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WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 10/1/2021

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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.

FILM FESTIVALS – Nightstream (Online, Oct 7-13):

Nightstream came about in 2020 as an online collaboration between smaller film festivals that were canceled due to the pandemic; it proved enough of a success to have another go in 2021. This year, the participating festivals are Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, North Bend, and Overlook. All titles stream exclusively online and are geolocked to the U.S.

The streaming titles we’ve covered elsewhere are the nun dramedy Agnes, the Japanese time travel comedy Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, the experimental documentary Code Name: Nagasaki, Brazil’s sentient auto horror King Car, stop-motion nightmare Mad God, the restrospective Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist, the existential comedy Stanleyville, and the horror-drama We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. Among those we have previously noted but have yet to catch are ‘s visually amazing After Blue (Dirty Paradise) and the title-says-it-all doc Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror. There’s also one promising new-to-us debut: Bloody Oranges, a French feature involving multiple storylines about a dance contest, a crooked politician, and a pervert; programmers use the keyword “surreal.” Also with a revival of the amazingly bad and sleazy direct-to-video horror Boardinghouse (1982) and numerous shorts, podcasts and special panels.

Tickets start at $65 for five films.

Nightstream official homepage.

IN THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):

Spirited Away (2001): Read the canonically weird entry! ‘s most popular (and arguably best) feature, a good candidate for the title “the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ of Japan,” gets a short-lived wide release courtesy of Fathom Events  for its 20th anniversary. More Miyaki revivals will come in the following weeks in what’s being dubbed “Ghibli Fest.” October 3, 4 and 6 only; look for a participating theater near you at Fathom’s Spirited Away page.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Arrebato (1979): Surprise! This Spanish horror film about a horror film director who receives a mysterious 8MM film that leads to a hallucinogenic nightmare is getting an unexpected re-release in select theaters. A cult item in its homeland, it has never been exhibited in the U.S., and is not on home video in North America (an oversight we expect to change soon). Opens this week in NYC at Anthology Film Archives. More dates can be found at the U.S. distributor’s Arrebato homepage.

Mayday (2021): A world where women are engaged in an endless war, luring men to their death like sirens; a woman not sure if she wants to be a killer. Early reviews are a bit ho-hum. Also available on VOD. Mayday official site.

Titane (2021): A woman who survived a childhood car crash makes her adult living modeling at car shows, and then things get strange. We were intrigued by the idea of ‘s Raw followup, but we were unsure whether it would qualify as weird; after reading reports of its Palme D’or winning Cannes debut, we’re now convinced. Titane U.S. distributor site.

NEW STREAMING SERVICE: KINO CULT:

Kino Lorber has scoured their large catalog (and their sub-labels, including recently-acquired Artsploitation) for their cultiest titles and put them up for free on a new ad-supported streaming service, which advertises itself as “a deep dive into the unapologetically weird.” There are too many titles of interest, many covered here, to mention individually, so we’ll only list the canonically weird titles we noticed: Dogtooth [Kynodontas] (2009), Eden and After (1970), The Forbidden Room (2015), L’Immortelle (1963), and the restored versions of Nosferatu (1922) and Metropolis (1927). Also with a large selection of classic exploitation and most of ‘s catalog. This is truly a bonanza of online weirdness for your perusal. Now, if they’d just add watch party capabilities to the mix… check it out at Kinocult.com.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Devil Story (1986): A French horror with a plot involving mummies, Nazi mutants, and ghost horses, rediscovered and released by Vinegar Syndrome. Early reports suggest it enters into territory. Currently listed as “out of stock” at Amazon (though you can check the link to see if that’s changed), but you can always order these limited editions directly from Vinegar Syndrome. Blu-ray only. Buy Devil Story.

“Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films”: This Criterion Collection box set is, naturally, highlighted by Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971). Melvin’s experimental debut The Story of a Three Day Pass may also be of interest, but the kicker is son Mario’s comedy biopic Baadasssss! (2003), about the making of Sweetback. On five Blu-rays. Buy “Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films”.

Never Gonna Snow Again: A mysterious masseur appears in an upscale Polish neighborhood. Comparisons to Teorema naturally arise. DVD or Blu-ray. Buy Never Gonna Snow Again.

Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987): A drug-addicted writer finds a severed head after a two-week blackout bender and tries to piece together what happened. The directorial debut of writer Norman Mailer is seriously intended (it debuted at Cannes) but odd, campy, and raunchy; an unusual pickup for trash label Vinegar Syndrome. Buy Tough Guys Don’t Dance.

CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

This section will no longer be updated regularly. Instead, we direct you to our new “Repertory Cinemas Near You” page. We do have to mention that NYC’s the Metrograph is back, baby, showing the new restored print of Possession (1981) all week, and tossing in some oddities like the Chesty Morgan bra-buster Double Agent 73 , She Dies Tomorrow, and a smattering Halloween faves like In The Mouth of Madness through October. Also, Seattle’s Central Cinema is back in the game, with Suspiria (1977) playing next week. And heck, we’ll throw in Louisville, Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum Cinema, with 8 1/2 (1963) playing this weekend. We will continue to mention exceptional events in this space from time to time.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: There’s still time to vote for our next Weird Watch Party (scheduled for the evening of October 9). If things hold up, we’ll be screening the serial killer flick Angst (1983) on Tubi.tv.

In reviews, Pete Trbovich will roll up the bizarre kiddie show standalone film Pufnstuff (1970); Giles Edwards is planning a trip to Siberia (2019) with and ; and braves the theater for ‘s Palme d’Or winning body-horror, Titane. 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.

Capsules, Free Online Weird Movies

CAPSULE: DEEP BLOOD (1990)

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DIRECTED BY: Raffaele Donato,

FEATURING:  Frank Baroni, Cort McCown, Keith Kelsch

PLOT:  A shark hunt progresses after a native blood pact drives a group of privileged boys to avenge the death of their friend.

Still from Deep Blood (1990)

COMMENTS:  Summer 2021 is fading away, and it’s wise to see as many shark movies as possible. Of those, the fuzzy and buzzing 80’s Italian shark film Deep Blood isn’t the worst selection—but it comes close.  Many claim it’s worse than Jaws 4, and judging from its warbled and faded approach to both narrative structure and aesthetics in general, that’s a reasonable assessment. The shark attack scenes lack excitement, women and minorities are marginalized, and the main characters appear bored. Thankfully, the bulk of the movie is made up of narcotizing scuba scenes where little happens besides the inadvertent conjuring of serene oceanic bliss, making it a minor hit for weirdos with an interest in the peculiar and ironic entertainment of dated oceanographic sequences.

Donato and D’Amato succeed in creating a shark drama complete with boats, copters, and underwater scenes, but it’s frazzled by incompetency in the form of loopy synth pads and awkward, boring camera angles. It also hits sour notes with the seeping indolence of the era’s culture—things get kind of racist and sexist.  The only native character (credited as “Indian”) is used as a MacGuffin, and the ladies’ only function is to cheerlead, so distaste and disinterest with Deep Blood grows fast while the boys mope around the cabana, attended to by servants. While the questionable culture of a bunch of yuppie shark hunters is detestable, the characters’ mission to avenge the death of a friend with whom they made a blood pact with gives the narrative some validity. This central concept is enough to propel Deep Blood forward, highlighted by the curious rewards of sleepy scuba scenes.

Stock deep sea footage cuts to polluted swarms of kelp faded in haze, with tranquil swimmers slowly flipping fins, and not much occurring other than a handful of chord changes. The calm Zen quality of these quiet underwater shots is the true charm of Deep Blood. With grey and blue aquatic smears, the undersea content has a distinct 80’s ocean feel that brings to mind better films like Dead Calm. But the nagging synths and wooden acting draw negative attention to Deep Blood‘s lack of charisma. Luckily, there’s a pair of shabby kill scenes to laugh at.

It’s tough to tell (or even care) who is getting killed by the shark during the attack scenes because all characters look and act the same. Protagonists Ben, Miki and Allan all appear to be overzealous wimps when using explosives to kill the shark instead of good old hooks and lines. After all, as Grody in Jaws, Roy Scheider only resorted to pyrotechnics after his bones were rattled by seeing his captain get eaten alive by a prehistoric killing machine. In Deep Blood, the crew has a full arsenal of support together with their mansions, servants, striped pastel shirts, and yachts armed with explosives. And even with the motivating power of some very flirty Italian ladies, they barely get the job done.

Deep Blood boasts cheeky and misguided shark content along with sucky characters. The kill scenes are as exciting as a mail room staff party. What redeems it is the peaceful feeling of floating underwater while a droning score highlights the glowing VHS ambience. Like the moody aesthetics of early PC educational software, Deep Blood offers nodding maritime pleasures with a total lack of self-awareness. You can always watch Jaws afterwards to cleanse your palate.

