366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Impossible Monsters (2019): A sleep-study participant is murdered; is it a literal nightmare? Another “blurring the line between dreams and reality” psychothriller. Impossible Monsters official site.

FILM FESTIVALS – South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) (Austin, TX, Mar. 13-22):

If you can’t get your indie film into Sundance, the massive SXSW festival in Austin, Texas is your next best bet. With the continued mainstreaming of Sundance, and the increasingly homogenized “indie” product spotlighted there, if your movie’s a bit on the weirder side, SWSX may even be a better fit. Among this year’s offerings are the surreal St. Vincent mockumentary The Nowhere Inn, a holdover from Sundance. Here are some newbies we’ll look out for down the road:

• Nine Days – A man pits spirits in a competition; the winner will be born into our world. This debuted at Sundance, but the brief synopsis gave little hint it might be weird; subsequent reviews have raised our expectations a tad.
• PG (Psycho Goreman) – Kids use a magical amulet to control an alien bent on destroying the world. Competing in the “Midnighters” category.
• The Show – Highly anticipated (by us) story of a parallel fantasy world existing alongside the mundane British town of Northampton, scripted by Alan (Watchmen) Moore.
• Witch Hunt – A teenager helps smuggle two witches into Mexico in an alternate reality where witchcraft is real (and banned in the USA).

SWSX official home page.

IN DEVELOPMENT (Completed):

Listen, Little Man[Čuj mali čoveče] (2020): We can’t really make heads or tails of Marko Žunić‘s underground feature from the trailer; you try. The movie is completed and has played at least once in its native Serbia; it’s seeking festival bookings as we speak. Keep your eyes open.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Greener Grass (2019): Read the Apocrypha Candidate review! The baby-gifting suburban satire arrives in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack, with extended/deleted scenes included as the main bonus. Buy Greener Grass.

Heartbeeps (1981): Robot Andy Kaufman falls in love with robot Bernadette Peters. Somehow, this family-friendly comedy ended up in our reader-suggested review queue, and on Blu-ray. Buy Heartbeeps.

In Fabric (2018): Peter Strickland‘s latest is a surreal horror about a haunted dress. On Blu-ray only. Buy In Fabric.

The Point (1971): An oblong-headed boy is ostracized in a community where everyone has pointed heads. Singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson supposedly came up with the idea for this children’s special while tripping on acid. It’s been in our reader-suggested queue, and now it’s on Blu-ray with a bunch of featurettes. Buy The Point.

Shutter Island (2010): Read our review. A limited edition 4K ultra HD steelbook release of Martin Scorsese‘s psychological thriller. Buy Shutter Island.

Suburban Birds [Jiao qu de niao] (2018): An engineer investigating a sinkhole discovers a diary what seems to contain prophecies about his own life. A 5.7 on IMDB and 81% positive on Rotten Tomatoes; that’s the kind of spread that suggests a movie is either really boring, or really weird (or both). Buy Suburban Birds.

Terror Firmer (1999): A low-budget film crew is picked off by a serial killer; Lloyd Kaufman directs and casts himself as the director. This 20th anniversary Blu-ray includes a couple documentaries (including one of feature-length) you won’t get if you stream the thing. Buy Terror Firmer.

The Wave (2019): Read our review. This tale of an insurance lawyer taking a mysterious and powerful psychedelic rolls out on Blu-ray and VOD this week. Buy The Wave.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.

• Austin, TX
  • Austin Film Society – The Cremator [Spalovac Mrtvol] (1969) (2/14-15)
• Boston, MA
  • The Brattle – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/14-15)
• Dallas, TX
  • Texas Theatre – Wild at Heart (1990) (2/14)
• Los Angeles, CA
  • The Egyptian – Roma (1972) [AKA Fellini’s Roma] (2/16)
  • The New Beverly – Wild at Heart (1990) (2/17)
• New York City, NY
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Gothic (1986) (2/19)
  • IFC Center
    • Belle de Jour (1967) (2/14-17)
    • Blue Velvet (1986) (2/14-16) (midnights)
    • Paprika (2006) (2/14-16) (midnights)
  • The Nitehawk (Williamsburg) – Mandy (2018) (2/14-15) (midnights)
  • The Roxy – Adaptation. (2002) (2/15)
• Santa Ana, CA
  • The Frida – Under the Skin (2013) (2/15)
• Tempe, AZ
  • Alamo Drafthouse
    • Blood Diner (1987) (with director Jackie Kong Skype Q&A) (2/18)
    • Wild at Heart (1990) (2/20)
• Vancouver, BC
  • The Rio – Natural Born Killers (1994) (2/15)
• Yonkers, NY
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/16)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Happy Valentine’s Day to you! We don’t have a holiday-themed post for you, but if you don’t mind something recycled you can always re-read this one. We love you that much!

