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 at the official site links.
SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, Dec. 23-24):
El Topo (1970) and Mulholland Dr. (2001): Read the Certified Weird entries for El Topo and Mulholland Drive. The IFC Center continues its quest to make sure every New Yorker sees the major weird works of Jodorowsky and Lynch. Midnight screenings on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s more fun than Midnight Mass! IFC Center’s Late Night Favorites series.
A Cure for Wellness (Feb. 2017): A young executive goes to a cult-like remote wellness center to retrieve his company’s CEO. Looks a little like Safe meets Shutter Island. From Gore Verbinski, who’s had a checkered career (Rango and The Ring are plusses, but then there’s the Pirates of the Caribbean series and The Lone Ranger dragging his average way down). Psychological thrillers backed by big Hollywood are rarely authentically weird, but we’ll probably take a flyer in February. A Cure for Wellness official site.
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 on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
IN DEVELOPMENT (pre-production):
Patience (201?): An adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel about a grieving man who uses time travel to try to prevent his pregnant wife’s murder. The original story was a New York Times bestseller described as a “a psychedelic science-fiction love story.” Clowes will adapt the screenplay in the movie version for Focus Features. Patience announcement at Variety.
Dreamscape (1984): A psychic tries to rescue the President of the United States, who’s trapped inside his own nightmares. Shout! Factory issues this 80s pop-surreal cheese in a “Collector’s Edition” full of featurettes and extras. Buy Dreamscape [Collector’s Edition Blu-ray].
A ‘Pitch-Dark’ Diorama (2016): An interviewer talks to an author about his completion of another writer’s work; the plot slips between parallel realities as the book’s story interweaves with real events. A rare example of independent surreal/horror cinema from India. It’s serialized in five parts on YouTube, and also available via torrent. Free to watch, but donations are accepted at the filmmaker’s website.
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.
366 Weird Movies brings you a new DVD giveaway contest, just in time for Christmas! (Warning: we’re at the mercy of the USPS, so the prize may arrive after Christmas).
We’re still testing out uses for our Twitter account, so we’re going to make this a simple Twitter-based contest. To enter, just tweet to @366weirdmovies clearly indicating your desire to enter the contest (you could say, for example, “I clearly desire to enter @366weirdmovies contest” or “this is my contest entry, @weirdmovies” or even “stuff my stocking, @weirdmovies”). We’ll index the responses and pick a winner randomly using random.org. To receive the DVDs, you must supply us with a mailing address in the United States (don’t tweet it publicly, we’ll pm you!) and not have won a prize from us in the past six months. We’ll be closing the contest Thursday, Dec. 15 and mailing by Saturday (pending receipt of your address), so the prize should get there by Xmas day.
Our prize is once again provided by Artsploitation Films (distributors of the Certified Weird Der Samurai). This is a factory-sealed DVDs, not a used review copy. The movie is Counter Clockwise, a brand new (DVD releases December 13) 2016 American indie time-travel thriller. From the box cover:
“Part mind-bending science-fiction and part dark comedy, COUNTER CLOCKWISE delivers a thriller about a befuddled scientist who stumbles into inventing a time machine and recklessly zaps himself six months into the future. But in that future, he is a wanted man and an accused murderer. He tries to return to the point right before everything went wrong. An inventive, head-scratching, fast-paced American Indie time-traveling gem.”
The Brand New Testament (2015): Jaco Van Dormael‘s followup to 2009’s Certified Weird Mr. Nobody is a comedy about God’s bratty daughter leaking the death dates of all of humanity. Thought this would never arrive on these shores, but it was worth the wait just for the first line of the official synopsis: “God exists, and He’s a jerk.” The Brand New Testament official site.
SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, 12/9):
House [Hausu] (1977): Read the Certified Weird entry! Japan’s pop-haunted house madness makes for a perfect midnight feature this Friday or Saturday night. Or, if you prefer, you could take in Lost Highwayor Mulholland Drive, both screening around the witching hour. Also, new release The Brand New Testament (see description in Limited Release above) is playing all week. Get out to the theaters now, before they go to a 24-hour It’s a Wonderful Life format! House at IFC Center.
SCREENINGS – (New York City, Lincoln Center, 12/9-12, 14-15):
“Life Is a Dream: The Films of Raoul Ruiz”: The Film Center at Lincoln Center continues their two week series on the movies of Chilean Surrealist Rauol Ruiz. Here’s a compact schedule: Mysteries of Lisbon (Dec. 9th & 11th), The Territory (9th), The State of Things (9th), Bérénice (10th & 14th), The Golden Boat (10th & 14th), Geneaologies of a Crime (10th & 13th), La Recta Provinca (11th & 14th), Three Crowns of the Sailor (13th, 15th), The Suspended Vocation, and The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (Dec. 15th only). “Life Is a Dream: The Films of Raoul Ruiz” at Lincoln Center.
SCREENINGS – (New York City, Spectacle Theater, 12/10):
Mondo Weirdo (1990): Just your average hardcore sex vampire punk musical. A lost German underground obscenity screening in celeberation of distributor Cult Epics’ 25th anniversary; DVD/Blu-ray expected in 2017. Mondo Weirdo at Spectacle Theater.
