Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Visitors (2013): Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi) again teams up with composer Philip Glass for a wordless, minimalist documentary parade of images, this time themed around man’s relationship to technology. Guaranteed to be a not-for-everyone experience! Visitors official site.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Hamlet A.D.D. (2014): We first reported on this Shakepeare adaptation that recasts Hamlet as a time-tripper who procrastinates avenging his father’s murder through the ages, from the 1600s to the 1970s to the distant future, way back in April, 2010. Finishing funds were gathered via Kickstarter, and they are now promising a February 2014 debut. It probably would be more thematically harmonious to delay it a little bit longer while trying to make sure it’s absolutely perfect. To release, or not to release? Hamlet A.D.D. at Special Entertainment.
NEW ON DVD:
After Death (2012): Four siblings come together in their ancestral home and discover their deceased Dad had invented a supernatural portal in this British indie that’s described as a steampunk/sci-fi/mystery/dramedy. Not many people have seen it, but one reviewer reports it contains a “kitchen sink weirdness.” Buy After Death
Bad Milo! (2013): Psychotherapy reveals the source of Duncan’s stress: a killer demon named Milo has taken up residence in his lower intestine. Sounds like an idea Frank Henenlotter would come up with. Buy Bad Milo!
Nostalghia (1983): Read the Certified Weird entry. It’s nice to finally have a proper Region 1 (and a Blu-ray!) release of Andrei Tarkovsky‘s challenging penultimate classic about a melancholy Russian poet exiled in Italy, although there are unfortunately no meaningful extras to be found on the Kino Lorber disc. Buy Nostalghia
Thanatomorphose (2012): Without explanation, a woman suddenly begins rotting. Plot is minimal, gore abundant in this French effort that Fearnet’s Scott Weinberg calls a “truly strange horror film.” Buy Thanatomorphose
Vikingdom (2013): A an undead Viking king tries to defeat the god Thor before he can assemble three artifacts. With wire-fu battles, a pyramid of naked women covered in gold, and a Thor with a magenta beard, this Malaysian-made Viking epic looks like it has so-bad-it’s-weird potential. Buy Vikingdom
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Bad Milo! (2013): See description in DVD above. Buy Bad Milo! [Blu-ray]
Cat People (1982): Read our review. Shout! Factory releases Paul Schrader‘s explicitly eroticized remake of the sublimated 1942 classic about a cursed race who turn into a giant felines when aroused. Buy Cat People (1982) [Blu-ray]
Nostalghia (1983): See description in DVD above. Buy Nostalghia [Blu-ray]
NEPOTISM CORNER:
Jayhawkers and The Sublime and the Beautiful: Busy indie insider L. Rob Hubbard has been filling out his IMDB page by working as script supervisor on two (non-weird) projects: the recently-completed domestic tragedy The Sublime and the Beautiful (just off a Slamdance screening) and the upcoming Wilt Chamberlain/Phog Allen basketball boipic Jayhawkers (which will see its debut Feb. 14 on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence). Check ’em out on their official sites: The Sublime and the Beautiful and Jayhawkers (on Facebook).
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.