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 on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):

The Odd Life of Timothy Green: Disney isn’t known for backing weird movies, and the trailer for this movie about barren parents who adopt a dream child who grows in a cabbage patch looked more mawkish than odd. Still, some of the critics reviews, like this one from Mike Scott of the New Orleans Times-Picayune—“you know that fine line separating ‘good’ weird from just-plain off-putting? Today, there are mouse-shaped footprints all over it”—make us wonder if the studio hasn’t accidentally unleashed a strange one on an unsuspecting public. The Odd Life of Timothy Green official site.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Chicken with Plums [Poulet aux prunes]: After his beloved violin is destroyed, a master musician loses the will to live and suffers a series of hallucinations, flashbacks and visitations from Sophia Loren and the Angel of Death. Live action from the makers of Persepolis. Opening in NYC with decent US market penetration to follow thanks to it being picked up by Sony Classics. Chicken with Plums official site.

Cosmopolis: David Cronenberg‘s latest is an adaptation of a Don DeLilo novel about a financial whiz-kid (Robert Pattison) traveling across Manhattan in a limo as financial apocalypse approaches. This one is in our reader-suggested review queue. Cosmopolis official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Father’s Day (2011): Read our capsule review. Astron-6’s absurdist grindhouse feature releases in a 4 disc (Blu-ray, 2 DVD, and soundtrack CD) numbered, limited edition set. Buy Father’s Day [Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD].

Kill List (2011): A psychologically scarred hit man agrees to the proverbial “one last mission” and finds it ironically horrifying. This mind-bending thriller has impressed critics and bewildered audiences in about equal ratios. Buy Kill List.

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (2009): A 16-year old girl follows a fox creature who whisks her away to a magical world. An anime version of “Alice in Wonderland” incorporating Japanese folklore? Where do we sign up? Buy Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror.

Les Vampires (1915): A strange gang led by sexy “Irma Vep” in a black bodysuit terrorize Paris in this 10 part, 7 hour silent serial. It’s a milestone in cinema history and was a huge influence on the upcoming French surrealist movement. Buy Les Vampires.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Kill List (2011): See description in DVD above. Buy Kill List [Blu-ray].

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (2009): See description in DVD above. This is a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Buy Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror [Blu-ray/DVD Combo]

Les Vampires (1915): See description in DVD above. Buy Les Vampires [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Ninja Champion (1985): Read our capsule review! Godfrey Ho’s remarkably incompetent movie redubs an unreleased chopsocky movie and combines it with all-new ninja footage shot a decade later to create an incoherent rape-revenge-diamond smuggling ninja action mess. Best line: “Not the wine! My nipples, you jerk!” Watch Ninja Champion free on YouTube.

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 have an interesting week of reviews coming up, with a surprise for long-time readers who’ve been paying close attention. First off, 366 Underground says “yes” to reviewing 2011’s bikers-meet-mad-scientist grindhouse tribute Dear God No!; Alfred Eaker chooses Let Me Die a Woman (1978); and we’ll (un)cover the sexy psychedelic sci-fi shenanigans of one Barbarella (1968). By popular demand, we’ll also be correcting our earlier oversight when we passed over Cory McAbee‘s 2001 absurdist space rock opera The American Astronaut, finally elevating it its rightful place on the List. All that strangeness should keep you buzzing throughout next week.

Drunk ESL porn searchers once again dominate the results in our “Weirdest Search Term of the Week” contest. First up is “www.brass pinto of sexy movies &movies.com++.” Now, it amazes us that, for whatever reason, at large segment of the search population thinks that you must use the following format to get decent results on Google: “www.[this is the subject I actually want information on].com.” Yet, we never get searches for “www.what are the weirdest movies ever made?.com”; every www…com formatted query is looking for something sexual: in this case, “brass pinto of sexy movies &movies.” With that digression out of the way, we move on to the next inexplicable search, this time for “all franch porn movie 1980 that contents ships win awoman boyfriend or hadueb.” If you can make heads or tails of what that searcher is actually looking for (all French porn movies from 1980 that ship with a woman’s boyfriend?), then you should probably seek some kind of counseling. Still, neither of these impressed us as the Weirdest Search Term of the Week; not when “1. if you saw a naked woman chasing a chicken through medieval france you would know she did something wrong…what did she do?” shows up in our server logs. (We figured out the answer; that doesn’t make the fact that someone asked the question any less bizarre…)

This was the first week in years when we did not get a reader suggestion for a bizarre film to review; have we finally discovered all the great weird movie candidates? Probably not, be at any rate, here’s how that ridiculously-long reader-suggested review queue stands: Barbarella (next week!); The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra] (out of print in Region 1, but we’ll keep looking); Liquid Sky (re-review); “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Society; Little Otik; Final Programme; Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →

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 on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Champions of the Deep: The Sword of the Sea: It appears to be some sort of children’s martial arts aquatic environmentalist allegory where two kid black belts battle grownups who represent the evils of overfishing (or something). In the most absurd scene in the trailer, a villain armed with a kayak paddle fights a hero wielding a magical sword. Many independent films aimed at specialized audiences only play theatrically for one week at a single theater in New York City or Los Angeles; this one is playing at a single theater in Providence, Rhode Island. Champions of the Deep: The Sword of the Sea official site.

