Hall of Strangeness Part XXXII: Vampire Edition

I’ve been watching several interesting vampire films lately (a subgenre that seems in no danger of going out of style any time soon) and I thought it would be nice to update the vampire series I did a while back. The Twilight series is notably absent, but I don’t even want to get into that. Instead, I’m going to talk about a handful of vampire oddities from around the world in my old “Hall of Strangeness” format, which is relatively undemanding both to write and to read.

Let the Right One In – (Tomas Alfredson) John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Swedish novel and Alfredson’s film adaptation have been somewhat surprising critical and popular successes. The story follows a young boy who befriends a vampire child and their difficulties dealing with bullies and an insatiable craving for blood, respectively. Shot in cold dark hues, riddled with unsettling implications and unfolding with unusual elegance and maturity, “Let the Right One In” is nevertheless a little rough around the edges. Some of the horror scenes overshoot the slow-burning mood (CG cats especially) while at other times showing too much reluctance to explore the controversial source material. Still, the film is both ominously beautiful and effectively creepy; it will doubtlessly and deservedly enjoy a cult following.

Artistry: **** Fun: *** Strangeness: **

The Living Corpse – (Abdul Baqi) Not long ago I was amused to see “Zibahkhana (Hell’s Ground)” (2007) being hailed as “Pakistan’s first horror film,” which seemed odd considering that the same description was used to promote “The Living Corpse” (1967), made four decades earlier. I’m not nearly qualified to say whether even this film really holds that title, but it certainly doesn’t hold much else. Ostensibly a retelling of the Dracula story in Hammer Horror fashion, the filmmakers couldn’t resist the requisite Lollywood musical numbers and end up with a discombobulated mess that can be unevenly enjoyed with the right mood and the right crowd.

Artistry: * Fun: ** Strangeness: ***

Thirst – (Park Chan-wook) About a third of the way into Park Chan-wook’s (best known for “Joint Security Area” and his revenge trilogy) South Korean bio-horror epic I realized that the film was really an alternate-universe adaptation of Emile Zola’s 1867 adultery fable “Therese Raquin.” It takes a fair amount of guts to modernize a 19th century French naturalist classic, but to change the main character from a petty clerk to a vampire priest is a special type of brilliant. The rather long film covers a lot of narrative ground, indulges in Park Chan-wook’s peculiar gallows humor and addressed themes of lust, repression, sacrifice, guilt and revenge. Not all of it works, but maybe it doesn’t need to.

Artistry: **** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Trouble Every Day – (Claire Denis) I’m really glad I have a chance to say something nice about Claire Denis, especially after being possibly the only person to dislike “35 Shots of Rum” when I saw it at SLIFF last year (so it is fitting that her oft-ignored mainstream-maligned “The Intruder” is amongst my all time favorites). With “Trouble Every Day” Denis made an unlikely entry into the vampire genre, but characteristically reinvented everything. By rhythmically alternating between several disturbing subplots featuring an inspired cast (Vincent Gallo, Beatrice Dalle, Tricia Vessey and Alex Descas) and a lot of oblique imagery, Denis weaves a Lynchian nightmare dense with atmosphere and allegory. The power of any given scene is inversely proportional to the amount of talking that occurs, so it’s fortunate that much of the film is near wordless. The soundtrack, not to mention the cannibalistic rape scenes, haunted me for weeks after viewing.

Artistry: ***** Fun: * Strangeness: ****

Vampire Ferat – (Juraj Herz) When I learned that Czech New Wave iconoclast Juraj Herz (The Cremator) had a made a horror movie about a vampire sports car starring Dagmar Havlova (16 years before she became the First Lady of the Czech Republic), I knew I had to see it no matter what. That said, going without subtitles was a tough slog and though the film is more conventional than his gothic burlesque “Morgiana,” it certainly wasn’t as easy to follow as, say, John Carpenter’s “Christine” (if you know where I can get subtitles, please link me in the comments section!). From what I could gather in-film and online the car is fueled by blood it sucks from the driver’s foot whenever the acceleration pedal is pressed. A hapless doctor turned detective (played by director Jiri Menzel) investigates the enigmatic car company Ferat (as in Nosferatu), run by an evil lesbian kingpin (queenpin?), after his ambulance-driving nurse become addicted to racing the titular vampire vehicle. Highlights include the hand-drawn opening credits, the brooding industrial soundtrack and a delightfully gory dream sequence. Herz admits that the best scenes were all destroyed by the censors.

Artistry: ** Fun: ** Strangeness: ****

Hall of Strangeness Part XXXI

This is the final installment of the original Hall of Strangeness series. Written around my sophomore year of college, it was my first real foray into film reviewing. I started scribbling blurbs for my friends and family to try and get them excited about the strange and wonderful films that seemed to suddenly pour from the sky when I first started looking past the studio blockbuster roster. Though my scribbles are not always well-written or insightful (even after revising), I'm always happy when I hear that they've accomplished their purpose: sharing my excitement for the possibilities of cinema.

As an alphabetic list, the Hall of Strangeness allowed for less and less expansion as I gobbled up the remaining letters. Most of the potential new additions amongst films I've seen in the last three years have gotten full reviews or been left by the wayside. The Hall of Strangeness is a project I do intend to come back to one day, but for now I plan to retire it. I will probably start up a replacement series (also in the short format) soon.

I want to thank all the readers who found something of interest in these capsules of weirdness, and especially those hardy few who made it through all 155.



Weekend – (Jean-Luc Godard) A married couple on their way to kill their parents, are caught in the world’s worst traffic jam. Mere frustration and boredom eventually leads to mob rioting, revolution and cannibalism. Fictional characters wander out of literature in a chaos that builds to such extremes that the film itself seems on the verge of implosion. This controversial film marked Godard’s turning point from his highly-praised art house period into his less popular political phase.
Artistry: *** Fun: ** Strangeness: *****

Wild Zero – (Tetsuro Takeuchi) Motorcycle greaser and rock-star wannabe Ace falls in love when he accidentally foils a gas station robbery. Unfortunately, alien-summoned zombies attack and Ace will need all the help he can get to survive and reunite with his love. Coming to his aid is a war profiteering femme-fatale and Jet Rock superhero Guitar Wolf, who has problems of his own in the form of an eccentric, lecherous record exec. Ace is pushed to the limit by some revelations about life and love, but it isn’t anything that martial arts, electric guitar picks, bazookas and a katana can’t handle. DVD includes its own drinking game.
Artistry: ** Fun: ***** Strangeness: *****

Zardoz – (John Boorman) Sci-fi and the 70’s collide in a grisly car-wreck, resulting in such unpleasantries as Sean Connery with a ponytail and some painfully lame costumes. Things start out well with a giant stone head named Zardoz preaching the evils of the male reproductive organ and vomiting copious amounts of firearms as its suggested substitute. One of the violent primitives amongst its flock boards the head and rides it through an invisible wall to an eroding utopia where no one can die. After more weird, allegorical adventures than there is room to recount, a final showdown occurs inside a crystal.
Artistry: ** Fun: ** Strangeness: *****

