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):

Always Shine (2016): The rivalry of two struggling young actresses turns less friendly when they take a vacation together to Big Sur. Comparisons to Lynch, Persona follow. Always Shine official site.

Evolution (2015): Our own Alex Kittle described it as a “quiet, subtle sci-fi mystery about an island of pale-faced women who have found a way to propagate without men” and says it “definitely isn’t for everyone.” Of course, every movie we love here pretty much by definition isn’t for everyone. Evolution Facebook page (mostly in French).

Tank 432 [AKA Belly of the Bulldog] (2015): Post-apocalyptic mercenaries seek refuge in an abandoned tank that becomes a prison. The feature debut of Ben Wheatley‘s cameraman Nick Gillespie (Wheatley produced). Tank 432 official site.

SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, 11/25-11/26 (midnights):

Wild at Heart (1990)/Fire Walk with Me (1992): IFC Center continues its unofficial “Lynch at Midnight” series, rotating out Blue Velvet but keeping the Certified Weird Nicolas Cage/ Laura Dern road movie Wild at Heart on screen and adding the “Twin Peaks” wrap-up Fire Walk With Me. Also playing all week at IFC: Evolution (see description in “limited release” above). Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me at IFC Center.

SCREENINGS – (Los Angeles, Cinefamily, 11/25-11/28):

Delicatessen (1991): Read the Certified Weird entry! A post-apocalyptic post-Thanksgiving feast; Friday evening’s screening also includes a potluck leftovers dinner. Also at Cinefamily: Evolution (see description in “limited release” above) plays all week, and Larry Cohen hosts a double feature of God Told Me To and The Stuff (tonight only, starts at 10:30 PM PST). Delicatessen at Cinefamily,

SCREENINGS – (Silver Spring, MD, AFI Silver Theater, 11/27-11/30):

Persona (1966): Read the Certified Weird entry! For those in the D.C. area, a rare chance to catch a must-see weird film on the big screen. Persona at AFI Silver Theater.

FILM FESTIVALS – Monster Fest (Melbourne, Australia, 11/23-27):

There’s nothing really new debuting here (except perhaps to Australians, who seem to be the last stop on the festival circuit), but there’s plenty of cool stuff playing at this small but stocked film festival. If our trusty time zone converter is correct, there’s still time for Aussies to get out to today’s 11:00 AM screening of the marvelous Spanish animated fantasy Psychonauts: The Forgotten Children. Other films worth checking out for the underground crowd down under include the pregnancy horror Antibirth (Nov. 26), the restoration of Andrzej Zulawski‘s unfinished sci-fi epic On the Silver Globe (Nov. 27), and the John Waters-ish closing film The Greasy Strangler (Nov 27, with cast members Sky Elobar and “disco cutie” Elizabeth De Razzo in attendance). Monster Fest 2016 official site,

NEW ON DVD:

Magnetic (2015): Who knows what the plot is—apparently those who’ve watched it are just as much in the dark as we are—but we infer that the world will end on Dec. 31 unless Alice defeats members of the Daughters of Ra cult. Amazon reviews are full of one-star reviews that include thoughts like “This was a very weird movie, and usually I like weird movies, but even when it got to the end I didn’t really understand exactly what was going on.” Buy Magnetic.

Yoga Hosers (2016): The second entry in an announced “True North Trilogy” (the first was 2014’s Tusk), this horror-comedy stars director Kevin Smith‘s daughter Harley Quinn and Johnny Depp‘s daughter Lily-Rose as a pair of Canadian teens fighting an invasion of Nazi sausages (!) Critics hated it, but apparently Smith included some prophylactic anti-critic jokes, so that’s probably why he got the negative reviews, eh?  Buy Yoga Hosers.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Rabid (1977): David Cronenberg directs ex-adult star Marilyn Chambers in an early example of his pioneering “venereal horrors.” Shout! Factory packs this collector’s edition Blu-ray with extras both new and old, including two separate commentary tracks (one from Cronenberg and one by scholar William Beard). Buy Rabid [Collector’s Edition Blu-ray].

Yoga Hosers (2016): See description in DVD above. Buy Yoga Hosers Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON VIMEO:

Psychic Snakebite (2016):The tagline calls it “a 100% green screen nihilistic thriller.” Add “experimental,” because it’s full of double images, odd tinting, and strange sound design (the main characters have been dubbed into Mandarin and supplied with subtitles). The 60-minute film involves terrorists on a jetliner and is rated “Mature.” Watch Psychic Snakebite on Vimeo.

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):

Officer Downe (2016): An LA supercop is repeatedly brought back from the dead to fight crime. A couple of early reviewers have used the “w” word to characterize this stylized, campy and violent graphic novel adaptation with cult movie aspirations, directed by the drummer from the band Slipknot, who normally dresses like a clown. Concurrently available for video-on-demand rental. Officer Downe official site.

