Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Antiporno (2017): A female artist/novelist degrades her submissive assistant, or at least that’s what seems to be going on… Nikkatsu studios revived their 1970s/80s “roman porno” (i.e. softcore erotic film) franchise recently, and 366-fave Shion Sono‘s subversive, experimental take on the subgenre looks like a minor international breakout hit. Nikkatsu English-language page for Antiporno.

NEW ON DVD:

Jabberwocky (1977): A hapless medieval cooper is thrust into the role of knight to defend his town from the rampaging Jabberwocky. Though directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Michael Palin, original ads warned it was “definitely NOT a Python film.” Buy Jabberwocky.

Lemon (2017): An unsuccessful, socially-inept jerk actor loses his blind girlfriend and finds a new interracial relationship in this indie comedy. Probably more in the quirky vein, but at least one critic called it “deeply weird.” Buy Lemon.

Liquid Sky (1982): Read our review! Vinegar Syndrome is making a big deal out of this long out-of-print cult classic about aliens who get high off hormones released during human orgasms. For now, a limited edition of 3000 DVD/Blu-ray units is only available for order via the Vinegar Syndrome website.

“Mystery Science Theater: Volume XXXIX”: What looks to be the final box set release of the original series includes Mamie van Doren in Girls Town, Edgar G. Ulmer‘s b-movie mistake The Amazing Transparent Man, and Mario Bava‘s colorful (and not bad) spy thriller Danger: Diabolik, which served as the series finale. Since Shout! Factory could not obtain rights for a fourth film, they released the host segments from the eleven remaining unreleased episodes on a separate disk entitled “Satellite Dishes.” Buy “Mystery Science Theater: Volume XXXIX”.

Porco Rosso (1992): Read our review. Gkids continues with their Studio Ghibli re-releases with this tale of a pig pilot in an alternate WWI setting. Buy Porco Rosso.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017): Read our review. Our Shane Wilson called Luc Besson‘s latest attempt to recapture the magic of The Fifth Element “all frosting, no cake.” Buy Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

“Fritz Lang: The Silent Films“: Includes Die Nibelungen (1924), Spies (1928), Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922), Destiny (1921), The Spiders (1919), Woman in the Moon (1929), Four Around the Woman (1921), Harakiri (1919), The Wandering Shadow (1920), The Plague of Florence (1919), and of course the Certified Weird classic Metropolis (1927), with numerous documentaries spread across the 12 discs. An expensive way to own Metropolis, but a great Christmas present for the cinephile in your life. Buy “Fritz Lang The Silent Films”.

Jabberwocky (1977): See description in DVD above. Criterion Collection extras include a new documentary and interviews. Buy Jabberwocky [Blu-ray].

Liquid Sky (1982): See description in DVD above. Don’t worry, if you can’t afford a limited edition, there’s a regular release (which looks like it will be the same, but without the specially commissioned “dayglo” designer cover) scheduled for 2018. Vinegar Syndrome website.

Porco Rosso (1992): See description in DVD above. Buy Porco Rosso [Blu-ray].

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017): See description in DVD above. Buy Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets [Blu-ray].

SPECIAL SCREENINGS (Nov. 26, 27 & 29):

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004): Read the Certified Weird entry! GKids celebrates their acquisition of the Hayao Miyazaki catalog with national screenings of this anime steampunk fairy tale. Dubbed on the 26th and 29th, subtitled on the 27th. Search for a screening near you.

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.

• Los Angeles, CA, 11/24-11/25 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At the Egyptian Theater.
• New York City, NY, 11/24-11/25 (midnights) – Blue Velvet (1986). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 11/26 – Viva la Muerte [Long Live Death] (1971). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 11/30 – A Serious Man (2009). At the Museum of Modern Art.
• Pittsburgh, PA, 11/24-11/30 – Stalker (1979). At the Row House.
• Tuscon, AZ, 11/24-11/26 – Spirited Away (2001). At the Loft.
• Yonkers, NY, 11/26 – Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). At Alamo Drafthouse.

