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):
Alps (2011): Giorgos Lanthimos’ followup to Dogtooth involves a service that sends impersonators out to pretend to be the deceased loved ones of mourning families. It appears to be another weird one, but in a more subtle and quiet mode than the Greek’s provocative debut. Alps official site.
SCREENINGS (Jul. 19, Montreal, Canada):
For Love’s Sake: The latest from extreme provocateur Takashi Miike is a violent J-pop musical comedy based on “West Side Story.” Opening the Fantasia festival; we’ll be bringing you more coverage on this premier genre film showcase next week, but we had to mention this one as it’s playing for one night only. For Love’s Sake at Fantasia Film Festival.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
The Prophet (est. 2013): An animated adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s popular collection of poetic/philosophical essays. We could care less about “The Prophet,” but the animators assembled for the project get us excited: Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis, Chicken with Plums), Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells), and the great weirdo Bill Plympton. Here’s the scoop from the Hollywood Reporter.
Tales from the Hanging Head (est. 2014): An anthology of world fairy tales for children, each on the them of metamorphosis and with a strict “no CGI” rule. That might be interesting, but it gets more intriguing when you look at the lineup of outside-the-box directors: underground diva Sara Driver, Alfonso Cuarón, Marjane Satrapi (again), Emir Kusturica, and two-time Certified Weird director Michel Gondry. No official site yet, but here’s a story from IndieWire.
NEW ON DVD:
Black Limousine (2010): David Arquette stars as a down-on-his-luck alcoholic film composer who takes a job as a limo driver and meets a movie star (Bijou Phillips) who he hopes can put his career back on track. Despite an accomplished cast this movie was apparently too strange to get a Hollywood release and flew completely under the radar; the limited word-of-mouth says it’s extremely weird, however. Buy Black Limousine
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Altered States (1980): Read the Certified Weird entry! Ken Russell’s apocalyptic mushroom-trip-on-film is a Blu-ray must for any respectable stoner. No extras on this release, just a hi-def upgrade. Buy Altered States [Blu-ray]
Bitch Slap (2009): Read our capsule review. Get your cleavage in high definition with this unexpected Blu release of the cheesy Russ Meyer tribute film. Buy Bitch Slap [Blu-ray]
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:
Adaptation. (2002): Read our capsule review. Don’t get us wrong—we loved Charlie Kaufman‘s script about a scriptwriter named Charlie Kaufman who can’t get started writing a script. We’re just torn on whether it’s weird, or just super-duper clever. Watch it and tell us what you think. Watch Adaptation. free on YouTube.
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.
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