Those looking for a quick and thorough behind-the-scenes breakdown to Angus Silver‘s creature feature, Insectasy, are in luck. 366’s Giles Edwards skittered into Fantasia’s green room and landed squarely on a scoop with remarks on the story, the production, the actors, the intimacy coordinator, and, most important of all, the bugs.
Rest assured, listener: no insects were injured during production, either of this interview or the film. Bzzzz
Entering the green room, 366’s Giles Edwards was surprised to observe such a full house. From right to left on the couch sat Louiza Aura, Leonor Oberson, Aminata Thiboult, and Nicky Murphy, the three leads and the director. Off in the far left corner, Fantasia press-person Maggie studiously typed away on their laptop, while in the near-left corner sat Nicky Murphy’s partner with their infant. To 366’s right, an unidentified woman assured us that she needn’t be identified. Our thoughts slightly swimming from a lack of sleep and innumerable films, we dove headlong into an question and answer session for the I Love Paris team about their vampire/music mockumentary. So commenced a fun fifteen minutes.
In a five-for-the-price-of-one deal, 366’s Giles Edwards walked into the green room expecting only a writer-director. Instead, he enjoyed a more thorough conversation for our bonus coverage: Craig Mitchell, of course, but also leading ladies Daniela Couso and Carol Abney, costume designer Petra Larson, and, producer Ty Donaldson. This eminent assembly gave the insight needed to approach Los Vampires from a position of safety, away from the eldritch undercurrents and battling egos of film’s vampiric duo.
Giles Edwards met up with Mark H. Rapaport in a luxury hotel room. But don’t worry: Mark wasn’t staying there, he was just borrowing the space. Splashing out for some room service on his brother’s tab, we chatted for an hour about Mark’s new movie, theology, and the intersection of religion and cinema. It ends with the Fantasia audience Q&A from the film’s world debut.
Alpha (2025): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. Although it concerns a plague that turns people into statues, Julia Ducournau‘s third film resembles a Euro-style family drama more than it does the shocking horror films of her early career. Now on Blu-ray. Buy Alpha.
Careful (1992): Read the Canonically Weird entry! A 4K remaster of Guy Maddin‘s neo-expressionist masterpiece about sexual repression (particularly of the incestuous kind). Playing select art-house theaters. In Chicago and NYC this week; check out Careful at Zeitgeist Films for all screenings.
“The David ‘The Rock’ Nelson Collection Vol 3”: Features the epic backyard horror movie anthology Monster Tales (2002), made by a former amateur boxer turned direct-to-VHS auteur (who proudly refers to himself as “The Ed Woodof the 21st century”). How did we miss the first two volumes? Buy “The David ‘The Rock’ Nelson Collection Vol 3”.
Desperate Living (1977): Read the Canonically Weird review! The third entry in John Waters‘ “trash trilogy” is the most ambitious, a depraved fairy-tale for perverted sociopaths. The Criterion Collection does it right, in your choice of Blu-ray only or 4K UHD + Blu-ray. Buy Desperate Living.
Dogra Magra (1988): A man awakes in a mental asylum with no memory and is informed he killed his wife on his wedding night. Toshio Matsumoto‘s final film was an adaptation of an “unfilmable” novel; a commentator once suggested the film is like a Japanese mashup of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with Last Year at Marienbad. This is Radiance’s standard version of the collector’s edition released in late 2024. Buy Dogra Magra.
“Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape”: A Blu-ray collection of the work of digital creator Kelli, partly curated by Jane Schoenbrun. Some (most?) of the bits featured on this collection were unreleased on her YouTube channel. Buy “Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape”.
Hairspray (1988): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. John Waters’ PG-rated 50s Baltimore nostalgia piece gets the Criterion Collection treatment, also in Blu-ray or 4K UHD + Blu-ray. Buy Hairspray.
Malpertuis (1972): Read the Canonically Weird entry! The Blu-ray debut of this very strange Belgian/international movie about a sailor who returns to the mansion where his very strange family lives. From Radiance, with some new interviews and lots of archival extras. Buy Malpertuis.
Mare’s Nest (2025): Moon explores a strange world with no adults. Discover the extremely limited screening schedule for this art-house experiment at the Mare’s Nest page at Grasshopper Films.
The Nude Vampire (1970): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s Apocrypha Candidate review. Jean Rollin‘s sophomore film includes one of his most bizarre scenarios and sets the plate for the vampire films to come. This is the “US Standard” edition 4K UHD (no Blu-ray), but it contains essentially the same material as the old limited edition. Buy The Nude Vampire.
“Roman Porno Reboot Collection, Vol. 1”: Around 2016, Nikkatsu studios asked contemporary directors to make new movies in the style of its early 1970s “Roman Porno” softcore films. One of the first, and the standout of the series, was Sion Sono‘s subversive Antiporno, included in this set along with more conventional sex pictures with titles like Aroused by Gymnopedies, Dawn of the Felines, Wet Woman in the Wind, and White Lily. “Buy Roman Porno Reboot Collection, Vol. 1”.
No guest scheduled for next week’s Pod 366 (although we suppose a surprise could always pop up), but the crew will be back to discuss the week’s weird news and new releases. In written content, Michael Diamades sets the stage for Decorado (2025), Enar Clarke scores a Fresh Kill (1994), Shane Wilson decides to Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1971), and Gregory J. Smalley wonders what a Wetiko (2022) is. Onward and weirdward!
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!