A Zed and Two Noughts – (Peter Greenaway) A pair of twin zoologists start studying the evolution of life and the time-lapsed process of decay after their wives are killed in a swan-related car accident. Set to a minimalist Michael Nyman score and preoccupied with the alphabet, paraplegics and black and white animals. One of Greenaway’s finest and a personal favorite.
Artistry: ***** Fun: *** Strangeness: *****

Zentropa – (Lars Von Trier) A timid youth is caught in a series of plots and intrigues after taking a job as a train conductor, in this hypnotic post-noir thriller. He finds himself falling for the dangerous daughter of the railroad’s owner, who is being investigated for former Nazi ties. Riddle with disorientating visual effects and decadent cinematography.
Artistry: **** Fun: ** Strangeness: ***

Hall of Strangeness Part XXX

Versus – (Ryuhei Kitamura) A reincarnated samurai turned yakuza thug, escapes from jail to meet up with his aggressive gang in the aptly named “Forest of Resurrection”. When a dispute occurs over a kidnapped girl, one of the flunkies gets killed and quickly returns as a zombie. That’s when it occurs to the rest of the gang that they’ve been burying hits in the woods for years. The plot is mostly an excuse for an endless series of battles involving samurai, gangsters, zombies, vampires, government agents and demon lords to name a few. Exhausting.
Artistry: ** Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

Videodrome – (David Cronenberg) Arguably Cronenberg’s best film, Videodrome features a sleazy television producer looking for the edgiest show he can find. After viewing a torture scene on pirate satellite, he sets out on a trail that eventually leads him to media tycoon Brian O’Blivion, who only appears to the public via television. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he begins to experience disturbing hallucinations and spontaneous mutations. James Wood and Deborah Harry (Blondie) star.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: ****

Walker – (Alex Cox) The historical story of William Walker (played with crazed intensity by Ed Harris), an American manifest destiny warlord who brought despotic “democracy” to Nicaragua when he conquered the country in the 1850’s, is given shocking, satiric and exuberant treatment in Cox’s (Repo Man) visionary dip into studio funding. Cox’s searing political agenda (the parallels to Reagan era politics are spelled out in the credits) and rule-breaking violations of historical fact (including intrusions by cars, computers and a helicopter) ensured that critics and audiences were baffled and outraged, while the studio system turned their back on him forever. For the open-minded, however, Walker’s blood-drenched surrealism, inspired musical score and Harris’s majestic depiction of madness are unforgettable treats.
Artistry: **** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

Warning Shadows – (Arthur Robinson) A jealous husband, his flirtatious wife, four smirking male admirers and an unkempt shadow-puppet wizard all gather for a life-altering dinner in this rarely watched work of German Expressionism. After observing the sexual tension in the room, the puppeteer puts on a show, enchanting his hosts and awakening their shadows to act out the tragedy they are about to undergo. German Expressionism’s love affair with shadows reaches its peak in this film, benefitting from Robinson’s decision to work purely with visuals (silent, with no intertitles).
Artistry: *** Fun: ** Strangeness: ***

Waxworks – (Paul Leni) A poet is assigned the task of writing stories for the macabre denizens of a wax museum, and so he immerses himself in three imaginative tales featuring the Caliph of Baghdad, Ivan the Terrible and Jack the Ripper. This silent anthology features an all-star German Expressionism cast that includes Emil Janning (The Blue Angel, The Last Laugh), Conrad Veidt (The Hands of Orlac, The Man Who Laughs ), Werner Krauss (Dr. Caligari himself) and William Dieterle (director of The Devil and Daniel Webster and Sex in Chains).
Artistry: *** Fun: ** Strangeness: ***

Hall of Strangeness Part XXIX

Tom, Tom, The Piper’s Son – (Ken Jacobs) Jacobs’s deconstructionist experiment repeats a scratchy 1905 short three times. The first and last runs are shown without interference, but for 107 minutes in-between Jacobs changed the way audiences look at film, zooming in, freeze-framing, reversing and slowing things down until he had reduced cinema to the interplay of black and white grains. It’s 9 parts boredom per 1 part revelation, but every bit ahead of its time. Decades after its 1969 screening, the digital revolution kept the promise Jacobs made.
Artistry: ** Fun: * Strangeness: ***

The Trial (1963) – (Orson Welles) One of the most derided of Welles’s directorial efforts, this adaptation of Kafka’s story is actually the closest in tone to the book. Joseph K finds himself on trial without any crime, evidence or witnesses. No one will come to his aid and he remains lost in a sea of bureaucracy. Welles composes the film as a series of immaculate B/W images in magnificent sets that take precedence over narrative coherence.
Artistry: ***** Fun: ** Strangeness: ****

Tropical Malady – (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) Thailand’s most acclaimed and hardest to pronounce director confused audiences the world over with this experimental hybrid of myth and modernity. A kindly soldier named Keng meets and falls in love with a local named Tong who lives on a farm in the jungle. Their quiet, caring relationship treads familiar ground for Queer Asian Cinema, but halfway through the film Weerasethakul shatters everything. One night, Tong wanders into the woods and disappears. Soon after, Keng pursues, gradually becoming aware that Tong is a shapeshifting jungle demon, but still willing to hunt and be hunted for his love.
Artistry: **** Fun: * Strangeness: ****

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders – (Jaromil Jires) This Czech New Wave fantasy-horror film allegorically explores the phantasmagorical borderline between the civilities of Christianity and the excesses of paganism. Valerie is a young girl on the edge of sexual awakening, beset by familial, societal and religious repressions and haunted by vampires. Adrift within an over-exposed dreamscape of symbolism and ambiguity, Valerie finds that a magical pair of earrings may be her only protection.
Artistry: **** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

Veronica Voss – (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) Veronica Voss is the drug-addicted former actress that once rocketed to success during the Nazi regime. She is now under the dubious care of Doctor Feelgood, and only love-struck sports writer Robert dares to rescue her. Fassbinder paints many of the most powerful scenes in a blinding blanket of searing white.
Artistry: ***** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Hall of Strangeness Part XXVIII

Tampopo – (Juzo Itami) Taking the “spaghetti” western literally, Itami created the first Japanese “noodle” western. Truck-driver and modern-day cowboy Goro rides into town to help hapless widow Tampopo turn her noodle shop into the most successful joint in town. The main plot is intercut with unrelated vignettes about food and romance. Cutely colored with a palette of yellow, pink and baby blue, Tampopo contains everything from broad comedy to savvy parody.
Artistry: **** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ****

