February’s Netflix Watch Party—My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea—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/83f061dd0680eea8?s=s147
Be sure to click on the red Teleparty icon to sync up and join the chat room.
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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.
FILM FESTIVALS –(Slamdance, online, 2/12-25):
Sundance is in the bag, with no weird movies emerging with heavy buzz—although we are curious about seeing the dream-tax collector in Strawberry Mansion, and of course we’ll cover Ben Wheatley‘s latest horror film when it arrives on screens later in the year. We now turn our attention to the low-budget alternative Slamdance, which we will be covering. We’ll be especially focused on the dystopian indie Man Under Table, Canada’s Lanthimosian-premised drama A Family, and a few others; and, since they’re available to view for a change, we’ll even give you a heads up on the weirder shorts on offer. Slamdance is far more affordable, too: free, in fact, if you followed the link we provided weeks ago. It’s $10 for the entire slate of 20+ features and shorts if you sign up today. Join us on our journey through microbudget cinema!
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
The Wanting Mare (2020): Set in a fantasy world (created digitally by a small team of first-timers on a low budget), the slow-paced story involves a dream of horses shared by generations of women. Critics have been universally positive. Due to the pandemic, the movie seems to be debuting in virtual cinemas only (for the time being, at least), and is also being released contemporaneously on Blu-ray
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Sky Sharks (2020): Another absurdist shark B-comedy, this time featuring flying sharks piloted by Nazi zombies. On Blu-ray, DVD or VOD
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
Screenings remain sparse in a Covid world, except for one very busy southern California drive-in. By the end of the year (or, fingers crossed, this summer) we should be back to normal.
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) WEIRD MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:
Night of the Hunter (1955): Read the Certified Weird review! Beware false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but don’t beware watching (or re-watching) this expressionist/noir classic about a serial-killing misogynist preacher chasing a couple of kids across depression-era West Virginia looking for their father’s stolen money.
https://youtu.be/4kgZd8jeVyQ
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Netflix subscribers, be sure to join us tomorrow at 10:15 PM (ET) for our screening of the absurd comic cartoon My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea. Look for the link around 10 PM in the usual places (here, Facebook, Twitter).
As far as next week’s reviews go, we’re dedicating ourselves to a trio of titles currently languishing in the reader-suggested queue. First up, one reader grew weary of us procrastinating on reviewing Tom Green’s flop comedy Freddy Got Fingered (2001) for all these years, and took it on herself to cover it for us. Thanks! Next up, takes Insidious (2010) out of contention, while Giles Edwards handles the beefiest assignment, reporting on Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s 7+ hour experimental documentary Hitler: A Film from Germany (1977). And heck, why not offer you some timely bonus content: through four episodes, considers whether Disney+’s “WandaVision” may be worthy of your weird attention, despite its Marvel Universe setting. 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):
Saint Maud (2019): A young and devout hospice nurse seeks to save souls—then the body horror sets in. A hit at last year’s Fantastic Fest that got picked up by A24. Those are good credentials. We’ve been waiting on this for a while; it was originally supposed to be out in Summer 2020, but was pushed back by the pandemic. In select theaters this week, opening wider next week. Saint Maud official site.
IN DEVELOPMENT (pre-release):
Annette (2021): A musical based on the music of cult band Sparks (whose songs were featured in Holy Motors and The Forbidden Room), directed by Leos Carax, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. We can’t swear this will be weird, but look at that collection of talent again. Here’s some info from The Playlist.
IN DEVELOPMENT (post-production):
Memoria (2021): Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s first English-language film will star the dependably odd Tilda Swinton as a Scottish woman traveling in Colombia who, according to the spare plot description, “begins to hear strange sounds.” Neon will distribute. Film Comment posted a set diary from a writer working on a book about “Joe.”
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
The Curious Dr. Humpp (1969): To prevent himself from aging, a mad scientist kidnaps frisky couples and drains their life essence while they make love. The American distributor added 17 minutes of raunchier 1969-style sex and nudity to this already strange Argentinian film; American Film Genre Archives restores and releases it on Blu-ray (while describing it, with probable, hyperbole as “what might have happened if Mario Bava collaborated with Doris Wishman after an acid binge”). Buy The Curious Dr. Humpp
“Gamera: The Showa Era Collection”: The original 7-film giant fire-breathing turtle series from Showa, which starts as a seriously-intended Godzilla competitor but ends up as semi-coherent kiddie fare. This set includes the weirdest film in the series, Gamera vs. Guiron, and Gamera vs. Viras. Arrow had previously released the entire Gamera series (including the 1990s reboot) as a set, but if you only want the campy originals, this is cheaper. On Blu-ray only. Buy “Gamera: The Showa Era Collection”
Southland Tales (2006): Read Alice Stoehr’s review of the theatrical cut. Richard Kelly‘s crazy, divisive apocalyptic satire gets a Blu-ray re-release from Arrow video, including the rarely-seen fifteen-minutes longer Cannes cut. Buy Southland Tales [Cannes Cut + Theatrical Cut]
The Swimmer (1968): Read the Canonically Weird entry! Grindhouse keeps rerelasing Burt Lancaster‘s surreal suburban swimming movie; we’re not sure what the difference between this “deluxe” edition and last fall’s “limited” edition is (it may be just the packaging), but both come with Blu-ray, a DVD, and Marvin Hamlisch’s soundtrack on CD. Buy The Swimmer
Synchronic (2019): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson‘s latest supernatural feature isn’t as trippy as their prior work, but with the pair moving into the Marvel Extended Universe, this could be their last weird gasp. On DVD, Blu-ray and VOD. Buy Synchronic
The Theater Bizarre (2011): Read Pamela de Graff’s review. This is the first U.S. Blu-rau release of the Grand Guignol horror anthology hosted by human puppet Udo Kier. Buy The Theater Bizarre
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
Screenings remain sparse in a Covid world, but we do have a couple (including one very special double feature) to mention this week. As always, it’s up to you to decide whether you think it’s safe to visit theaters at this time. By the end of the year (or, fingers crossed, this summer) we should be back to normal.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: We’re still in the voting phase for February 6th’s Weird Netflix Party. Currently My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (2016) is in the lead, but with only a few votes separating the top and bottom choices, it’s still anyone’s gane. The poll closes tomorrow at midnight, and you (yes, you!) can vote here.
We’ll have two reviews for you next week, both of them reader-suggested, and both sexy (we mean the movies are sexy, though the reviews might be so too, metaphorically). Giles Edwards takes on the gooier of the two with a report on the legendary, seminal tentacle porn feature, Legend of the Overfiend (1987-1989). Then Gregory J. Smalley examines the less explicit (in that everyone keeps their long underwear on while having sex) feature, Fellini’s Casanova (1976). 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 February’s Netflix Weird Watch Party, which will start on Feb. 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 Friday, Jan. 30. 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, Feb. 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), and Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017).
Here’s a list of stuff arriving and leaving Netflix in February.
To participate, you’ll need a U.S. Netflix account, a Chrome-based browser, and the Netflix Party (now TeleParty) extension.
Make your nominations in the comments below.