still awaiting release of the video-art black comedy She’s Allergic to Cats, never mind the completely bizarre and incomprehensible Atmo HorroX). Because of the large number of entries, we’re highlighting only films here that are debuting at Fantasia or that are totally new to us. We’ll mention that the indie comedy Brigsby Bear, Casey Affleck’s A Ghost Story, ‘s WFT The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio, the surreal Estonian fairy tale November, and the Filipino Town in a Lake are also playing, while ‘s big-budget epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets gets an early screening at Fantasia. Also of note are revivals of God Told Me To (and other movies from Lifetime Achievement Award honoree ), a rare screening of Rape of the Vampire, and the debut of the restored print of the Certified Weird Suspiria, which will be touring North America in late summer.

  • Animals – Black comedy/horror about a couple whose vacation becomes a surreal nightmare after their car hits and kills a sheep. Screening July 16 & 18.
  • Assholes – This incestuous anal sex themed comedy with a butt monster aims to be the grossout ticket of the year. See it Aug 1, if you dare.
  • The Endless – Bored by life on the outside, two apostates return to the UFO death cult they had abandoned. Screens Aug 1.
  • The Honor Farm – High school seniors decide to take an after-prom shroom trip in an abandoned prison; bad idea. July 15 & 17.
  • Infiltration [Le Problème d’Infiltration] – A wealthy reconstructive surgeon’s life falls apart after he is threatened with a malpractice suit. World premiere Aug. 2.
  • Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Takashi Miike opens the festival once more with this manga adaptation that pits a hero with bizarre hair against a serial killer. Debuted yesterday, with an encore screening July 23.
  • The Laplace’s Demon – Eight researchers are trapped in a castle in this retro B&W feature exploring concepts of chance and free will. See it July 21 or 23.
  • Night Is Short, Walk on Girl – Anime about a college student following his dream girl through a surreal all-night used book store. July 30 & 31.

As a special treat, 366’s own Giles Edwards is in attendance and will be bringing us updates weekly (perhaps more frequently) on the Fest’s biggest and weirdest contenders. Fantasia Festival home page.

NEW ON DVD:

Pulse (2001): Read our review. Arrow Video’s release of ‘s apocalyptic millennial J-horror comes with a ton of extras for fans, including a collectible booklet available with this pressing only. Buy Pulse [Blu-ray/DVD combo.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Fifth Element (1997): Read our review. ‘s cult-y sci-fi epic upgraded to a 4K presentation; no extra features are listed. The Fifth Element Blu-ray.

Pulse (2001): See description in DVD above. Buy Pulse [Blu-ray/DVD combo.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Maximum Shame (2010): Read our review of ‘ “apocalyptic fetish horror musical chess sci-fi weird feature movie.” You can watch it on YouTube or embedded on the director’s personal site.

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.

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 6/23/2017

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Our weekly 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 at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

The Bad Batch (2016): ‘s much-anticipated followup to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night features and and was originally pitched as “a dystopian love story in a Texas wasteland and set in a community of cannibals.” Critics didn’t like it much, but then again they hated Southland Tales when it first came out, too. The Bad Batch official site.

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Blood Feast (2016): Faud Ramses wants to host an Egyptian feast to raise Ishtar, which will require lots of gore and cannibalism. This remake of ‘ classick pioneering gore feature is understandably drawing little attention (you can’t hope to top ‘s interpretation of the same material, after all). Blood Feast official Facebook page.

The Ornithologist (2016): While searching for an elusive black stork in Portugal, an ornithologist gets lost in the forest and experiences events that mimic the story of St. Anthony of Padua, with a gay twist. An arthouse festival favorite that’s been at the edge of our radar screen for a while now. The Ornithologist U.S. distributor site.

NEW ON DVD:

Tag (2015): Someone or something is killing schoolgirls in Japan. You may have seen viral videos of the notorious bus scene, or you may have noticed ‘s gory black comedy sitting in our reader-suggested queue. Buy Tag.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (2004): Read our review. A mute male slave’s involvement with romance and rebel pornographers lands him in trouble in a sex-free future ruled by a totalitarian matriarchy. Watch FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions free on YouTube or on Carlos Atanes’ personal site.

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.

Certified Weird (The List), Free Online Weird Movies

282. DEMENTIA [DAUGHTER OF HORROR] (1955)

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“Do you know what madness is, or how it strikes? Have you seen the demons that surge through the corridors of the crazed mind? Do you know that in the world of the insane you’ll find a kind of truth more terrifying than fiction? A truth… that will shock you!”–Opening narration from Daughter of Horror

Recommended

DIRECTED BY: John Parker

FEATURING: Adrienne Barret, Bruno VeSota, Ed MacMahon (voice in Daughter of Horror cut)

PLOT: A nameless woman awakens from a nightmare and makes her way out onto the city streets. She meets a wealthy man and agrees to go with him, and imagines a bloody family drama enacted in graveyard while riding in his limousine. Later, she stabs the man and throws his body off his penthouse balcony; she is then pursued by a cop with the face of her father, who chases her into a jazz club.

Still from Dementia (Daughter of Horror) (1955)

BACKGROUND:

  • The film contains no dialogue, although it’s not technically a silent film as some sound effects can be heard.
  • Director John Parker has only Dementia and one short film (a dry run for this feature) in his filmography. We know little about him except that his parents were in the film distribution business.
  • Star Adrienne Barrett was Parker’s secretary, and the film was inspired by a nightmare she related to Parker.
  • Co-star and associate producer Bruno VeSota is perhaps better known for his work as a character actor in numerous pictures, including a memorable turn as a cuckolded husband in Attack of the Giant Leeches. VeSota later claimed to have co-written and co-directed the film (no director is listed in the credits).
  • Cinematographer William C. Thompson also lensed Maniac (1934) and Glen or Glenda? (1953), making him the rare craftsman to serve on three separate Certified Weird movies (all for different directors).
  • Dwarf (Freaks) plays the uncredited “newsboy.”
  • The score was written by one-time bad boy composer George Antheil, whose career had plummeted into film and TV scoring after having once been the toast of Paris’ avant-garde with “Ballet Mechanique” (1924).
  • Dementia was submitted to the New York Censor’s board in 1953, and refused a certificate (they called it “inhuman, indecent, and the quintessence of gruesomeness”—which they didn’t mean as praise). It was approved in 1955 after cuts. (Reportedly they requested removal of shots of the severed hand). The film was banned in Britain until 1970 (!)
  • After failing to find success in its original dialogue-free form, Dementia was re-released in 1957 with narration (from future late night talk show sidekick Ed McMahon) and retitled Daughter of Horror.
  • Daughter of Horror is the movie teenagers are watching in the theater when the monster strikes in The Blob.

INDELIBLE IMAGE: Our protagonist (the “Gamin”) surrounded by faceless onlookers, who silently and motionlessly stare at her victim’s corpse. (Daughter of Horror‘s narrator unhelpfully informs us that these unearthly figurants are “the ghouls of insanity”).

THREE WEIRD THINGS: Precognitive headline; graveyard memories; throw on a dress

WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: A skid row nightmare, Dementia dips into post-WWII repression and exposes the underbelly of the American night. It’s a boozy odyssey through a netherworld of newsboys, flower peddlers, pimps, murderers, and hot jazz, with our heroine pursued by cops and faceless demons. It’s noirish, expressionist, and nearly silent, except when Ed MacMahon interrupts the proceedings with pulpy purple prose. Perhaps it was not quite “the strangest motion picture ever offered for distribution,” as Variety famously claimed, but, warts and all, it’s like nothing else you’ve seen. It was too much naked id for its time, taking the spirit of Allen Ginsburg’s “Howl” and channeling it into a guilt-drenched B-movie dream.


Original trailer for Daughter of Horror

COMMENTS: The first thing the Gamin sees when she wakes from Continue reading 282. DEMENTIA [DAUGHTER OF HORROR] (1955) →

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LIST CANDIDATE: ALMA (2009)

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DIRECTED BY: Rodrigo Blaas

PLOT: Young Alma encounters a toy shop containing a doll bearing an uncanny resemblance to her.

Still from Alma (2009)

WHY IT MIGHT MAKE THE LIST: In communicating its tale of terror in a style and medium almost uniformly associated with mainstream family-friendliness, Alma stands out as weird amidst today’s persistent stream of digital animation.

COMMENTS: As this site’s regular Saturday Short feature has proven, animation is one of the most fitting mediums for short-length cinematic weirdness. Whether minimalist or elaborate, animation offers a strong opportunity to evoke a particularly singular visual concept within a short frame of time.

