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):

Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece (2018): An ex-porn star becomes a kickboxing avenger in this 80s action throwback. The trailer makes it look desperately over-camped, but check out the cameos: Danny Trejo, kickboxer Cynthia Rothrock, kickboxer offspring Bianca Brigitte VanDamme, wrestlers Bill Goldberg and Tiny Lister, Last Dragon Taimak, and of course, Ron Jeremy. Fury of the First and the Golden Fleece official site.

The Misandrists (2017): A fugitive male hides out at a lesbian separatist boarding school. This is the widest release we’ve ever seen for a Bruce LaBruce movie (the director started out making underground gay porn movies and has gradually moved into slightly more mainstream transgressions). The Misandrists official site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973): An ancient Incan ritual turns a dead woman into an avenging angel. Arrow Video is pitching this supernatural giallo as “surreal,” but just the fact that it’s sleazemaestro Joe D’Amato directing Ewa Aulin and Klaus Kinski would make it worth our notice. On Blu-ray only. Buy Death Smiles on a Murderer.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985): An expressionistic portrait of the life of the Japanese author, told in flashbacks and stylized recreations of his fiction. This Criterion Collection Blu-ray upgrade may give us an excuse to knock this one out of our reader-suggested queue. Buy Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.

Sequence Break (2017): Read Giles Edwards’ review. The Cronenbeg-ish story of a young man absorbed (literally) by a mysterious video game. Streaming exclusively (for the time being, at least) on Shudder beginning on May 24.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

• Boston, MA, 5/25 (midnight) – Suspiria (1977). At Coolidge Corner Theater.
• Chicago, IL, 5/24 – 5/29 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At Music Box Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 5/25 – Mulholland Drive (2001) with La Jetée (1962) (double feature). At the Egyptian Theater.
• New York City, NY, 5/25 – 5/26 – A Clockwork Orange (1971). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 5/25 – 5/26 (midnights) – Eraserhead (1977). With random giveaways of advance copies of David Lynch‘s upcoming memoir “Room to Dream” at the Friday 5/25 showing only. At Nitehawk Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 5/25 – 5/27 – A Clockwork Orange (1971). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 5/25 – 5/27 (midnights) – Pink Flamingos (1972). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 5/26 (midnight) – Repo Man (1984). At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 5/30 – The City of Lost Children (1995). With a new live score performed by Black Lodge. At the Nitehawk Cinema.
• Silver Spring, MD, 5/25, 5/27-5/31 – Night of the Hunter (1955). At AFI Silver Theater.
• Silver Spring, MD, 5/26 – Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) with The Mummy (1932) (double feature). At AFI Silver Theater.
• Toronto, ON, Canada – Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971). At the Royal.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada, 5/27 – Spirited Away (2001) (English dub). At the Rio.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada, 5/29 – Tekkonkinkreet (2006). At the Rio.
• Yonkers, NY, 5/30 – Hour of the Wolf (1968). At the Alamo Drafthouse.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:

A Boy and His Dog (1975): Read the Certified Weird entry! Don Johnson roams a post-apocalyptic wasteland with his telepathic dog, looking for women to rape. Upstart Tubi has a surprising number of weird (Certified and otherwise) titles in its catalog. Watch A Boy and His Dog free on Tubi.tv.

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.

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):

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017): John Cameron Mitchell adapts a  Neil Gaiman story about the perils of picking up aliens. Though the pedigree is good, this one sadly flopped at Cannes and with critics; is it really that bad, or just a misunderstood misfit? How to Talk to Girls at Parties official site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984): Read the Certified Weird entry. This release of the wacky cult classic about scientist/rock star/superhero Banzai is identical to Shout Factory’s 2016 collector’s edition, but now in the collectible steelbook format. The movie’s on Blu-ray, with a disc of special features on a separate DVD. Buy The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

