Under the Radar DVDs: 2011's oddest of the odd

Each week sees literally hundreds of new releases on DVD. Big-bucks advertising and studio clout propel sales of the most high-profile DVDs. But the oddball releases that fly under the radar are often the most fun. Those bottom-of-the-list releases have been spotlighted during 2011 in the “Under-the-Radar DVD Release of the Week.”

This week, here are 10 of the oddest of the odd DVD releases from the past year:

“Sharktopus”
Legendary schlock producer Roger Corman is up to his old tricks in “Sharktopus,” a tongue-in-cheek creature-from-the-deep thriller produced for the Syfy Channel that introduces us to a diabolical hybrid of a shark and an octopus.

“Birdemic: Shock and Terror”
Alfred Hitchcock meets Ed Wood in this addition to the pop-cult library of terrible movies that we love to mock. This glorious stinker presents a tepid little love story grafted onto a clunky horror homage to Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (complete with a surprising cameo appearance by Tippi Hedren).

“Picasso & Braque Go to the Movies”
In this talky convergence of film and fine art cultures it seems the only question left unanswered is whether these two lofty figures of the Cubist movement preferred their popcorn with or without butter.

“Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula”
This oddball mash-up of gangster saga and monster movie recalls 1966’s cult favorite “Billy the Kid vs. Dracula,” only with cheaper and tackier production values.