What you’re about to see below is probably the single most impressive fan-inspired content this site has ever seen. We have mentioned Val Santos before thanks to his complete Letterboxd list of the 366 Canon (which saved us the trouble of composing one). His latest project blows that contribution out of the water, however. Mr. Santos has taken four or five clips from every one of the 366 Caonically Weird movies and arranged them into a “supercut” that runs for over an hour. Sure, it’s a long time, but the parade of surreal imagery (expertly edited and scored to Michael Nyman) will make for great video wallpaper at your next gathering of weirdos. Give it a watch and be sure to give Val some appreciation here and on his YouTube page.
9Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Hagasuzza: A Heathen’s Curse [Hagazussa] (2017): A 15th century woman in an Alpine village is (appropriately) accused of witchcraft. This German art-house horror is receiving nearly universal critical acclaim. Hagazussa official Facebook page.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018): Toby, once an idealistic student filmmaker and now a director of commercials, revisits Spain to find the old shoemaker he cast as his lead in his “Don Quixote” student film now believes he is Quixote and Toby is Sancho Panza. Have you been following this? After a successful “one night only” Fathom screening, Terry Gilliam‘s “cursed” film gets a limited release after all. P.S.: it’s good. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote official site.
Under the Silver Lake (2018): Read Giles Edwards’ review. David Robert Mitchell‘s trippy conspiracy-noir bombed at Cannes and the release was repeatedly pushed back; there were rumors that distributor A24 was going to have the film re-edited, but they appear to have been scrapped. Will debut on VOD shortly (April 22, to be exact) after a very limited theatrical release. Under the Silver Lake official site.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Diamonds of the Night (1964): Two Jewish boys escape from a Nazi train carrying them to a concentration camp into a surrealistic countryside. A Czech New Wave classic from Jan Nemec that’s been long-unavailable, now rescued by the Criterion Collection and available on DVD or Blu-ray (and probably on their new streaming channel soon enough). Buy Diamonds of the Night.
Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987): Two comely secret agents accidentally come into possession of stolen diamonds which lead them to a drug kingpin. The amazing 80s and 90s films of Andy Sidaris repeated the same campy formula over and over—ex-Playboy Playmates cast as secret agents, bounteous T&A, ersatz James Bond chicanery—but this one is the most ridiculous of them all, featuring a blow-up doll destroyed by a bazooka and a deadly cancer-infected snake (!) Mill Creek releases it restored on Blu-ray with behind-the-scenes features: what an age we live in! Buy Hard Ticket to Hawaii.
Keoma (1976): A half-breed (Franco Nero) returns from his wanderings to find his hometown faced with a plague and led by a corrupt mayor, assisted by his three hateful half-brothers. A very odd (though maybe not totally weird) Spaghetti Western that’s very self-conscious in its mythologizing, with a symbolic crucifixion, a witch only Keoma can see running around spouting prophecies, and a bizarre soundtrack where the singers simply describe exactly what’s happening onscreen. Arrow Blus it this week in a lavish special edition. Buy Keoma.
The Manitou (1978): That tumor on Susan Strasberg’s back turns out to be the reincarnated fetus of an ancient evil spirit. Maybe William Girdler’s best (and final) movie, which is to say it’s an incompetent hoot that at least has Tony Curtis embarrassing himself as a psychic who fights it out out with the Native American spirit by playing a game of live-action “Asteroids.” A Shout! Factory Blu-ray release. Buy The Manitou.
The Texture of Falling (2018): Two intertwined nonlinear stories: an affair between an aspiring filmmaker and a concert pianist intercut with another couple who are into bondage and discipline. This debut from Portland-based Maria Allred bills itself as a “controversial and surrealist feature film” and is available (exclusively) on Amazon Prime. Watch The Texture of Falling.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week will be the finals of the March Mad Movie Madness tournament (which is good, because we wouldn’t want this thing to run into May). As you read this, there’s still time to vote in the semifinals (although Eraserhead and The Holy Mountainhave built such incredible leads that it’s hard to see any other permutation of finalists).
As far as new articles go, we will have at least two. Ryan Aarset brings you the scoop on Clair Denis’ trippy sci-fi feature High Times (in theaters now). And Gregory J. Smalley promises bring you at least one new review, but we can’t tell you exactly what it is because he’s failed to submit it yet. (We’d fire the cad for tardiness, but he controls the bank account and has the keys to the 366 yacht). And who knows, something else could always drop into our submission box between now and next Friday.
Onward and weirdward!
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.
From an original 366 contenders, we’re down to the Freaky Four. Three more matches will determine our most popular weird movie of all time.
A special shout-out to Naked Lunch, who made it all the way to a special overtime round before falling to Un Chien Andalou. It deserves mention as the 5th most popular weird movie.
Here are the official Freaky 4, along with the path they took to make it this far:
You can see the full results and progress of the entire tournament here: https://challonge.com/tsut4018 (note that this link is just for viewing results. You must vote using the forms below.)
Now it’s time to remove two more contenders and set up the final death match.
You may vote once every 24 hours. This round closes at midnight, EST Apr. 19.
Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018): A movie in two inscrutable parts: a nonlinear mosaic of memories, and a dream. It does not appear to have much, if anything, to do with Eugene O’Neill’s play, but rather is the sophomore effort from Chinese director Gan Bi, whose debut film, Kaili Blues, was also mystical and obtuse. Long Day’s Journey Into Night official site.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week we’ll continue our Mad March Movie Madness tournament (yes, we know it’s April), and we should even start the final round. As for reviews, we’ll have at least two, as Giles Edwards reports on Netflix’s African magical realist feature The Burial of Kojo and G. Smalley brings you at least one review (Piercing, an adaptation of a novel by the guy who wrote the original Audition, with a similar sadomasochistic theme). Since this column will appear on Good Friday next week, we might take off Maundy Thursday instead… of we might sneak in another review. In either case, onward and weirdward!
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.
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!