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.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

NEW ON DVD:

The Last Laugh (1924): An aging doorman is crushed when he’s demoted. A masterpiece of German Expressionism from the master, F.W. Murnau, out from Kino with supplements including a new score by the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra. Buy The Last Laugh.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Funeral Parade of Roses (1969): A psychedelic portrait of drag queens in Tokyo’s gay underground in the late 1960s. Long officially unavailable in the U.S., this legendary experimental film (that’s been sitting in our reader-suggested queue) is now out on Blu-ray from Japanese resurrectionists Cinelicious Pics (who brought us the even rarer Belladonna of Sadness last year). Buy Funeral Parade of Roses [Blu-ray].

The Last Laugh (1924): See description in DVD above. Buy The Last Laugh [Blu-ray].

SPECIAL SCREENINGS (Nov. 18 & 19):

The Exterminating Angel: Not the Certified Weird classic, but rather Thomas Adès’ new opera based on the film. It’s being simulcast from the Metropolitan Opera to theaters around the country live on the 18th, with a recorded encore the following night. These live opera broadcasts get surprisingly broad distribution, so if you’re interested it’s worth checking Fathom Entertainment’s site to see if a theater near you is hosting a screening.

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.

• Chicago, IL, 11/18-11/19 – Vertigo (1958). At Music Box Theater.
• Chicago, IL, 11/18 & 11/21 – Spirited Away (2001). At Gene Siskel Film Center.
• Los Angeles, 11/17 – Suspiria (1977). At Nuart Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 11/19 & 11/22 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At Egyptian Theater.
• New York City, NY, 11/17 (midnight) – Night Train to Terror (1985). At Spectacle Theater.
• New York City, NY, 11/17-11/18 (midnights) – Belladonna of Sadness (1973). At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 11/18 – Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) . At the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• New York City, NY, 11/22 – La Grande Bouffe (1973). At Spectacle Theater.
• New York City, NY, 11/22-11/23 (midnights) – Blue Velvet (1986).  At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 11/23 – Videodrome (1983). At the Metrograph.
• Tuscon, AZ, 11/17-11/18 – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). At the Loft.
• Tuscon, AZ, 11/19 – Dogtooth [Kynodontas] (2009). At the Loft.
• Tuscon, AZ, 11/23 – Spirited Away (2001). At the Loft.
• Yonkers, NY, 11/22 –  La Grande Bouffe (1973). At Alamo Drafthouse.

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.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

FILM FESTIVALS – AFI Fest  (Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 9-16):

The American Film Institute’s official film festival is the last stop on the yearly festival circuit, so you’re unlikely to see many films debuting there (they do get some films technically making their first appearance in the U.S., but the Toronto Film Festival steals most of their first-release thunder). Some weird-ish festival hits are taking a final bow there: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead‘s UFO cult mindbender The Endless, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani‘s poliziotteschi tribute Let the Corpses Tan, and Guillermo del Toro‘s soon-to-be merman hit The Shape of Water. In revivals, this year AFI celebrates Robert Altman with a slate of twelve films (including the Certified Weird 3 Women). You can also catch a rare screening of the raw and controversial 1967 mental hospital exposé  Titicut Follies. Here are a few lesser arthouse-style titles of potential weird interest that we failed to highlight when they played the crowded TIFF slate:

• Foxtrot – An Israeli father grieves for his dead soldier son in a film structured as an absurdist triptych. Screens Nov. 14 & 15.
  
• On Body and Soul – Two slaughterhouse workers find that they share a common dream (literally—they each have the exact same dream night after night). Nov. 12 & 15.
• Winter Brothers – Two brothers struggle with alternate perceptions of reality in a lonely Danish mining town.  Also Nov. 12 & 15.

AFI Fest homepage.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Mandy (201?): Nicolas Cage stars as “a broken and haunted man [who] hunts an unhinged religious sect who slaughtered the love of his life” in what producers promise will be a “surrealist, heavy-metal-soaked story of battle axes and demon bikers.” That sounds cool, but the kicker is that it’s being directed by promising stylist Panos Cosmatos, who hasn’t been seen sighted his 2010 Certified Weird debut Beyond the Black Rainbow. Deadline broke the story.

NEW ON DVD:

The Untamed (2016): Erotic Mexican horror about an unhappy marriage and some sort of creature in the woods. It made a minor splash, but we hope it’s not too tame. Buy The Untamed.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:`

The Untamed (2016): See description in DVD above. Buy The Untamed [Blu-ray].

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.