Tears of the Black Tiger – (Wisit Sasanatieng) – From Thailand comes a western melodrama pastiche with a color scheme borrowed from tropical skittles (expect fuchsia and teal to dominate). Sasanatieng exploits decades of genre conventions to demonstrate how cultural flavor and auteur visuals can still enliven a rusty premise: a doomed love between a mayor’s daughter and a brooding bandit (the Black Tiger himself). The numerous western shootouts are enhanced by emotional excess and quirky hyper-violence (think cowboys wielding bazookas). The music is repetitive, but playfully pinches from classical and spaghetti western tunes.
Artistry: **** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ****

Tetsuo: The Iron Man – (Shinya Tsukamoto) After being hit by a car driven by a metal-fetish masochist, Japanese everyman Tetsuo changes into a scrapheap cyborg monstrosity. Covered in wires, metal struts and whirring power-tool body-parts he soon realizes that his destiny lies in a final apocalyptic battle with the man who triggered the transformation, now also hideously mutated. Techno, stop-star animation and plenty of confusion await viewers of this Japanese Eraserhead. The sequel brings in color and even more intense battles although the attention-grabbing randomness of the original is somewhat ameliorated by a more coherent plot.
Artistry: ** Fun: *** Strangeness: *****

Three Crowns of the Sailor – (Raoul Ruiz) Chilean director Ruiz gives a literary treatment of an old sailor yarn that has the layered interconnectivity of Gene Wolfe, the stream-of-conscious density of Joyce and the temporal elusiveness of Proust. The challenging material is shouldered by Jean-Bernard Guillard playing a cursed sailor who bequeaths his sorry lot aboard a ghost ship to a fleeing murderer. His price: three Danish crowns and a night of prose-heavy storytelling laden with symbolism and strangeness. Maverick cinematographer Sacha Vierny adds suitably disturbing deep-focus imagery.
Artistry: **** Fun: ** Strangeness: *****

Times to Come – (Gustavo Mosquera) Where do post-apocalyptic, sci-fi mind trips and eighties, new-wave music videos go to make babies? Argentina. A fascist military officer and an unstable male nurse duel over the comatose witness of police brutality… I think.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

Hall of Strangeness Part XXVII

The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh – (Sergio Martino) Sergio Martino often gets unfairly designated as the fourth wheel on the Italian horror tricycle of Argento, Bava and Fulci. One of his best films, Strange Vice mixes excessive violence, copious nudity and plenty of last minute plot twists into a stylish giallo that fans of the subgenre should not miss. Edwige Fenech, in the title role, possesses a feral beauty that fits the perverse tone precisely.
Artistry: ** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Switchblade Sisters – (Jack Hill) Othello receives an unlikely adaptation as an exploitive B-movie about an all-girl gang called The Dagger Debs. The imperturbable Maggie quickly ascends to leader Lace’s right-hand position just in time to swap switchblades for automatic weaponry as gang wars and intrigue mount.
Artistry: * Fun: *** Strangeness: **

Suture – (Scott McGehee & David Siegel) With a murder investigation closing in, Vincent decides to kill his look-alike brother, Clay, (whom no one has ever met) in a car accident to convince the police that he, Vincent, is dead. There’s only one problem… and it isn’t the apparently obvious yet never mentioned fact that Vincent is white, Clay is black and the two look nothing alike. Post-modern to the core and bitterly cold in tone, Suture is a unsung, subtle masterpiece of the indie circuit, full of wit, grace and depth.
Artistry: **** Fun: ** Strangeness: **

Sweet Movie – (Dusan Makavejev) Yugoslavian auteur Makavejev transmutes shoestring budgets into brilliant set pieces including a checkerboard river barge with a 15-ft high Lenin-bust on its prow and a suspended sugar tub in the hold. And that’s just the lesser of two parallel stories. In the other, Miss World Virgin marries a thick-headed American billionaire, but flees in disgust from his hygiene fetish and golden phallus. She experiences a globe-trotting Dante-esque journey that terminates in a chocolate-coated porn commercial. Makavejev’s shocking, overflowing opus continues to be banned in the UK after more than 30 years and still holds the power to offend even jaded modern viewers. Nevertheless, the director manages to provoke awe as much as outrage, contemplation as often as contempt.
Artistry: *** Fun: * Strangeness: *****

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance – (Park Chan-wook) After being hoodwinked of 10 million won and a kidney by the black market, deaf-mute Ryu takes the law into his own hands. Conspiring with his politically dissident girlfriend, he kidnaps the daughter of a businessman loosely associated with his heartless boss. Soon the unpredictable spiral of revenge spins out of control and exquisite tragedy results. Followed by two thematic sequels that are worthwhile films in their own right: Oldboy and Lady Vengeance.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

Hall of Strangeness Part XXVI

Space is the Place – (John Coney) Returning to Earth in his jazz-powered spaceship, a pharaoh-decked Sun-Ra finds the black people unfairly oppressed and vows to teleport them to a planet with “better vibrations” (even against their own will). A Seventh Seal style tarot match with an evil pimp, The Overseer, ensues with cosmologic stakes. While attempting to be provocative and experimental, “Space is the Place” only succeeds at inspiring bemusement and wonderful blaxploitation cheesiness.
Artistry: * Fun: *** Strangeness: *****

Spider Baby – (Jack Hill) In a dilapidated California mansion, the butler (Lon Chaney Jr.) of the late Mr. Merrye takes care of three young wards. Each is in different stages of Merrye Syndrome (guess where the name comes from) which combines juvenile behavior with violent spidery tendencies and occasional physical mutations. The low-budget fun goes up a notch when four clueless yuppies arrive. Surprisingly good acting raises the amusing material in this long-lost cult horror film.
Artistry: *** Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

Stagefright – (Michele Soavi) In 1987 Michele Soavi almost single-handedly resurrected the Italian giallo. After apprenticing under Dario Argento and Terry Gilliam, Soavi conceived this film about a serial killer on the loose at a stage production of a serial killer musical. Most effective is the mysterious villain who dons an enormous owl mask for the majority of the film and seems to be collecting corpses for a monstrous tableau of his own. Made vulnerable by an uninspired script with a fair share of plot holes, but ultimately rescued by its commitment and style.
Artistry: ** Fun: **** Strangeness: **

Stalker – (Andrei Tarkovsky) A writer and a scientist ask a guide with a crippled daughter to lead them into an evacuated government-restricted wilderness called “the Zone.” Years earlier an asteroid landed in the Zone and a military facility was built to investigate. At the very center lies “the Room,” a place where wishes are mysteriously granted. If the three travelers can survive the invisible traps surrounding the room and keep their true motivations a secret, they may have their dreams fulfilled… but maybe not. An elaborate and lugubrious mediation on faith with stunning, influential camerawork.
Artistry: **** Fun: * Strangeness: ****

Star Crash – (Luigi Cozzi) This heinously awful attempt to ride on the fame of Star Wars will be a blast for any trash-loving retrophilliac. It was made in the weeks immediately following the release of Star Wars and marketed to an intended audience of people who don’t check the exact titles on the marquees. Star Crash stars David Hasselhoff (of Baywatch "fame") and Carolina Munro in some oddly impractical outfits (I doubt bikinis are protected against the vacuum of space). Set in a galaxy so “far, far away” and alien that our own race can not hope to grasp its logic or dialogue.
Artistry: * Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