The Sacrifice (1986): Read Alfred Eaker’s review. Andrei Tarkovsky‘s final film, about an atheist professor who desperately offers his life to God to save his family from World War III, resembles a Bergman film (it was even shot by Bergman’s camera guy, Sven Nykvist). Kino re-releases it on Blu-ray in a restored version with an entire disc of extra features. Buy The Sacrifice.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

• Chicago, IL, 5/18-5/24 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At Music Box Theater.
• New York City, NY, 5/18-5/19 (midnights) – A Clockwork Orange (1971). At IFC Center.
• New York City, 5/18-5/19 (midnights) – Lost Highway (1997). At the Nitehawk Theater.
• New York City, NY, 5/20-22, 5/24 – Wild at Heart (1990). At the Metrograph.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada, 5/18 – Eraserhead (1977). At the Rio.
• Yonkers, NY, 5/22 – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). At the Alamo Drafthouse.
• Yonkers, NY, 5/23 – Dark City (1998) (director’s cut; free screening for Victory Club members).  At the Alamo Drafthouse.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:

From Beyond (1986): Read our capsule review. Stuart Gordon‘s immediate followup to Re-Animator was another gooey, campy Lovecraftian romp. Listed as “leaving soon” (with no specific date). Watch From Beyond free on Tubi.TV.

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.

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):

Lu Over the Wall: Little Mermaid variation in which the fish-girl joins a teen rock band. This kids’ movie that carefully describes itself as “joyously hallucinogenic but family-friendly” comes from Masaaki Yuasa—the mind behind the weirder Night Is Short, Walk on Girl (not to mention Mind Game). Lu Over the Wall official site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Atmo HorroX (2016): Read our festival capsule. This “experimental satire inside a psychedelic horror b-movie and wrapped into a cryptic mystery thriller” is—for better and worse—as weird as they come. With all the dialogue in a nonsensical invented language, it easily earns a “weirdest!” rating, although it’s so incoherent it comes with a “not for everyone” tag, even for weirdophiles. Buy it if you dare on Vimeo.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

• Denver, CO, 5/13 – Kung Fu Hustle (2004). At the Alamo Drafthouse.
• Los Angeles, CA, 5/11 – Hour of the Wolf [Vargtimmen] (1968) with Serpent’s Egg (double feature). At the Egyptian Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 5/17 – Vertigo (1958), with Kim Novak in attendance. At the Egyptian Theater.
• New York City, NY, 5/11-5/12 – Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). At the Nitehawk Theater.
• New York City, NY, 5/11-5/17 – After Hours (1985). At IFC Center.
• Seattle, WA, 5/11-5/17 – Barbarella (1968). At Ark Lodge Cinemas.
• Silver Springs, MD, 5/12, 5/17 – The Love Witch (2016). At AFI Silver Theater.
• Vancouver, B.C., Canada 5/13 – Spirited Away (2001). (dubbed). At the Rio Theater.
• Yonkers, NY, 5/16 – Persona (1966). At the Alamo Drafthouse.

NEPOTISM CORNER:

Robert Hubbard (El Rob Hubbard) served as script supervisor on the dark indie thriller Goodland, in limited release in N.Y.C. and L.A. theaters this Friday. El Rob also did some extra duty in front of the camera in the diner scene, so you might catch a glimpse of this elusive character… Look for it on VOD this August, with a physical media debut after that.

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.

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):

Altered Perception (2018): Volunteers for a trial medication that promises to cure false perceptions find themselves instead addicted to a psychedelic drug that causes psychosis. With a title like that, it better have some great hallucination scenes. Altered Perception official site.

The Cleanse (2018): An unemployed man lands at a retreat where he undergoes a “cleanse” therapy, which involves drinking foul brews and vomiting up min-monsters. The L.A. Times‘ Gary Goldstein called it “one short, strange trip…” The Cleanse official site.

Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (2017): Bruno Dumont‘s rock opera about young Joan D’Arc finally arrives in limited release in the U.S. Who doesn’t want to see medieval nuns voguing? Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc U.S. distributor site.

