Don’t forget to participate in the July contest to win a Donnie Darko Blu-ray (UK & Ireland) or a Donnie Darko poster.  It’s easy; all you have to do is make two comments on this site (and one is just the notice that you want to enter the contest)!  Your chances of being the winner are excellent…

In terms of upcoming reviews, we may have a few surprises this week, but definitely expect coverage of the Christian Bale psychological thriller The Machinist (2004); the recent Japanese fantasy gorefest Samurai Princess (2009); and, on the very opposite scale of Japanese horror, the goreless, poetic classic Kwaidan (1964) (from the reader-suggested review queue).

It was a very weak week in terms of weird search terms used to locate the site.  But we have to give props to the person who came here on a search for “Love, Sex and Weird Movies.”  In fact, that gives us an idea.  Be on the lookout for our “366 Weird Dates” matchmaking service, debuting very soon…

Here’s the absurdly long reader-suggested review queue: Trash Humpers (we’re waiting for the DVD release); Kwaidan (next week); Six-String Samurai; Altered States; 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; Primer; Maniac (1934); Hausu; A Boy and His Dog; 200 Motels; Walkabout; Private Parts (1972); Saddest Music in the World; Mulholland Drive; The American Astronaut; Blood Tea and Red Strings; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. II (for Lucifer Rising, among others); 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; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension; Little Otik; Final Programme; Careful; Sweet Movie; The Triplets of Belleville; “Foutaises” (short); Johnny Suede; “Jam” (TV, UK, 2000), The Tale of the Floating World, Un Chien Andalou, Bloodsucking Freaks; Fellini Satyricon; Three Crowns of the Sailor; 8 1/2; Death Race 2000; Dororo; Lost Highway; Valerie and Her Week of Wonders; Dogville; and Julien Donkey-boy; Amelie; The Ten; The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao; 1; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Tokyo Gore Police; At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul; The Trial [Le procès) (1962); Marquis; Hell Comes to Frogtown; Hellzapoppin’; Seom [The Isle]; Allegro Non Troppo; Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus; Lust in the Dust; Celine and Julie Go Boating; “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life;” The Magic Christian; Black Cat, White Cat; The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Abnormal: The Sinema of Nick Zedd; Robot Monster; Nightdreams; 3 Women; Rubin & Ed; Teeth; Vera; Funny Games; Weirdsville; Prospero’s Books; Inferno; Garden State; Persona; and The Real McCoy; Rat Pfink a Boo Boo; Themroc; Candy (1968); Run Lola Run; Pink Flamingos; Buffalo ’66; Northfork; Weekend; The Room; Glen or Glenda?; Night of the Hunter; The Fox Family; Midnight Skater; and Angelus.

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.

Summer is the worst time for weird movies on the big screen, but this week something truly bizarre is occurring.  Rotten Tomatoes reports that only 2 films are opening this week; something about sparkly vampires and a critically shredded kiddie flick based on a Nickelodeon cartoon show directed by the doubtable M. Night Shyamalan.  Since, in a normal week, a dozen or two movies open (including little seen documentaries, token independent releases and screenings by large art theaters), I concluded Rotten Tomatoes must have just recently decided to abandon coverage of any movies predicted to take in less than $1 million in domestic box office receipts in its opening weekend.  So, I headed over to IMDB for the real lowdown on this week’s releases.  My hunch was correct; IMDB found a full 50% more releases this week than Rotten Tomatoes had uncovered.  Of course, that extra 50% only worked out to a single movie, a drama set in a Nevada brothel starring Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci.  It’s playing in seven or eight theaters across the country.

Is this what cinema in the United States is coming to?  An entire country of over 300,000 people gets only 3 choices for new movies to see in a week, with two of them aimed at teenagers and kids, and the one for adults showing on less than ten screens?  Of the hundreds of available independent productions itching for theatrical distribution, only one timid offering is seen fit to provide an alternative to Eclipse?

After I wrote the previous rant about the paltry three movies released in the U.S. this week, Rotten Tomatoes saw fit to provide a late update to its offerings with an additional four documentaries, one of which we’ve included in the listings.  Mea culpa, I apologize to the movie industry cartel for implying it supplies the moviegoing public with nothing but safe, dumbed-down, homogenized fare.  I will never again doubt Hollywood’s artistic integrity, or the taste of the general public.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Great Directors (2009): Documentary featuring interviews with nine directors on their styles and influences. Of most interest to our readers are talks with David Lynch and Richard Linklater; Catherine Breillat may also be appealing. The other featured directors are Bernardo Bertolucci, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, and John Sayles. Playing in the NYC area only. Great Directors official site.