Hall of Strangeness Part XXV

Seconds – (John Frankenheimer) If you were given a second chance at life, would you take it? This is the question asked by Seconds, an eerie sci-fi thriller about the possibility of renewed youth… at any cost. The film was far ahead of its time (1966) in almost every way (though humorously kitsch in others) and deeply unsettling without being alienating or unwatchable. Reading the film as a metaphor for star Rock Hudson’s own double life adds an interesting extra dimension.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

Shivers – (David Cronenberg) An early, low-budget Cronenberg film about a paradise hotel with a rodent problem. Except that rather than rodents, its actually parasitic life-forms that burrow into stomachs and turns their hosts into sex-crazed zombies.
Artistry: * Fun: **** Strangeness: **

Shock Corridor – (Samuel Fuller) Fuller’s 1963 thriller is easily one of the best and most influential of his off-kilter B-movies. Journalist Johnny Barratt determines to solve a murder case by pretending to go crazy and infiltrating the asylum where the crime took place. His sensationalized adventures include being swarmed by compulsive nymphomaniacs and interviewing a black KKK member who starts a riot. Barratt is determined to find the truth, even if he loses his mind in the process.
Artistry: *** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ***

Six-string Samurai – (Lance Mungia) Simply the best post-apocalyptic Elvis Presley samurai film ever made. In the desert wastelands of the post-WWIII future, a Buddy Holly-like drifter with a katana-guitar, an attitude and an above-average knowledge of martial arts heads towards Lost Vegas to claim the rank of “The King” in the wake of Elvis’s passing. A band of bowlers, some mutants and Death himself try to stop him. Enjoy the eccentric soundtrack by the Red Elvises and unexpected parallels to “The Wizard of Oz.”
Artistry: * Fun: ***** Strangeness: *****

Sonatine – (“Beat” Takeshi Kitano) Murakawa is an aging yakuza killer double-crossed by his longtime boss. Forced into hiding with his small band of cronies, he enjoys a sweet and charming summer vacation at the beach. In Murakawa’s impassive expressions lies a hidden sorrow that the blissful period must soon come to an end, but the itch for vengeance can not be ignored. A bittersweet and poetic film that manages to alternate wildly from deadpan comedy to extreme violence.
Artistry: ***** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Hall of Strangeness Part XXIV

Several musicals in this batch and a lot of perfect scores on the fun meter! Enjoy.

Rocky Horror Picture Show: (Jim Sharman) Little needs to be said about the film that is probably the most popular cult film ever made (contradiction noted). Told in over-the-top musical segments, the story features a pair of naïve honeymooners who find themselves marooned at the castle of Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry in top form). The doctor does some mad scientisting in his spare time, when he not reigning terror upon the innocent, but is soon upstaged by his alien henchmen. A favorite for midnight screenings, costume-wearing and audience participation.
Artistry: **** Fun: ***** Strangeness: *****

The Ruling Class – (Peter Medak) Peter O’Toole plays the 14th Earl of Gurney, an already egotistical member of the English gentry who has developed an acute messiah complex. When his father dies in a kinky case of accidental suicide, the new earl inherits an estate that makes him the unfortunate envy of his extended relatives. Dark British humor (aimed at everyone from religious conservatives to the House of Lords) is mixed with abrupt musical flights-of-fancy.
Artistry: ** Fun: ** Strangeness: ****

The Saddest Music in the World – (Guy Maddin) In an effort to sell more beer to depressed patrons, legless Lady Port-Huntley hosts a single-elimination tournament to find the saddest music in the world. A dysfunctional family of musicians including a Canadian war veteran, sleazy American producer and a photo-sensitive Serbian compete, all of whom have a connection to the hostess. Filmed in silent era style and brief color sequences.
Artistry: ***** Fun: ***** Strangeness: *****

Save the Green Planet! – (Jang Jun-Hwan) A flop during its initial release in South Korea, Save the Green Planet! is a surprisingly successful blend of comedy, mystery, sci-fi and thriller. When insane beekeeper, Byun-gu, kidnaps his former boss, it might seem like a typical case of revenge, however, he persistently tortures the business man hoping he will admit to being an alien invader. Two unorthodox detectives are working the case, but it quickly becomes impossible to know who to root for or what to believe. Jang Jun-Hwan shows a knack for going beyond expectations, redefining what it means to be “extreme” in a cinematic tradition where violence, sex and gore are becoming meaningless clichés.
Artistry: *** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ****

Schizopolis – (Steven Soderbergh) Soderbergh writes, films, edits, composes, directs, stars and generally self-destructs in this Vonnegut-esque solipsistic comedy. As a company drone in a corporation with both a spy and a mole, Munson is assigned to write a speech for a self-help cult leader who preaches the vacuous philosophy of “Eventualism.” He soon discovers his wife is having an affair with a physically identical dentist-version of himself. Also present in the plot is Elmo Oxygen, a popular lady’s man and insect exterminator who speaks in mismatched gibberish (while still be oddly understandable) and is kidnapped out of the main movie by a rival director.
Artistry: ** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ****

Hall of Strangeness Part XXIII

Primer – (Shane Carruth) A masterpiece of low-budget digital filmmaking, Primer uses a combination of mind-bending science fiction and elaborate paranoid interrelations to stretch their budget-to-quality ratio to the limit. Aaron and Abe are two friends who just may have invented a time-machine, but using the device may tear their friendship, and the world, apart. Though the film starts out in familiar time-travel territory, the inherit complexities of the fourth dimension take their toll on the protagonists and make shake loose casual viewers.
Artistry: ** Fun: **** Strangeness: **

Prospero’s Books – (Peter Greenaway) This insanely freestyle experimental adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest is probably the most visually radical, but least enjoyable, of Greenaway’s work. Organized around Prospero’s library of magical books that cover all the world’s knowledge, the audience is subjected to busy arrangements of performance art, dramatic sets, outrageous costumes and digital effects in lieu of straightforward narrative delivery.
Artistry: **** Fun: * Strangeness: *****

Ridicule – (Patrice Leconte) In the royal courts of 18th century France, wit was king (but also Louis XVI) and pithy banter was a treasured backdoor to political power. A well-meaning baron out to save his farming community must enter into the brutal arena of wordplay where careers can be made or unmade by a single devastating turn of phrase. Crisply shot and snappily penned, Ridicule is a period piece with a unique edge. Also there are mountainous wigs.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: **

River’s Edge – (Tim Hunter) A high school student apathetically kills his girlfriend and takes his classmates to see the body in this dark satire of the slacker generation based on a true story. Their reactions include zombie-like indifference, militant support and vague attempts at the shock and outrage they know they should be feeling. With biting, effective wit, Hunter captures the aimless drifting of the sex-drugs-and-violence immunized generation raised on TV and weed.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: *

