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 (WIDE RELEASE):
Tusk: Kevin Smith’s latest horror attempt makes fun of Canadians and involves a walrus. TIFF programmers dubbed it a “double-double of strange,” and subsequent reviewers have chimed in with phrases like “weird and wobbly” and “deeply weird.” Hard to believe it’s getting a fairly wide release, but there you have it. Tusk official site.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
The Scribbler: A woman with multiple personality disorder uses an experimental machine to scrub away various identities. Reviews were generally negative, but Mike McGranaghan thought it was “gloriously bonkers.” Hope you’re right, Mike. The Scribbler Facebook page.
The Zero Theorem: Read James Harben’s review. Terry Gilliam‘s latest dystopian fantasy gets a belated U.S. release. The Zero Theorem official site.
SCREENINGS (We Make Movies Screening Series, Los Angeles, CA., Sunday, Sep. 21):
Way Down in Chinatown: While L. Rob Hubbard didn’t actually love this surrealistic love-it-or-hate-it movie about avant-garde theater during the apocalypse (in fact, he hated it), we can guarantee that it’s 100% weird. We may have an additional announcement about this title soon. If your in Los Angeles, stop by Three Clubs on Vine Street at 7:30. If you say 366 Weird Movies sent you, people will look at you like you’re insane, which could be amusing for you. Way Down in Chinatown at the We Make Movies Screening Series on Facebook.
FILM FESTIVALS – Fantastic Fest (Austin, TX, Sep. 18-25):
The Alamo Drafthouse may be America’s coolest theater. Their brand has grown so big that now they even distribute their own (generally weird) movies. One of the Alamo’s hippest projects is the Fantastic Fest, now in its eighth year. As per usual, there is a fantastic slate of weird movies and some neato revivals here. While there are almost a dozen “of interest” movies showing here that we’ve already noted in our entries on Sundance, Toronto, and other venues, here are some other titles that are special to Fantastic Fest:
- ABCs of Death 2 – Premier of the sequel to the sporadically good, sporadically weird original; the second-string lineup of directors still includes a couple of fascinating names like Bill Plympton and Vincenzo Natali. It opened the Fest, so the premier is past, but you can see it again Sep. 25.
- Blind – A woman withdraws from the world and begins living inside her own head after she goes blind. Sep. 19 & 22.
- Bugsy Malone (1976) – A special screening of the gangster movie with an all-kid cast (including tiny versions of Scott Baio and Jodie Foster) to promote “Kid Power!,” a book about children in cult movies. Sep. 20, to be followed by a pie fight.
- “Danger 5: Series 2” – Here’s something unusual: three episodes from an Australian TV show about a team of spies dedicated to hunting down Adolph Hitler, who, it turns out, survived his Berlin bunker and who, in the 1980s, is posing as a high school student. Screening together with the Town Called Panic short “The Christmas Log” for a double dollop of kitschy weirdness on Sep. 21 & 25.
- The Editor – A giallo spoof from Astron-6 about a one-handed editor suspected of murder on a movie set. Screening Sep. 20 & 24.
- Free Fall – György Pálfi‘s latest is an anthology of seven absurd stories witnessed by an old woman who has just survived a fall from a seven story building. Screens Sep. 19 & 22.
- Horsehead – French horror about a woman who explores her nightmares through lucid dreaming. Sep. 19 & 23.
- The Incident – Two separate sets of travelers find themselves stuck in infinite geographic loops in what programmers describe as “a surrealistic sci-fi vision.” See it Sep. 21 or 25.
- Kung Fu Elliot – An actor/director longs to become “Canada’s first action star” with self-produced low budget movies like They Killed My Cat and Blood Fight, but as this self-styled “surreal documentary” continues it seems that his identity is based on a web of lies. Sep. 20 & 24.
- Norway – The story of a dancing vampire, a flaming prostitute, and a drug dealer, and their trip into a subterranean lair. Oh, those crazy Greeks! Sep. 21 & 24.
- The Tale of Princess Kaguya – Studio Ghibli animated Japanese fairy tale about a magic princess discovered growing in a bamboo stalk. Still one screening left, on Sep. 22.
- Tombville – A man wakes up with no memory in a strange town he can’t leave. Part of a heavy Belgian contingent at the Fest. Sep. 20 & 24.
- “The Voice Thief” – We rarely mention short films playing festivals, but this one, about an opera singer who has lost her voice, was co-written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and directed by his son Adan. Catch it as part of the “Fantastic Shorts” program Sep. 20 & 23.
- “Wastelander Panda: Exile” – Six ten-minute episodes of a (web)series about post-apocalyptic samurai pandas we first caught wind of back in 2012. Sep 21 & 24.
NEW ON DVD:
Eraserhead (1977): Read the Certified Weird entry! Here’s an obscure little title some of you may have heard of. The Criterion edition is almost identical to David Lynch ‘s own “Eraserhead 2000″ release, except that it includes a bonus disc of six short films (the same lineup as 2006’s “The Short Films of David Lynch,” minus “The Cowboy and the Frenchman”). Buy Eraserhead [The Criterion Collection]
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Eraserhead (1977): See description in DVD above. Buy Eraserhead [The Criterion Collection Blu-ray]
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.