SCREENINGS – (IFC Center, New York City, Nov 18-19):

Wild at Heart (1990): Read the Certified Weird entry! IFC Center has been semi-religiously screening Blue Velvet on weekends at midnight; this week, they mix things up with David Lynch’s wild Nic Cage Elvis-tribute road movie. (Don’t worry, Velvet is playing on the opposite screen, giving you your choice of mid-career midnight Lynch this week). Wild at Heart at IFC Center.

SCREENINGS – (AFI Silver Theater, Silver Spring, MD, Nov 19-23):

“Objects of Desire: The Films of Luis Buñuel”: A restoration of the not-so-weird Tristana (starring Catherine Deneuve as the titular target of nobleman Fernando Rey‘s unhealthy obsession) is the headliner here, but look for screenings of the more classically surreal Belle de Jour on the 19th, 22nd and 23rd, and Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie on the 20th and 23rd. Objects of Desire: The Films of Luis Buñuel at AFI Silver Theater.

IN DEVELOPMENT (IN PRODUCTION):

The Thousand Miles (est. 2017): Animator Sylvain Chomet‘s latest project will be his first with dialogue (in English). It’s set at an Italian road race and based on the dream journals of Federico Fellini. This is promising. Read more at Variety.

IN DEVELOPMENT (crowdfunding):

Mondo Weirdo/Vampiros Sexos [AKA I Was a Teenage Zabbadoing]: Here’s your second notice that Cult Epics has a month to go to raise a lot of money to release five previously unseen movies, including the title oddities (described in more detail here) and The Flesh, a rare Marco Ferreri title (clip below). Funding is flexible and rights have been secured, so these will be released in some form and your pledge will be honored—this is more of an opportunity to score some nice pre-order bonuses, ensure that the extras and packaging will be top notch, and support their acquisition of future titles (I don’t want to spread rumors, but at least one of the names whispered about is high on our weird wishlist for a film that desperately needs a new video release). Cult Epics indiegogo campaign.

NEW ON DVD:

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (1990): Akira Kurosawa, one of the most celebrated film directors of all time, capped his career with this anthology film in which he adapted his own dreams for the screen. A major 2-disc release for the Criterion Collection and for weird movie lovers, and a longtime reader-suggested review queue stalwart. Buy Akira Kuorsawa’s Dreams.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (1990): See description in DVD above. The “Making of Dreams” featurette, which is thirty minutes longer than the actual movie, fits on a single Blu-ray (the DVD version requires an extra disc to fit it). Buy Akira Kuorsawa’s Dreams [Blu-ray].

Dead Ringers (1988): Read the Certified Weird entry! David Cronenberg‘s classic about twin gynecologists addicted to barbiturates gets a Blu-ray collector’s edition release from Shout! Factory. Buy Dead Ringers [Blu-ray Collector’s Edition].

Punch-Drunk Love (2002): Read “Brad”‘s reader recommendation! The weirdest thing about Paul Thomas Anderson‘s offbeat romantic comedy, released by the Criterion Collection this week, is almost certainly the universal praise for the performance of its unlikely star—the much-despised Adam Sandler. Buy Punch-Drunk Love [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…

SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, Nov 11 & 12 at midnight):

Blue Velvet (1986): Read the Certified Weird entry! IFC has made David Lynch‘s sadomasochistic 80s nightmare into a welcome midnight staple. “Now it’s dark…” Blue Velvet at IFC Center.

FILM FESTIVALS – AFI Fest (Los Angeles, CA., Nov. 10- 17):

The American Film Institute’s official film festival strictly hosts premieres. It occurs so late in the year, however, that many movies with awards aspirations choose to debut elsewhere, so programmers cheat just a little for big names like Jackie, La La Land, and Moana, which have played all over the country but make their California premieres here. It’s still a prestigious feather in the cap for smaller art films and late-debuting foreign movies. We’ve already covered the mermaid musical The Lure, which we hope will make a splash here, but here are some more artily weird offerings that are new to us:

• Buster’s Mal Heart – Buster has two (or maybe more) personalities, literally existing in two separate bodies: one a family man, the other a bearded hermit. Debuts Nov. 11 (tonight), with an encore on Nov. 16.
• A Dragon Arrives! – A police inspector buries the body of an assassinated politician found in a shipwreck in the middle of the desert in a nearby cemetery, causing a localized earthquake, in tis absurdist Iranian experimental film. Nov. 15 & 16.
• Fear Itself – A “stream of consciousness” documentary about horror films incorporating clips from several Certified Weird movies: Altered States, Antichrist, Brazil, Carnival of Souls, Don’t Look Now, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Night of the Hunter, Nosferatu, Repulsion, Suspiria, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and Videodrome (credit goes to this IMDB post for the list). Nov. 13 & 14.
  