Robot Monster – (Phil Tucker) Possibly the lowest production values of all time mark Robot Monster as a classic of 1950’s C-movie sci-fi. Ro-Man (a robot represented by a man in scuba gear and a gorilla suit borrowed from another film) has managed to exterminate all life on earth except for a benevolent scientist (insert atrocious Russian accent), his family and assistant. When Ro-man experiences his first disorientating notions of love (and lust) after sighting the scientist’s daughter, he questions whether his mantra to “correlate, deduce, reduce error” is really the pinnacle of civilization. Features wooden computer monitors, inexplicable dinosaur stock footage, intergalactic radios that spout soap bubbles and more photo-negative flashes than you can shake a death-ray at.
Artistry: * Fun: ***** Strangeness: **

Hall of Strangeness Part XXII

Pillowbook – (Peter Greenaway) Nagiko is a petulant Japanese model who only takes lovers that are adept at painting calligraphy onto her naked body, a ritual that extends back to her childhood birthdays. When the chance comes to exact revenge on the homosexual publisher who blackmailed her father, she takes the opportunity to send him 13 “books,” all written in exquisite detail upon the flesh of naked men. Each text has it’s own twist culminating in a deadly dénouement. Uses digital paintboxing, a multiple-image technique pioneered by Greenaway.
Artistry: **** Fun: *** Strangeness: *****

Pistol Opera – (Seijun Suzuki) In 2001, Seijun Suzuki remade his classic Branded to Kill with a female lead, a ridiculously flamboyant color scheme and several degrees of magnitude more weirdness. A series of unhinged duels between pseudo-supernatural foes are expressed in splatters of post-modern imagery during the struggle for the illusory rank of the number one assassin. It plays out like an interpretive dance gun battle designed by John Woo and Andy Warhol.
Artistry: **** Fun: ** Strangeness: *****

Point Blank – (John Boorman) Point Blank, an icy cold tale of soulless revenge, is the birthplace of mainstream cinema’s affair with existential violence. Lee Marvin plays Walker, a gangster who rendezvous at Alcatraz to split the spoils of a heist with his partner, Mal. Mal callously executes Walker for his $93,000 cut and proceeds to build up a cozy criminal empire over the next several years. Inexplicably back from the grave, Walker returns to collect the original sum he was due, no longer burdened by emotions or fears but plagued by experimentally intercut flashes from his past.
Artistry: *** Fun: ** Strangeness: **

The Pornographers – (Shohei Imamura) This Japanese social satire from the 1960’s finds comedy and pathos in the most abhorrent cesspools of humanity. Subu is a barber and part-time pornographer who is having trouble with his dysfunctional family, his finances, the local crime syndicate, a reincarnating fish and his own personal sexual crises. A well-crafted, nihilistic exploration of society’s underbelly that makes you smile as much as squirm.
Artistry: ***** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

Possession – (Andrzej Zulawski) Simular to the twisted offspring likely to result from a West German honeymoon between Argento and Cronenberg, Possession is the relentless tale of a tattered marriage and its disturbing fallout. Isabella Adjani plays a manic-depressive woman who leaves her husband (Sam Niell) and eccentric lover for an alarming relationship with an unusual alternative. Adjani gives one of the world’s most intense and most gutsy performances (surpassing Nicholson’s in “The Shining”) in a film whose entire cast has very little use for sanity.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: *****

Hall of Strangeness Part XXI

Sorry about the scant postings! I've been a bit busy with all sorts of stuff (mostly fun). Though I've primarily been working and seeing more films, I've also been developing a new board game and enjoying a fairly new Wii. Two large movie projects have been slowing my regular output, but they are approaching completion.

In the near future, I'll be launching a special horror series for the week leading up to Halloween. There will be several reviews per day for seven days on a special theme. I hope you'll all enjoy.

The second project is the ultimate indulgence of my list-compiling obsession. I'm putting together a master list to track many of the awards and greatest/best/most-important/favorite lists that I follow. The composite already includes more than 2000 entries (a very time-consuming entry process) and the result will be nice spreadsheet that users can check off as they view films. Expect plenty of statistical data for nerds like myself.

Anyway, now for a Hall of Strangeness:

Persona – (Ingmar Bergman) After a series of non-narrative images, the film tells the classical art-house tale of a despondent psychiatric ward tenant and her nurse as the two blend, blur and reverse personalities. Alone in a house to relax and recuperate, the nurse begins to speak to the patient (initially just to fill the silence) and soon the patient/doctor status is only the first barrier to collapse.
Artistry: ***** Fun: * Strangeness: ****

Phantom of Liberty – (Luis Bunuel) Another high-water mark from surrealist master, Bunuel, Phantom of Liberty satirizes the conventions and taboos of the western world. Parents confiscate “pornographic” photos (of landscapes) from their child, exotic birds wander aimlessly through bedrooms and a family sits around a table on toilets and excuses themselves to eat in small secluded chambers.
Artistry: *** Fun: * Strangeness: *****

Phenomena – (Dario Argento) A personal-favorite giallo about a young girl (Jennifer Connelly in her debut starring role) who telepathically communicates with insects to solve a murder mystery. A scientist in a wheelchair (Donald Pleasance), a monkey and a very creepy triple-ending are involved. Goblin, Iron Maiden, The Andy Sex Gang and several others provide the appropriately malevolent prog-rock/heavy-metal score.
Artistry: *** Fun: **** Strangeness: ****

Picnic at Hanging Rock – (Peter Weir) A group of girls from a boarding school take a field trip to Hanging Rock. Three of them are never heard from again. Set in the sunlit Australian countryside, the mood is somehow dominated by a dark, primal energy. The rock formations of the title become a brooding meditation on the gulf between repressive Victorian society and the seductive mysteries of the great unknown. Based on a true story.
Artistry: ***** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Pierrot Le Fou – (Jean-Luc Godard) The traditionally trashy lovers-on-the-run genre has never been this strange, before or since. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina star in this stylish, free-style trot across France that bursts into musical numbers, directly addresses the audience, references obscure literature and generally breaks all the old cinematic rules. French New Wave artiness to the very core, this film nevertheless lives in a post-modern world of pop-culture celebration and colorful genre tributes. Notwithstanding that these opiates for the masses have been cut with intellectual philosophizing and abstract non-sequiturs.
Artistry: **** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

Hall of Strangeness Part XX

The Night Porter – (Liliani Cavani) Max (Dirk Bogarde) leads a dull but manageable existence as a 50’s-era hotel clerk who occasionally satisfies the needs of rich female clients. His long-hidden past as an SS officer for the Nazis is suddenly revisited when he runs into a woman he sexually tortured at a concentration camp, now married to a famous composer. Pressured by an ex-Nazi conspiracy to kill all witnesses to their former crimes, he confronts the woman. Against all logic they find themselves insatiably drawn into their former relationship. An intriguing, intelligent and surprisingly non-exploitive film about sadomasochism that was despised by most Western critics but embraced abroad.
Artistry: *** Fun: * Strangeness: ***

