A 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):

Little Ashes:  Not itself a weird movie, but an art-house drama about primal Surrealists Salvador Dali, Luis Buñuel and Federico Garcia Lorca, exploring a long rumored love-affair between Dali and Lorca.  Reviews are poor; it doesn’t appear the movie transcends its intended gay romance audience.  Little Ashes official site

Since there’s so little this week either in theaters or in new DVD releases to appeal to fans of the weird, we turn to… 

IN DEVELOPMENT (ILL-ADVISED HOLLYWOOD REMAKE EDITION):

Angel Heart:  Scheduled for 2011 per IMDB.  Angel Heart has dated well and features Mickey Rourke and Robert DeNiro, who still have box-office drawing power, so why not just re-release the original?

The Birds:  In my opinion, Michael Bay should keep his damn dirty paws off Hitchcock.  The original The Birds was a great movie with horrible special effects; we should expect the exact reverse from a Bay-produced remake.  Here’s the rumor from Film Junk.

I Walked with a Zombie:  The atmospheric and literary Val Lewton classic is getting a Hollywood update.  What director could tackle this project with the sensitivity it deserves?  The first name that comes to mind, of course, is Adam Marcus, who showed with the subtle Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday that he is the true spiritual heir of Lewton’s “quiet horror” aesthetic.  Per IMDB it’s a go.

Let the Right One In:  I haven’t even fit the original into my busy viewing schedule yet.  I suspect it will be a dumbed-down version aimed at people who loathe subtitles and quiet passages.  Unlike some of the other ill-advised titles on the list, remakes of foreign hits are inevitable.  Readers at BloodyDisgusting.com are infuriated.

The Man Who Fell to Earth:  This is slated for 2009 per the IMDB, though it’s not in production yet so time is running out.  One would assume the point of remaking Nicolas Roeg‘s cult sci-fi film would be too sanitize and de-weirdify it for mass consumption, but who knows for sure? 

Plan 9 from Outer Space:  Um, how (and why?) do you remake a movie that is notoriously considered the worst ever made?  (By the way, Ed Wood’s Plan 9 was not the worst movie ever made, not by a long shot, but it is probably the most unintentionally hilarious Z-grade film ever created).  Direct-to-video director John Johnson suggests he will do “a serious-minded retelling of the original story,” which sounds like he will simply strip off everything that made Ed’s original beloved and produce another schlocky, forgettable B-movie.  It’s set to be released in September 2009, with scream queen Brinke Stevens (in the Vampira role) apparently top-billed, and Conrad Brooks returning from the original (he’s been promoted from patrolman to lieutenant).

But not so fast!  An underground outfit named Drunkenflesh films (no website, but a Myspace page) has rushed out a virtually contentless teaser trailer announcing their own remake of Plan 9, under Ed’s preferred title, Graverobbers from Outer Space:    

Continue reading WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 5/8/09 (WITH “ILL-ADVISED HOLLYWOOD REMAKE” SUPPLEMENT) →

A 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):

Eldorado (2008): Belgian comedy about an antique car dealer and a burglar/ex-junkie who hit the road together.  Road movies are traditionally quirky; it remains to be seen whether this will cross the line into the genuinely weird.  Features the music of freak-folk icon Devandra Banhat.  Eldorado official site (in French).

I Can See You (2008):  From the New York Times:  “[Director Graham Resnick has] one eye on genre mechanics, one eye on avant-garde conceits and a third eye for transcendental weirdness.”  Sounds like a must-see to me; hope it makes it to your (and my) neck of the woods before it shuffles off to video.  I Can See You official site.

The Limits of Control (2009):  The latest from Jim (Dead Man) Jamursch about a mysterious criminal working on an unspecified job in Spain has been described as “dreamlike” and “hypnotic”.  Heavyweight thespians John Hurt and Bill Murray appear in small roles.  Definitely promising.  The Limits of Control official site.   

NEW ON DVD:

Johnny Got His Gun (1971): It’s about time this anti-war classic about a quadruple-amputee–told in hallucinations, flashbacks, and conversations with Jesus Christ (played by Donald Sutherland)–got DVD release. Buy from Amazon.

Martyrs (2008):  It sounds like an art-house version of The Last House on the Left (wait, wasn’t that The Virgin Spring)?  Whatever it is, it’s clear that the violence and cruelty is extreme, and it’s been gathering powerful negative/positive reactions from viewers, and looks like it may be on it’s way to becoming a modern cult film.  Buy from Amazon.

SCREENINGS (INDIANAPOLIS, IN):

Thomas Pynchon: A Journey into the Mind of P. (2001):  A conspiracy-minded documentary about reclusive, postmodern (and quite weird) author Thomas Pynchon.  Showing at the Earth House Collective in Indianapolis on Thursday, May 7th at 7:00 pm.

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.

Every Friday, we take a 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.

NEW ON DVD:

Dante 01 (2008):  This sci-fi penal colony film with messianic overtones slipped well under the radar, which is somewhat surprising since it’s directed by Marc Caro, who together with Jean-Pierre Jeunet was one half of the directing team behind the classic weirdfilms Delicatessen (1991) and City of Lost Children (1995). Poorly reviewed. Buy from Amazon.   

The House of the Sleeping Beauties (2006): Allegorical German adult fairy tale about a brothel where men pay to spend the night with beautiful women who are trapped in a permanent slumber.  From the Japanese story “Nemureru bijo” by novelist Yasunari Kawabata, which has been adapted on film three times in Japan (1968, 1995, 2007).  Buy from Amazon.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Sin City (2005):  The Robert Rodriguez-directed, Frank Miller-penned, noirish comic-book-come-to-life receives a 2-disc Blu-ray special edition, with the original theatrical release on disc 1 and a “recut” version (actually, it sounds like it’s four new versions, since each of four separate storylines is edited into it’s own mini-movies).  Contains 20 minutes of extra footage and abundant extras.  Buy from Amazon.

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.