• Kati Kati – Kenyan magical realist movie where Purgatory exists on the savanna. Nov. 15 & 16.
• Malgré la Nuit – An abstract thriller about a man going undercover to search for his lost love, whom he fears may have become the victim of a snuff film ring. Nov. 15 & 16.

AFI Fest homepage.

FILM FESTIVALS – Ithaca Fantastik Festival (Ithaca, NY, Nov. 9- 13):

In only its fifth year of operation, this out-of-the-way festival held in a college town in upstate New York doesn’t get the big premieres, but they have snapped up some very cool, obscure and, yes, weird films from the second tier. Some of the films we’ve noted playing at other festivals are the Filipino bloodfest Alipato–The Very Brief Life of an Ember, the Swiss psychological detective fantasy Aloys, and the highly recommended outsider ode She’s Allergic to Cats. Here are some others to check out:

• Altered States (1980) – Ken Russel’s creates the world’s big-budgeted trip movie. See it on the big screen Nov 13.
• Nova Seed – Created frame-by-frame by Nick DeLiberto, it’s a post-apocalyptic fantasy that looks like a (nostalgically) cheap 1980s Saturday morning cartoon. Playing today, Friday Nov. 4, at 4 PM, so if you’re in Ithaca and you’re reading this get out there now! The rest of us will wait on a DVD.
• A Page of Madness (1926) – Japan’s first Surrealist film is a silent movie about a man getting a job as a janitor at an insane asylum to be near his mentally ill wife. Avant-garde composer Tenzin Chopak conducts live electronic accompaniment to the Nov. 13 screening.
• Terror 5 – This Argentinian horror import about five horrific events that occur on one night is one of the few films making its American debut at Ithaca; programmers describe it as “experimental,” “dream-like,” and “surreal.” Check it out Nov. 12.

Ithaca Fantastik Festival homepage.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002): Read the Certified Weird entry! Nursing home Elvis and black JFK fight a mummy in this Shout! Factory Collector’s Edition with new commentary from the short story’s original writer, new interviews with cast and crew, and more (although sadly, it looks like they couldn’t get the rights to the in-character commentary track by Bruce Campbell). Buy Bubba Ho-Tep [Collector’s Edition Blu-ray].

Night Has a Thousand Desires (1984): A woman who works in a telepathic nightclub act who dreams of murders that come true. It’s a typical uneven Jess Franco erotic horror of the post-Franco period, complete with a nude Lina Romay, although some say it’s both weirder and better-made than some of Jess’ other schlock cheapies. Buy Night Has a Thousand Desires.

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.

Next week, we’ll take a twisted tour of the Louvre with Russian avant-gardist Aleksandr Sokurov as our guide in 2015’s Francofonia; Pete Trbovich will tell you all about China’s biggest blockbuster ever, the Stephen Chow romantic fantasy/comedy The Mermaid; and we’ll knock another one out of that crazy-long reader-suggested review queue with a review of Federico Fellini‘s semi-autobiographical Amarcord. If that’s not enough, we won’t ignore the big hit out there this week, as Alfred Eaker takes a trip into the strange (by Marvel standards) with Dr. Strange. It’s a cosmopolitan selection of blockbusters and art films from across the globe next week as we transition into year-end mode.

There were only a few truly weird search terms we saw this week, but those we did catch were certainly bizarre enough to make it well worth the few pixels we’ll expend describing this week’s Weirdest Search Terms. Some advice: if you don’t want your search terms showing up here, you should learn basic spelling (especially distinguishing your homophones) and grammar. Otherwise, you might end up featured in this space, like the guy looking for “seeing a mother has sex with a lover sun became strange movie name?” Of course, for some people it’s useless to even attempt to search in the English language; for example, the poor soul who wasted his time typing “vlages anti bating sex vedio” into that Google box. (Although I think I figured this one out: he’s looking for “villages aunty bathing” movies, which is definitely a Hindi thing). Neither of these, however, can match the strangeness of our official Weirdest Search Term of the Week, “classical pron movie uspeakable acts of… mate mummy.” The ellipsis (“…”) really helps the weirdness; the “unspeakable acts of mate mummy” ain’t so strange, but the “uspeakable acts of… [wait for it…] mate mummy”—now that‘s weird!

Here’s how the ridiculously-long reader-suggested review queue now stands: Amarcord (next week!); Candy; The Last Days of Planet Earth; Jack and the Beanstalk (1974, Japan); The Saragossa Manuscript; Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →