Because Rouge Cinema reviewed and linked the 366 Exclusive short film “9” (no relation to the Tim Burton/Shane Acker feature), we have decided to leave it up for another week, until October 12. Made for the 48 Hour Film Festival, “9” is an experimental, sepia-toned avant-garde film exploring generational abuse in a mythical Western setting. Click here to watch it.
We plan to premier a new exclusive short film in “9”‘s place after October 12.
366weirdmovies here, coming to you live from sunny Orlando, Florida. Weird movies wait for no man, vacation or not.
Coming up next week, expect to see some combination of the following: reviews of the mystical Czech horror/drama The Cremator, Ed Wood’s accidentally magnificent Glen or Glenda?, Harry Kümel’s nearly forgotten weirdfest Malpertuis, The Wizard of Oz, and the overlooked 1985 children’s adventure Young Sherlock Holmes. Also in the works is a long article on legendary (and very weird) Russian director Rustam Khamdamov, whose surrealistic masterpieces remain untranslated and virtually unknown in the West.
It was a slow week for weird search terms used to find this site; the best we can find is “free weird mutant sex movies.”
A while back reader “Rob Steele/Mofo Rising” suggested that we review the Quay Brothers’ out-of-print Institute Benjamenta. We were thrilled to recently discover that this film is going to be re-released on DVD and Blu-ray in a newly restored version sponsored by the British Film Institute in March, 2010 (you heard it here first!). For that reason, we’re going to push back our review of Benjamenta to next year, and substitute Mofo’s alternate suggestion, Greaser’s Palace, in its place. That makes the reader suggested review queue (which we confess is getting backed up) looks like this: Cowards Bend the Knee (substituted for the unavailable Angel’s Egg), Greaser’s Palace (substituted for Institute Benjamenta), Pan’s Labyrinth, Ex Drummer, Waking Life, Survive Style 5+, The Dark Backward, The Short Films of David Lynch, Santa Sangre, Dead Man, Inland Empire, Monday (assuming I can find an English language version), The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Barton Fink, What? (Diary of Forbidden Dreams), Meatball Machine, and Xtro.
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 (WIDE RELEASE):
Zombieland: There are many readers of this site who would flock to any zom-com offering, but the good news is that this particular post-zombie-apocalypse comedy, starring Woody Harrelson as a professional killer of the undead, is getting good advance notice, and may even be slightly weird: Andrew Wright of The Stranger is calling it “an absolute, occasionally surreal hoot.” Zombieland official site.
IN THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):
A Serious Man: The latest Coen brothers film, a star-free philosophical dramedy about growing up Jewish in the American Midwest in the 1960s, is not making theater owners salivate at the prospect of ticket sales, but fans can safely expect to see the brothers’ trademark quirkiness on display. A Serious Man official site.
SCREENINGS: NEW YORK CITY (MUSEUM OF MODERN ART)
Where Is Where? (2009): Experimental narrative film from Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila centers around the murder of a French boy by his two Arab playmates during the Algerian war and a poet’s attempts to understand the act years later; featuring split-screens and Death as a character. Where Is Where? at the Museum of Modern Art.
NEW ON DVD:
The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Edition (1939): Even with flying monkeys, taking apple trees and green-faced cossacks, The Wizard of Oz might not qualify as “weird”; but there’s no doubt that the story is the touchstone of indigenous American fantasy. This 2-disc edition is from a crystal clear 2005 restoration and features outtakes and deleted scenes, numerous interviews with the surviving cast members and featurettes, and a numerous other extras—disc 1 can even do duty as a Wizard of Oz karaoke machine. Buy from Amazon
NE W ON BLU-RAY:
The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition: A scaled down Blu-ray release is probably set for the future, but first comes this extravagant 4 disc limited-edition set with 16 hours (!) of bonus content, along with a 52 page booklet, a 7oth anniversary watch (with “genuine crystals”), and reproductions of original marketing materials. Buy from Amazon
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 a lot of articles pending this week—and we’re not sure, even at this late date, in exactly what order the pieces will be published. We can promise next week that you’ll see our long-pending reader-suggested review of the notorious underground necrophilia shockfest Nekromantik and Alfred’s review of Heart of the Beholder (a documentary on the battle between a mom-and-pop video store and the St. Louis chapter of Citizens for Decency over Martin Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ).
We haven’t published any examples of “the weirdest search terms used to locate the site” lately, but some doozies have come over the server log. “Catfighting stewardesses” gets the “we’re incredibly proud to be ranked #2 on Google for this search term” award. In the “was that supposed to be an insult?” file, we find “your a weird movie.” As always, the most competitive category is the “why the heck did you click on our link when you’re looking for twisted fetish porn?” department. You’d be amazed at the variety of unprintable sexual practices people spend their free hours scanning the Net for examples of, but the winner this week has a certain twisted poetry to it: “pointy and puffy movies filled with sperm.”