• Bloomington, IN, 11/10 – Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995). At Indiana University Cinema.
• Boston, MA, 11/10 – Phantom of the Paradise (1974). At Coolidge Corner Theater.
• Boston, MA, 11/16 – Donnie Darko (2001). At Coolidge Corner Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 11/10 (midnight) – Eraserhead (1977). At Nuart Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 11/11 – 3 Women (1977). Part of AFI Fest. At AFI Mark Goodson Screening Room.
• New York City, NY, 11/10 – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). At Film Society Lincoln Center.
• New York City, NY, 11/10-11 (midnights) – The Holy Mountain (1973). At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 11/11 – Blancanieves (2012),  double feature with Rusalochka (1968), with live scores for both performed by Tenth Intervention. At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 11/11 – Audition [Ôdishon] (1999). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, 11/11 – Shock Corridor (1963). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 11/12 – La Grande Bouffe (1973). At Spectacle Theater.
• Silver Spring, MD, 11/10-11/16 – Suspiria (1977). At AFI Silver Theater.

NEPOTISM CORNER:

“PA Days: A ‘Guy with a Website’ Is Put to Work on the Film Set of ‘Pay Day’” –  Our own Gregory J. Smalley volunteered as a production assistant (and was pressed into duty as an extra) on the set of the upcoming (not weird) microbudget hostage drama Payday (2018), then wrote about the experience—which turned into a meditation on the relationship between critic and filmmaker. Please read it at PopMatters.

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.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

FILM FESTIVALS – Ithaka Fantastik Festival (Ithaka, NY 11/3-11/12):

For a film festival that’s held in the middle of nowhere—apologies to Cornell grads if that sounds like a slight—Ithaka Fantastik has assembled a fine slate of arty genre films. Most of them are second-runs (or, if you prefer, “best ofs”) from Fantasia or Fantastic Fest: we recognized The Endless, Vidar the Vampire (screening here as Vampyr Vidar), Let the Corpses Tan, November, Top Knot Detective, Lowlife, and Sequence Break. We did note one brand new title of interest:

• Snowflake – Hired assassins in Berlin fight over a magical screenplay that allows them to rewrite the story as they go. Screens Nov. 10.
  

There will also be a screening of the restored Suspiria and, more impressively, a concert version of Jean Cocteau‘s 1930 Surrealist experiment Blood of a Poet, with a new live score performed by Anna Coogan.

Ithaka Fantastik Festival home page.

NEW ON DVD:

Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016): It sounds like a starting point for a Guy Maddin movie: 500 silent films are discovered in a vault under a hockey rink in a town near the Arctic Circle. This is more of a straight documentary than the cinematic poems Bill Morrison is best known for, but it still promises to uncover amazing oeneric images from the past. Buy Dawson City: Frozen Time

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016): See description in DVD above. Buy Dawson City: Frozen Time [Blu-ray].

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.

• Columbus, OH, 11/7-11/9 – El Topo (1970). At Gateway Film Center.
• Ithaka, NY, 11/9 – Suspiria (1977). Part of the Ithaka Fantastic Festival.
• Los Angeles, CA, 11/3 (midnight) – Akira (1988). At the Nuart Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 11/7 – Donnie Darko (2001) with Nightcrawler (2014), introduced by Jake Gyllenhaal. At the Aero Theater.
• New York City, NY, 11/3 (midnight) – Night Train to Terror (1985). At the Spectacle Theater.
• New York City, 11/3-11/4 (midnights) – El Topo (1970). At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, 11/5 – Shock Corridor (1963). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, 11/8 – Barton Fink (1991). At the Museum of Modern Art.
• Silver Spring, MD, 11/3-11/9 – Suspiria (1977). At the AFI Silver Theater.
• Tuscon, AZ, 11/3-11/4 – Repo Man (1984). At the Loft Cinema.
• Tuscon, AZ, 11/6 – Blood Diner (1987). At the Loft Cinema.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada, 11/3 – Videodrome (1983). At the Rio Theater.

