We haven’t checked in on everyone yet, but we currently believe that none of the 366 Weird Movies staff was raptured yesterday; this means that we can go on with our next week of reviews as scheduled. If you weren’t raptured either, then next week you can check out our reviews of the psychological thriller Dead Awake (2010), about a junior mortician who finds things getting strange after he fakes his own funeral; Inferno (1980), Dario Argento‘s borderline incoherent followup to the Certified Weird Suspiria; Philip Ridely‘s return to film, Heartless (2009), about a man with a heart-shaped birthmark on his face who makes a deal with the devil in a Hellish modern London; and catch up with Alfred as he returns to his series on Tod Browning to inform us about The Show (1927), a tawdry carnival melodrama that could be seen as a dress rehearsal for Freaks (1932).
There were some nice entries in our unofficial “Weirdest Search Term of the Week” contest. A couple of short-but-sweet three-word search phrases deserve at least an honorable mention: “lezbo bridge film” and “chicken part catalogue.” In the category of most random use of a gay slur in a search string, the winner is “janis joplin and homo hendrix songs in across the universe.” And, while we don’t like to pick a Weirdest Search Term of the Week that contains naughty words, we had to make an exception for this beauty: “japanese children of know f**ky movie.” Now, the searcher actually may have been looking for a Japanese funky movie (in which case we have him or her covered), but that still doesn’t explain the children of know…
Here’s how the reader suggested review queue stands (more titles after break as always): Perfume: The Story of a Murderer;Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (this appears to be unavailable at present, actually); The Pillow Book; Final Flesh; Lunacy [Sílení]; InmortelContinue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE→
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.
There’s nothing weird in theaters this week (not really a surprise there).
NEW ON DVD:
Daydream Nation: A love triangle between a teen girl, an age-appropriate boyfriend, and their English teacher. The press release calls it a “mash-up of the bizarre and the beautiful” and two separate reviewers have compared it to Donnie Darko. Buy Daydream Nation.
Deep Red [Profundo Rosso] (1975): Dario Argento‘s Deep Red, about a jazz pianist caught in a web of murder, is more a standard, suspenseful giallo than a bizarre film, but it shows early traces of the extreme stylization and atmosphere he would expand on to create the Certified Weird Suspiria two years later. This re-issue is reputed to be the director’s preferred cut; at 105 minutes, it’s longer than the 98 minute “R-rated” version that originally played in US theaters, but faster paced than the 126-minute “uncensored” cut. Note that only the director’s cut is on the DVD, but the “full” 126 minute version is also included on the Blu-ray (below). Buy Deep Red.
“Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job: Season 5” (2011): Absurdist sketch comedy from the Cartoon Network. Contains the episode “Lucky,” which had been removed from digital distribution for unstated reasons. An entire season fits on one 110 minute DVD. Buy “Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job: Season 5”.
Year of the Fish (2007): Here’s a movie idea you don’t see everyday: a rotoscoped adult retelling of “Cinderella,” with the lead role taken by a Chinese immigrant woman forced to work in a “happy-ending” massage parlor and befriended by a magical goldfish. Previously available only on DVD-R, Fish is now available in a respectable DVD reissue complete with commentary tracks. Buy Year of the Fish.
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Deep Red [Profundo Rosso] (1975): See entry in DVD above. Note that the Blu-ray contains both the 105 minute director’s cut and the 126 minute “uncensored” version. Buy Deep Red [Blu-ray].
FREE MOVIES ON THE WEB:
Diseaster [Paashat] (2011): Dutch carrot farmers are terrorized by a killer Easter bunny. This 30 minute horror/comedy features Easter eggs filled with blood, a rapping narrator with Down syndrome, crossbows that shoot sharpened carrots, and scary/ridiculous killer bunny puppets; it’s like a more professional, European version of Thankskilling. With blood and guts and mild nudity and sexuality, but the only thing that might offend is that Down syndrome character. Watch Diseaster for free at the official 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.
Upcoming reviews for next week: we’ll hit a couple of recent releases with Vanishing on 7th Street (2010), Brad (The Machinist) Anderson’s latest, about a plague of darkness inexplicably sweeping over Detroit, and Rubber (2010), the first and finest film ever made on the subject of tire serial killers with telekinetic powers. We’ll dig into the reader-suggested review queue for a look at the unique mindbender The Nines (2007). And we’ll take a gander at the experimental opus Currently Untitled (2010), which aims to be the no-budget version of 8 1/2.
It’s another tough week for weird search terms. We found “schizophrenic movie spiders” notable to demonstrate how simply changing a singular noun into a plural can transform a quite reasonable search for this into a quest for info on a class of cinema critters that doesn’t exist. We also considered “weird alien tongue movie lady has sex with tongue,” but ultimately passed over it (too obvious) in favor of this week’s inscrutable winner, “movie fast cicatrisation graal.” You have to admire the fact that this search query includes a very obscure word, a non-word, and two common words that add absolutely no sense to the complete phrase. Well done!
Here’s how the reader-suggested review queue currently stacks up (many, many more requested titles after the break): The Nines (coming next week!); Perfume: The Story of a Murderer;Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (this appears to be unavailable at present, actually); The Pillow Book; Final Flesh; Lunacy [Sílení]; Inmortel (2004); Tetsuo; Dead Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE→
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):
The Big Bang: Antonio Banderas stars as a hard-boiled private eye encountering seedy LA weirdos while searching for missing diamonds in a case that turns out to be more than it appears. Critics are branding it “Lynchian,” but they’re also denouncing director Tony Krantz (Sublime) as a surrealist hack; this looks like a big weird flop from Anchor Bay. Playing New York and Los Angeles this week, appearing on DVD and Blu-ray May 24. The Big Bang official site.