Former Pixar employee Rodrigo Blaas—whose name appears in the credits of some of the studio’s most beloved features—has, with Alma, added his own particular twist to this well-established cinematic convention. Drawing on his past work, Blaas bring us his simple, independent tale of surreal horror in the bright, stylized CGI that’s now all but synonymous with modern mainstream animation.

In its themes and narrative, meanwhile, Alma recalls a more antiquated form of family entertainment. Its components—the snow upon slanted rooftops and narrow cobblestone alleys; the toy shop, at once quaint and sinister; the protagonist, a mischievous little one with the air of a vagabond—bring to mind the classical elements of old children’s’ books. The plotline, which imposes a nightmarish fate upon its young protagonist as punishment for a petty misdeed, evokes the Victorian cautionary tales that Hilare Belloc so famously lampooned.

Needless to say, this results in a strikingly unique piece of short cinema; especially considering that, despite mashing together conventions of children’s entertainment from opposite ends of the 20th century, it is very clearly not intended for children. The simple plot follows young Alma, who, prancing merrily down a snowy alleyway one day, encounters a toy shop, with a doll precisely resembling her in the window. Unable to resist this singular temptation, she heads into the unattended shop to take the doll for herself, and meets horrifying consequences—ones that add a twist to the primal fear of endless damnation.

Told, like many short works of weirdness, entirely without dialogue, the story of Alma is, as befitting the nature of Blaas’ past work, communicated via five minutes’ worth of highly expressive visuals that quietly convey basic narrative and subtle details alike. Alma’s slightly ragged appearance hints at her humble background, lending context to her sticky-fingered nature. Hundreds of children have chalked their names on the wall in the alleyway in which she finds the shop. It’s also lined with what might be interpreted as a number of “Missing” posters, ominously hinting at the shop’s scourge of terror. And the store window, picturesque upon first glance, takes on the appearance of a leering monster’s gaping maw when examined more closely.

In terms of weirdness, Alma has its more obvious elements: most notably, flashes of surreal, nightmarish images when Alma seizes the doll. The genuine uniqueness of the short, however, is found in its bold effort to render an artistically-driven work of cinema in a style that’s become emblematic of mega-budget commercial family cinema. The contrast is striking. As an artistic choice, it’s not unprecedented, but Blaas, having come directly off the set of some of the industry’s leading titles, evokes the style with particular authenticity.

Development is currently underway for a Dreamworks-backed feature-length adaptation of the short. As many have already predicted, even with Blaas himself at the helm, it seems highly likely that this horrifying tale, effective chiefly for its simplicity, will lose more than a little of its punch when stretched into feature-length. If nothing else, however, said feature might draw a little more much-deserved attention to the original short.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“…this is a fairytale of the old kind, and if you have any sensitivity at all, you’ll be shivering as the snow drifts down at the end.”–Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film (contemporaneous)

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 2/24/2017

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Our weekly 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 at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Drifter (2016): A pair of post-apocalyptic assassins stumble into a town of psychotic cannibals. “Starburst” describes it as “[s]urreal stylings and extreme violence…” Drifter official Facebook page.


NEW ON DVD:

Psychomania (1973): Bullfrog-worshiping bikers kill themselves so they can come back as living-dead cyclists. Arrow Films restores the British cult B-movie and releases it in a DVD/Blu-ray bundle with archival interviews and supplements. Buy Psychomania [DVD/Blu-ray combo].

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Boy Friend (1971): An understudy gets her big break in a musical production. completists will be interested in this oddity in his canon: a musical spoofing musicals, starring Twiggy, and, most shockingly, rated “G.” Buy The Boy Friend [Blu-ray].

Psychomania (1973): See description in DVD above. Buy Psychomania [DVD/Blu-ray combo].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

V FOR VICTORY or THE FALL AND RISE OF CONNIE STARTRAVELER (2016): Visual concept album from Athens, Ohio band SUPERNOBODY, with a plot that mixes E.T. with “Ziggy Stardust.” A gorilla befriends a space-marionette and defends it from UFO investigators. About 45 minutes, or one hour if you watch the outtakes.

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.

Certified Weird (The List), Free Online Weird Movies

270. WAX, OR THE DISCOVERY OF TELEVISION AMONG THE BEES (1991)

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“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”―Henry David Thoreau

RecommendedWeirdest!