FILM FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival (Cannes. France, 5/8-5/19):

Cannes is an odd duck. Not known as a “weird-friendly” festival—movies like David Cronenberg‘s Crash and Antichrist have been famously hooted at by Cannes crowds who were having none of that—it aims to flatter the mainstream arthouse crowd with middle-of-the-road dramas (and, rarely, dramadies, so long as they are not too funny to be taken seriously). Cannes programmers revel in the dry, the conventional, and the pompous; Cannes’ juries’ tastes resemble those of Academy Awards voters, but with an even higher premium placed on boringness. Still, one or two movies worth looking at always seem to find their way onto the card, and 2018 is particularly rich. Many years, a Cannes debut will end up Certified Weird: three films in the past six years, including, most recently, 2012’s Holy Motors. Movies at Cannes may either be screened “in competition” for the big prize, the Palm D’or; screen out-of-competition; or be entered in the “Un Certain Regard” section (a sort of also-ran competition for films that are either from first time directors, or are considered too daring or different to have a shot at the Palme d’Or). Recently, many filmmakers have been debuting their films in the parallel festival called Directors’ Fortnight, which runs contemporaneous to Cannes proper but does not hand out awards for individual films. (Panos Cosmatos‘ surreal supernatural revenge drama Mandy, which debuted at Sundance, will play there).

Here’s what we would be keeping tabs on if we were in France next week:

• The House That Jack Built – We question how weird it will be, but Lars von Trier‘s serial killer pic is one of the most buzzed-about titles at Cannes, and does feature a mysterious entity called “the Verge” who dialogues with a murderous Matt Dillon. Out of competition.
• Lazzaro Felice [Happy as Lazzaro] – Hard to figure out what this Italian movie is about, but the synopsis suggests intriguing characters like a time-traveler and a ruler known as the “Queen of Cigarettes.” In competition.
• Le Livre du Image [Image Book] – We haven’t been the biggest fans of his late work, but Jean-Luc Godard always demands attention; he describes this one as “like a bad dream written on a stormy night.” In competition.
  
• The Man Who Killed Don Quixote – Terry Gilliam‘s ill-fated Quixote variation, 20 years in the making and still under a legal cloud, is possibly the most anticipated debut at Cannes. Out of competition.
• Muere, Monstruo, Muere [Murder Me, Monster] – A beheading leads an investigator to develop a strange conspiracy theory. Un Certain Regard.
• Under the Silver Lake – A young man goes on a “surreal quest” through Los Angeles to find a mysterious missing girl; from the director of the indie horror it It Follows. In competition.

Cannes Film Festival official site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

The Cleanse (2018): See description in “Limited Release” above. Like many indies nowadays, this film is also available for VOD purchase the day it hits theaters. Buy The Cleanse on-demand.

Kaleidoscope (2016): Psychological thriller in which a recently-released prisoner finds his domineering mother is interfering with his ability to reintegrate into society. The second feature from Rupert Jones (brother of Kaleidoscope‘s star, veteran character actor Toby Jones); his first was an opera (2013’s The Answer to Everything) cast with homeless people. On DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD. Buy Kaleidoscope.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

• Boston, MA, 5/5 (midnight) – The Wicker Man (1973). At Coolidge Corner Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 5/5 – Persona (1966), with From the Life of Marionettes (1980) (double feature). At the Egyptian Theater.
• New York City, NY, 5/4-5/5 (midnights) – Eraserhead (1977). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 5/4-5/5 (midnights) – Blue Velvet (1986). At Nitehawk Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 5/10 – Fantastic Planet [La Planète Sauvage] (1973). Silent with live score by Tenth Intervention. At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• Pittsburgh, PA, 5/4-5/7, 5/9-5/10 – Persona (1966). At Row House Cinema.
• Yonkers, NY, 5/6 – INLAND EMPIRE (2006). At the Alamo Drafthouse.

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.