Next week, we’ll be continuing our wrap up of the year 2010 in movies (and DVDs). We’ve finally gotten around to seeing a couple of late breaking List-quality releases, though we’re not saying we’ll be covering those titles in the upcoming week, as we don’t want to rob you of the fun guessing what the new entries might be! We do hope to cover the following next week: Gaspar Noé’s druggy ghost story Enter the Void; Nicolas Winding Refn‘s strange Viking saga, Valhalla Rising; and the mafia musical To Die for Tano (released in Italy in 1997 but making a quiet debut in U.S. theaters this year). Just so you won’t feel too contemporary and with-it, we’ll also take a look back at one of the craziest of the classic Hollywood musicals, Hellzapoppin’ (1941).
It was a tough week for weird search terms used to locate the site: it seems the searchers out there are getting more and more normal. Of course, we did see the usual mangled searches from people we assume are searching for something unspeakably filthy, but aren’t quite sure how to put it into words, e.g. “bigest tumy nacked movies” and “18 love bebbe pick movies.” And maybe it’s not that weird of a search term, but there’s just something about the way this request is phrased that we find amusing: “donnie darko make it make sense.” For the weirdest search term of the week, we’re going to have to go with the rather simple “pilgrim type 366,” simply because we like search terms that teach us something new, and we had no clue there were at least 365 other types of pilgrims.
Peering deep into the future, here’s that massive reader-suggested review queue (it goes on for quite a while after the jump): Hellzapoppin’ (next week); Songs From The Second Floor; Possession; Wild Zero; Nothing (2003); The Peanut Butter Solution; Perfume: The Story of a Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE→
“Christmas Cracker” consists of three segments that have very little in common with each other, besides the fact that they are Christmas based, and are each introduced by a mime-like jester. Charming and now aged to fine quality weirdness, it may not surprise you that fifty years ago this nearly won an Oscar.
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 DEVELOPMENT:
The Funny Man (est. 2011): There are only a few details, but it looks like a Psycho-inspired horror/thriller about a killer comic who wears a scary mask. The director promises “unconventional stories, unusual characters, psychological thrills, and dark-twisted entertainment,” and the concept video is promising. The Funny Man facebook page.
ON THE WEB: AUDIO
“The Grandfather”: We mentioned “Tales from Beyond the Pale” – Radio Plays for the Digital Age a couple of weeks ago. The idea is to resurrect the dead art of the radio play for the mp3 age. The latest release is Graham (I Can See You) Reznick’s “The Grandfather,” starring Angus Scrimm (in a role written with him in mind) as a lonely old man with a habit of talking to his cat as if she were his dead wife and a family tree that’s potentially very twisted. I’ve heard it, and I can confirm that this one is indeed “weird” horror (I’m still not sure what really happened in the deliberately ambiguous ending). Best listened to in a darkened room. Hear a clip and download “The Grandfather” at “Tales from Beyond the Pale”.
NEW ON DVD:
Double Take (2010): Archival footage of Alfred Hitchcock and a body double are used to create a new story involving the Master of Suspense meeting an evil doppelgänger during the Cold War. Sounds fascinating, and who doesn’t love Hitch? Buy Double Take.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (2004): We’ve never seen one of Spanish director Carlos Atanes’ films, but we’re aware of him because he’s one of the few filmmakers who proudly describes his movies as “weird.” FAQ is an underground movie about a matriarchal dystopian future; to get a feel for it, we offer the following dialogue where a prisoner proposes his own punishment: “I will confess my crimes in public. I will shave my eyebrows. I will open my belly with a spoon and hang myself by the neck until I die before the year ends.” This is a special edition, Region 0 release. Buy FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions – Special Collector’s Edition.
The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2009): An absurdist comedy about janitors undergoing male pregnancy. This is in our reader-suggested review queue, and we’ve been waiting for a DVD release ever since we first heard about it on the festival circuit. Buy The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle.
Micmacs (2009): Read our capsule review. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s junkyard farce about a man with a bullet in his head fighting arms dealers is whimsical and way offbeat, but not as weird as his earlier efforts. Buy Micmacs.
“The Quintessential Guy Maddin! 5 Films from the Heart of Winnipeg”: If you’ve been staying up nights wondering what 366 Weird Movies wants for Christmas, this announcement should put you to sleep. This 4-disc treasure chest contains two Certified Weird movies—the arctic WWI fantasy Archangel and the bizarre hockey-themed Cowards Bend the Knee—along with the interesting Technicolor misfire Twilight of the Ice Nymphs and the yet-to-be-reviewed-here Careful and Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary. But wait! That’s not all! There’s also six shorts (including the mini-masterpiece The Heart of the World), a 60 minute documentary narrated by Tom Waits, extras from all the previous DVD editions of these films, poster art postcards, and a cardboard peephole for viewing Cowards as it was intended! Sweet dreams! Buy “The Quintessential Guy Maddin! 5 Films from the Heart of Winnipeg” (Four-Disc Set).
Trouble in Mind (1985): A weird noir with a down-on-his-luck Kris Kristofferson meeting a bunch of absurd eccentrics at a diner in “Rain City.” Also with Keith Carradine and Joe Morton. The “25th Anniversary” DVD is remastered, but no extras are advertised. We should probably get around to checking out this one eventually. Buy Trouble in Mind (Special Edition).