DIRECTED BY: David Blair

FEATURING: David Blair

PLOT: A “supernatural photographer” and beekeeper searching for evidence of the afterlife buys a hive of rare, disease-resistant Mesopotamian bees. Years later, his grandson Jacob, who works as a software engineer designing flight simulators for warplanes, inherits the insects. The hive gives him visions, then drones pierce his skin and insert a crystal—which allows him to see the bees’ version of television—to direct him in his destiny as a metaphysical assassin.

Still from Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees (1991)

BACKGROUND:

  • Wax took six years to complete and was partially funded with grants from German Public Television, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, and other private and state charitable endowments.
  • Jacob’s grandfather, James “Hive” Maker, is played by (in a non-speaking role).
  • First broadcast on German television in 1991, this shot-on-video feature never received a true theatrical release, although it was blown up to 16mm film for limited screenings in 1993.
  • The New York Times reported that Wax was be the first feature-length motion picture to be broadcast on the Internet.
  • A “hypermedia” version of Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees is available for free viewing at a site hosted by the University of Virginia. The movie is available to watch or download for free on Vimeo under a Creative Commons license.
  • Two years ago, Blair said that he was still working on a sequel, which has been in progress for at least seven years.

INDELIBLE IMAGE: Oddly enough, in a movie with so many digital distortions and abstract psychedelic graphics, it’s the shots of Jacob in his white beekeeping suit that stick in the mind the most—because, absurdly, he almost never takes it off, whether trudging through the steaming desert or walking past banks of supercomputers at his job at a military facility. Even when cuddling with his wife in front of the TV, he only takes off his hat. The suit becomes both a symbol of Jacob’s insular insanity, and a low budget substitute for a spacesuit a la 2001: A Space Odyssey, as Jacob ventures into cosmic realms far beyond ordinary human conception.

THREE WEIRD THINGS: Semi-intelligent missiles; the dead on the Moon; the Planet of Television

WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: This is a “documentary” about a man who is sent to the Planet of the Dead via bee television in order to kill the reincarnation of his grandfather’s brother-in-law, thereby becoming Cain, before being reincarnated in paradise. I think. The story is utterly insane, although it makes complete sense to bees.

Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees [10:00/85:00] from David Blair on Vimeo.

The first ten minutes of Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees

COMMENTS: When I first watched Wax, or the Discovery of Television Continue reading 270. WAX, OR THE DISCOVERY OF TELEVISION AMONG THE BEES (1991) →

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 12/16/2016

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Our weekly 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 at the official site links.

IN DEVELOPMENT (pre-production):

Patience (201?): An adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel about a grieving man who uses time travel to try to prevent his pregnant wife’s murder. The original story was a New York Times bestseller described as a “a psychedelic science-fiction love story.” Clowes will adapt the screenplay in the movie version for Focus Features. Patience announcement at Variety.

NEW ON DVD:

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Unusual Children (2016): Read Alfred Eaker’s review. No special features announced for ‘s latest would-be tentpole fantasy. Buy Miss Peregrine’s Home for Unusual Children.

Roma (1972): Read Alfred Ealker’s review. The Criterion Collection gets their mitts on some more experimental ; now, if they can only land Cassanova… Buy Fellini Roma.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971): Read Alfred Eaker’s review. Not a “special edition”; Zandor Vorkov’s Dracula-in-an-afro is all the specialness anyone needs in a single Blu-ray. Buy Dracula vs. Frankenstein [Blu-ray].

Dreamscape (1984): A psychic tries to rescue the President of the United States, who’s trapped inside his own nightmares. Shout! Factory issues this 80s pop-surreal cheese in a “Collector’s Edition” full of featurettes and extras. Buy Dreamscape [Collector’s Edition Blu-ray].

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Unusual Children (2016): See description in DVD above. Buy Miss Peregrine’s Home for Unusual Children Blu-ray.

Roma (1972):See description in DVD above. Buy Fellini Roma [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

A ‘Pitch-Dark’ Diorama (2016): An interviewer talks to an author about his completion of another writer’s work; the plot slips between parallel realities as the book’s story interweaves with real events. A rare example of independent surreal/horror cinema from India. It’s serialized in five parts on YouTube, and also available via torrent. Free to watch, but donations are accepted at the filmmaker’s 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.