YOU CITE US! YOU REALLY CITE US!:

“Science Fiction Double Feature: The Science Fiction Film as Cult Text” – Students using this text to study science fiction films may note our Zardoz review is cited in support of the proposition that “some found the film’s subversive narrative an effective commentary on the culture of the time and a somewhat visionary, if ‘weird,’ sci-fi film that broke away from conventional morality…” Cool, but not as cool as the following citation in

“Graph Embedding for Pattern Analysis” – Here, the List is used to identify “‘horizontal anomalies’ based on the list of weirdest movies…” The resulting HOAD score outperforms the baseline algorithm, just as we might have predicted, if we had the slightest idea what the authors were talking about. Still, we’re proud of our small role in refining new algorithms for pattern analysis. That’s why we started this project, after all.

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.

Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…

Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Mansfield 66/67 (2017): Read our review. Catch this campy experimental documentary about the relationship between blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield and Satanist huckster Anton LaVey this week in LA, with limited screenings across the country to follow. Mansfield 66/67 official site.

VIDEO-ON-DEMAND EXCLUSIVES:

Blood Dynasty (2017): A lesbian vampire haunts a woman in a motel. The third in a series of minimalist “Irina” films (we haven’t seen the other two) heavily influenced by the erotic vampire films of Jean Rollin  and Jess Franco. Rent Blood Dynasty.

FILM FESTIVALS – Video Nasty Film Festival (Seattle, WA, Oct. 29):

Disclaimer: Gregory J. Smalley served as a judge for this event. That said, he can give you a solid firsthand recommendation: although all of the selected shorts are watchable (with varying levels of “nastyness”), C.J. Gardella’s “Elegy” is the most promising gem here, a Kubrickian 20-minute surreal horror featuring a drowned corpse that should weird you out just in time for Halloween. Video Nasty festival at Film Freeway.

NEW ON DVD:

Castle in the Sky (1986): Read our review. GKIDS continues its Studio Ghibli re-release schedule with this flying machine fantasy from crossover anime master Hayao Miyazaki. Buy Castle in the Sky.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Castle in the Sky (1986): See description in DVD above. Buy Castle in the Sky [Blu-ray].

DVR ALERT!:

Turner Classic Movies: TCM’s October lineup includes several Certified Weird features, screened commercial-free. This week, the silent Satanic semi-doc Häxan (1922) gets its slot at the witching hour, midnight Eastern Standard Time (Oct 29 into Oct 30). For lots of other horror offerings of less Certified weird interest, check your local listings or see the entire schedule at Thought Catalog.

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.

• Lexington, KY, 10/29-31 – Suspiria (1977). At the Kentucky Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 10/28 – The Tingler (1959) with Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977). Also playing: An American Werewolf in London (1981), Popcorn (1991), Hack-O-Lantern (1988), Shocker (1989), Brain Scan (1998). Part of the “All-Night Horrorthon.” Standby tickets only. At the Aero Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 10/31 – Carnival of Souls (1962). With Candace Hilligoss in attendance. At the Aero Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 11/1 – Audition [Ôdishon] (1999) & The City of Lost Children [La cité des enfants perdus] (1995). Double feature with Takashi Miike in attendance. At the Egyptian Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 11/2 – The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) & Visitor Q (2001). Double feature with Takashi Miike in attendance. At the Egyptian Theater.
• New York City, NY, 10/27 – Suspiria (1977), with “dance installation.” At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 10/27 (midnight) – Evil Dead II (1987). At Nitehawk Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 10/28 – Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 10/30 – Nosferatu (1922), with live score by Tenth Intervention. At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• Oakland, CA, 10/27 – Phantom of the Paradise (1974). At the New Parkway Theater.
• Oakland, CA, 10/28 – Evil Dead II (1987). At the New Parkway Theater.
• Oakland, CA, 10/29 – Nosferatu (1922). At the New Parkway Theater.
• Pittsburgh, PA, 10/27-31 – Evil Dead II (1987). At Row House Cinema.
• Pittsburgh, PA, 10/27-31 – Suspiria (1977). At Row House Cinema.
• Silver Spring, MD, 10/27 – Nosferatu (1922). With live musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson. At AFI Silver Theater.
• Silver Spring, MD, 10/27-28, 30-31 – Suspiria (1977). At AFI Silver Theater.
• Silver Spring, MD, 10/28 (midnight), 10/29-11/1 – Phantasm (1979). At AFI Silver Theater.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada, 10/30 – Phantom of the Paradise (1974) triple feature with Carrie (1976) and Halloween (1978). At the Rio Theater.

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.