Capsules

CAPSULE: ODISSEA DELLA MORTE (2018)

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AKA Valley of the Rats; Odyssey of Death

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Beware

DIRECTED BY: Vince D’Amato

FEATURING: Jesse Onocalla, Momona Komagata, ,  Tristan Risk

PLOT: A man rents a limousine and travels around town talking with his associates as he tries to figure out who killed his girlfriend.

Still from Odissea Della Morte (2019)

WHY IT WON’T MAKE THE LIST: Amidst all the random shots of walking around, limo-bound conversations, and pseudo-BDSM, there is a quiet aura of nothingness going on. As there is virtually nothing doing in this movie, there is virtually nothing weird about it.

COMMENTS: With money, generally, comes a modicum of competence when it comes to filmmaking. The middle-to-big-budget movie you watch may not be particularly entertaining, but it’s at least technically well done. But low budget films are odd beasts. Some cost as much as a used economy car, and are unceasingly entertaining. Others, costing as much as a higher-end mid-budget sedan, are unceasingly tedious. To what end do I type all this garbled verbiage? My reason is twofold. First, I am somewhat frantically trying to think of what to write about Vince D’Amato’s Odissea Della Morte (translation probably not needed). Second, having begun the review in this stylistic manner, it occurs to me that it’s a fairly decent textual translation of Odissea‘s cinematic style.

Jesse (Jesse Onocalla) rides around in a limo, much to his friends’ bemusement, going on a bender while interviewing various people who saw his girlfriend (I don’t remember her name, it doesn’t matter) before she was murdered. While chewing over various evils of modern society in this mobile backdrop, various nonentities enter and exit the vehicle and make various unimportant observations. Intercutting these vignettes are shots of largely naked, occasionally gothed-out women doing ambiguously sexy things and photographing each other until the whole movie becomes this weird (!) and tedious dream thing that culminates in what is perhaps a twist.

I hope my record of reviews can attest to the fact that I am generally a very patient viewer who is eager to give every movie the fairest shake possible. The closest I’ve ever gotten to “cheating” for this website is with this movie. I did watch it, all of it, and even have some notes to prove I paid attention for portions of it. However, when your film’s two highlights are a brief conversation with an affable limo driver and some blandly cryptic remarks from an actress most famous for a small part in a movie known mostly for its theme song by David Bowie, your film is probably doomed, and no amount of T&A, canted angles, and color-to-black-and-white shifts can obscure that.

Forgive me, there was a third highlight: an aura of menace, a tied up woman threatened with a knife, and some beardo shouting, “I AM THE CITY!” in a way that made Jack Skellington‘s declaration of pumpkin-kingship seem altogether Shakespearean by comparison. That gave me a chuckle.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“…a love letter to the works of David Cronenberg and Jess Franco set to [D’Amato’s] unique take on the giallo film.”–Film Bizarro

Odissea Della Morte [Blu-ray]

Odissea Della Morte [Blu-ray]
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Apocryphally Weird

4*. ELECTRIC DRAGON 80000 V (2001)

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Erekutorikku doragon 80000V

RecommendedWeirdest!

DIRECTED BY: Sogo Ishii [AKA Gakuryû Ishii]

FEATURING: , , voice of Masakatsu Funaki

PLOT: A boy who survives electrocution while climbing an electrical tower grows up to be “Dragon Eye Morrison,” a human battery and “reptile investigator” who tracks missing lizards and who can only control his violent impulses by playing his electric guitar. Meanwhile, “Thunderbolt Buddha,” a half-man, half-metal being who was also struck by lightning as a child, hears of our hero, and wants to test his electrical superpowers against his counterpart’s. The villainous Buddha provokes a high voltage showdown with Morrison on a Tokyo rooftop.

Still from Electric Dragon 80000V

BACKGROUND:

  • Sogo Ishii was an established director whose work was influenced by punk music and style. He was an influential figure for Japanese underground filmmakers, but his work is seldom seen outside of his homeland.
  • Industrial/noise band MACH-1.67, an occasional ensemble that included director Ishii and star Asano, provided the music. They subsequently performed concerts with this film playing in the background.
  • Composer Hiroyuki Onogawa said he had never written rock music nor worked much with the electric guitar before this project.
  • The movie was a cult success in Japan, running to packed houses in one theater for two months. Plans for a Part 2 were discussed, but never materialized.
  • Reports suggest that the film was shot in three days (other accounts say three weeks, and obviously post-production took much, much longer) and largely improvised.

INDELIBLE IMAGE: We’re going to go with the visage of the movie’s villain, a half-man, half-statue. (Beyond the fact that he was struck by lightning as a child, his alloyed origins are never explained.)

TWO WEIRD THINGS: Thunderbolt Buddha, TV repairman; pre-rage noise solo

WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: A team of Japanese industrial punks decide to made a surrealistic black and white superhero noise musical. If this sounds awesome to you, we won’t argue.