IN DEVELOPMENT (announced):
Coin coin les z’inhumains (2018?): A sequel to the French television balack comedy/mystery Lil’ Quininquin is officially planned. No word on the plot, or whether the miniseries’ unsolved mysteries will be resolved; writer/director Bruno Dumont has to finish a rock musical based on the life of Joan of Arc first. French speakers may figure out something from this link.
IN DEVELOPMENT (post-production):
Journey to the West: Demon Chapter (2017): Pacifist demon hunter Xuan Zang continues his journey to India begun in the original Journey to the West, facing new demons. Still reclining on the bed of yuan he made from The Mermaid, Stephen Chow steps out of the director’s chair to produce, leaving the helming duties in the hands of equally competent Tsui Hark (it’s the first auterial collaboration between these two Hong Kong titans). Pre-sold internationally, so there will be no long wait to see this one. China.org has more info and the teaser.
NEW ON DVD:
Heart of a Dog (2015): Avant-garde musician Laurie Anderson’s first feature film is an experimental film essay which includes pieces on her dog and the Tibetan Buddhist afterlife. A surprise acquisition and release from the Criterion Collection. Buy Heart of a Dog.
Phantasm: Ravager (2016): The Phantasm series comes to an end in this fifth installment that sees Reggie Bannister battling the Tall Man (the late Angus Scrimm) across a series of alternate realities. Reviews were all over the place, but Variety called it “the surreal thing.” Buy Phantasm: Ravager.
Phantasm (1979): Read the Certified Weird entry! The extra features look to be recycled from the last release, but the picture has definitely been scrubbed clean and brightened (not sure that’s a good thing, actually, but it’s how the director intended it to be seen). Buy Phantasm (Remastered).
The Exterminating Angel (1962): Guests at a bourgeois dinner party find themselves inexplicably unable to leave the drawing room for weeks on end. The Criterion Collection upgrades its 2009 DVD of Luis Buñuel‘s neo-Surrealist masterwork to Blu-ray; review coming soon. Buy The Exterminating Angel [Blu-ray].
The Quiet Earth (1985): A man wakes up in a depopulated world and sets out looking for survivors of whatever catastrophe has stuck. Long unavailable in the U.S., its enigmatic ending helped make it ia cult movie in its native New Zealand (and elsewhere); it’s also currently in our reader-suggested review queue. Buy The Quiet Earth [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.
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 at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes) (2015): Young Peruvian slackers into drugs, amateur porn, Internet culture, and conspiracy theories meet online for weird times. If you visit the official site, don’t worry, it won’t actually download a virus to your computer—although if your boss looks over your shoulder they may ask why you’re surfing for furry porn on company time. (Don’t say you weren’t warned). Playing at Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn, and probably nowhere else. Videophilia official site (NSFW).
SCREENINGS – (New York City, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Dec. 2):
The Black Cat (1934): Read the Certified Weird entry! Why, you might ask, is Lincoln Center screening this expressionist showdown between Bela Lugosi and Satanic architect Boris Karloff on December 4? Unexpectedly, it’s part of a huge retrospective on Chilean surrealist director Raoul Ruiz (who apparently considered this film an influence). Other screenings in the series are Ruiz’s own Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (Dec. 3 & 6), Time Regained (2nd & 4th), Three Sad Tigers (2nd & 5th), Lines of Wellington (2nd only), Dialogues of the Exiles (3rd & 5th), City of Pirates (3rd & 7th), Treasure Island (3rd & 7th), The Suspended Vocation (4th & 6th), and Love Torn in a Dream (4th & 7th), with more Ruiz coming in the following week. “Life Is a Dream: The Films of Raoul Ruiz (Part 1)” at Lincoln Center.
SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, Dec. 2-3):
FILM FESTIVALS – A Night of Horror (Sydney, Australia, Nov. 25 – Dec. 4):
OK, so we’re late on this one, which ran approximately contemporaneously with Melbourne’s competing “Monster Fest” on the other side of the continent. Thanks to “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” for pointing out our oversight last week. Since the festival is closing soon, we’ll just point out a couple of titles (already covered elsewhere on the site) for avant-garde Aussies to check out: the underground video montage romantic comedy She’s Allergic to Cats (Dec. 3) and December 4th’s closing night gala The Greasy Strangler (see description in DVD below).
Dave Made a Maze (2017): Dave builds a pillow fort in his living room and then gets lost inside its maze of booby trapped corridors; his girlfriend assembles a team to go in and rescue him. Premiering next month/year at Slamdance. Dave Made a Maze official site.
NEW ON DVD:
The Greasy Strangler (2016): Read our festival report. This John Waters-esque story of a cranky L.A. based disco tour guide who slathers himself in grease and strangles strangers is guaranteed to be the greasiest (and grossest) movie you’ll see all year! Buy The Greasy Strangler.
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“Part mind-bending science-fiction and part dark comedy, COUNTER CLOCKWISE delivers a thriller about a befuddled scientist who stumbles into inventing a time machine and recklessly zaps himself six months into the future. But in that future, he is a wanted man and an accused murderer. He tries to return to the point right before everything went wrong. An inventive, head-scratching, fast-paced American Indie time-traveling gem.”