The updated reader-suggested review queue looks like this: Nekromantik (coming this week), Cowards Bend the Knee (substituted for the unavailable Angel’s Egg), Institute Benjamenta, Pan’s Labyrinth, Ex Drummer, Waking Life, Survive Style 5+, The Dark Backward, The Short Films of David Lynch, Santa Sangre, Dead Man, Inland Empire, Monday (assuming I can find an English language version), The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Barton Fink, What? (Diary of Forbidden Dreams), Meatball Machine, and Xtro.
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 of weird interest coming to the big screen this week. The desperate might try Pandorum, whose synopsis makes it sound like an uncredited Alien remake… but beware, the producers decided not to allow critics to screen this one in advance, which is usually (although not inevitably) a sign of a stinker.
SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, MUSEUM OF MODERN ART):
Paradise (2008): Michael (Happy Here and Now) Almereyda’s latest documentary stitches together fragments of film captured on his world travels into a film the director calls a celebration of “the idea that life is made up of brief paradisiacal moments—moments routinely taken for granted, and always slipping away.” Such a documentary seems like a stretch to be considered weird, but those few critics who have seen it report that the disconnected images have a beautiful, magical strangeness to them.
FILM FESTIVALS:
Indianapolis, IN
The “B”-Movie Celebration (Sep. 25 – 27): There’s nothing outstandingly weird on this year’s slate, but there are a number of interesting, offbeat and fun B-movies to see on the big screen, including the campy Blacula; George Romero’s The Crazies and Night of the Living Dead; John Carpenter’s Dark Star; the 1950’s sci-fi classics Forbidden Planet and Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Sergio Leone’s epic The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; the notorious Ilsa, She Wolf of the S.S.; and 1980s cult hits Night of the Comet and The Toxic Avenger. Also featuring a 2009 B-movie awards ceremony (the Golden Cob) and numerous local bands. As an added incentive, attend screenings of The Birds and Qartermass and the Pit and have fun trying to guess which of the audience members is 366weirdmovies! (Hint: it’s quite possible he will be eating popcorn). The “B” Movie Celebration Homepage.
Jersey
Branchage: Jersey International Film Festival (Oct. 1-4): Anyone who can make it to Jersey (an English-speaking British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France) on short notice may want to check out this intriguing festival. According to a promoter, “We’re showing The Secret of Kells in Mont Orgueil Castle with 3D-scapes flashing alongside the animation’s illuminations; a screening of Isolation (about ex-paratroopers in the UK) is going to be shown in the Jersey War Tunnels, built by prisoners of war during WWII, while bands are also playing live soundtracks to films – British Sea Power to Man of Aran, and Icelandic quartet Amiina will string and harp along to Lotte Reiniger silhouette animations.” Notable films being screened include the Werner Herzog documentaries Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, Duane Jones’ Moon, The Wizard of Oz, Lindsay Anderson’s very, very weird 1960s counterculture hit If… (starring Malcolm McDowell), and “numerous experimental shorts.” Sounds like our kind of happening. Branchage Festival Homepage.
NEW ON DVD:
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009): Rob Zombie‘s X-rated cartoon about a Mexican wrestler fighting a Satanic conspiracy and a band of zombie Nazi bikers is too strong for cinemas and gets released directly to DVD. Buy from Amazon
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008): A new thirty minute short featuring the cult Claymation man and dog duo starting a baking company and encountering a serial killer (!) Warning: for some incomprehensible reason, the DVD release is full-frame. Buy from Amazon
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009): See DVD listing above. Buy from Amazon
Pierre le Fou (1965): The Criterion Collection continues upgrading their old DVD releases to Blu-ray with this typically experimental and stylish tale of lovers on the run from Jean-Luc Goddard. Buy from Amazon
Shaun of the Dead (2004): The cult hit about a British slacker fighting the undead that sparked the recent fad for “zom-coms.” Not weird, but in a weak weird week Blu-ray owners may want to give this a rental or add it to their collection. Buy from Amazon
Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection: Nick Park’s four short films featuring Wallace & Gromit, including the most recent A Matter of Loaf and Death (see DVD listing above—word is, the version on Blu-ray is widescreen). It’s hardly the complete collection, since it doesn’t contain the full-length feature The Curse of the Wererabbit, but nomenclature aside, it’s a welcome addition to the Blu-ray ranks. Buy from Amazon
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.
