We’ll leave it to you to describe this… special… video for yourself. We’re just going to supply the background: this short film was created by commercial director and artist Nagi Noda for a short film compilation sponsored by Panasonic celebrating the Olympics. We haven’t seen the other nine films in the series (no one has for six years now), but we suspect that this poodle fitness video (a parody of fitness guru Susan Powter) was not quite what the corporate giant expected when they commissioned the project.
WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 3/19/2010
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.
SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, CINEMA VILLAGE):
Shutterbug (2009): A photographer begins to see spots before his eyes after staring into the sun, then realizes he’s seen into another dimension and takes a Dante-esque trip through New York City looking for an explanation of his vision. Reviews were generally negative, but the Village Voice liked the way the cinematography sinisterized the city. Shutterbug official site.
NEW ON DVD:
Dillinger is Dead [Dillinger è Morto] (1969): A sixties absurdist/existentialist/leftist drama about an engineer who discovers a gun that may have belonged to John Dillinger. This movie was virtually unseen since it’s eyeblink release in the psychedelic 60s, but its legend persisted; the Criterion Collection has rescued it from obscurity. Buy Dillinger Is Dead (Criterion Collection)
Mystery Science Theater Collection: XVII: Four more episodes of the 1990s B-movie mocking cult TV program that occasionally tackled some “so bad it’s weird” movies. In this outing the episodes are The Crawling Eye, The Beatniks, The Final Sacrifice (with the notorious “Zap Rowsdower”) and The Blood Waters of Dr. Z. Dedicated fans will definitely want to add this to their collection. Buy The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: XVII
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Fallen Angels [Duo luo tian shi] (1995): Typically stylish Wong Kar-Wai production about a hit man, the female operative who plans his jobs, and a mute character, shot in an impressionistic, noirish night time Hong Kong. This film was originally planned to be a section of Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express but was expanded into a full-length feature. Buy Fallen Angels [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.
THE 366 WEIRD MOVIES 2009 YEARBOOK IS HERE!
We’re proud to announce the (long-delayed) release of a “print version” of 366 Weird Movies, the “366 Weird Movies 2009 Yearbook“!
The “Yearbook” is a trade paperback that brings together all our coverage of 2009 weird movies in one convenient place, including 22 theatrical release reviews, 13 DVD release reviews, and over 100 supplemental listings. All in a tidy 54 pages, and all for the low, low (?) price of $6.45!
Now, we know our readers, and we realize that you’re a perceptive bunch who are collectively thinking one thing right now:
Why would I want to buy a copy of the Yearbook when I can read the damn website for free?
We’ve got five good (well, good-ish) responses to that very perceptive question:
- Unlike the digital version, you can take the paper “Yearbook” into the “can” with you.
- If you unexpectedly run out of toilet paper in said “can,” the “Yearbook “can do double duty.
- This site may not always be here in the current form. (That’s not a warning, it’s a scare tactic).
- As our first Yearbook, it’s destined to within the realm of possibility that it will become a collectible worth thousands/hundreds/a few cents over what you paid for it in five years.
- Each copy sold will contribute a dollar or two towards paying our hosting/domain registration bills.
In all seriousness, we hope that some of you will enjoy the opportunity to have something 366-related that you can hold in your hands. We hope to continue this tradition in future years, while bringing you more and more coverage of the weird movie world!
BETWEEN MEN (1935)
Another B-Western from Sinister Cinema’s “Sinister Six Gun Collection”.
Between Men is a strongly composed “B” directed by Robert North Bradbury (Courageous Avenger and several of John Wayne’s Lone Star Westerns). Bradbury was also the father of B-Western star Bob Steele, and his expertise in the genre is delightfully natural. Between Men has a strong cast in Johnny Mack Brown as the stalwart hero, and this may well be his best role. Beth Marion excels as the love interest, as does William Farnum in his scene-stealing role as Brown’s tormented father and Earl Dwire as the standard slimy villain.
Between Men has a richly melodramatic plot. Farnum (great wide- eyed acting) believes he has killed his young son (Brown) and flees west. Actually, the boy was only injured and is adopted by Lloyd Ingram. Twenty years pass and the visuals shift from the upper-scale Virginia countryside to the stark New Mexico desert as Johnny embarks on a journey to find his adopted father’s long lost granddaughter (Marion). Farnum has assumed a new name and is now Marion’s guardian after his hired hand (Dwire) rustles her cattle, kills her father, and attempts to raper her. Marion is saved by a “drifter” whom Farnum hires for protection, not realizing that Brown is his son, whom he believes to be dead.
Soon however, Farnum believes Brown is putting the make on Beth. Drifter Brown is not worthy of her. The film does not state, but seems to imply, that Farnum himself lusts after her. After Johnny fails to heed Farnum’s warning to stay away from Marion, a brawl between father and son breaks out, during which our dimpled hero obligingly loses most of his shirt. Farnum sees an identifying scar on Brown’s chest and belatedly realizes this is his son. Oddly, the film ends with Farnum sacrificing his life for the young lovers without ever revealing to Johnny that he is his father. Needless to say, the dastardly bad guys are killed off, with Johnny and Beth walking arm in arm into the New Mexico sunset. There is as much plot as action in this oater, which is a rarity in the genre of the thirties. This, along with assured direction, photography by Bert Longenecker and aptly over-the-top acting make Between Men one of the better B Westerns from the period.
BORDERLINE WEIRD: THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes has been promoted onto the List of the 366 Weirdest Movies ever made. Please visit the official Certified Weird entry.
DIRECTED BY: Robert Fuest
FEATURING: Vincent Price, Peter Jeffrey, Virginia North, Joseph Cotten, Terry-Thomas, photographs of Caroline Munro
PLOT: Dr. Phibes, a mysterious, organ playing supervillain, kills off doctors in bizarre and ritualistic ways as Scotland Yard races to find the pattern to the crimes and the identity of the killer.
WHY IT’S ON THE BORDERLINE: Dr. Phibes, the supervillain, is pretty damn weird, from his obsession with acting out 1920s torch songs to the audio jack in his neck that he connects to a phonograph when he wants to speak. Dr. Phibes, the movie, is somewhat weird, though less so than its central character. Doubtlessly, the proper but incompetent Brits who are perpetually one step behind the bad doctor would term the goings-on here “decidedly odd.” We’re not sold that Dr. Phibes is weird enough to make the List on a first pass, but we’re not comfortable writing it off, either, so it will sit in the Borderline category.
COMMENTS: The first scene of Dr. Phibes wisely spotlights the film’s keynote set and admirably sets a tone of ghoulish whimsy. Organ music swells as the camera travels up a marble staircase until it reaches an odd atrium. In the center sits an organ with a fan of pipes glowing with subtly garish yellows, pinks and reds. Flanking this centerpiece are trees with stuffed birds of prey perched on their dead limbs. At the organ sits the hunched, hooded figure of a man, who sways as if possessed and theatrically throws up his arms during random passages as he plays. After the opening credits fade a longshot reveals there is more to this room: there’s a clockwork band of automatons in tuxedos. The hooded figure finishes his dirge, steps away, winds a crank and begins conducting the stiff figures as they belt out an impossibly lush big band ballad. On a balcony above a door opens and out steps a beautiful brunette, Continue reading BORDERLINE WEIRD: THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971)