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Discussed in this episode:
Ash (2025): An astronaut wakes up on a spaceship to find her crew dead, and wonders if she can trust the man who arrives claiming to be a rescuer. Some psychedelic scenes highlight this sophomore feature from Flying Lotus. No official site located.
Harlequin (1980): Read Giles Edwards’ review. The “mystical oddity” gets a physical media upgrade from Indicator. Blu-ray and 4K UHD editions are sold separately. Buy Harlequin.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: No guest officially scheduled for next week’s Pod 366, but Giles and Greg will return with a look at the week’s weird news and releases. In written reviews, Shane Wilson handles one that Came from the Reader-Suggested Queue with the Christian puppeteer documentary Hands of God (2005), Giles Edwards tracks down another reader suggestion in the impressively-titled Oh Dad, Poor Dad (Momma’s Hung You In the Closet & I’m Feeling So Sad) (1961), Enar Clarke enters The Mountains of Madness (1972), and Gregory J. Smalley plans to catch (and report on) cosmic sci-fi/horror Ash (above). Onward and weirdward!
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920): Read the Canonically Weird entry! The seminal horror from a hundred years ago gets the 4K treatment, with a Blu-ray and a UHD disc. Most special features are ported over from the 2014 Blu-ray, but there is a new score (with a commentary track) from composer Jeff Beal (which makes for three choices of musical accompaniment altogether) and an “audio description track” for the vision impaired. Buy The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
Daaaaaali! (2023): Five different actors play Salvador Dalí in Quentin Dupieux‘s latest, which has a premise straight out of Dalí frenemy Luis Buñuel: a journalist tries to interview the painter, but can never get it started. There are still a few U.S. theatrical dates to come, but it’s now on VOD for everyone to check out. Buy or rent Daaaaaali!
Despiser (2002): A man finds himself in Purgatory, fighting a demon named “the Despiser” with an array of allies from different time periods. Visual Vengeance puts out a packed “collector’s edition” Blu-ray of this CGI-filled, shot-on-video labor-of-love that might be weird. We’ll know soon enough when Giles reviews it in a couple days. Buy Despiser.
Ninja Scroll (1993): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. The popular 1993 anime (which includes neither ninjas nor scrolls, but does have loads of sex and violence) gets a nice-looking limited-edition steelbook release with a new commentary track from director Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Buy Ninja Scroll.
The Sacrifice (1986): Read Alfred Eaker’s review. Andrei Tarkovsky‘s final film (he was dying of cancer as he filmed it) is a typically austere and challenging spiritual tale of a man who wishes to sacrifice himself to save his family from an apocalypse. The restoration debuts Oct. 25 (today!) at Film Forum in NYC and will expand afterwards; a 4K physical media release is sure to follow.
Slingshot (2024): An astronaut slowly loses his mind on the years-long journey to Saturn’s moon, Titan. This lower budgeted sci-fi/psychological thriller has a couple of big names (Casey Affleck, Lawrence Fishburne) and references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, but few people seemed to like it too much. Buy Slingshot.
(Note: the above trailer is mildly not-safe-for-work due to gore and sexual suggestiveness)
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
We have no scheduled guest for next week’s Pod 366, but Greg and Giles will be back as usual to discuss the week’s weird news and releases. In YouTube content, Pete Trbovich‘s Halloweird Weird View Crew series returns with a video review of Peter Jackson‘s first Hollywood film, The Frighteners (1996) (pending YouTube copyright clearance). (Pete may be able to sneak in another Halloweird entry before 10/31 rolls around, but no promises). The written word is represented by Shane Wilson‘s Halloween pick from the reader-suggested queue, Village of the Damned (1960); Giles Edwards hoping that no one despises his review of Despiser (see above); and Gregory J. Smalley jumping on the chance to finally watch Daaaaaali! (also see above). Onward and weirdward!
All the way from Adelaide, South Australia, director Pirie Martin joins us to discuss his strange experimental film noir, Psychosis, in which a criminal fixer who hears voices (but is not otherwise obviously schizophrenic) investigates some drug zombies, which leads to an an encounter with a masked vigilante and a master hypnotist drug kingpin and … it just gets stranger from there. Debuting on Tubi on Oct. 4.