We’ll have three more reviews next week, as Pete Trbovich will weigh in on Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, Giles Edwards looks at the low-budget Malaysian feature Shadowplay, and G. Smalley describes the black comedy The Death of Dick Long. That should help you get through the late winter; don’t worry, spring is coming. Onward and weirdward!

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.

In just a few hours, the telecast of the Oscars (or, as we refer to them, the “Weirdcademy Awards for squares”) will begin. We are happy to steal the Academy’s thunder by announcing cinema’s weirdest winners of 2019 now.

In the category of “Weirdest Short Film,” the winner is Nadia Lee Cohen for “Future Beach.”

In the category of “Weirdest Scene,” the Weirdcademy Award goes to The Lighthouse, for the final shot. Those who have seen it know that the scene elicited a lot of loud “WTF”s from the audience—even from those with a background in classical mythology. So we won’t spoil it for those who have yet to see the film. (The still below comes from the second-to-last-scene.)

In the category of “Weirdest Actress,” the Award goes to Aleksandra Cwen (below, left) in Hagazussa, as the creepy gal on the mountain who keeps mom’s skull on the mantle and masturbates around goats.

In the category of “Weirdest Actor,” the Award goes to Willem Dafoe, in The Lighthouse, for introducing himself with a fart and for starting his monologues with “Hark, Triton!”

https://youtu.be/C8yeo32thiI

And finally, the award for Weirdest Picture of 2019 goes to… drum roll… The Lighthouse, in a cakewalk.

Thanks to all voting members of the Weirdcademy, and see you again next year!

366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Come to Daddy (2019): Read Giles Edwards’ review. This father and son reunion story is merely quirky up until “a plot spasm of strange violence brought the weird levels up to floodgate-breaking point.” No official site found, but director Ant Timpson posts info about the film on his Facebook page.

Horse Girl (2020): A mentally ill loner (Alison Brie) loses her grip as surreal dreams intrude on her waking life. Reviews are poor, but one bourgeois critic complained that it “gets weird for no good reason,” which sounds promising to us. In select theaters and debuting simultaneously on Netflix.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951): The Flying Dutchman (James Mason) is doomed to sail the seas until he finds a woman willing to die for him; will femme fatale nightclub singer Pandora (Ava Gardner) be the one? This strange film—Surrealist Man Ray was on set as a photographer, and The New York Times said it has a “feverish, dreamlike quality“—is being re-released this week in a new 4K restoration. It appears to be playing at the Quad in NYC (other venues unknown), but will probably see another home video release soon.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Brain Damage (1988): Read James Phillip’s “List Candidate” review. The Aylmer, a phallic creature who inserts a euphoric psychedelic directly into its (un)lucky host’s brain stem, comes to Blu-ray for the first time, accompanied by a horde of special features, courtesy of Arrow. Buy Brain Damage.

Evil Ed (1995): Read Pete Trbovich’s review. Another Arrow release; this splatter spoof was released on Blu-ray in 2017 in a lavish 3-disc set, but this single disc still has plenty of features and is a more affordable option. Buy Evil Ed.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.

El Topo (1970) / The Holy Mountain (1973) / Fando y Lis (1968) in the U.K. – We don’t generally list screenings outside of North America, but since we can provide our newly Brexited friends with a single link (courtesy of Arrow Video) to cover all of these Alejandro Jodorowsky re-releases, why not? We won’t be doing this every week, so bookmark it. This page details screenings of these three films as they are released all over England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, from the current date through April. THE ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY TRIPTYCH.

