May’s Netflix Watch Party—Synchronic (2018)—starts in fifteen minutes.
Please install the Netflix Party extension (now officially called “teleparty”) if you haven’t already. You must have a U.S. Nextflix account and a Chrome-based browser to participate.
Here is the link to join: https://www.tele.pe/netflix/118fdf5325702e16?s=s190
Be sure to click on the red Teleparty icon to sync up and join the chat room.
366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.
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):
The Carnivores: A lesbian couple’s marriage is tested when Alice becomes jealous of Bret’s relationship with their dying dog. That synopisis sounds like it could make for a dry indie drama, but the trailer promises something much darker and weirder. Limited theatrical release; also simultaneously on VOD. The Carnivores official site.
DVR ALERT (Turner Classic Movies, 6/7, 2:00 AM ET):
TCM brings the late-night weird with a Ken Russell crazed composer biopic double feature, starting with the rarely-screened Mahler (1974) and capped off by the canonically weird Lisztomania (1975). Here’s the evidence.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Dementia Part II (2018): This non-sequel tribute to Dementia is a black and white indie horror about an ex-con who takes a job as handyman for a demented old woman. Supposedly set to debut June 1, we discovered it’s already available for rental via Vudu and Itunes. We’ll let you know if it turns up elsewhere.
Honeydew (2020): Read our review. Uneven spooky-old-woman-in-farmhouse horror with some weird segments in the middle. VOD only. Buy or rent Honeydew.
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
This section is starting to fill out, as more and more theaters come back online. We’ve also started tracking several new venues. That said, unless there is a big outcry, we’re strongly considering removing this section as a regular weekly feature (we’ll still highlight major events, and come up with an alternative for readers to track their local theaters). Tracking these movies has been fun, and suggests a wider community of weird film lovers and promoters; but it’s time-consuming, and we’re skeptical about its utility for the average reader. But do let us know if you like the feature, maybe we could be talked out of it.
FREE ONLINE WEIRD MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:
Cube (1997): Read the canonically weird entry! It seems like we’ve been here before: this existential sci-fi thriller was listed on Tubi’s “leaving soon” list before, and now it is once again. At any rate, you can catch it for free (again) for a limited. Watch Cube free on Tubi.tv.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
Join us tomorrow night for June’s Weird Netflix Party, Synchronic (2018) (an upset winner over heavily favored Jiu Jitsu), screening at 10:15 PM ET. The link to join will appear here, on Facebook, or on Twitter around 10 PM ET.
In upcoming reviews, next week Giles Edwards clocks in with the vampire opus Ten Minutes to Midnight (2020), while Gregory J. Smalley gazes aghast at the “homemade horror” of Winterbeast (1991). Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
Here’s the poll to vote for June’s Netflix Weird Watch Party, which will start on Saturday, June 5 at 10:15 PM ET. If you plan on virtually attending, please vote for the movie we’ll be watching below. We’ll screen the movie that get the most votes; your host, Gregory J. Smalley, will personally break any ties. Note that unlike our other polls, you can only vote once. Poll closes at midnight ET on Tuesday, June 1. You may vote for multiple movies, but not for every movie (because that would be pointless).
Now vote!
366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.
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):
Moby Doc: A documentary about electronic musician Moby, with appreciative commentary by fan David Lynch. Since Moby’s behind it, it looks like a self-indulgent apologia, but Variety also describes it as “a self-portrait, an acid flashback, a therapy session, a rumination, and a surrealist music-video package all rolled into one.” In a handful of theaters; for U.S. viewers, digital copies appear to be exclusively on Itunes/Apple+. Internationally, details differ by geographic region. Moby Doc official site.
IN DEVELOPMENT (announced):
Evil Dead Rise (202?): After a failed reboot and a more successful TV spinoff, the deadites will be taking another trip to the big screen, this time in an urban setting with two female leads. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell return, but only as producers; writing and directing duties will be covered by sophomore director Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground). We’re not too hopefully for this one, as the Evil Dead series’ weirdness has typically been marginal, and reversion towards the conventional zombie mean seems like the safest bet. But it is something to keep an eye on. Read the press release at Fangoria.
IN DEVELOPMENT (in production):
“The Sandman” (202?): Netflix plans to turn Neil Gaiman‘s DC comics series about an “Endless” named Dream who enters the modern world after having been imprisoned for eons by a spell and deals with other pseudo-deities like Despair, Desire, Death, etc. and into a limited series. If it stays true to the original, it should have weird parts, while still remaining accessible to mainstream fantasy viewers. The ensemble appears to be complete, with David Thewlis, Patton Oswalt and Stephen Fry joining a large cast of fresh faces. Several episodes are already in the can, so there shouldn’t be too much longer to wait on this one. More info and complete cast at Gizmodo.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
12 Monkeys [Twelve Monkeys] (1995): Read the Canonically Weird entry! Own Terry Gilliam‘s tight time-travel fantasia in a limited-edition steelbook, with an exclusive booklet and other (previously issued) extra features. Buy 12 Monkeys.
