WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE

Next week we’ll catch up on the third entry in Terry Gilliam‘s “imagination trilogy,” the 1988 fantasy The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Time Bandits and Brazil both made the list—can Munchausen make it a hat trick?). From the new release queue, we’ll check out the Canadian indie schizohorror The Corridor, a cautionary tale about why you should not trust the 0ld friend who stabbed you in the hand during a psychotic break when claims he’s finally got his meds right and invites you to a deserted cabin in the woods. Also in the new release category, sort of, is the recent DVD revival of  ‘s ripe-for-rediscovery 1993 psychological thriller La ardilla roja [The Red Squirrel], the strange and sometimes surreal tale of a suicidal musician who poses as the boyfriend of a beautiful amnesiac. To top the week off, Alfred Eaker’s survey of Poverty Row auteur Edgar G. Ulmer continues with a look at The Man from Planet X (1951) (tagline: “the WEIRDEST visitor the Earth has ever seen!”)

It was a “meh” week for weird search terms, but as always we’re dedicated to bringing you the strangest queries that show up in our server logs in a little feature we like to call, “366 Weird Movies’ Weirdest Search Terms of the Week.” We’ll knock out a trio of honorbale-mention bizarre fetish queries first with included libido-twisting searches for “hairy pioneer women,” “anime diapers,” and “hypnosis for squirt.” Related, we think, was the person looking for “wash a nude cook french video.” And, as long as we’re in the mood for erotica, we might as well mention the fellow who was looking to reminisce with his good friend Google about “porn movies that i was able to rent in a home wood suite.” But of all the sexy, sexy searches we ran into this week, the one we selected as our Weirdest Search Term of the Week was the simple “foreign film about a girls butt.” Those crazy foreigners, what will they make a movie about next?

Here’s how the ridiculously-long-and-ever-growing reader-suggested review queue stands: The Adventures of Baron Muchausen (next week!); The Hour-glass Sanatorium [Saanatorium pod klepsidra] (out of print in Region 1, but we’ll keep looking); Liquid Sky (re-review); Society; Final Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 9/21/2012

Our weekly 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:

Cheatin’ (est. 2013): Certified Weird director/animator (Idiots and Angels) is hard at work on a new feature; all that he’s revealed about the plot is that it’s about a love affair gone bad, but with Plympton, the chances for weirdness are high. He’s also regularly posting a video production blog where he takes viewers through the process of character design, storyboarding, ect. Cheatin’ production blog.

NEW ON DVD:

Adventures in Plymptoons (2011): Speaking of Bill Plympton, this week sees the release of a new documentary on the crosshatching cult animator. Plympton has enough fans that this went out-of-stock at Amazon almost immediately on release (though hopefully they’ll be restocked by the time you read this). Buy Adventures in Plymptoons!

After the Triumph of Your Birth (2012): A surreal, noirish spiritual road trip movie about a world-weary forty year old man searching for meaning in existence. A self-released independent movie that’s also listed as out-of-stock at this writing. Buy After the Triumph of Your Birth.

Black Sunday (1960): A witch executed centuries ago possesses a woman who is her exact double and wreaks revenge on the descendents of those who condemned her. Not super-weird but arguably horror icon Mario Bava’s best movie; it launched the career of cult actress , and the plot was ripped off dozens of times. This edition is remastered by Kino. Buy Black Sunday.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012): Read our capsule review. In our judgment it falls just short of weird, but this twisty deconstruction of slasher movie tropes is still the cult horror event of the year. Buy The Cabin In The Woods.

End of the Road (1970): A man (Stacy Keach) is taken to a bizarre insane asylum run by “Doctor D” (James Earl Jones) and cured, then let back in society as an English teacher. It’s virtually a lost absurdist anti-establishment hippie flick, with a screenplay co-written by Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove, Barbarella) from a novel by John Barth. Buy End of the Road.

“Get a Life” (1990-1992): A surreal cult sitcom starring Chris Elliott (coming off a stint as a writer for “Late Night with David Letterman”) as a thirty year-old paperboy who lives with his parents; the character met aliens and died in twelve of the episodes. was among the writers in this series that, amazingly, managed to avoid cancellation for thirty-five glorious episodes. Buy “Get A Life: The Complete Series”.

Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970): A strange early giallo from Mario Bava about a man who kills brides, until one of his victims returns to haunt him. This is Redmption’s answer to this week’s Bava releases from Kino. Buy Hatchet For The Honeymoon.

King of Thorn (2009): DVD not sold separately; see description in Blu-ray below.

Lisa and the Devil (1974)/The House of Exorcism (1975): Lisa (Elke Sommer) seeks shelter in a spooky mansion managed by a Satanic steward (played by none other than Telly Savalas). More restored Bava from Kino; this release includes the alternate cut The House of Exorcism, which included newly shot possession scenes and was released intended to capitalize on the success of The Exorcist. Buy Lisa and the Devil/The House of Exorcism.

The Woman in the Fifth (2011): Psychological thriller about a down-on-his-luck writer (Ethan Hawke) who meets a mysterious woman while trying to reconnect with his young daughter after a divorce. A thread on Woman‘s IMDB page pleads, “can anyone explain this film?,” which is a promising endorsement. Buy The Woman in the Fifth.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Black Sunday (1960): See description in DVD above. Buy Black Sunday [Blu-ray].

The Cabin in the Woods (2012): See description in DVD above. Buy The Cabin In The Woods [Blu-ray].

Ed Wood (1994): Read our review. Tim Burton‘s loving and hilarious tribute to the can-do spirit of everyone’s favorite transvestite auteur is a very welcome addition to the Blu-ray ranks. Buy Ed Wood [Blu-ray].

Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970): See description in DVD above. Buy Hatchet For The Honeymoon [Blu-ray].

King of Thorn (2009): Four people are cryogenically frozen until a cure for a petrifying virus can be found, but they wake to a world overrun by monsters. Supposedly a visually spectacular but scarcely coherent anime adaptation of a popular manga. A DVD version is included in this package, but not sold separately. Buy King of Thorn [Blu-ray/DVD Combo].

Lisa and the Devil (1974)/The House of Exorcism (1975): See description in DVD above. Buy Lisa and The Devil/The House of Exorcism [Blu-ray].

Love Exposure (2008): ’s 4 hour (!) comedy epic involves Roman Catholicism, candid panty photos, and a butt-kicking, man-hating schoolgirl. This one is in our reader-suggested review queue. Buy Love Exposure [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Killer Condom (1996): Just what the title suggests: the story of a homicidal prophylactic that bites off guy’s you-know-whats so that they bleed to death. Part of the recent Troma drop. Watch Killer Condom 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.

EDGAR G. ULMER’S DETOUR (1945)

Reviewing ‘s Detour (1945), critic Dennis Schwartz wrote: “For some, being outside the system is as natural as walking in the fog.” That about sums up Ulmer. It also sums his Detour star, Tom Neal. Ulmer was an aesthetic outsider who made poor choices in his personal life but tried, sometimes in vain, to bring an artistic sensibility to everything he worked on. Neal was an outsider of a different sort. Despite having received a law degree from Havard, Neal turned to amateur boxing, which only partly satisfied his extremely violent temper. In 1951, that temper and jealousy got the better of him with in a tussle with actor Franchot Tone over the affections of actress Barbara Payton. Tone received a brain concussion, and Neal was permanently blacklisted by Hollywood. The actor was reduced to restaurant work and eventual bankruptcy. In 1965, Neal took a gun to the back of his wife’s head and shot her to death. Incredibly, he received a mere six-year sentence, but he died within a few months of his release from prison in 1971. His son, Tom Neal, Jr. attempted to follow in his father’s thespian footsteps, appearing in a remake of Detour (1991) that no one seems to have seen.

Shot on the quick and cheaply, Detour defies the rules of Poverty Row aesthetics. In his review of Ulmer’s Detour, critic Roger Ebert acknowledges the film’s flaws: “Detour is a film so filled with imperfections that it would not earn the director a passing grade in film school.” And yet it is greater than the sum of it’s parts, defying the “aesthetics only” art school rule. Ebert adds, ” Yet, Detour lives on, haunting and creepy, an embodiment of the guilty soul of film noir.”

