by guest writer Elizabeth Eckhart
Candy hearts, crooning records, and the standard, innocuous Hugh Grant faire might be the stuff of Valentine’s Day for many. But for some people, whether they’re single or just in relationships with fellow weirdos, Frank Sinatra and Two Weeks Notice just aren’t going to cut it. We need something with substance, and if not substance, then at least zombies and explosions.
Here is the Valentine’s Day viewing list for those whose tastes skew a little differently. Proceed with caution...
A criminally underrated morbid comedy which brilliantly showcases Michael Myers’ range. The film features Myers as Charlie, a Jack Kerouac style beat poet in San Francisco, who falls in love with a bartender named Harriet (played by Nancy Travis). The two become smitten, and ultimately decide to get married. Everything is fine, until Charlie begins to uncover Harriet’s strange history, mainly the long line of ex’s who were hacked to death (although there was never substantial evidence to indict Harriet). Is Charlie’s beau a crazed serial killer, or is there perhaps more to the story? Excellent writing, and stellar performances from Meyers as both Charlie and Charlie’s bombastic Scottish father make this a real comedic gem. There is even a specialedition DVD which was just recently released.4. Warm Bodies
Zom-comsare definitely in vogue now, and Warm Bodies is one of the best that’s been made yet, due to its richly developed characters and spot-on comic timing. The story takes place in a world still reeling with the aftermath of a zompocalypse. A zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) who falls in love with a girl name Julie (Teresa Palmer), and forms an even stronger attachment to her after he eats her boyfriend’s brains and absorbs his memories of her. In R’s defense, the boyfriend was trying to kill him. It’s a bizarre and touching comedy which manages to tickle the gag reflex (it does get pretty gruesome) and tug on the heart strings. You can stream it in it’s entirety through the DirecTV website.
The couple that slays together stays together. Or at least this cult film from the late sixties would lead you to believe. The film tells the real life story of the “Lonely Hearts Killers”, Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, a pair of deranged lovebirds who swept across the United States in the forties, and killed as many as 20 women. The film has all the charm of a Russ Meyer film, plus a morbid, and deeply confusing, love-story. Ray affirms his love for Martha before they are both executed on the same day. Hand me a tissue...The DVD can be tricky to find, but you can stream the film through sites like Hulu.
Have you ever considered a romantic romp with someone old enough to be your grandparent? I mean, without the promise of a major inheritance. In this film, young Harold (Bud Cort) is forever changed after he meets a spritely 79-year-old name Maude (Ruth Gordon) at a complete stranger’s funeral. The two of them build a relationship consisting of hanging out in graveyards, stealing cars, and going to carnivals. Along the way, we learn about Maude’s dark past in Austria during the reign of the Third Reich, and we come to learn that her exuberance and free-spirited nature owes much to the hardship she endured in her youth. Does it have a particularly uplifting ending? No. But what it does have is ample laughs, and a wonderful soundtrack performed by Cat Stevens. Beyond laughs and Cat Stevens, it also raises some pretty provocative questions about coupling and love. What does it mean to love someone? Is too much emphasis placed on social status, age, external beauty? You get the idea. Best part: it’s available for instant play on Netflix!1. True Romance
The film tells the story of Kung-Fu movie obsessed Clarence (Christian Slater) who meets and falls in love with Alabama (Patricia Arquette). When Clarence learns that Alabama is a call girl, he has a vision of Elvis (played by Val Kilmer) who instructs Clarence to defend Alabama’s honor by murdering her pimp. The two get themselves in over their heads, and afterwards their path is one paved with the stuff of classic action films. It features all of the things you’d expect from a script penned by Quentin Tarantino (the obscure pop culture references, the blatant nods to classic genre films, hyper stylized violence, etc.), plus, cameos from virtually every celebrity under the sun. You can watch the newBlu-Ray.
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), Teresa Palmer(
) and Rob Corddry(
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is the best the genre's seen in years. 
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. 
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