Here’s the poll to vote in our latest Amazon Prime watch party, scheduled for Saturday, Sep. 26, 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 gets the most votes. Management will break any ties. Note that unlike our other polls, you can only vote once. Poll closes at midnight EST on Wednesday, Sep. 23. You may vote for multiple movies, but not for every movie (because that would be pointless). Now, vote!
We didn’t get the required five RSVPs for our Saturday, September 9 party, so we canceled it. However we have received an RSVP for next week, so we’re starting a new announcement poll.
As stated, we have one RSVP so we’re looking for four more. If you RSVP’ed for the canceled party, you’ll need to do so again (and re-nominated a movies for screening). We will carry over two nominations from the previous post: Capone (2020) and The Forbidden Room (2015).
If we get four more RSVPs (and, optionally, screening nominations), our next party will be scheduled for September 26 at 10:15 PM. After we get the minimum number of nominees and likely attendees, we’ll put up a poll. Management will break any ties.
Amazon Prime’s catalog of movies is larger (and less exclusive) than Netflix’s. Ed Dykhuizen’s availability spreadsheet is a good resource to check for Canonically Weird movies (look for ones marked “free w/ Prime” in the “Amazon” column). Or, do your own research and come up with a title from Amazon. Eligible movies will have a “watch party” button on their Amazon page. You must be a Prime subscriber; you don’t have to download an extension or additional software.
We will not provide tech support; you’re on your own. Help each other.
When the party is set to begin we’ll announce it in three places:
Now, RSVP and make your nominations in the comments below.
This notice came in too late to make the regular column, but we thought we’d add it.
FILM FESTIVALS – Beyond Fest (Montclair, CA, 10/2-10/8):
Films are being screened exclusively at the Mission Tiki Drive-in. Please note that many of these showings are already sold out. At this writing, there are still tickets for one film we’ll be keeping track of in the near future: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead‘s latest head trip, Synchronic.
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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.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Ten Minutes to Midnight (2020): An aging punk radio host is bitten by a bat, and may be turning into a vampire. Apparently it gets wild and gory, as it’s earned some comparisons to Evil Dead II and Dead Alive. Ten Minutes to Midnight official Facebook page.
ONLINE RE-RELEASE:
Faust (1994): Read Alex Kittle’s List Candidate review. Of course, it’s fantastic news that Jan Svankmajer‘s second surrealist feature mixing stop-motion and live action is restored and available again, but what’s really exciting is the possibility that this re-release may signal revived interest in the rest of the Svankmejer’s catalog, which has been shamefully neglected in recent years. See a list of online rental partners at distributor KimStim’s Faust page.
STREAMING (HBO):
“The Third Day” (2020): Told in two halves, “Summer” and “Winter,” describing two separate characters visits to an barely-accessible British island where villagers practice their own peculiar form of paganism. This HBO miniseries is Wicker Man-inspired, obviously, but we assume it finds it’s own spin on the subject. “The Third Day” HBO page.
FILM FESTIVALS – Fantastic Fest (Austin, TX and online, 9/24-10/1):
The bad news: due to the pandemic, this year’s edition of Fantastic Fest has a dramatically slimmed down slate. The very good news: the offerings they do have will (with a few exceptions) be screened online for free for U.S. residents. The Old Man Movie (on 9/26) is one free offering. Also of note:
Visit the Fantastic Fest home page for complete schedule and instructions on how to access the screenings.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Reflections of Evil 2: The Same Day (202?): A sequel to Damon Packard‘s uncategorizable experimental DIY magnum opus about an obese watch salesman, his dead sister, and Steven Spielberg? According to IMDB, it’s been announced, complete with a tagline: “Bobby is back and he’s fatter than ever.” One problem: we couldn’t find any updates since the project was announced back in 2016 (and Packard’s completed two features, the thriller Fatal Pulse and the horror anthology Tales Beyond Madness, since). Still, we can hope. Reflections of Evil 2: The Same Day listing on IMDB.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
“The Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection”: Here’s a Blu-ray box set release that may be of minor interest to some here. It includes Fando y Lis (1968), El Topo (1970), The Holy Mountain (1973), and Jodorowsky’s latest film, Psychomagic, A Healing Art (2019) (which is not yet available separately). New interviews with Jodo and others and the short “La Cravate” (1957) are included among the numerous extras. Buy “The Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection”
Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (2019): Read Giles Edwards’ Apocrypha Candidate review. Miguel Llansó‘s wild tale of an unlikely CIA agent infiltrating “Psychobook” via virtual reality is out on Blu-ray in a limited edition from Arrow Video, packaged with an exceptional bonus feature: Llansó’s rarely seen but equally surreal debut Crumbs (2015). Buy Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway
Tommaso (2019): Willem Dafoe stars as a stand-in for director Abel Ferrara: an expatriate, ex-alcoholic director struggling with issues both artistic and personal. Mainly an introspective drama, but with surreal touches. Buy Tommaso
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
Independent theaters are cautiously starting to reopen across North America at diminished capacity, and we’re seeing a trickle of new screenings. As predicted, this section is slowly growing as fall arrives. You’ll have to use your own judgment as to whether it’s safe to go to movie theaters at this time.