A flawed but festive watch, Deep Blood is currently available on Youtube for free, and also on DVD and Blu-Ray from Severin films.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“I feel pretty confident in assuming it’s the only movie where a Native American randomly binds together a group of friends for a blood oath that ends with them confronting a killer shark. Throw in the other stuff you expect from Italian horror—gonzo dialogue, baffling character interactions, low-rent effects work, ill-fitting music—and it all comes together to form a singularly strange experience.”–Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror! (Blu-ray)

366 Underground, Free Online Weird Movies

366 UNDERGROUND: SMALL TALK (2016)

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DIRECTED BY: Terrisha Kearse

FEATURING: Farelle Walker, Jared Benjamin, Scott St. Patrick, Kiya Roberts, Jermaine Jercox, David Chattam, Gayla Johnson, Mia Sun

PLOT: Ahmed attends a dinner party with Corah, his fiancée, to meet his prospective in-laws. Did we mention that they live in Wonderland?

COMMENTS: “Down the rabbit-hole” is as apt a phrase to use with Small Talk—literally as well as figuratively—since the film is a very clever bounce off of Carroll’s “.” The original story has been adapted and interpreted as everything from social commentary to political allegory, but writer/actor Farelle Walker uses it as a pointed and even more surreal look at information overload, behavior defined by social media, and any “ism” (race, sex, class, etc.) that she can come up with—and that’s quite a lot.

It’s a chaotic package; quite a lot is thrown at the audience, and at “Alice,” in this instance represented by Ahmed Mogadam (Jared Benjamin) as the voice of reason. He (and we) are introduced to the Hamner Family, described in the opening statement as an “interesting family of strong opinions and disturbingly small-minded chatter.” There’s Corah (Farelle Walker), Ahmed’s fiancée, an African Goddess (we meet them as they’re listening to her podcast on her “Yanniverse”; she refers to Ahmed as a “Moor”) and a conspiracy believer (trying to avoid chemtrails as planes fly overhead). Her sister, Senna (Kiya Roberts) is “White” based, having ties to the “White Lives Matter” movement. Her husband, Edwardian ‘Eddie” Licenter (Scott St. Patrick) is a “White” rabbit (“Creole,” he insists). Brother Grant (Jermaine Jercox) is a sinister Army officer, describing himself as “the Black Man They can trust.” Poppa Hamner (David Chattam) is a pig who acts and talks as a stereotypical black patriarch, and matriarch Athyna Hamner (Gayla Johnson)—The Red Queen —is a pious Christian for White Jesus, who watches all via a portrait on the wall.

Amongst all of this is the Asian housekeeper, Soon Yook (Mia Sun), who gives condescension as good as she gets it; and the constantly streaming “Wonderland News” with the Mad Hatter, Dormouse and Rabbit as news anchors in the background. It’s a dense package that might seem, at first glance, a mad cluster… but it’s a film that one needs to pay close attention to, especially the wordplay. It’s a film for smart people. Some of the banter  may go over a lot of heads, especially as far as some specific cultural aspects are concerned, but for those willing to go on the ride down the hole, they’ll have a wild time.

“I set out with the intention of creating a mirror image of what I saw happening in my Social Media feed, while simultaneously shining a light into the dark corners of assimilation. As each minority group gains wealth, independence, and power there is a collective cheer amongst us. There is also a collective responsibility, which requires us to understand just how intricately racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and hatred of ‘others’ was woven into the structure of society. If we take note of how these concepts are interlaced we will start to understand why these ‘isms’ have not only outlasted their creators, but also started to be reflected in numerous people of color and minority groups. Recognition of our responsibility to be better should not make us kowtow to those that would oppress us; you will not hear a rally from me to turn the other cheek. Whether we find ourselves in opposition with a different ethnicity, opposite sex, or even a different religion; we must utilize our hard fought gains towards a higher standard in our approach to dealing with those we oppose. For if we act, problem solve and sound like those who oppressed us, are we really any different? ” – Farelle Walker

You can watch the 45 minute feature for free at www.flyrenegadeproductions.com or embedded below.

Small Talk The Movie from Farelle Walker on Vimeo.