Nocturne – (Edwin L. Marin) This classic era film noir was a hit in 1946, but hardly gets talked about or noticed anymore. Its strange little eccentricities make it interesting enough to be more than a historical footnote. Lt. Joe Warner (George Raft) is investigating the suicide a pianist, but comes to believe that it was murder. The weird part is that there are ten suspects… all named Delores! Joe lives with his mom, who takes a surprising obsession in his work and can often be heard explaining police forensics to her garden club. Joe gets suspended for relatively mild tactics and ends up falling in love with his prime suspect before getting to the twisty truth. Artistry: ** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

On the Silver Globe – (Andrzej Zulawski) In 1976, Polish mad-genius Zulawski attempted to film a four hour adaptation of his grand-uncle’s “Lunar Trilogy,” widely regarded as the greatest work of science fiction never translated into English. After shooting for two years, the footage was seized by the communist authorities and Zulawski went into exile. A decade later, he recovered the surviving 166 minutes of film and edited them into a semblance of his original vision. The result is a multi-generation mythical messiah epic of unrivaled ambition (the scope of “2001” and “The Lord of the Rings” pale in comparison) wherein the stranded lunar astronauts of the opening scenes have become revered gods by the warring religious sects of the civilizations they birthed… within the first third of the story. At once incomprehensible and incandescent, “On the Silver Globe” make’s Zulawski’s other masterpiece, “Possession” (1981), seem like a concession to mainstream genre cinema.
Artistry: **** Fun: ** Strangeness: *****

Orpheus (1950) – (Jean Cocteau) French director Cocteau melds poetry and cinema is the bizarre 1950’s retelling of Orpheus. When Orpheus’ friend Cegeste is killed in a motorcycle assassination, he is lead through a mirror into the afterlife where he transmits obscure poetic insights to Orpheus through the radio of his Rolls Royce, now chauffeured by a friendly ghost. It gets weirder from there.
Artistry: **** Fun: * Strangeness: *****

Paperhouse – (Bernard Rose) Anna Madden is an introspective young girl who withdraws into her dreams to escape her loneliness. One day she draws a house in her notebook only to encounter a life-size simulacrum in her next dream. She soon realizes that any details she adds to the picture while awake, like trees and toys, await her when she sleeps. The consequences can vary however, as when she draws a companion in one of the upper windows and finds that by failing to depict his legs, the boy materializes as a bitter cripple. Things take a turn for the wicked worst when she attempts to draw her ever-absent father and, unable to capture the nuances of his face, she rashly scribbles out his head. The off-kilter set-design beautifully captures the disproportioned, oblique art and psychologically ruptured mind of the naïve child
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: ****

Hall of Strangeness Part XIX

Ms. 45 – (Abel Ferrara) After Thana, a shy, mute working girl in a bad part of New York City (this is Ferrera after all) gets raped, she becomes nearly catatonic with trauma. When she is raped a second times, she turns the tables. With a murder under her belt and a .45 under her skirt, she is transformed into an extroverted killer who hunts the slime of the street. Her gradual conversion leads to ever more questionable purges, until she dons a nun outfit and goes on a man-hating killing spree. Gritty exploitation collides with some sort of twisted feminist extremism in this deliciously high-casualty car crash.
Artistry: * Fun: ** Strangeness: ***

Mr. Vampire – (Ricky Lau) Considered the greatest of the “Hopping Vampire” Hong Kong sub-genre, that earns its name from the Chinese vampire myth that assumes even living corpses must deal with rigor mortis. The combination of martial arts, slapstick comedy and Asian horror conventions is bound to entertain just about everyone.
Artistry: ** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ***

Mulholland Dr – (David Lynch) A beautiful amnesiac escapes an assassination and takes up a room with a painfully naïve struggling actress in a Hollywood apartment. They become friends and attempt to piece together the fugitive’s identity while trying to land a role, but many mysterious events intervene. Tons of signature Lynch logic, elliptical twists and a compelling half-glamour/half-pulp atmosphere. Several critics consider this to be the best film of the 21st century so far.
Artistry: ***** Fun: **** Strangeness: *****

My Name is Nobody – (Tonino Valerii) Terence Hill is “Nobody,” in this comedic spaghetti western from a parallel reality of pure revisionist excess. Nobody is a roguish cowboy who hero-worships aging outlaw legend Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda), a man who once survived a duel outnumbered seven to one. Beauregard has long since grown tired of life in the limelight and has booked a reservation on a boat to Europe, but Nobody is obsessed with the idea of engraving his idol in the annals of history. His plan? To arrange a final battle in the desert wasteland with Beauregard facing down 150 gunslingers simultaneously! One of the most preposterous and entertaining westerns of all time with a brilliant final fifteen minutes and a semi-satiric score by Ennio Morricone.
Artistry: *** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ****

Myra Breckinridge – (Michael Sarne) With a transvestite protagonist played by Raquel Welch, a legendary production struggle and an unfair critical notoriety, it isn’t surprising to find that Myra Breckinridge has been consigned to cultdom, but it truly deserves a wider counter-culture appreciation. Insert shots from old 20th Century Fox 30’s and 40’s films liven up the already outrageous barrage of surreal sequences and riffs on sexual politics.
Artistry: *** Fun: **** Strangeness: *****

Hall of Strangeness Part XVIII

Master of the Flying Guillotine – (Jimmy Wang Yu) I debated several formats for writing this review: letting the title speak for itself (too short) vs. making a comprehensive list of things that the master of the flying guillotine could decapitate (too long). Suffice it to say, this long forgotten martial arts showdown (the negative was believed lost until 2001) is a nearly non-stop shamelessly-awesome fight sequence culminating in a battle between the blind title character and a one-armed boxer.
Artistry: ** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ***

Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People – (Ishiro Honda) The usual mish-mash of clashing personalities is stranded on a tropical island with little to eat in this 1960’s Japanese supernatural thriller. The rusty, spore-covered shell of military vessel on the coast is no great reassurance. Just as the title suggests, they are eventually attacked by (and transformed into) giant mushrooms. Unforgettable monster suits and some psychedelic sets in the final act lead to an amusing “important lesson” ending. The film is based on “The Voice in the Night,” a 1907 short story by horror grandmaster William Hope Hodgson (an influence on Lovecraft and later Stephen King), to date the only feature length film adaptation of Hodgson’s underappreciated work. His epic novels “House on the Borderland” and “The Night Land” are ripe for screen versions.
Artistry: ** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Microcosmos – (Claude Noridsany) This French documentary uses miniature cameras planted throughout a field to record the lives of insects on their own scale. Set to classical music and assembled with loving care, the world of bugs is brought to life more impressively than any Discovery channel special or fictional family film has ever achieved.
Artistry: *** Fun: ** Strangeness: **