NEW ON DVD:

When You’re Strange: A Film About the Doors (2009): This Johnny Depp-narrated documentary about the Doors from Tom (Johnny Suede) DiCillo is noteworthy because it incorporates footage from the rare and reputedly weird (and reader-recommended) Jim Morrison project HWY: An American Pastoral,which has never had a legitimate DVD release. Buy When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors.

The White Ribbon[Das Weisse Band]: Read our capsule review.  Michael Haneke’s Palme D’or winning ambiguous b&w parable about the rise of Nazism in Germany is arguably very slightly weird, but still worth seeing for those with a taste for historical dramas. Buy The White Ribbon.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

When You’re Strange: A Film About the Doors (2009): See entry in DVD above. Buy When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors [Blu-ray].

The White Ribbon[Das Weisse Band]: See entry in DVD above. Buy The White Ribbon [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

In the Land of Milk and Money (2004): Self described “imaginative dark comedy” about genetic experimentation that makes wholesome American moms into homicidal killers after they drink tainted cow’s milk. Warning: the IMDB ratings are not high, and the fact that they misspelled their own title as “In the Land of Milk and Honey” does not inspire confidence (UPDATE: per the comment by the director below, she had nothing to do with the upload or the misspelling).  On the plus side, YouTube commenters seem befuddled by the flick.  Watch In the Land of Milk and Money 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.

The folks at Metrodome Distribution have acquired the rights to distribute the Certified Weird movie Donnie Darko on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and they have kindly offered to send a copy to a lucky 366 Weird Movies reader.  The 2-disc release will contain both the director’s cut and the theatrical cut as well as a wealth of special features; as the press release says, “Enter Donnie’s world like never before with crystal clear visuals and a bewildering array of extra features highlighting this most mysterious of modern cult classics. Whether you’ve experienced Director Richard Kelly’s influential, time-travelling masterpiece before or you’re yet to follow ‘Frank’ down the wormhole, DONNIE DARKO on Blu Ray offers an astonishing experience like never before.” For more information, here is the Metrodome page advertising the release. (The disc will be released July 19, if you just can’t wait for the contest to be over to grab your copy).

And, since only UK and Republic of Ireland residents are eligible to receive the prize, Metrdodome has generously offered to supply a separate prize for five different people living anywhere in the world: an extremely cool-looking “quad” sized Donnie Darko poster (pictured left). (CORRECTION: I have been informed that the posters are “A3” sized, not quad sized).

Due to the number of prizes involved, the rules for this contest are going to be a little bit different.  Rather than writing an entire review, all you have to do to enter the contest is to make 2 comments on this site.  Here’s how it will work:

1. Make a meaningful comment on any movie review or essay on the site (sorry, comments on the “Suggest a Weird Movie” thread are not eligible).  “Meaningful comment” means something that indicates either that you’ve watched the movie or read the review in question.  Generic short comments like “I luv it 2” or “this movie sux” will be marked as spam and will not count as contest entries.

2. After you have made your comment, return to this post and add a comment here saying A) which movie you commented on and B) which prize you are eligible for.  Example: “I commented on Donnie Darko [UK]” or “US, made a comment on Hausu” would count as entries for the Blu-ray prize and the poster prize, respectively.

3. Any person may enter the contest 4 times during the month of July. Entries are tied to email addresses, so you cannot earn extra entries by changing your screen name.  Please play fair; we reserve the right to disqualify an entry if we discover someone “spamming” entries.

4. The contest ends on July 31 at midnight, U.S. Eastern Standard Time. At that time all entries will be given a sequential serial number and the winner will be selected by lottery conducted through the random number generator at random.org.

5. Winners will be notified at the email address they used to submit their comment. To receive the prize winners will be required to submit their mailing address within 24 hours of notification of winning the prize (you will not be placed on any mailing lists, email or otherwise). If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, a replacement winner will be selected. Prizes will ship after I have notified Metrodome group of the names and addresses of the winners.

That’s not so hard, now, is it? We expect to be hit hard with meaningful comments and dialogue in the month of July. Get commenting, folks, and let’s discuss weird movies!