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 THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):
The Land of the Lost (2009): Firmly mainstream Will Ferrell is no harbinger of weirdness, but the idea of casting him in a straight comedy version of the trippy and campy 1970s kid’s TV show about a family sent back in time to an age of dinosaurs and Sleestak’s is pretty weird by Hollywood standards. Critics have been firmly negative, but a snippet from one of the few positive reviews make me wonder if there might be something of unexpected interest about Land of the Lost: “Oh, what a weird movie this is… wildly bizarre… whacked-out by design…” (Eric D. Snider, Film.com). Land of the Lost official site.
NEW ON DVD:
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog (2008): Neil Patrick Harris stars as Dr. Horrible in this 42 minute supervillain romantic musical originally published as a free Internet series. The project was conceived by television’s Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) to keep the creative juices flowing during the 2008 Writer’s Guild strike. Copious extras are included to induce fans into buying this formerly-free web series: two commentary tracks (in what I think may be a first, an entire commentary is sung!), a 20 minute “making of” documentary, and ten auditions by fans seeking to join the series’ “Evil League of Evil.” Buy from Amazon
ON DEMAND FREE MOVIES (SOME U.S. CABLE SYSTEMS)
The City of Lost Children (1995): This beautiful Jean-Pierre Jeunet/Marc Caro fable about a man who steals children’s dreams, starring Ron Perlman and set in a bizarre, baroque, futuristic cityscape, will eventually receive a place on the list of 366. You can view it courtesy of Fearnet until July 31.
Eraserhead (1977): Want to catch this recently reviewed classic surreal nightmare for free? It’ s a must-see for anyone who claims to be interested in weird cinema. If your cable system offers it, you can catch it courtesy of the Sundance Channel until June 23rd.
Inland Empire (2006): David Lynch’s latest theatrical feature is the (reportedly) incoherent story of an actress (Laura Dern) losing her grip on reality while shooting a film. 3 hours long. Sundance Channel, expires June 16.
Lady Vengeance [Chinjeolhan geumjassi] (2005): The third installment of Chan-wook Park‘s informal Vengeance Trilogy, which also included Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and the weird Oldboy (2003). Sundance Channel, expires June 23. This may receive an upcoming review on these pages.
The Toxic Avenger (1984): The somewhat overrated cult classic gross-out black comedy/superhero parody that put Troma studios on the map. Read our recent review . Available courtesy of Fearnet until June 30. Also available for the same period are the three sequels.
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.