Modesty Blaise – (Joseph Losey) Modesty Blaise (Monica Vitti), as the title song proclaims, is a French 60’s super-sexy super-spy who is really anything but modest. The government hires her and her knife throwing partner (played by Terrence Stamp) to stop international villain/playboy Gabriel (Dirk Bogarde) from stealing diamonds mid-shipment. Op Art, go-go dancing, spherical lights, umbrella guns and lipstick gadgets ensue. Note the way that the foxy duo’s hair changes color and style not just every scene, but mid-scene also.
Artistry: ** Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

Monsieur Hire – (Patrice Leconte) A masterpiece of subtly and mood, Monsieur Hire evokes the danger and eroticism that lies just below the surface of deadly crime. Voyeuristic Hire, a sex-murder suspect, falls in love at a distance with his neighbor Alice, and even as the romance begins to ignite in reality, the unspoken secrets that each possesses multiplies the tension. Eerie and effective, Leconte’s psychological thriller also shines in camera work and cinematography.
Artistry: ***** Fun: *** Strangeness: **

Hall of Strangeness Part XVII

Little Otik – (Jan Svankmejer) In this adaptation of a Czech fairy tale Karel plays a frustrated man whose wife is unable to bear the children she so desperately wants. In a dubious attempt to soothe her, he digs up a child-shaped tree stump and presents it to his wife. She so obsessively treats it as alive that her wish comes true… and an insatiably hungry monster is unleashed. Mixes stop-start animation with live action.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

Lost Highway – (David Lynch) Though not well-received during its initial release, Lynch’s elliptical horror-thriller is a worthwhile journey. Fred Madison begins receiving invasive videotapes of himself asleep in his own coldly modernist house. Understandably unsettled he commits a major crime, only to transform into another man during his first night in prison. The police are forced to release him and he continues to live out his second life until further complications lead to a chilling climax.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra – (Larry Blamire) With an invisible budget, some bad costumes, a lot of foil and access to Monument Valley, Lost Skeleton has all the authentic criteria to parody classic monster movies. A good scientist is looking for a meteor site not too far from where an evil scientist is trying to revive an evil skeleton. Throw in a couple of aliens and an animal-woman and you have a comic gem. Filled with impossible coincidences and quotable dialogue.
Artistry: * Fun: ***** Strangeness: ***

Lunacy – (Jan Svankmejer) Although hardly a hit with critics or audiences, this may be Jan Svankmajer’s best provocation (it certainly is his most blasphemous). Very loosely adapted from short stories by Edgar Allen Poe and the Marquis de Sade, Lunacy is the sly tale of a naïve man’s encounter with a black mass and an experimental asylum. Svankmajer throws enough heretical, shocking or openly revolting imagery on the screen to make even the tolerant viewer squeamish, but does so without sacrificing his talent or his message. Essentially the film is about the delicate balance of freedom and security in our society and the need to avoid extremes; Svankmajer comes out beforehand, however, to personally assert that the film has no redeeming value. The rest of the plot is paralleled by interspersed vignettes of raw meat crawling around (in stop-motion) and making witty references to the film at large.
Artistry: ***** Fun: *** Strangeness: *****

Man Bites Dog – (Remy Belvaux) In this cynical Belgium satire of mass media, a film crew documents the life of morally bankrupt serial killer. While purportedly staying objective, the crew has trouble remaining neutral and soon steps over an ethical boundary or two. When the documentary runs out of funding, the killer offers to pick up the tab as a sort of vanity project. Agreeing to such a pact gets the crew into far more dire straits than legal trouble. An example of the type of morbid vignettes frequent in this mockumentary is a discussion of how much weight is needed to sink the corpse of a man, woman, child, old person and midget respectively.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: **

Hall of Strangeness Part XVI

Kind Hearts and Coronets – (Robert Hamer) Often considered the finest dark comedy of the 1940’s, “Kind Hearts and Coronets” has since gained a devoted cult following. To satisfy his lust for respect and power, Louis Mazzini must murder the eight distant members of his family (all played by Alec Guiness… even the women) in line for succession to a dukedom. The British Ealing Studio put out this dry regicide comedy that showed cultured morbidity for ahead of its time.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: **

Kontroll – (Nimrod Antal) Hip and dark, Kontroll is a Hungarian thriller in the breathless vein of Run Lola Run that’s set entirely within the claustrophobic confines of the Budapest subway system. The protagonists are a small band of eccentric losers who work as thankless ticket checkers that randomly sample subway passengers and deal with everything from juvenile pranksters to thuggish pimps. The leader, Bulcsu, harbors a mysterious past and may or may not be the serial killer that he glimpses out of the corner of his eye when alone. The chance for redemption appears in the guise of a stoic love interest in a bear costume. A vigorous techno score and sharp cinematography generate a stylish superficial sheen while the metaphoric implications allow for deeper engagement.
Artistry: **** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ***

Koyaanisqatsi – (Godfrey Reggio) Filmed over the course of several years, Godfrey Reggio creates a transcendent commentary on the clash between nature and civilization. Without characters, plot or narration, the film glides effortlessly between awe-inspiring time-lapse sequences showing canyons, mountains, cities, factories and people. A deft and intelligent example of how to make a message film. Two sequels followed as well as “Baraka” a similar film done by the former cinematographer.
Artistry: ***** Fun: * Strangeness: ****

Lady Terminator – (H Tjut Djalil) Indonesia made a bid at the international market with this exploitive rip-off of Terminator. The lady in question is the Queen of the South Sea, a sexually irrepressible witch with a penchant for killing her mates. Her weapon of choice is an eel that she sheathed in a remarkably uncomfortable place. 100 years after her eel is turned into a dagger (don’t ask) she’s back for revenge and nothing (from bullets to 80’s music videos) will stop her. Nudity abound.
Artistry: * Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Last Year in Marienbad – (Alain Resnais) This influential French art film exposed the infinite possibilities of ethereal ambiguity in an attractively filmed package. A male guest at a luxurious hotel tries to convince a skeptical woman that they had an affair one year earlier… perhaps at Marienbad. A stunning, though often pretentious, meditation on memory. The sharp, formalist camerawork is provided by Sacha Vierny, one of my all time favorite cinematographers.
Artistry: ***** Fun: ** Strangeness: ****

Hall of Strangeness Part XV

The Incubus – (Leslie Stevens) Sex, horror, William Shatner (pre-Star Trek fame) and Esperanto. This movie has it all! The cocky tagline declares that “Time can not fade the brilliance that is… THE INCUBUS!!!” The ambition is matched by the director’s attempt to do for Esperanto what The Jazz Singer did for sound and The Wizard of Oz did for color. The only problem is that the so-called “universal language” thing never caught on, and neither did the movie. Earnestly tries to borrow from Ingmar Bergman to hilarious and awkwardly mixed results. Creepy goat thrown in for free.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: ****