Hesher: A sociopathic arsonist and anarchist takes up residence in a family’s garage after the mother dies in a car accident; is he real, or just a symbol of discord? Starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Devin Brcohu, Rainn Wilson, Piper Laurie and Natalie Portman (who also produced). Hesher official site.
True Legend: Kung-fu fantasy with elaborate, impossibly staged fight scenes pitting “Five Venom Fist” style against “Drunken Fist” style. From action choreographer Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix, Kill Bill). Playing in NYC, Austin, TX., Honolulu and San Francisco all next week. True Legend official site.
SCREENINGS (Louisville, KY.; Wed. May 18, 10 PM):
Night of the Living Dead (1968): OK, so everyone knows George Romero’s seminal zombie apocalypse survival feature isn’t really weird, except to the squarest of the squares. We only mention it because the reclusive 366 himself will be putting in an appearance at the screening. 366 will only be putting in an appearance because they are offering him beer. Playing at Rave Motion Pictures Preston Crossings 16, Wednesday May 18, at 10 PM.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Dali 3D (est. Summer 2012): Salvador Dalí lies on his sickbed and dreams a movie where he travels through time with his wife Gala and meets Freud, Walt Disney, and the Mona Lisa, among others. Alan Cuming stars as Dalí and weird favorite Judy Davis plays Gala, with Phillipe (Howling II… Your Sister Is a Werewolf) Mora to direct. As per the title, to be filmed in eye-popping 3D. This Canadian effort will attempt to make it to the screen before a planned big budget biopic starring Antonio Banderas (which is also aiming for a 2012 release). This is not a joke, repeat, this is not a joke, but rather a glorious opportunity they better not screw up. Dali 3D official page.
NEW ON DVD:
Dahmer vs. Gacy (2011): The government is trying to create a super-killer using DNA from two notorious serial killers, but their experiments escape and terrorize the nation. Ninjas also figure into the plot. Could this be the ultimate bad taste horror/comedy premise? Buy Dahmer Vs. Gacy.
Sledgehammer (1983): A novel spin on the 1980s slasher genre; the killer doesn’t slash his victims at all, but rather pounds on them with a large, heavy hammer. This shot-on-video feature is undoubtedly terrible, but the marketing team gets props for trying to play up its weirdness, calling it “85 minutes of fever-dream depravity” and a “nightmare-logic shocker.” Buy Sledgehammer.
Slime City Massacre (2010): In a near-future NYC wasteland homeless people turn into slime creatures who are then possessed by the spirits of cultists who died by their own hands (or something like that). It’s a long-delayed sequel to 1988’s minor cult hit Slime City. Buy Slime City Massacre.
The Violent Kind (2010): A movie about drug-dealing outlaw bikers and their encounter with the supernatural and weird colors in the sky. At Sundance, it was self-described as “gleeful, insane exploitation”; we’ve been keeping an eye out for the DVD release ever since. Buy The Violent Kind.
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
The Lickerish Quartet (1970): This classy seventies softcore erotic feature from the stylish Radley Metzger features uncertain identities and surrealistic sex scenes, such as the one where a couple make love on a floor covered with dictionary entries. The Blu-ray comes hot on the heels of last week’s DVD release, but a word of warning: according to an Amazon reviewer the quality of the original print may not justify the hi-def presentation. Buy The Lickerish Quartet [Blu-ray].
Viy (1967): Read our capsule review. Mosfilm has very quietly put some subtitled Soviet classics on YouTube for free, including this unforgettable horror film about a young priest conducting a vigil over a witches casket. Watch Viy on YouTube for free.
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.
First off, a very happy and disturbingly bizarre Mother’s Day to all the weird moms out there!
Next week on 366 Weird Movies you can look forward to the following reviews: The Attic Expeditions (2001), a mindbending mix of occultism and psychiatric experimentation, and just plain B-movie battiness; the upcoming Catechism Cataclysm (2011), a road trip movie for the lapsed Catholic in all of us; Maelstrom (2000), a Quebecois drama of extreme guilt narrated by a dying fish; and Tod Browning’s White Tiger (1923), whose plot involves a jewelry heist, incest, and a mechanical chess player. There’s always a possibility we’ll throw a bonus mystery review into the mix, as well.
Frankly, we found the past week to be a letdown when it came to weird search terms used to locate the site. We considered nominating “cuckold is pushed too far and pulls gun on wifes bull” as our weirdest search term of the week, until we learned that this phrase actually has a perfectly sensible meaning meaning with the cuckold fetish community (are we the only ones who find it depressing that cuckold fetish communities even exist?) We briefly considered “american movie with a weird conversation on a mole” just because we like the mental image it conjures. Things were so bleak that we finally threw up our hands and went with the prosaic “animated alien head for penis” as our weirdest search term of the week. Try to step up the bizarrity next week, will you, Google searchers?
Here’s how the reader-suggested review queue stands (more titles after the break, as always): The Attic Expeditions (restored review coming next week); Perfume: The Story of a Murderer;Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (this appears to be unavailable at present, actually); The Nines; The Pillow Book; Final Flesh; Lunacy [Sílení]; Inmortel (2004); Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE→
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!
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