SCREENINGS (Sat, Aug. 11, Chicago, IL.):

The Movie Orgy (1968): If you think the mash-up is a new phenomenon, you should check out Joe (Gremlins) Dante’s epic (270 minute!) feature which mixes together several full-length B-movies (including the grasshopper invasion of Beginning of the End) along with commercials, discarded industrial films and other video effluvia to create a surreal pop culture stew. Dante will be at the screening presenting a new digital print of the film. The Movie Orgy at the Nightingale (Chicago).

SCREENINGS (Thur., Aug. 16, Nationwide):

Rifftrax Live: Manos, the Hands of Fate: Read our review of Manos. The weird little minimalist horror feature made by an El Paso fertilizer salesman on a dare gets re-mocked (with all new jokes) by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 veterans of Rifftrax (the MST3K crew originally broadcast a mangled Manos in 1993, in the process rediscovering the movie and sparking a minor Torgo cult). Find out where the live simulcast is playing near you.

ACCEPTED:

Thunder-Sky! – Celebrating the Life and Times of Artist Raymond Thunder-Sky: 366 contributor Alfred Eaker‘s documentary about autistic artist Raymond Thunder-Sky—who frequented construction sites dressed as a clown wearing a hard hat—will play at the Cincinnati Film Festival this September. More details when the full festival lineup is announced, but congratulations are in order! More on the Thunder-Sky documentary from thundersky.org.

NEW ON DVD:

Johnny Guitar (1954): Read the guest review. Nicholas Ray’s unique feminist western may not be weird, but it has undeniable cult appeal, and this Olive Film’s release is—shockingly—the movie’s first appearance on Region 1 DVD. Buy Johnny Guitar.

Prairie Love (2011): Sundance programmers described this Dakota-set story of a man who sneaks into the place of guy going to meet his prison-bound paramour for the first time as “wonderfully bizarre” and “brazenly idiosyncratic.” Of course, that equates to no theatrical distribution and belated debut on DVD, but at least we’re happy to see it. Buy Prairie Love.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Johnny Guitar (1954): See description in DVD above. Buy Johnny Guitar [Blu-ray].

Sebastiane (1976): A homoerotic version of the story of St. Sebastian, the third century Catholic martyr; it was shocking at the time for its copious full-frontal male nudity and filthy phantasmagoria. The first feature from Derek Jarman, who apprenticed as a production designer for Ken Russell. Buy Sebastiane [Blu-ray].

The Tempest (1979): Derek Jarman’s avant-garde interpretation of Shakespeare’s play features bizarre costumes and characterizations and moves the action from an island to a Gothic mansion. Kino’s release includes three of Jarman’s short films as a bonus. Buy The Tempest [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Obsession: Letters to David Lynch (2005): Homemade semi-mockumentary (mixing man-in-the-street interviews with scripted segments) about a struggling actor on a quest to meet David Lynch. Part of the Troma trove. Watch Obsession: Letters to David Lynch free on YouTube.

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.

With the hours ticking down in the third Reader’s Choice poll (voting ends at midnight EST, Aug. 8), some clear (if not prohibitive) favorites have emerged. In Group A, American Astronaut leads perpetual runner-up Adaptation by a count of 27 votes to 16. The Group B contest is tighter, with David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers ahead of Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels by a slim 37-32 margin. The “rescue” category, on the other hand, is not even close to competitive: Chris Marker’s time-travel classic La Jetée has more than double the number of votes as its nearest competitor (which, in a shocking contrast, is Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny). You’ve got a few more days to make a difference, but it looks like American Astronaut and Dead Ringers will be your newest additions to the List.

Next week you can look forward to reviews of the Swedish anarcho-absurdist music satire Sound of Noise (2010), the weirdo-horror May (2002), another dip into Doris Wishman‘s seemingly bottomless well for The Amazing Transplant, and… well, we’re not 100% sure yet. Let’s just say a mystery weird movie to be named later.