“American Horror Project Vol 2“: The three regional oddities featured in this volume are the New England curse feature Dark August (1976), the evil kid chiller The Child (1977), and the most obviously “weird” one, the losing-her-grip-on reality psychothriller Dream No Evil (1970). Curated by obscure horror specialist Stephen Thrower, with more deep analysis than you would expect for this shclocky drive-in fare. Buy “American Horror Project Vol 2.“
The Creature (1977): The plot, basically, is a woman falling for a German Shepherd. It’s one of those European anti-bourgeois screeds, exploitation style. Buy The Creature.
“Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy”: Read Gregory J. Smalley’s reviews of The Doom Generation and Nowhere. The set also includes Totally F***ed Up. We weren’t big fans of Araki‘s nihilistic teen satires, but of they’re good enough for the Criterion Collection, maybe they deserve a second chance. Buy “Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy.”
Happiness (1998): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. The Criterion Collection does a 4K UHD upgrade of their edition of the blackest of black comedies. And they said you couldn’t buy Happiness. Buy Happiness.
Megalopolis (2024): It’s here, and it’s as divisive as we could have hoped. Francis Ford Coppola‘s America-as-ancient-Rome magnum opus is in theaters now; we should have a review and further commentary coming next week. Megalopolis official site.
Omen (2023): An immigrant visits his family in the Congo with his Belgian fiancee, only to be accused of being a sorcerer. Reviews suggest that the film’s conclusion may be stranger than the simple horror movie setup seen in the trailer indicates. The Blu-ray includes three bonus short films. Buy Omen.
A Wounded Fawn (2022): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. The surrealistic horror about a schizophrenic serial killer debuts on physical media this week. The Blu-ray includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews and a bonus short film. Buy A Wounded Fawn.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
We may have a guest on Pod 366 next week—still in negotiations over scheduling. At any rate, we also expect to have a surprise bonus standalone interview midweek, and possibly a second surprise. Meanwhile, in written reviews, Shane Wilson takes on another one that Came from the Reader-Suggested Queue with Shinbone Alley (1970), an animated musical about the co-dependent relationship between a cat and a cockroach, while Gregory J. Smalley will give you his first impressions on Megalopolis. Onward and weirdward!
Crumb Catcher (2024): A newlywed couple are accosted by a couple of entrepreneurs intent on getting them to invest in their get-rich-quick device: a crumb catcher. “Absurd” and “odd” are some of the words turning up in reviews; the indie arrives on VOD this week. Buy or rent Crumb Catcher.
Megalopolis second trailer: Not sure if this is an “oops!” moment or part of a marketing scheme that has often stressed how bizarre this entire production was, but Lionsgate has withdrawn their second trailer for Francis Ford Coppola‘s Megalopolis after Variety pointed out that the (negative) critics’ quotes it presented for The Godfather and other films were made up. Roger Ebert himself called this trailer “one of the biggest embarrassments ever released by a major studio,” while Pauline Kael said the scandal “stinks like a wedge of stale Camembert fermented in sun for three days.” Of course, the controversial trailer itself will live forever on YouTube. Hollywood Reporter describes the fiasco’s aftermath.
The Other Laurens [L’autre Laurens] (2023): The official plot description reads, “A private detective [is] forced to face the ghosts of his past when his niece asks him to investigate her father’s death.” Sounds conventional, yet it catches our attention because Yellow Veil is releasing it, and one reviewer calls it “Lynchian” and “a strange film” while The Hollywood Reporter refers to “bits of dark comedy and weirdness.” The Other Laurens official site.
Undergods (2020): Read Giles Edwards’ festival review. A pair of corpse-collectors ride around a dystopian ruined city relating their strange dreams in this dreamy dystopian anthology film that finally arrives on a bare-bones Blu-ray four years after release. Buy Undergods.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
We may have a surprise guest (or guests) lined up for our next Pod 366, but in any case, Giles will be back with Greg to discuss the week’s news and releases. In other YouTube content, having cleared up a copyright misunderstanding that delayed its posting for more than a month, Pete Trbovich‘s Weird View Crew returns to cover Hollywood’s campy critical flop Dick Tracy (1990). In written reviews, Shane Wilson wisely takes John Huston‘s 1979 adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood out of the reader-suggested queue; Giles Edwards catches Crumb Catcher (see above); and Gregory J. Smalley ambles off to see Chronicles of a Wandering Saint (also above). Onward and weirdward!
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!
