Thursday, October 11, 2007

Anthony Balch's "Bizarre"

Try to imagine The Twilight Zone – or better yet, Night Gallery – filtered through copious amounts of acid and Spanish fly. You might get something like the Anthony Balch film "Bizarre."
In surveying the online reviews, it seems that even some of the most jaded cult film connoisseurs walk away from "Bizarre" at an utter loss for words to describe what they’ve just experienced. Watch this 12-minute clip, and you may understand why.
We first came across "Bizarre" during our search for the short films that Balch made with William S. Burroughs. For a while, the only place you could find their collaborations "Towers Open Fire" and "The Cut Ups" was as bonus material on the "Bizarre" DVD.

Though these 'bonuses' are completely incongruous next to a movie like "Bizarre," they do help provide some perspective: Take the art-house sense of the Balch/Burroughs shorts, and combine it with a grindhouse sensibility... What you get is indeed bizarre.
The clip contains sexual situations that will probably not be safe to watch at your cubby farm.



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