• Austin, TX
  • Austin Film Society – Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) (2/7-9)
• Bloomington, IN
  • Indiana University Cinema – Eraserhead (1977) (2/7)
• Boston, MA
  • The Brattle – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/13)
  • Museum of Fine Arts – Spirited Away (2001) (2/7)
• Chicago, IL
  • Gene Siskel Film Center – Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) (2/11)
• Kansas City, MO
  • Screenland (Armour)
    • Donnie Darko (2001) (2/8)
    • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) (2/13)
• Los Angeles, CA
  • The Nuart – Suspiria (1977) (2/7) (midnight, introduced by Barbara Magnolfi)
• New York City, NY
  • IFC Center
    • Blue Velvet (1986) (2/7-8) (midnights)
    • Mulholland Drive (2001) (2/7-8) (midnights)
• Phoenix, AZ
  • Alamo Drafthouse –Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/12)
• San Francisco, CA
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Reflections of Evil (2002) (2/12)
• Santa Ana, CA
  • The Frida – Altered States (1980) (2/12)
• Seattle, WA
  • Central Cinema – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) (2/7-12)
• Vancouver, BC
  • The Rio
    • Perfect Blue (1997) (2/8) (midnight)
    • Wild at Heart (1990) (2/11)
    • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/13)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: First up next week, we’ll announce the winners of this year’s Weirdcademy Awards on Sunday (before Hollywood even starts its Most Conventional Picture awards ceremonies). There is still plenty of time to vote (here for features, here for shorts). Even though The Lighthouse is currently cleaning up in every category it was nominated in, the Weirdest Short race is still competitive, and the Weirdest Actress vote is, at the time of this writing, tied.

After the 2019 awards go into the books, it’s back to the grind as Pete Trbovich looks at the Conan the Barbarian/Mad Max mashup She (1984), Giles Edwards clears out another marginal reader request from the suggestion queue as he considers whether Earth Girls Are Easy should be apocryphized, and G. Smalley reports on the “new” David Lynch short, “What Did Jack Do?” Onward and weirdward!

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.

366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

“Boogiepop and Others: The Complete Series” (2019): A 2019 alternative to the 2000 anime series “Boogiepop Phantom,” about a mysterious angel of death; this one is animated by Madhouse (Satoshi Kon‘s old studio). Compared to the older series, these thirteen episodes (on one Blu-ray) cover some of the same territory, and some new side plots (both animes are sourced from an expansive series of fourteen short novels by Kouhei Kadono). Buy “Boogiepop and Others: The Complete Series”.

Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971): A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown at a lake finds herself haunted by the undead. A surreal-ish, atmospheric budget horror with a misleading title and a small cult following. On Blu-ray from Shout! Factory with special features, including a director’s commentary. Buy Let’s Scare Jessica to Death.

Tammy and the T-Rex (1994): A mad scientist implants Tammy’s dead boyfriend’s brain into a Tyrannosaurus rex. This new release restores the gore that was cut from the original to qualify it for a PG-13 rating. Your choice of a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack or (for a little more moolah) a 4K HD disc. Buy Tammy and the T-Rex.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly or monthly screening near you.

• Chicago, IL
  • Gene Siskel Film Center – Audition [Ôdishon] (1999) (1/31, 2/4)
• Denver, CO
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/4)
• Los Angeles, CA
  • The Nuart – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) (1/31) (midnight)
• Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
  • Alamo Drafthouse
    • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/1)
    • Wild at Heart (1990) (2/3)
  • The Trylon – Gummo (1997) (1/31-2/2)
  • Uptown Theatre – House [Hausu] (1977) (1/31-2/1) (midnights)
• New York City, NY
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Audition [Ôdishon] (1999) (2/3)
  • IFC Center
    • Mulholland Drive (2001) (1/31-2/1) (midnights)
    • Suspiria (1977)(1/31-2/1) (midnights)
  • The Roxy – Adaptation. (2002) (2/5)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: We’re fast approaching the final week of voting for the Weirdcademy Awards, and while The Lighthouse holds a solid lead in most categories it was nominated in (ironically, its closest competition is in the Weirdest Picture category), the Weirdest Actress and Weirdest Short races are still in doubt. Vote away to your heart’s content (as long as your heart is content with casting one vote every 24 hours).