Alice in Wonderland (1966): This black and white 1966 BBC adaptation of the nonsense classic features a detached Alice, minimalist sets and costumes, Peter Sellers as the King of Hearts, John Gielgud as the Mock Turtle, Leo McKern in drag as the Duchess, and musical accompaniment by Ravi Shankar, and is very highly regarded. Watch Alice in Wonderland (1966) free on Youtube.
Ride in the Whirlwind (1965): Monte Helleman’s companion piece to The Shooting, also featuring a young Jack Nicholson, although this one is a bit more conventional and less “existential” than the 1967 film. Watch Ride the Whirlwind free at 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.
This post was originally lost in the Great Server Crash of 2010, but a draft copy has been discovered and recreated. We’re happy to reprint this column while Alfred Eaker continues his sabbatical (he’s been assisting on someone else’s film project, among other activities).
Stan Laurel and Oliver hardy were, without question, the most successful comedy team in Hollywood history. Not only were they artistically and financially successful but, unlike Abbot and Costello and Martin and Lewis, who pale in comparison, Stan and Ollie actually got along personally because they had a smart approach to their collaboration; for most of their career together they did not associate with each other off-screen.
Stan was certainly the creative end and stories abound about his dedication to his work (and neglect of his multiple wives). Stan often co-wrote the films, produced, co-directed and oversaw editing (usually uncredited). Indeed Stan and Ollie’s career together actually began with Stan directing Ollie in a number of shorts. For Stan Laurel, work was often from dusk til dawn.
Oliver Hardy had a much different approach. For him, work was essential, but it was still a 9 to 5 job. Once the day was done, he bid Stan and crew good-bye and went home to play sports with family and friends. Ollie was perfectly content with Stan being the creative end and whenever he was asked a question regarding the film work he usually said, “Ask Stan.”
It was not until the last few years of their career that Stan and Ollie got to know each other on a cruise to England. Both lamented that they had not done it earlier, but they both knew the value of their partnership. Upon Ollie’s death, Stan suffered a nervous breakdown and vowed to retire from film. Despite many offers of work, Stan kept to that promise until his death eight years later.
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“If Ingmar Bergman had committed suicide, gone to hell, and come back to earth to direct an exploitation/art film for drive-ins, [Antichrist] is the movie he would have made.”–John Waters, “Artforum Magazine”
PLOT: He and She (the characters are nameless) are making love when their child tumbles to his death out of a window. She falls into inconsolable grief, and He, a therapist, unwisely decides to take her under his personal care. When He discovers the root of She’s anxiety and irrational fears centers around a woodland retreat they call Eden, He forces her to go there to face her fears; but when they arrive, nature itself seems determined to drive them both mad.
BACKGROUND:
Von Trier says that he was suffering from extreme depression when he made Antichrist and that working on the script and the film was a form of self-therapy. Von Trier was still depressed at the time of screening and sometimes had to excuse himself from the set.
In the title card and much of the promotional art, the “t” in “antichrist” is suggested by a figure combining the Christian cross and the symbol for “woman.”
The therapy He employs in the film is called “exposure therapy” (where an anxiety-ridden patient is gradually exposed to the source of their irrational fear); von Trier had undergone this treatment for his own anxiety problems, and thought little of the practice.
The idea for the fox came from a shamanic journey taken by von Trier.
Besides this film, British cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle also shot Slumdog Millionaire, for which he received the 2009 Academy Award, in the same year. Of the two, Antichrist, with its extreme slow-motion photography, was the more difficult and magnificently shot film.
The film’s Cannes reception was tumultuous, with audience members reportedly fainting, and hostility between the press and von Trier (who proclaimed himself “the world’s greatest director.”) Charlotte Gainsbourg won “Best Actress” for her brave and revealing performance. The film received a special “anti-humanitarian” prize from the ecumenical jury (a Cannes sub-jury with a Christian focus), who called Antichrist “the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world.”
INDELIBLE IMAGE: Without doubt, the searing image is of the encounter between Charlotte Gainsbourg’s intimate prosthetic and a pair of rusty scissors. However indelibly gruesome this scene may be, however, it comes out of von Trier’s shock toolbox rather than from his weird shed. For an image with a power to make us do more than squirm, we turn to the scene where He and She are copulating in the woods, with her head resting on a bed of roots from a massive oak tree. The camera slowly pulls back to reveal a number of disembodied human hands sticking out at various places from between the oak limbs.
WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: Though the graphic torture-porn (and plain old-fashioned porn) elements have stolen the headlines and alienated viewers, at bottom this is von Trier’s spookiest and most mysterious film, a trip deep into the heart of darkness, and one the viewer may have as difficult a time returning home from intact as the characters do. The irrational horror of von Trier’s vision is only magnified by the sense that you aren’t so much watching a story of madness as watching a director going insane in real time, before your very eyes: he seems to lose control of his story as it progresses, turning the climax over to his internal demons for script-doctoring, before reasserting some measure of control of his material in a surreal epilogue.
Trailer for Antichrist (WARNING: contains non-explicit sexual content)
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It was not until the last few years of their career that Stan and Ollie got to know each other on a cruise to England. Both lamented that they had not done it earlier, but they both knew the value of their partnership. Upon Ollie’s death, Stan suffered a nervous breakdown and vowed to retire from film. Despite many offers of work, Stan kept to that promise until his death eight years later.