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 3/20/2020

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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:

Nothing for the foreseeable future, as all the major movie chains are now shuttered due to the pandemic. Studios are now considering debuting some new releases on video-on-demand. We’ll keep an eye on the trend.

FILM FESTIVALS – Postponements:

Cannes has officially postponed the world’s most prestigious (if not largest or weirdest) film festival. No substitute date has been named, but they are hoping for June or July. Like the Kentucky Derby, Cannes may be too big to cancel altogether. We can only hope. More Cannes news at Deadline.

IN DEVELOPMENT (post-production):

Corona Zombies (as soon as they can rush it out, 2020): Full Moon pictures becomes the first studio to shamelessly exploit the pandemic. They’ve gotten a lot of bad press for the project, which will doubtlessly draw them plenty of eyeballs. As far as we know Horror Society was first to break the news.

Last Night in Soho (fall 2020): Comedy specialist dips his toes into psychological thriller territory. Lips are tight as to plot, but the film is set in London in the Swinging Sixties and appears to involve time travel. Star teases, “It’s a really well-directed acid trip.” Definitely one we’ll keep an eye out for. More of Taylor-Joy’s comments can be found at Indiewire.

IN DEVELOPMENT (completed):

Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream [Ne croyez surtout pas que je hurle ] (2019): An avant-garde documentary where a depressed shut-in filmmaker talks over an assemblage of movies (including a number of B-movies and rare Eurohorrors) as a confessional/self-therapy. Given the current status of the world, the trailer is both timely and eerie.  Originally scheduled for an April U.S. debut at Film Forum in NYC; no idea whether it will play as scheduled or not. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream French site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999): A teenage prostitute and a teenage serial killer flee to Mexico. The two Freeway movies, directed by Forbidden Zone actor and co-writer Matthew Bright, are an interesting species of exploitation films based on fairy tales (this one takes its cue from “Hansel and Gretel.”) Now on Blu-ray. Buy Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby.

The Nines (2007): Read our review. Mill Creek finally brings this thoughtful metaphysical mindbender to Blu-ray, at a shockingly low price that probably won’t last for long. Buy The Nines.

A Pure Formality (1994): This psychological thriller sees writer interrogated by detective over a mysterious murder. In our reader-suggested review queue, and now on DVD, Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, with a commentary track. Buy A Pure Formality.

Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss (2018): Black comedy about a couple whose bargain apartment comes with a catch: cultists continually break in to commit suicide in their bathtub. This debuted in theaters a couple of weeks ago and is now available on VOD (as scheduled; it wasn’t moved forward due to the pandemic). Buy or rent Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss.

Verotika (2019): A horror anthology sponsored by metalhead Glenn Danzig, inspired by his line of adult horror comics; the title is a portmanteau of “violent” and “erotica.” On VOD since February; now in a 3 disc package with DVD, Blu-ray and soundtrack CD. Buy Verotika.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

See “In Theaters,” above. We’re not aware of any movie theaters in the U.S. or Canada that are currently open for business.

We’re not going to tell you about all the wonderful movie screenings that were scratched, from fear of making you cry. Let’s say there were a couple of cancellations of upcoming repertory revivals and deep indie debuts that brought water to our eyes. We just pray all the cool stuff will be rescheduled soon and we can report good news in coming weeks.

FREE MOVIES AND BONUS CONTENT FOR ISOLATED WEIRDOS:

“The Cult Show: Jackie Kong”: The director of the canonically weird Blood Diner shows up on a relatively new web series to discuss her work. Kong is charming and enthusiastic, and these days seems to be spending all her waking moments promoting Blood Diner. Good for her! Enjoy.

The Green Fog (2017): Guy Maddin (working with collaborators and Galen Johnson) created The Green Fog on commission from  San Francisco Film Society as the closing film of their 2017 festival. In a manner similar to Doggiewogiez! Poochiewoochiez!, but with Maddin’s particular madness, The Green Fog loosely recreates Vertigo using footage from San Francisco-based movies and TV shows. The Green Fog is likely unreleasable commercially due to the huge number of copyright clearances which would have to be obtained. Maddin has put it up on his Vimeo channel for viewing; how long it will stay there is anyone’s guess, so this may be your only chance to check it out. Score by Jacob Garchik, performed by the Kronos Quartet. Watch The Green Fog free on Vimeo.