“Altered Innocence Vol. 1”: An anthology of short films from LGBT-themed distributor Altered Innocence. Some are just music videos, while others are described as “surreal”: notable contributors include Yann Gonzalez, Bertrand Mandico, and Peter Strickland. Blu-ray, DVD or VOD. Buy “Altered Innocence: Vol. 1”.
The Birds (1963): Read our review. Hitchcock‘s enigmatic fable about killer birds has been re-released many times; this version includes a 4K disc, a Blu-ray, and a digital copy, along with the numerous extras to be found on Universal’s previous reissues. Buy The Birds.
Don’t Look Now (1973): Read the Canonically Weird entry! Looks like the rights to Nicolas Roeg‘s guilt-and-grief-ridden pseudo-giallo have reverted from Criterion back to Paramount. All the special features stay with the Collection, but at least this Blu-ray will be much cheaper, if you only want the movie. Buy Don’t Look Now.
Love After Death (1968)/The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful (1970): The American Film Genre Archives hyperbolically describes this Argentinian import as “An interdimensional portal… between Herk Harvey‘s CARNIVAL OF SOULS and Doris Wishman‘s BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL“, while The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful appears to be more run-of-the-mill psychotronic sleaze with murder-by-scissors. A Blu-ray double feature. Buy Love After Death / The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful.
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
Screenings continue to increase, with more venues scheduled to reopen in the coming weeks. We have also added several new featured venues.
FREE WEIRD MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:
The City of Lost Children (1995): Read the canonically weird entry! A mad scientist steals children’s dreams in a steampunk city, and that’s just the start of the weirdness going on in this undefinable, baroque French fantasy. Now listed as “leaving soon.” Watch The City of Lost Children on Tubi.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: First off, we’re still looking for one more RSVP and preferably two more screening suggestions for June 5th’s Weird Netflix Watch Party. Pitch in here.
And speaking of Netflix, next week Giles Edwards will be reviewing Super Me, a Chinese dream thriller screening exclusively on that platform.
And as these words go to press, we’re happy to announce that 99.5% of the entries for the book version of the 366 Weird Movies guide have been completed (and that number will hopefully be 100% by the time you read this). That does not mean that the book is close to being in your sweaty little palms, since there’s still some supplementary material to write, formatting to do, and the minor issue of finding a publisher to take it on. But it is a milestone reached. Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
We’ll get to last night’s issue with Violence Voyager in a moment, but first let’s get started on the nominations for June’s Weird Netflix Party (scheduled for Saturday, June 5, at 10:15 PM ET). We’ll take nominations for movies to screen in the comments until we reach at least five entries (from five different attendees), then put up a voting poll.
The Canonically Weird movies on Netflix that we haven’t yet screened yet are A Clockwork Orange (1971), Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). Feel free to nominate any of these, or ignore them in favor of other selections. Since we’ve rolled over into a new year, we could technically decide to watch something we’ve seen before (if it’s still on the platform). For reference, the movies we’ve already screened are The Platform, April and the Extraordinary World, The Bad Batch, Skins [Pieles], Under the Skin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Enemy, A Ghost Story, Escape from the ‘Liberty’ Cinema, Between Worlds, Buster’s Mal Heart, The Aerial [La Antena], The Endless, The Wicker Man (1973), Murder Party (2007), I Lost My Body (2019), I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018), Cadaver (2020), Being John Malkovich (1999), Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017), My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (2016), Freaks (2018), Five Elements Ninjas (1982), and Await Further Instructions (2018).
To participate, you’ll need a U.S. Netflix account, a Chrome-based browser, and the TeleParty (formerly “Netflix Party”) extension.
Now, as to Violence Voyager, last night we decided at the last minute to swap it out for poll runner-up Come to Daddy because Voyager required everyone to have an add-on subscription to IMDb tv to create a watch party. When setting up the party last night we were blindsided by this restriction and didn’t have time to research the consequences. We now see that it requires no additional fee, but the viewer(s) will be subjected to ads. (Or everyone could agree to pay a rental fee for an ad-free experience, something I don’t think would fly well.) IMDb’s explanation of the service is here. The downshot is, we’d be willing to reschedule Violence Voyager, or other movies in this category, knowing that it’s going to be interrupted by ads, if the other attendees are cool with it. So let us know separately from your Netflix vote, and if just 4 people are willing to watch it with ads, we’ll make it June’s Amazon Prime Weird Watch Party.
So make your nominations for Netflix movies in the comments below, and also tell us your preference for watching Prime with ads.