NEPOTISM CORNER:
Interviewing the Unorthodox: Greg Smalley of 366 Weird Movies: We’re flattered that was the inaugural unorthodox interview for this column at the new online mag Babou 691, which bills itself as “dedicated to the bizarre and the surreal in literature, film, and art… celebrating the weird in its many forms.” That’s a mission statement we heartily endorse.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Due to lack of response, there will be no Amazon Prime watch party next week. We’ll try again for a September 26th party, but we may stick to the better-attended Netflix Parties once or twice a month from here on out.
We’ll continue presenting online reviews (while working in the background on the 2020 Yearbook and our “Big Book” project). So next week you can read take on Coma (2019), (the Russian Inception) and
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.
Reader recommendation (of sorts) by Daniel Ableev. Begins in medias res.
Apparently not, because Frank Heibert’s worm-building classic is somewhat of an epic, at least judging by the number of the pages involved (I haven’t actually read the scan template in question). Therefore it does not seem beneficial to wish for a reduction of such an extensive, grandiose, downright monstrous larger-than narrative to a three-minute flick. Of course this is a rather original artistic approach, but whether Villeneuve will be able to convince die-hard fans, as opposed to Davin Lynch‘s infamous attempt, remains to be seen (or doubted). In any case, there is not much room for strong storytelling or relationships in Dennis’s new work. After his already remarkably short thrillers “The Prisoner” and “The Sicario”, the undoubtedly talented Frenchman has now finally penetrated the heart of the avant-garde. Hectic cuts and cryptic off-screen dialogues turn the badly fragmented Deconstructor into an intensely dense deity in dire need of getting used to. Guest appearances by Dave Bautista and Jason Mamoa, both of whom seem to have stiffened their “-a”, and the fact that Oscar Isaacs is unwilling to leave the sci-fi genre would be even more commendable if he didn’t keep forgetting something (cf. shaving). As for the main character, the naive linnet’s Canadian-sounding surname provides a valuable clue—but what for? Viewers, severely maimed and crippled into question marks made of flesh and blood, have been for years in search of time to be lost, yet what they’ve managed to find is not more than three effing minutes of film material. Understandably they start pushing for answers without even having formulated the slightest of questions: Why does the crowd-pleasing worm twister at the end insists on being called The Big Lebowski? Why are those neo-Nazis, gracefully lowered on nylon threads, planning an eye-2-butter conversion intervention of sorts? And wouldn’t it be way more efficient to stretch the film so that the rather lavish CSI can finally come onto its own? Fun Fact: Hans Zimmer will undoubtedly go down as one of the most oven shots in film and cinema history, the simple reason for that being that Villeneuve had only time for one single song which wasn’t even composed, let alone Zimmer-ed.
We now realize: The spice melange lies in its brevity and the giant lies in its duneability, as does the perforated hoaxbox of sorts that has found more than one way into a fishnet. Uncanny Ville directs out of his hole, and a collection of grotesque vistas emerges: While Ed Wood himself keeps some of his favorite UFOs suspended, ambitious hyper-flies buzz along the sandtime continuum and animatronic sun rays accelerate the frementation process. Always dependent on artificial respiration, the indigenous Cyanos flee into Tremorpaul’s imperceptibly, yet all the more tightly pinched kneecap-jerking fantasies. Conclusion: “Independence Day” meets “Langoliers” with PS5 graphics and a threat extension of swords.
1 out of 5 stars