As far as what we’ll be adding to our massive weird online database next week: from the reader-suggested review queue, Giles Edwards investigates Mystery Men (1999), while Terri McSorley takes on Godzilla vs Hedorah (1971) (and gives you the scoop on Criterion’s massive Godzilla box set, to boot). G. Smalley will toss in a review of Noboru Iguchi‘s The Machine Girl (2008), specifically, the new “Jacked!” DVD release. Onward and weirdward!

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.

366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Assassination 33 A.D. (2020): Islamic terrorists develop a time machine to go back to the Holy Land and assassinate Jesus Christ before he can be crucified; devout Christians rig up their own machine and race back to stop them. It all sounds, as Life of Brian‘s Pontius Pilate might say, “wisible.” Assassination 33 A.D. official site.

https://youtu.be/XFnVZnrFWdo

Color out of Space (2019): Read our review. Richard Stanley + H.P. Lovecraft + Nicolas Cage = the first cult movie event of 2020. Producer SpectreVision’s official Facebook page.

IN DEVELOPMENT (post-production):

Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences (2020): Cory McAbee‘s movie apparently begins when a man approaches a robot at a party and discovers he must justify humankind. This has been in production for years, with McAbee publicly performing the character he plays in the movie (a singing New Age motivational speaker); it seems to be either finalized, or at least complete enough to release the teaser trailer below. Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences official site.

Dunwich Horror (202?): Speaking of Color out of Space (above), SpectreVision has reportedly already greenlit another Richard Stanley Lovecraft adaptation. It’s “The Dunwich Horror,” about a mysterious monster sequestered in an Arkham farmhouse. There may be a third Stanley/Lovecraft movie after that (title not yet revealed). Stanley intends to connect the stories (slightly), in the trendy “extended universe” style. The news comes straight from Stanley via an interview with Rue Morgue magazine.

NEW ON NETFLIX:

“What Did Jack Do?” (2017): Detective David Lynch interrogates a monkey suspected of murder for 17 minutes. Netflix dropped this short, made for an art installation in 2017 and rarely screened since, as a surprise on Lynch’s 74th birthday. “What Did Jack Do?” on Netflix.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.

• Austin, TX
  • Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar) – Carnival of Souls (1962) (1/28)
• Boston, MA
  • The Brattle
    • Metropolis (1927) with Aelita: The Queen of Mars (1924) (double feature) (1/25)
    • L’Inhumaine (1924) (1/29)
• Los Angeles, CA
  • The New Beverly – Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) (1/25-26)
• Nashville, TN
  • The Belcourt – Fight Club (1999) (1/25) (midnight)
• New York City, NY
  • IFC Center
    • Un Chien Andalou (1929) with L’Age d’Or (1930) (double feature) (1/24-26)
    • Mulholland Drive (2001) (1/24-25) (midnights)
    • Suspiria (1977) (1/24-25) (midnights)
  • The Metrograph – Branded to Kill (1967) (1/27)
  • Spectacle – Reflections of Evil (2002) (1/27)
• Omaha, NB
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Santa Sangre (1989) (1/28)
• Pittsburgh, PA
  • Row House Cinema – Fantastic Planet [La Planète Sauvage] (1973) (1/24-30)
• San Diego, CA
  • Ken Cinema – Wild at Heart (1990) (1/25) (midnight)
• Schenectady, NY
  • Proctor’s Theatre –Phantasm (1979) (1/28)
• Toronto, ON
  • The Royal – The Taste of Tea (2004) (1/26)
• Washington, DC
  • Smoke & Barrel – After Hours (1985)(screening with unspecified “short films of Martin Scorsese“) (1/27)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: With the 2020 movie season yet to crank up, out writers will spend next week taking a crack at that massive (and actually still-growing) reader-suggested queue. To that end, look for reviews of Guy Ritchie‘s mystical gangster goof, Revolver; the sado-sexy Norwegian psychothriller Naboer (AKA Next Door); and Rian Johnson‘s high school noir, Brick. (There’s a common theme to these selections; does anyone see it?) At any rate, so as long as readers don’t add three new titles to the request queue next week, we will have whittled it down just a tad.

Meanwhile, you can continue voting for the 2019 Weirdcademy Awards, where The Lighthouse currently has a big lead in every category it was nominated in (Weirdest Actress is a tighter race, and the Weirdest Short poll is still anyone’s game). Onward and weirdward!

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.