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 (LIMITED RELEASE):

Impolex (2009): A soldier wanders around a post-WWII European forest talking to a woodland octopi and meeting pirates and old girlfriends as he’s supposed to be looking for unexploded V2s.  This may be based on the works of Thomas Pynchon, but it definitely looks 100% weird.  Playing at the ReRun theater in NYC this week, future screenings doubtful.  We’ll be looking for the DVD soon.  Impolex on Facebook.

Tabloid (2010): Errol Morris is one of the few documentary filmmakers who’s work is sometimes characterized as “weird” due to his choice of subject matter.  This film, based on a 1977 British tabloid-fodder incident known as the “Mormon sex in chains case” involving a kidnapping beauty queen, has earned him that designation from more than one reviewer.  Tabloid official site.

The Tree (2011): An eight-year old girl becomes convinced that her dead father’s spirit inhabits a giant tree growing near the house. Life-affirming Australian magical realism starring the always-odd Charlotte Gainsbourg.  It’s opening in NYC this week and LA next week; it’s already out on DVD in Australia.   The Tree official site.

FILM FESTIVALS: FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Montreal, Canada, July 14 – Aug. 7)

The Fantasia Festival is a fast-rising event focusing on genre and fantastic films; over fifteen years it’s evolved from the “Fant-Asia” festival, which focused on Japanese and Hong Kong fantastic cinema, to become the North American premiere destination for films like Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.  It’s a bonanza of strangeness (even without mentioning our favorite title of the year, Horny House of Horror); here is a small selection of the weirdest of the weird screenings:

• Beyond the Black Rainbow (2011): Surrealist sci-fi supposedly in the 2001 vein about a mute woman trying to escape from a mysterious enclave.  We suspect this to be one of the weirdest of the year.  Catch it July 29 or Aug. 3.
• The Catechism Cataclysm (2011):  This irreverent tale of a slacker priest’s canoe trip is already a List Candidate (read our review).  July 25 & 30.
• Deadball (2011): From Yûdai Yamaguchi (Meatball Machine) comes this tasteless, wild and gory comic tale of a killer baseball game played against a team of killer dominatrices; it’s sort of a reboot of his own Battlefield Baseball.  July 15 & 16.
• Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame: A mystery/action epic set in a fantastical steampunk China; some say this is a return to form for once-great director Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China, Zu Warriors).  July 14 or July 24.
• Detention (2011):  A postmodern, self-aware slasher sci-fi comedy that also parodies teen movies; depending on how the idea is handled, this could totally rule, or end up totally gay.  July 22.
• Dharma Guns (2010): A man awakes from a coma to find a world where a drug epidemic is turning people into zombies and a secret society called the Dharma Guns are seeking his screenplay, believing it holds the secret to time travel.  In French, in black and white, and intriguing.  July 30 and Aug 1.
• El Sol (2010): Crude (in every sense of the word) animation about a post-apocalyptic Buenos Aires where mutant potatoes roam the streets, among other absurdities. July 16 & 27.
• Exit (2011): Australian fantasy/sci-fi about the search for a door that leads to a parallel universe, which is hidden somewhere inside a city whose geography is always shifting; it sounds a bit like a cross between Stalker and Dark City.  It was originally conceived as a web series and turned into a feature, making its world premiere Aug. 4 with a second showing Aug. 6.
• Hellacious Acres: The Case of John Glass (2011): Pat Tremblay debuts his second feature, a minimalist post-apocalyptic comedy about a man who wakes from a cryogenic slumber to discover the world has been devastated by nuclear war followed by an alien invasion.  July 24 & Aug 2.
  
• Helldriver (2010): The team behind Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is back with another wild one featuring ninjas, zombies, cannibalism, a sexy samurai babe with a chainsaw blade, and of course, splatter.  July 22 & 23.
• Karaoke Dreams (2011): Set in (maybe?) a brothel that exists to absorb men’s subconscious dreams, this film by rock guitarist Jean Leclerc may be intended as a promotion and feature length music video for an accompanying album by his new band, the Last Assassins.  See and hear it Aug. 5.
• “La Nuit Eccentrique”:  A night dedicated to badfilm, with several strange mangled shorts and the headline feature I Am Here… Now, which may just be the strangest ecologically-themed movie about a pudgy Jesus who returns to Las Vegas to fight crime lords ever made.  Festivities are scheduled for July 29.
• Milocrorze: A Love Story (2011): A trifecta of surreal tales about a boy who falls in love with a grown woman, a disco relationship coach, and a cyberpunk samurai; the press release compares it to Funky Forest.  July 15 only.
• Pop Skull (2007): Along with new releases the festival is screening many older hits (including the killer kids classic Battle Royale on July 23rd and 24th).  This one may be the most interesting because it’s the most obscure re-release; it’s not on DVD, so there’s no other way to see it.  It’s the story of an Alabama pill-head who’s hallucinations may mask the fact that he may really be haunted by ghosts of people who were killed in his current residence.  July 24 is your only chance to catch it.
• Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) [Prezít svuj zivot (teorie a praxe)] (2010)– The latest Jan Svankmajer film uses a technique of cut-out collages alongside the usual stop animation, and the scenario involves a man who impregnates his own anima (!) while undergoing psychoanalysis.  Good for the fine people of Montreal that they get to see this on the big screen, but it’s been on the festival circuit for a year now, and the rest of us are ready to see it on DVD finally. Screening July 28, 30 & 31.
• The Theatre Bizarre (2011): A six-film horror anthology from directors Douglas Buck, Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Karim Hussain, Jeremy Kasten, Tom Savini, and Richard Stanley.  Apparently Hussain’s segment is surreal.  July 16-17.
• Underwater Love [Onna no kappa] (2011):  A “pink musical” (!) about a woman who falls in love with a water spirit; lensed by big-time cinematographer Christopher Doyle, with “outrageous” sex scenes.  July 20 & 23.
• The Wicker Tree (2011):  This “spiritual sequel” to the Certified Weird The Wicker Man from director Robin Hardy has been in the works for decades; no word yet on whether it was worth the wait.  You can find out at the world premiere on July 19.
• You Are Here (2010):  A series of absurdist narrative snippets make up Daniel Cockburn’s feature debut; promoters are bandying about Charlie Kaufman‘s name as a stylistic touchstone.  Another weird film that’s been playing festivals for a year now.  See it July 20-21.

That’s an impressive lineup—and we left out a lot of movies that were of marginal interest at first glance, but could turn out to be real gems. Fantasia International Film Festival official site.

NEW ON DVD:

“Buster Keaton – Short Films Collection: 1920 – 1923”: We mention this Kino 3-disc release because it includes the 1921 short “Play House,” which includes the most successfully surrealistic dream sequence in early cinema: Buster Keaton dreams that everyone in a theater has the face of Buster Keaton (decades before John Malkovich came down with a similar affliction).  The other 18 shorts are probably pretty good, too. Buy “Buster Keaton – Short Films Collection: 1920 – 1923”.

Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010):  Read Kevyn Knox’s guest review.  It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for this strange, Palme D’or-winning reincarnation tale to get its official DVD release. We’re happy now. Buy Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Brazil (1985):  Read the Certified Weird entry.  Terry Gilliam’s weird dystopian masterpiece makes it’s long overdue debut on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal; the only downside is there are no extras worth speaking of. Buy Brazil [Blu-ray].

“Buster Keaton – Short Films Collection: 1920 – 1923”: See description in DVD above. Buy “Buster Keaton – Short Films Collection: 1920 – 1923” [Blu-ray].

Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010): See description in DVD above. Buy Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives [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.