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):

Keep an Eye Out [Au Poste!] (2018): Read our review. Quentin Dupieux returns with an absurdist police procedural, which just might be his most Buñuelian effort yet. Mostly in virtual cinemas, starting today. Keep an Eye Out official site.

Sister Tempest (2020): Joe Badon strikes again with another crowdfunded surrealist epic; this one is a psychological thriller-type tale taking place in a dreamspace equally inspired by Jodorowsky and Zardoz. In virtual theaters (and live screenings at the Zeitgeist if you live in New Orleans). Sister Tempest official home page.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Seed in the Sand (est. Summer 2022): It took Christiane Cegavske thirteen years to hand-animate her very personal surrealist fairy tale Blood Tea and Red String (2006). When she completed it, she immediately announced plans for a followup in the same style. That was fifteen years ago, and now it looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, with enough work completed to make a teaser trailer (below). She describes the plot thusly: “Driven by starvation in this dry, dying world, one desperate nest-dwelling creature obsessed by mysterious dreams of an island of dancing dolls abandons his mate and egg to find deliverance or ruin beyond the sea of sand” and promises she will continue “mixing dream images and symbols from magic, folklore, and pre-Grimm versions of familiar fairy tales to create my own surreal mythology.” You can support her efforts via Patreon. Seed in the Sand project page.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1 [AKA Crazy Samurai Musahsi] (2020): Read Giles Edwards’ review. Maybe not weird per se, but it is a single-take movie where a lone samurai fights all comers for 90 minutes, which is something you don’t see every day. DVD/Blu-ray/VOD. Buy Crazy Samurai 400: vs 1.

CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

While theaters across the land are beginning to reopen at limited capacity—New York is open, Boston soon to follow—weird screenings are still light, with only a single drive-in in Portland holding down the fort this week. Even worse, there’s bad news in the repertory theater biz, as Alamo Drafthouse will be declaring bankruptcy. As part of their reorganization, they have already announced they’ll be closing the Ritz in Austin (fortunately, the city has spare Drafthouses), along with their outlets in New Braunfels and Kansas City, and possibly more to come. Still, things are generally heading in the right direction, and the summer is looking up. Expect to see more and more listings in this space in the coming weeks.

• Portland, OR
  • NW Film Center/Zidell Yards Drive In
    • Sorry to Bother You (2018), 3/7
    • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), 3/8

FREE ONLINE WEIRD MOVIES (Tubi.tv):

Dead Leaves (2004): Read the canonically weird entry! The availability of this ultraviolent, hyperkinetic, hallucinatory anime has been up and down over the years, so you might as well check it out as long as it’s on Tubi–it’s listed as “leaving soon.” Watch Dead Leaves free on Tubi.tv.

YOU LINK US! YOU REALLY LINK US!:

Strange Screenings: What’s New in Weird Movies, March 2021 – It’s our first syndicated column, as we’ve teamed up with the surrealist art zine Babou 691 to keep their readers apprised of the latest happenings in weird movies via a monthly digest version of the very column you’re reading now.  Check them out.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

Join us tomorrow on Netflix at 10:15 PM for our weird watch party, Freaks (2018). As always, the link to join will appear here, on Facebook, and on Twitter around 10 PM ET (and in your email inbox too, if you’re a subscriber).

Next week sees the irregularly scheduled return of Alfred Eaker, whose starting a short series on “progressive westerns” with The Searchers (1956). Giles Edwards will champion Russia’s Iron Mask (2019), which has both Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger and is actually Viy 2 (it’s a long story). Gregory J. Smalley (366weirdmovies) dips into the reader-suggested review queue for the zombies vs. yakuza epic Versus (2000). All this, and we’ll be announcing the nominees for the 2020 version of the Weirdcademy Awards, too! 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.

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 (WIDE RELEASE):

The Father (2020): Sure, it’s Oscar Bait, but hear us out: The Father puts you inside the head of a man suffering from dementia, meaning you can’t be sure what’s real and what’s not. Basically, it’s a psychological thriller in sensitive drama garb.  Opening in New York and LA this week, going wider March 12. The Father official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT (pre-production):

Nocebo (202?): A fashion designer comes down with a mysterious illness, with symptoms that are recognized by her Filipino nanny. Eva Green will star alongside Mark Strong and Chai Fonacier. This plot seems like it could just be a run-of-the-mill psychological horror film, but it is helmed by Lorcan Finnegan—fresh off a weird one in Vivarium—and producer XYZ Films has been involved with both Mandy and the upcoming Sion Sono/Nicolas Cage feature Prisoners of the Ghostland, so there is serious weird potential there. No official site yet.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

The Attic Expeditions (2001): Read our review. Jeremy Kasten‘s baffling, schizophrenic psychohorror joins the Blu-ray ranks for the first time, with 20th reunion featurettes included. Buy The Attic Expeditions.

Castle of the Creeping Flesh (1968): Swingers stumble into the castle of a mad count who—what are the odds?—wants to use their body parts to revive his dead daughter. Another rarely-seen-and-probably-for-good-reasons Eurotrash curiosity from Severin Films, on Blu-ray. Buy Castle of the Creeping Flesh.

CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

We could not find a single Canonically Weird screening in theaters this week. Still, some New York City venues will be reopening starting next week, so, believe it or not, things are beginning to look up. Keep your spirits up!

FREE ONLINE WEIRD MOVIES:

Getty (2021): An experimental film composed entirely out of public domain stock footage from Getty Images. It’s stitched together from three different directors, with a framing device of an artificial intelligence describing humanity to alien visitors in the distant future (“they liked breaking things… they liked it a lot”). Includes nudity (stock footage nudity? yes, it exists), so it may be slightly NSFW. Watch Getty free on Vimeo.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

Voting continues for one more day in our latest Weird Netflix Party poll. At this writing it is the closest contest ever, with three choices currently tied for number one and nothing out of the running. Go ahead and (maybe) cast the tiebreaking vote. Whatever we end up watching, the show starts Mar. 6 at 10:15 PM ET.

Next week’s reviews will include El Rob Hubbard‘s report on the newly-released “Cannes cut” of Southland Tales (with fifteen more minutes of madness!) and Gregory J. Smalley on Quentin Dupieux‘s latest comic absurdity to reach American screens, Keep an Eye Out. There will likely be at least one surprise review to accompany that fine duo, too.

Finally, the following screengrab doesn’t really fit in anywhere, but we had to include it anyway. It’s about time! Daniel Tadesse for Best Actor!

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 in March’s Netflix Weird Watch Party, which will start on Mar. 6 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 Saturday, Feb. 27. You may vote for multiple movies, but not for every movie (because that would be pointless).

Now vote!

We’re sticking to our plan of one Netflix and one Amazon Prime watch party per month. It’s Netflix’s turn.

We’re open to suggestions for different starting times, dates, or methods of propagating the watch link.

Our next Netflix Party will be scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 6 at 10:15 PM. 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), Kung Fu Hustle (2004),  Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), and Swiss Army Man (2016). 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), and My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (2016).

To participate, you’ll need a U.S. Netflix account, a Chrome-based browser, and the TeleParty (formerly “Netflix Party”) extension.

Make your nominations in the comments below.