Trash fans may be a bit disappointed next week as we temporarily class up the joint with reviews of two art movies: Roy Andersson’s absurdist You, the Living [Du Levande] (2007) and Lindsay Anderson’s sprawling 1973 satire O Lucky Man! But just so no one feels left out, we’re hoping to squeeze in a review of Frank Henenlotter’s latest sexy shocker about killer genitalia, Bad Biology.  Also look for a review of the deep, deep underground surrealist experiment Heads of Control: The Gorul Baheu Brain Expedition (2006).

With each passing week it seems like people come here actually looking for “weird movies” instead of “insect porn,” so it’s getting harder and harder to find a suitable weirdest search term used to locate the site.  But this week Altavista did report someone came here looking for reports on the “japanese ‘popsicle melting’ contest,” so that will have to serve as our weird search term of the week.

The reader-suggested review queue continues to expand like the universe after the Big Bang.  Here’s how it currently stands: Suicide Club; O Lucky Man! (next week); Trash Humpers (DVD release is imminent, but this will probably be pushed back while we wait for it); 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; 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]; Necromentia; 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; Kairo [AKA Pulse]; The Guatemalan Handshake; Dead Leaves; The Seventh Seal; Taxidermia; Primer; Maniac (1934); Hausu; A Boy and His Dog; 200 Motels; Walkabout; Private Parts (1972); Possession; Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; Malice in Wonderland; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among others); The Human Centipede (First Sequence); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ; The Bride of Frank; La Grande Bouffe; Uzumaki [Spiral]; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Even Dwarves Started Small; Bunny & the Bull; “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney” (assuming I can find it); Cinema 16: European Short Films; Freaked; Session 9; Schizopolis; Strings; Dellamorte Dellamore [AKA Cemetery Man]; The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; The Addiction; Liquid Sky; The Quiet; Shock Treatment; Tuvalu; “Zombie Jesus” (if we can locate it); 3 Dev Adam; Fantastic Planet; “Twin Peaks” (TV series); Society; May; and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

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):

Best Worst Movie (2010):  This documentary on an unlikely subject—the making of the laughably inept 1980s horror Troll 2, a movie featuring vegetarian goblins—is an even more improbable critical favorite.  Premiering this week in Austin, TX at the famous Alamo Drafthouse; coming in future weeks and months to Warsaw, Poland; New York City; Los Angeles; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; Dallas; Seattle; Tuscon; Washington, D.C.; St. Louis; Atlanta; Minneapolis; and Cambridge, MA.  Best Worst Movie official site.

The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (2008):  Obviously, we have to mention this one because of the title, even though it refers to one of the characters rather than to the movie’s guiding principle.  A Korean tribute to the Sergio Leone classic set in the Manchurian desert; a cult buzz has been steadily building on this one as it blazed its way across the festival circuit.  Playing New York this week and Los Angeles the following week; hopefully it will make its way towards the middle of the country thereafter.  The Good, the Bad, and the Weird official site (Japanese).

Red Birds (2010): Apparently, the concept is that the director has selected various female artists, associated each with a particular bird, and allowed them to speak on random subjects while birdwatching footage of their avian plays.  New York movie critics who would normally lap up a feminist documentary have been moved to call it “irritating,” “tedious,” and to warn that “Eventually, the desire to scream ‘What, exactly, is going on here?’ will become overwhelming.” Playing to the director’s friends and family at Anthology Archives in New York City all week.   Red Birds at Anthology Film Archives.

IN POST-PRODUCTION:

Hamlet A.D.D.:  Hamlet is recast as a time-tripper with feet of clay who procrastinates from avenging his father’s murder through the ages, from the 1600s to the 1970s to the distant future.  A completed scene from this, featuring Kevin Murphy and Trace Beaulieu as the voices of two robots who perform “The Mousetrap” on a 1950s television broadcast, was included as an extra on the Mystery Science Theater 3000, Vol. XV box set, so we can verify that this is going to be cool and bizarre.  Hamlet A.D.D. official site.

FILM FESTIVALS – SUBMISSIONS WANTED:

“Pure Dreams,” an international festival of independent films, is seeking submissions for its thirteenth annual competition to be held in November in St. Petersburg, Russia.  The deadline for submissions is Oct 1.  More information can be found at the festival’s official site, and an application form (in English) can be downloaded here.

NEW ON DVD:

44 Inch Chest (2009): London gangster drama about an aging bad guy who kidnaps an enemy he believes slept with his wife and considers taking revenge while being egged on by his sleazy, foul-mouthed mates.  Includes fantasy sequences, which is why we mention it.  From the writers of Sexy Beast and the producers of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Buy 44 Inch Chest.

The Lovely Bones (2009):  Read our capsule review.  Peter Jackson’s slightly weird, slightly disappointing tale of a murdered girl who tracks her killer from the afterlife. Buy The Lovely Bones.

Peacock (2010): Direct-to-DVD psychological thriller about a bank clerk in 1950s Nebraska with a split personality—the second personality being a woman named Emma who harbors some secrets. The sparse reviews are generally positive.  Starring Cillian Murphy with, Ellen Page, Bill Pullman Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon (who also appears this week in The Lovely Bones). Buy Peacock.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

44 Inch Chest (2009): See entry in DVD above. Buy 44 Inch Chest [Blu-ray].

The Lovely Bones (2009): See entry in DVD above. Buy The Lovely Bones [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.

Next week, look for a lengthy review of the Hungarian subway flick Kontroll (2003), the lowdown on the new-to-DVD Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! tribute Bitch Slap (2009), and coverage of the would-be cult musical Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008).

After a few down weeks for bizarre search terms used to locate this site, the Internet showed us glimpses of Googles potential to generate random and surreal requests this week.  We liked “movie french clown war” (actually we want to see that one), “french hypno sex” (but who doesn’t?), and our runner-up, “donney a boy is 13 black hair the vampire in 2009.”  But once again we’ll vote for simplicity and honor “who makes odd movies named richard” as our weirdest search term of the week.

Here’s how the reader-suggested review queue currently looks: 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; 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; Kairo [AKA Pulse]; The Guatemalan Handshake; Dead Leaves; The Seventh Seal; Taxidermia; Primer; Maniac (1934); Hausu; A Boy and His Dog; 200 Motels; Walkabout; Private Parts (1972); Possession; Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; Malice in Wonderland; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among others); The Human Centipede (First Sequence); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ; The Bride of Frank; La Grande Bouffe; Uzumaki [Spiral]; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Even Dwarves Started Small; Bunny & the Bull; “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney” (assuming I can find it); Cinema 16: European Short Films; Freaked; Session 9; Schizopolis; Strings; Dellamorte Dellamore [AKA Cemetery Man]; The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra]; The Addiction; Liquid Sky; The Quiet; Shock Treatment; Tuvalu; and we’ll even take a stab at locating the hard-to-find short “Zombie Jesus.”

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):

Pornography: A Thriller (2009):  Murder and weirdness in three related tales from the world of gay porn.  The press release promises us that “surreal and supernatural elements weave together these three haunting stories.”  Due to its subject matter and less than thrilling reviews it’s exceedingly unlikely to be coming to a theater near you. Expect a DVD release soon.  Pornography: A Thriller official site.

UPCOMING:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (2009):  The wacky premise involves a vampire writing a bizarre adaptation of Hamlet.  The distributors promise a “perfect mix of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ Terry Gilliam, Dude Where’s My Car and Woody Allen all in one fantastic film!” Release date was originally scheduled for this week but has been pushed back to June 11.  Rosencrantz and Guildendtern are Undead official site.

NEW ON DVD:

Essential Art House, Vol. 5: Courtesy of Janus films under the Criterion imprint, the Essential Art House series positions itself a low priced, extras-free alternative to Criterion Collection’s special editions. Beyond the “art house” theme, the selections are relatively random. Vol. 5 includes David Lean’s adaptation of Noel Coward’s Brief Encounters, the 1959 Japanese drama Floating Weeds, Francois Truffaut’s Jules and Jim, the Finnish holocaust drama Kapo (1959), and Milos Forman’s Loves of a Blonde (1965). We mention it because of the sixth feature: Fellini’s weird masterpice 8 1/2. Buy Essential Art House, Volume Five.

Nightmare on Elm Street Collection: With its iconic villain, multiple dream sequences and blackly comic puns, A Nightmare on Elm Street was a bright spot of imagination in the wasteland of 1980s teen-oriented slasher horrors. Later entries in the series became much campier than the frightening original, but were enjoyable nonetheless. This box set collects together Nightmares 1-5 along with Freddy’s Dead, Ronnie Yu’s “high concept” Freddy vs. Jason, and 1994’s Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, an admirable attempt to steer the series away from self-parody and back to horror. Buy Nightmare on Elm Street Collection.

Tenderness (2009): Despite starring Russel Crowe, theaters passed on this serial killer thriller and it debuts on DVD this week. Reviews are mediocre, but Bret Frazer of Amazon suggests that “flashes of David Lynch-esque eeriness provide some thrills” and fan reviewers often describe it as “strange” or “odd.” Buy Tenderness.

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.