Original trailer for Electric Dragon 80000V

COMMENTS: We can dispense with any sort of search for deep Continue reading 4*. ELECTRIC DRAGON 80000 V (2001) →

Alfred Eaker's Fringe Cinema

ALFRED EAKER VS. THE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS: JOKER (2019)

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Todd Phillips’ The Joker (2019) is a tedious, derivative manifesto for the “woe is me” white American male.  “I haven’t been happy one minute of my entire f—ing life,” says Arthur Fleck () and that sentiment is all too contagious while sitting through this self-pitying exercise of hackneyed seventh grade psychology. There’s more fun to be had here twirling one’s straw while waiting for the paint-by-number soundtrack accompaniment. Do a countdown while checking off “Send in the Clowns,”  “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” “That’s Life,” and Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll, Part 2” (its inclusion is a blatant, adolescent attempt to be provocative, given Giltter’s history). At least you’ll stay awake, if your straw is strong enough to endure all that twirling.

Still from Joker (2019)Another way to enhance what little entertainment that can be squeezed out of this lesson in masochism is to locate the the slivers of other films embedded in it: King of Comedy, Taxi Driver (cue the Robert De Niro cameo) ‘s Modern Times, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, The French Connection, and ‘s Batman, to name a random few (throw in at least one reference to ‘s “Dark Knight” comics as well).

For all its derivativeness, The Joker is yet another comic book based movie that’s embarrassed of its comic book origins. Angst-ridden fanboys, who haven’t seen a movie that’s not comic book-based in a decade or more, will hardly care. They’ll heap a ton of praise (and money) on it, proclaiming it profound, with an Oscar worthy performance from Phoenix, which will validate their own basement profundity.

It seems to be set in the 1980s (i.e. the Mark of Zorro marquee has been changed to Zorro, the Gay Blade) and it is essentially plotless. Fleck works for a clown agency, understandably gets fired for not being funny, rages against swamp-entitled self-righteous public figure Thomas Wayne (hint, hint), has mommy issues, sees conspiracies afoot (mostly involving Wayne) and descends into … whatever. End of story. It takes 90 muddled minutes (!) for Fleck to get into the makeup—but the makeup is rather a pronounced point of the Joker, a bit like the suit is a pronounced point of the superhero.

Phoenix’s may be the worst  portrayal of the character to date. Cesar Romero, (who’s looking better with each new portrayal), and each brought a sense of glee to the role, albeit a  maniacal one. Not so with Phoenix. He’s a tiresome gray, and when he does finally go black, he does not enjoy a moment of it.

The Joker is certainly bound to have a huge opening, but is it worthy of the controversy its generating? It deserves neither. Nor does it deserve to be remembered, celebrated, or mistaken for art, or cinema, for that matter. The Joker is merely a tasteless nothingburger.

Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 10/4/2019

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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 DEVELOPMENT (completed):

Sister Tempest (2020): strikes again with another crowdfunded surrealist epic. This one is a psychological thriller-type tale taking place in a dreamspace equally inspired by and Zardoz. We can 100% guarantee this will be weird; the trailer will convince you, too. Sister Tempest official Facebook page.

“Twin Peaks, Season 4”: It’s happening again… maybe. Probably. Seemingly sparked by a Sep. 27 tweet from the Hollywood Horror Museum. More obscure hints followed from cast members, and, perhaps more importantly, no one has stepped in to squash the rumors. We first heard rumblings from We Got This Covered, but Indiewire has the deepest coverage (although we’re not ready to sign on to Zach Scharf’s conclusion that “The Return“‘s ending was perfect and left the series nowhere to go).

DVR ALERT:

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) continues their Halloween slate; this week, we’re highlighting their 10/10 showing of the Expressionistic / creepfest The Black Cat (1934). More Canonically Weird movies will play later in October. Here’s the full month’s schedule courtesy of comicbook.com.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Birds Without Feathers (2018): Experimental feature mixing stories of six odd people—an Instagram celebrity, a performance artist, a Russian fan, and so on—in a technologically alienated world. On blu-ray (no DVD) or VOD. Buy Birds Without Feathers.

“The House of Hitchcock”: Collectible set of fifteen classics on Blu-ray, featuring Vertigo (1958), The Birds (1963), and more. All this material has been previously released (including the 15 hours of supplements), but this limited edition comes in snazzy new spooky-house-themed packaging with lots of inserts (postcard-sized posters of each flick, blueprints for the Bates motel, and more). Buy “The House of Hitchcock Collection”.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006): Read the Canonically Weird entry! This release of ‘s Spanish Civil War-set fairy tale appears to be a simple 4K upgrade of the existing material.  On Ultra 4K disc with a standard Blu-ray bonus disc (and a digital copy). Buy Pan’s Labyrinth.

Star Leaf (2015): A veteran searches for a grove of extraterrestrial marijuana (!) to cure his PSTD, but finds himself in trouble when he refuses to follow the directions for safe use. Released on DVD way back in 2015, it’s now re-relased on a “Special Edition” Blu-ray, DVD and VOD (or free on Amazon Prime). IMDB also lists a TV Seires (web series?) called “Star Leaf: Rise of the Archon” in 2019, but with no information beyond the title. Buy Star Leaf.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list special one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week we’re back into that neglected reader-suggested review queue for our long-awaited take on the quintessentially Japanese madness of Electric Dragon 80000V (2001). We’ll complement that one with a pair of reviews of lower-budgeted fare, as Simon Hyslop goes backwards to review the first film of the Bloodsucker‘s duology, Bloodsucker’s Handbook (2012), and Giles Edwards braves the surreal pretentiousness of Odissea Della Morte (2019), which despite the title is made by Canadians and set in Canada (with vacation footage from Italy). 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!