Plan 10 from Outer Space (1995): (Rubin & Ed) is digitally screening his full-length independent movie on YouTube (see his personal channel for more strange stuff) for free—temporarily—to help us weirder folk endure their social distancing. In fact, we hope to feature a new one from his catalog next week. While low budget, with acting and deliberately corny dialogue that echoes inspiration , Plan 10 is primarily a satire of Mormonism from the Utah-based filmmaker. Featuring the inimitable as Nehor. This link is unlisted and only up for a short time, so please don’t share without permission, and it goes without saying do not copy or download it—if you want a permanent copy, Harris sells them directly from his own website. With that out of the way, enjoy!

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: A wise man once said, “Things are really getting weird out there.” Let’s push out some of the bad-weird with the good-weird. Next week, Giles Edwards gets to the ahead-of-its-time tentacle horror/comedy Sh! The Octopus (1937), while G. Smalley endures the “violent eroti(k)a” of Glenn Danzig’s Verotika (OK, so we may be going back on our promise to focus on the good-weird with this one, but hopefully it will be amusing). You can also continue voting in the Eerie 8 round of our March Mad Madness Tournament until Sunday night (at least one of the four contests is still extremely competitive and may go right up to the deadline). And it’s always possible that we’ll have another announcement to brighten your spirits soon… 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.

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 9/13/2019

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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):

Chained for Life (2018): Read Giles Edwards’ review. At the time of this writing, this comedy about “freaks” making their own movie during off-hours on another movie set currently holds an impressive 100% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Ridiculous trivia: Freaks (see below) and Chained for Life both share names with movies starring conjoined twins the Hilton Sisters. Chained for Life official site.

Freaks (2018): Read Giles Edwards’ review. As promised in our (possibly spoilery) interview, the festival hit about a 10-year-old girl whose father keeps her locked inside and warns her never to leave the house receives a Friday the 13th release. Freaks official site.

Monos (2019): Enigmatic Colombian film about a purposeless group of soldiers camped in a fog-shrouded jungle. It’s receiving excellent reviews (with optimistic comparisons to Apocalypse Now). Monos official site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Bloodsucker’s Planet (2019): A spaceship crew responding to a planetary distress signal encounter talking alien cockroaches, a gynobot with romantic delusions, and space vampires. An ultra-low budget 60s retro space opera, and a prequel to a 2012 movie (Bloodsucker’s Handbook) we never heard of, but looks weird. Blu-ray, DVD or VOD. Buy Bloodsucker’s Planet.

The Dead Don’t Die (2019): Residents of a small town endure a plague of zombies caused when polar fracking knocks the earth off its axis in this self-aware zombie parody. Features clunky satire and inconsistently deployed self-referential humor, but it is fun to see the amazing cast (led by a weary ) get picked off by the undead. On Blu-ray, DVD and VOD. Buy The Dead Don’t Die.

“Undone” (2019): A new Amazon Prime series about a young woman whose dead father teaches her to time-travel. If that’s not enough oddity for you, we’ll add that it’s rotoscoped and from the makers of “Bojack Horseman.” The season debuts 9/13. “Undone” on Amazon Prime.

STREAMING SERVICES:

Spamflix: Questionable name, interesting service. Founded by a couple of international film festival programmers, spamflix specializes in rare films they describe as “absurd, fantastical and bizarre” and promises a platform “where genre enthusiasts can become ensorcelled with cinematic oddities from around the world.” The catalogue differs by country. The available-in-U.S. roster is currently small, but impressive, headlined (in our estimation) by the canonically weird Der Samurai (2014) (which is available on other platforms) and ‘s abstract Symbol (which is not). Other interesting, underseen films include Gandu, Liza the Fox Fairy, and the UFO musical The Legend of Kaspar Hauser. Spamflix.com.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

K-12 (2019): Pop singer Melanie Martinez released a movie (a real musical, not just a “visual album”) in conjunction with her latest release, and put it up on YouTube for free. It’s a fantasy about a girl who is sent to a strict and surreal boarding school, and rebels; the aesthetic is almost oppressively pink. No word on how long it will remain up, so we assume indefinitely. Watch K-12 free on YouTube.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Last week was weird sex week; next week, we’ll go back to our regular format of just throwing whatever we feel like up on the page. Therefore, you can expect another eclectic slate of weird movie writing, starting off with G. Smalley‘s report on ‘s 15-hour classic, Berlin Alexanderplatz; Giles Edwards on Netflix’s Dark Crystal prequel  “The Age of Resistance”; and Pete Trbovich getting philosophical with his essay “Questions Are Beautiful.” Onward and weirdward!