It was a thin week for bizarre search terms, but as always we will collect the strangest ones we catch for our popular Weirdest Search Term of the Week contest. First, we have to give honorable mentions to two searchers looking for websites servicing incomprehensible and/or untranslatable fetishes: “loveflies on vagina movies.com” and “www.saxxy grail mobail no.” We’ll move on to an absurd sex pair that would probably be the weirdest search terms to grace another, less weird, site, but are fairly par for our course: “amazonian catfish oral sex” and “tattoo pinocchio sex.” For our weirdest search term, we’re going to step outside the sex world, though, and go with this one from the world of violence: “i watch a black and white scene then i want to kill.” We knew the average moviegoer doesn’t enjoy black and white movies, but we had no idea they were so fed up with them they spontaneously confessed their homicidal impulses to Google!

Here’s the ridiculously-long-and-ever-growing reader-suggested review queue: May (next week!); The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra] (out of print in Region 1, but we’ll keep looking); Liquid Sky (re-review); “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Society; Little Otik; Final Programme; Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →

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 on the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film (2010): The title tells all; this is an 80 minute survey of 20th century experimental film, highlighted by the final recorded interview of pioneer Stan Brakhage. Playing at the Anthology Archives in New York City for one week only. Free Radicals official site.

SCREENINGS (Cinefamily, Los Angeles, CA, Aug. 5)

After the Triumph of Your Birth (2012): According to the press release it’s a “a surreal, dark humored portrait of the outsider; a music driven celebration of uncertainty.” After watching the trailer we’re still not sure what to make of it, but it does look professionally assembled and weird. The sold out (?) showing at Cinefamily this Sunday, Aug. 5, is to be followed by the official premier and an accompanying Maria McKee concert in Santa Monica on September 13, followed (we’re guessing) by a DVD release. After the Triumph of Your Birth official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Fantastic Planet (est. 2013): It’s little more than a rumor at this point, but if it comes true it will be one of those “say it ain’t so!” moments: a remake of the indescribably original, Certified Weird Fantastic Planet. We would expect it to be live action, in 3-D, and star Shia LaBouef as Terr and Jennifer Lawrence as Tiwa. Michael Bay or James Cameron are the obvious choices for director. It’s just an IMDB entry right now, and let’s pray it stays that way.

NEW ON DVD:

The Bunny Game (2012): B&W experimental S&M shocksploitation about a prostitute named “Bunny” picked up and ritualistically tortured and humiliated but a trucker named “Hog.” WARNING: This has been “banned in Britain”; but then again, it’s not that hard to get something banned in Britain (these guys forbade Possession, for crying out loud!) Buy The Bunny Game.

Detention (2012): A postmodern, self-aware slasher sci-fi comedy that also parodies 1980s teen movies. Depending on how the idea is handled, this could totally rule, or end up totally gay. Buy Detention.

“Midnight Movies Vol 4: Thriller Triple Feature” (Bloodstained Shadow/Short Night of Glass Dolls/Who Saw Her Die?): We hadn’t heard of any of the movies in the first three volumes Blue Underground’s new triple feature series, until Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971) on Vol. 4 finally rang a bell. It’s a fairly well-regarded (despite the presence of Barbara Bach) giallo with sex and hallucination sequences. The companion features look more forgettable, but you could do worse than to get three giallos for the price of one. Buy “Midnight Movies Vol 4: Thriller Triple Feature” (Bloodstained Shadow/Short Night of Glass Dolls/Who Saw Her Die).

“Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXIV”: The twenty-fourth volume of bad movie goodness from the movie-mocking robots of the Satellite of Love. Episodes include the two Fugitive Alien movies, the Soviet spectacle The Sword and the Dragon, and El Santo’s only MST3K appearance in Samson vs. the Vampire Woman. Buy “Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXIV”.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Bunny Game (2012): See description in DVD above. Buy The Bunny Game [Blu-ray].

Detention (2012): See description in DVD above. Buy Detention [Blu-ray].

Nazi Invasion: Team Europe 3-D [AKA Jackboots on Whitehall] (2010): Read our capsule review. They made the action-figure Nazis invading Britain movie Jackboots on Whitehall into 3-D, then changed the name on us. We’re not fooled. Buy Nazi Invasion: Team Europe [AKA Jackboots on Whitehall] [Blu-ray 3D].

Total Recall (1990): Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as an ordinary man with implanted memories in this mildly-mindbending sci-fi hit super-loosely based on a Phillip K. Dick novel. Forget the currently playing 2012 remake—OK, you could probably forget the original too, but if you can only forget one version of Total Recall, the remake is the one to forget. This “mind-bending” edition is said to be an upgrade over the poor-quality, feature-free 2006 Blu release. Buy Total Recall (Mind-Bending Edition) [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Scrambled Beer (2007): Chilean comedy about a roommate who involuntarily travels through time. We haven’t watched it all the way through but we can confirm a character drinks scrambled beer. Watch Scrambled Beer free on YouTube.

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.