Irma Vep – (Olivier Assayas) Irma Vep (anagram alert) is the story of a French director intent on remaking a Les Vampires, a silent 7-hour vampire jewel-thief film (it’s a real movie) with Hong Kong martial artist Maggie Cheung as the lead. Cheung agrees and although she is initially unsure of whether she shares the director’s vision (which includes donning a skin-tight leather outfit and moving like a cat) she begins to hypnotically incorporate the character’s larcenous behavior into her real life. The cast and crew suffer from the usual plague of backstage difficulties, but when the director’s rushes are finally revealed, everyone is in for a surprise. Cheung is superb and the final five minutes are divine.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

The Isle – (Kim Ki-Duk) A mute woman rents out color-coded boathouses to fishermen and prostitutes. When a murderer on the lam hides out in one of the boats, she falls in love… sort of. One of the most stomach-churning love stories ever told. The simple image of a two fishhook making a heart shape stays with the viewer for an uncomfortably long time.
Artistry: **** Fun: * Strangeness: ****

Johnny Guitar – (Nicholas Ray) This 1954 Joan Crawford/Sterling Hayden western was several decades ahead of its time in sheer weirdness and guts. The main plot concerns the bitter rivalry between saloon owner Vienna and cattle rancher Emma. Vienna has hired eccentric bodyguard Johnny Guitar to help her but most of the men in the film are so weak and indecisive that they take a backseat to the women’s formidable performances. Vienna’s outfit served as the blueprint (redprint?) for James Dean’s in Rebel without a Cause.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: ***

Kamikaze Girls – (Tetsuya Nakashima) This absurdist female buddy-film became a surprise Japanese hit upon its release. Our narrator is the emotionally detached Momoko (“I felt like crying when I saw her delight. I, who coldly watched wild animals die. Was it lack of sleep?”) who flaunts her obsession with the rococo era by wearing frilly custom-designed dresses and avoiding anything resembling work. She meets Ichigo, a talkative head-butting member of a motorcycle gang and the two form an unlikely friendship. Funny, fashionable and almost touching.
Artistry: **** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ****

Hall of Strangeness Part XIV

Heathers – (Michael Lehmann) The reigning masterpiece of jaded high-school rebellion films, Heathers features Veronica (Winona Ryder) as the newest inductee into the exclusive clique of cruel, preppy girls all named Heather. When Ryder falls for brooding bad boy JD (Christian Slater) they rapidly escalate from joking about jerks and valley girls to killing them. With the murders masked as teen suicides, the parents and teachers are all too ready to believe the deceased were really troubled, torn souls and not just shallow and mean. Adding to the fun is fictional slang amusingly close to the real thing.
Artistry: *** Fun: **** Strangeness: **

High Strung – (Roger Nygard) A virtually unknown, low-budget comedy that would be all-but-lost in oblivion if it didn’t contain a small role by Jim Carrey (as Death) immediately before he became famous. The film takes place in a single apartment building with a minimal cast and nearly no dialogue. The film records the hilariously cynical, pessimistic rants of a very high strung tenant. Like standup comedy but actually good.
Artistry: * Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

The Hole (1998) – (Tsai Ming-Liang) This incredibly oblique tale of a virus-plagued dystopic Taiwan in the year 2000, echoes the fears and anxieties of the approaching millennium channeled through the lives of two lethargic apartment tenants. Abhorrently bad trash disposal and even worse plumbing has led to hole in the upper room peering into the apartment below. The man and woman struggle to deal with their boredom, lack of privacy and a deadly virus that causes roach-like behavior. The depressing story is intercut with peppy lip-synched musical sequences.
Artistry: **** Fun: ** Strangeness: *****

Hour of the Wolf – (Ingmar Bergman) Swedish art film director Bergman’s version of a vampire film (his only flirtation with traditional horror) is a chilling lesson in bleakness and soul-crushing madness. Filled with gloomy dialogue and the logic of nightmares.
Artistry: **** Fun: * Strangeness: ***

I Walked with a Zombie – (Jacques Tourneur) One of the most under-appreciated films from the classic studio horror era, this low-budget Val Lewton/RKO deserves credit for its early use of psychological terror. A skeptical nurse is hired to come to West Indies to and cure the comatose wife of a rich landowner, only to discover that voodoo magic may be involved. Much better than Tourneur’s other major gothic horror: Night of the Demon.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: *

Hall of Strangeness Part XIII

100th post! Time sure flies. So many favorite films I still want to write up and so many films yet unseen. Here's to the next 100!

Full Contact – (Ringo Lam) One of the best of the over-the-top bloody Hong Kong revenge films, Full Contact features a particularly flashy cast of ruthless gunmen and a slew of insane battles (including one shot from a bullet’s eye perspective) that represents an extreme in a genre based around extremes. The gay villain makes a pass at the protagonist (Chow Yun Fat) during their final confrontation, prompting one of the most anomalous final cries in the history of action movies: “Masturbate in HELL!!!”
Artistry: ** Fun: ***** Strangeness: **

Gemini – (Shinya Tsukamoto) After a wickedly eerie opening credit sequence, we are introduced to Yukio, a highly regarded early 20th century doctor, his unsettling amnesiac wife (named Rin) and his awkward bourgeois parents. Evil omens culminate with the haunting death of the latter and the arrival of a plague victim during a storm. After a violent assault, Yukio fines himself confined to the bottom of a well while his doppelganger replaces him and seduce his wife, who has a secret past and issues of her own. Genuinely effective as a chiller, but with more on its mind than most. A fitting evolution for the director who brought you Tetsuo.
Artistry: **** Fun: ***** Strangeness: ****

Get Carter (1971) – (Mike Hodges) The original Get Carter is the prototypical example of the British gangster film and one of the grimmest revenge thrillers ever made. Channeling the existential amorality of the earlier Point Blank, Michael Caine’s Jack Carter is a brutal man out to learn the truth behind his brother’s death. Carter, himself a violent antihero without hope of redemption, is determined to put everyone involved in a body bag as he mires himself in the corruption of Newcastle’s underground.
Artistry: *** Fun: *** Strangeness: *

Harold and Maude – (Hal Ashby) The unlikely romance between a rich suicidal teen and a radical old woman, is chronicled in this cult romantic comedy. Full of deadpan, morbid humor, jaunty Cat Stevens music and anti-establishment sentiments. Gutsier than “All That Heaven Allows” (1955) or “Ali – Fears Eats the Soul” (1974) in its society-spurning romance across age and class.
Artistry: **** Fun: **** Strangeness: ***

Heart of Glass – (Werner Herzog) The Bavarian legend of a remote town doomed by the death of their ruby glass-blower is told by a cast placed under hypnosis by envelop-pushing German director Herzog. The town’s mystic attempts to revive the secret of creating blood-red glass (their economic and cultural lynchpin) becomes a haunting allegory for mankind’s technological hubris and our inevitable fate as kindling for the inferno of a dour apocalypse. For those with patience, the film is as hypnotic as the curiously unnatural performances.
Artistry: ***** Fun: * Strangeness: *****