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.

Canonically Weird (The List), Free Online Weird Movies

360. COME AND SEE (1985)

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Idi i smotri

“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”–Revelation 6:7-8

Must See

DIRECTED BY: Elem Klimov

FEATURING: Aleksey Kravechenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius

PLOT: Florya, a boy of about 14, digs in a field with a playmate, hoping to find a buried rifle so he can join the Belorussian partisans fighting against occupying Nazis. He finds one, and is soon roughly whisked away by soldiers to the forest campground, leaving his sobbing mother behind. When the troops go on patrol he is left alone to guard the camp, but after the Luftwaffe bomb the area he and a female companion return to Florya’s village, where he finds the war has devastated everything his once knew.

Still from Come and See (1985)

BACKGROUND:

  • Based on a memoir of a teenage Belarussian partisan, Come and See was commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over the Nazis.
  • Director Elem Klimov, still a relatively young man at 52 when he completed Come and See, chose to retire from filmmaking after its release, saying that he could not top this achievement.
  • Come and See is included in Steven Schneider’s “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” and tied for 30th (among directors) and 154th (among critics) in “Sight and Sound”‘s 2012 Greatest Movie poll, among other accolades and honors.

INDELIBLE IMAGE: It could be the closeup of Aleksey Kravechenko’s prematurely aged face at the end. Or the S.S. skull-on-a-stick the refugees turn into an effigy of Hitler. For me, however, the most surprising and unforgettable image was the nightmare of Florya and Glasha sloshing through a muddy bog in desperation, fleeing from a horror they will never be able to outrun.

THREE WEIRD THINGS: Forest Charleston; cow in a firefight; kill baby Hitler?

WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: Come and See’s flirtations with surrealism nudge it into the “weird” category, and then its sheer grueling intensity carries it to “must see” status. That recommendation should perhaps come with a warning that, despite containing nothing particularly graphic, this movie’s sheer aura of evil is likely to disturb you on a deep level. This is not a shock-for-shock’s-sake experience, however, but an honest, unflinching dip into the subconscious of an adolescent boy thrust into a horrific situation initially beyond his comprehension—one which he tragically comes to understand all too well.


DVD trailer for Come and See

COMMENTS: Come and See is war movie as horror movie. It is notable for its immersive intensity. It unrelentingly assaults your sensibilities, as sadistically eager to strip away your innocence as it is to Continue reading 360. COME AND SEE (1985) →

Free Online Weird Movies, Miscellanea

WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 5/25/2018

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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):

Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece (2018): An ex-porn star becomes a kickboxing avenger in this 80s action throwback. The trailer makes it look desperately over-camped, but check out the cameos: , kickboxer Cynthia Rothrock, kickboxer offspring Bianca Brigitte VanDamme, wrestlers Bill Goldberg and Tiny Lister, Last Dragon Taimak, and of course, Ron Jeremy. Fury of the First and the Golden Fleece official site.

The Misandrists (2017): A fugitive male hides out at a lesbian separatist boarding school. This is the widest release we’ve ever seen for a Bruce LaBruce movie (the director started out making underground gay porn movies and has gradually moved into slightly more mainstream transgressions). The Misandrists official site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973): An ancient Incan ritual turns a dead woman into an avenging angel. Arrow Video is pitching this supernatural giallo as “surreal,” but just the fact that it’s sleazemaestro directing and would make it worth our notice. On Blu-ray only. Buy Death Smiles on a Murderer.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985): An expressionistic portrait of the life of the Japanese author, told in flashbacks and stylized recreations of his fiction. This Criterion Collection Blu-ray upgrade may give us an excuse to knock this one out of our reader-suggested queue. Buy Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.

Sequence Break (2017): Read Giles Edwards’ review. The Cronenbeg-ish story of a young man absorbed (literally) by a mysterious video game. Streaming exclusively (for the time being, at least) on Shudder beginning on May 24.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:

A Boy and His Dog (1975): Read the Certified Weird entry! Don Johnson roams a post-apocalyptic wasteland with his telepathic dog, looking for women to rape. Upstart Tubi has a surprising number of weird (Certified and otherwise) titles in its catalog. Watch A Boy and His Dog free on Tubi.tv.

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.