Let’s Get Weird! Anthony’s September Staff Picks

I’ve always had a soft spot for films, especially comedies, that push beyond the mainstream to explore unusual, even downright weird, themes and ideas. While there have long been fans of the unintentional hilarity of B-movies, my wheelhouse is less the “why did they do that?” of genuinely bad movies, and more the “how did they even think of that?” of unconventional comedies and genre-bending horror and action flicks.

I knew when it was my turn to program an evening of Staff Picks, I’d want to share some of my favourite weird movies from the Hollywood Suite catalogue. Read about my selections below, and tune in Tuesday, September 20 to catch my picks on all four Hollywood Suite channels.

ANTHONY’S PICKS

Click on titles below for more info and additional play times

Hollywood Suite 70s Movies

House (1977)

Sept 20 at 9pm ET

The frenetic randomness of Japanese TV commercials, but set in a house possessed by the spirit of a broken-hearted woman who feeds on the youth and innocence of school girls.

More on the Hollywood Suite Blog:
Hausu: Love Never Dies

The Warriors (1979)

Sept 20 at 10:30pm ET

In a New York City overrun by costumed street gangs like the Baseball Furies (imagine KISS-style clowns in baseball uniforms), The Warriors must battle to get home from a city-wide meet up of organized criminals.

Barbarella (1968)

Sept 21 at 12:05am ET

In this campy sci-fi starring Jane Fonda, Barbarella travels through space to defeat supervillain Durand Durand, befriends an angel, and reintroduces the human race to the joys of sex.

More on the Hollywood Suite Blog:
Long Live Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy

Hollywood Suite 80s Movies

Polyester (1981)

Sept 20 at 9pm ET

John Waters turns women’s picture melodrama on its head in this gross-out look at everything-but-the-kitchen-sink domestic hell (think: adultery, alcoholism, abortion, fetishism, pornography, fraud, drugs, murder, prostitution, youth delinquency, suicide, etc.) starring drag superstar Divine and 50s heartthrob Tab Hunter.

More on the Hollywood Suite Blog:
Magnificent Obsession: Trash Meets High Art
All That Heaven Allows: Melodrama as Cultural Critique

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984)

Sept 20 at 10:30pm ET

Physicist/neurosurgeon/test pilot/rock star Dr. Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) battles inter-dimensional aliens from Planet 10. Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow and Christopher Lloyd round out the cast in this action/adventure/comedy/romance with music video aesthetics.

Tampopo (1985)

Sept 21 at 12:15am ET

At the height Japan’s post-war boom, a pair of gruff truckers (Tsutomu Yamazaki and a young Ken Watanabe) train a widowed housewife to become a top ramen chef, interspersed with vignettes that mix lust, gluttony and consumerism.

Hollywood Suite 90s Movies

Tremors (1990)

Sept 20 at 9pm ET

When Perfection, Nevada finds itself suddenly beset by graboids – like Dune’s sandworms, but smaller and more maneuverable – the townsfolk (Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Reba McEntire) must fight for their lives.

Demolition Man (1993)

Sept 20 at 10:40pm ET

In 2032, SAPD Lieutenant Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) brings disgraced 90s supercop John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) out of cryo-stasis to help track down his 20th century criminal arch-nemesis (Wesley Snipes), who is on a Murder-Death-Kill rampage through San Angeles, a conformist, authoritarian utopia where the only restaurant is Taco Bell.

Bride of Chucky (1998)

Sept 21 at 12:40am ET

In this hilarious comedy/horror self-parody of the Child’s Play series, Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) reassembles the dismembered Chucky doll and brings him back to life, only to find the tables turned when Chucky transports her soul into a bride doll.

Hollywood Suite 00s Movies

MacGruber (2010)

Sept 20 at 9pm ET

Retired soldier of (mis)fortune MacGruber (Will Forte) reassembles his crack squad (Kristen Wiig, Ryan Philippe) to take on Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), the arms dealer who killed his wife.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Sept 20 at 10:40pm ET

Out of a job, divorced, and on the outs with his best friend (John C Reilly), NASCAR superstar Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) has to go back to his roots and rebuild his life before he can reign supreme once again.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Sept 21 at 12:45am ET

Written and directed by and starring Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, this mockumentary follows the misadventures of four vampires who share a house in modern-day suburban New Zealand.