The pessimism of Detour drips into the nitrate of Ulmer’s bubblegum Shakespearean saga. Al (Neal) is a pianist who prostitutes his art in dives. Ulmer symbolizes this in idiosyncratic fashion by Al’s transformation of a Brahms piano piece into a grotesque, possessed, populist parody. Picasso once said that all art, regardless of subject, is self-portrait. Al eerily mirrors Ulmer in the portrait of a highly cultured artist who is reduced to a career gutter through his own missteps. It is little wonder that Detour was Ulmer’s favorite of his own films.

Still from Detour (1945)Fate is an ambivalent, malevolent force relentlessly and unjustly dogging Al. He responds with self-pity tightly wrapped in ten cent philosophy. Al, like Bluebeard, is waxing bitter over a woman. His curse is to be in love with the ambitious Sue (Claudia Drake). Sue’s dreams of a successful Hollywood career provoke jealousy within Al and serves as a biting reminder of his own failed career. She departs and settles, albeit uncomfortably, in the land of opportunity. Although destitute, Al vows reconciliation and embarks upon a thumbed journey to Continue reading EDGAR G. ULMER’S DETOUR (1945) →

125. LITTLE OTIK (2000)

Otesánek; AKA Greedy Guts

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“I do not work with intentions… That has nothing to do with freedom of the imagination… My preference is certainly for subsequent interpretation rather than intention. In Little Otik, the child devours its ‘parents.’ Otik is the product of their desire, their rebellion against nature. This is not a child in the real sense of the world, but the materialization of desire, of a rebellion. That is the tragic dimension of the human destiny. It is impossible to live without rebelling against the human lot. That is the proper subject of freedom.”–Jan Svankamjer, 2006 interview with Peter Hames

Recommended

DIRECTED BY: Jan Svankmajer

FEATURING: Kristina Adamcová, Veronika Zilková,

PLOT: Karel and Bozena are an infertile couple obsessed with becoming pregnant; one day, as a joke, Karel brings his wife a tree stump that looks a little like a child, but the woman immediately begins treating it as if it were a real baby. Bozena goes so far as to fake a pregnancy, and the husband is shocked when the piece of wood actually comes to life. Parenthood proves difficult when they discover in that the wooden child needs to be fed and has an insatiable craving for red meat; meanwhile, their sexually curious ten-year old neighbor is also obsessed with little Otik and begins to suspect his secret…

Still from Little Otik (2000)

BACKGROUND:

  • The story is a modern adaptation of the Eastern European fairy tale “Otesánek,” as collected by the folklorist K.J. Erben. The original fable is recounted in a storybook-animated film-within-a-film.
  • Jan Svankmajer’s late wife, the painter Eva Švankmajerová, had illustrated “Otesánek” for a children’s book in the 1970s.
  • Per Svankmajer, in Czech the word “otesánek” (which is derived from the verb “to hew” plus a diminutive “-ánek” which denotes a child) is used for a person “who devours and digests everything (not only food).”

INDELIBLE IMAGE: Crazy-eyed Bozena breastfeeding a log in maternal bliss—particularly when the camera zooms in to show a closeup of Otik hungrily suctioning milk through his stump. (As a footnote, one of Little Otik‘s iconic images isn’t actually in the movie. A bizarre still of Alzbetka licking a fried egg was featured prominently in the Otik‘s promotional material, but that precise shot does not appear in the film).

WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: This modernized fairy-tale adaptation about an insatiable man-eating tree stump baby is actually Czech surrealist Jan Svankmajer’s most conventional and accessible story (by far). Of course, in Svankmajer’s world, a conventional narrative includes scenes where street vendors fish infants out of tanks, wrap them in newspaper and sell them to passersby. There’s something seminal about this freaky film that mixes black comedy with dashes of horror and flecks of surrealism; it’s an excellent, comprehensible-yet-mysterious entry-level bizarre film for the neophyte weirdster.


American trailer for Little Otik

COMMENTS: When erotically curious youngster Alzbetka hides a textbook on sexual Continue reading 125. LITTLE OTIK (2000) →

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