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 11/25/2016

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Our weekly 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 at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Always Shine (2016): The rivalry of two struggling young actresses turns less friendly when they take a vacation together to Big Sur. Comparisons to , Persona follow. Always Shine official site.

Evolution (2015): Our own Alex Kittle described it as a “quiet, subtle sci-fi mystery about an island of pale-faced women who have found a way to propagate without men” and says it “definitely isn’t for everyone.” Of course, every movie we love here pretty much by definition isn’t for everyone. Evolution Facebook page (mostly in French).

Tank 432 [AKA Belly of the Bulldog] (2015): Post-apocalyptic mercenaries seek refuge in an abandoned tank that becomes a prison. The feature debut of ‘s cameraman Nick Gillespie (Wheatley produced). Tank 432 official site.

SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, 11/25-11/26 (midnights):

Wild at Heart (1990)/Fire Walk with Me (1992): IFC Center continues its unofficial “ at Midnight” series, rotating out Blue Velvet but keeping the Certified Weird / road movie Wild at Heart on screen and adding the “Twin Peaks” wrap-up Fire Walk With Me. Also playing all week at IFC: Evolution (see description in “limited release” above). Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me at IFC Center.

SCREENINGS – (Los Angeles, Cinefamily, 11/25-11/28):

Delicatessen (1991): Read the Certified Weird entry! A post-apocalyptic post-Thanksgiving feast; Friday evening’s screening also includes a potluck leftovers dinner. Also at Cinefamily: Evolution (see description in “limited release” above) plays all week, and Larry Cohen hosts a double feature of God Told Me To and The Stuff (tonight only, starts at 10:30 PM PST). Delicatessen at Cinefamily,

SCREENINGS – (Silver Spring, MD, AFI Silver Theater, 11/27-11/30):

Persona (1966): Read the Certified Weird entry! For those in the D.C. area, a rare chance to catch a must-see weird film on the big screen. Persona at AFI Silver Theater.

FILM FESTIVALS – Monster Fest (Melbourne, Australia, 11/23-27):

There’s nothing really new debuting here (except perhaps to Australians, who seem to be the last stop on the festival circuit), but there’s plenty of cool stuff playing at this small but stocked film festival. If our trusty time zone converter is correct, there’s still time for Aussies to get out to today’s 11:00 AM screening of the marvelous Spanish animated fantasy Psychonauts: The Forgotten Children. Other films worth checking out for the underground crowd down under include the pregnancy horror Antibirth (Nov. 26), the restoration of ‘s unfinished sci-fi epic On the Silver Globe (Nov. 27), and the -ish closing film The Greasy Strangler (Nov 27, with cast members Sky Elobar and “disco cutie” Elizabeth De Razzo in attendance). Monster Fest 2016 official site,

NEW ON DVD:

Magnetic (2015): Who knows what the plot is—apparently those who’ve watched it are just as much in the dark as we are—but we infer that the world will end on Dec. 31 unless Alice defeats members of the Daughters of Ra cult. Amazon reviews are full of one-star reviews that include thoughts like “This was a very weird movie, and usually I like weird movies, but even when it got to the end I didn’t really understand exactly what was going on.” Buy Magnetic.

Yoga Hosers (2016): The second entry in an announced “True North Trilogy” (the first was 2014’s Tusk), this horror-comedy stars director ‘s daughter Harley Quinn and ‘s daughter Lily-Rose as a pair of Canadian teens fighting an invasion of Nazi sausages (!) Critics hated it, but apparently Smith included some prophylactic anti-critic jokes, so that’s probably why he got the negative reviews, eh?  Buy Yoga Hosers.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Rabid (1977):  directs ex-adult star Marilyn Chambers in an early example of his pioneering “venereal horrors.” Shout! Factory packs this collector’s edition Blu-ray with extras both new and old, including two separate commentary tracks (one from Cronenberg and one by scholar William Beard). Buy Rabid [Collector’s Edition Blu-ray].

Yoga Hosers (2016): See description in DVD above. Buy Yoga Hosers Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON VIMEO:

Psychic Snakebite (2016):The tagline calls it “a 100% green screen nihilistic thriller.” Add “experimental,” because it’s full of double images, odd tinting, and strange sound design (the main characters have been dubbed into Mandarin and supplied with subtitles). The 60-minute film involves terrorists on a jetliner and is rated “Mature.” Watch Psychic Snakebite on Vimeo.

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.