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 – Venice International Film Festival (Venice, IT, 8/30-9/9):

The world’s oldest film festival, Venice is still one of the most prestigious movie events of the year, although it has been losing ground in late years as many producers who miss the chance to debut at Cannes choose to premiere at the better-attended Toronto Film Festival instead. Like Cannes, its tastes tend towards the vino e formaggio crowd, but there’s always some adventurous and/or interesting  stuff to be found in the catalog, and some high-profile debuts, as seen in our list below:

• Controfigura – French film about a small crew trying to remake The Swimmer in Marrakesh. Screening Sep. 8 &9.
• Dangerous but Necessary – Documentary about two-time Certified Weird director Marco Ferreri (Dillinger is Dead, La Grande Bouffe). Screens Sep. 3 & 4.
•  Il Signor Rotpeter – Italian Kafka adaptation about a monkey who becomes a man. Screening Sep. 8.
• Mother – Darren Aronofsky‘s psychothriller starring Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the year. First peek comes on Sep. 5.
• The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro‘s adult fairy tale about a cleaning woman who falls in love with a merman; some critics are calling it the equal of Pan’s Labyrinth. The opening night screening has already passed but you can catch it in wide release in December.
• Woodshock – Looks like a grieving woman (Kirsten Dunst) smokes synthetic cannabinoids in the woods and hallucinates a lot. Debuts Sep. 4, also playing Sep. 5.
  

Venice International Film Festival official site.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Manster (1959): Read our review. Not sure this campy low-budget B&W creature feature merits a hi-def release, but B-Blu collectors may be interested. Buy The Manster [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.

• Los Angeles, CA, 9/1 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At the Aero Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 9/1 (midnight) – Spirited Away (2001). At the Nuart Theater.
• New York City, NY, 9/1-9/2 – Eraserhead (1977). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, 9/1-9/2 – Stalker (1979). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 9/1-9/2 (midnights) – Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984). At Nitehawk Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 9/1-9/3 – Stalker (1979). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 9/1 & 9/3 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, 9/3-9/4 – Belle de Jour (1967). At the Metrograph.
• Pittsburgh, PA, 9/1 – 9/7-  The Triplets of Belleville (2003). At Row House Cinema.
• Silver Spring, MD, 9/1, 2, 5 & 7 – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). AT AFI Silver Theater.
• Tuscon, AZ, 9/6 – El Topo (1970). At the Loft Cinema.

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 BLU-RAY:

Barton Fink (1991): Read the Certified Weird review! This Kino Lorber special edition disc of the Coen Brothers‘ surreal writer’s block classic contains interviews and deleted scenes and fills a gaping hole in the Blu-ray market (and the Barton Fink market). Buy Barton Fink [Blu-ray].

Jezebeth (2011): A young woman “at war with God” invokes a demon. Looks like a feature-length goth-metal video, and one Amazon reviewer wondered “I have scratched my head until it bled trying to figure out what the heck I just watched?” Buy Jezebeth [Blu-ray].

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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, 8/25 – Suspiria (1977).  At Gateway Film Center.
• Los Angeles, CA, 8/25 – The Woman in the Dunes (1964) with The Face of Another (1966) (double feature). At the Aero Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 8/25 (midnight) – Viva la Muerte [Long Live Death] (1971). At Cinefamily.
• Los Angeles, CA, 8/30 – 200 Motels (1971), introduced by Diva Zappa. At Cinefamily.
• New York City, NY, 8/25 (midnight) – Dogtooth [Kynodontas] (2009). At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, NY, 8/25 – 8/31 – Stalker (1979). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 8/31 – Stalker (1979). At the Metrograph.
• Seattle, WA, 8/25 – The Holy Mountain (1973), with a new live score performed by Zen Mother. Sold out but you can check for standby tickets at 7:30 PM. At Northwest Film Forum.
• Silver Spring, MD, 8/25 (midnight) – Evil Dead II (1987). At AFI Silver 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.

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):

Dave Made a Maze (2017): Dave builds a pillow fort in his living room and then gets lost inside its maze of booby-trapped corridors; his girlfriend assembles a team to go in and rescue him. The rare film to debut at the low-budget Slamdance festival and still earn a relatively wide release. Dave Made a Maze official site.

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.” Lemon official site.

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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, 8/18-8/23 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At Gateway Film Center.
• Columbus, OH, 8/23-8/24 – Suspiria (1977). At Gateway Film Center.
• New York City, 8/18 – Blue Velvet (1986). At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• New York City, 8/18 (midnight) – The Horrors of Spider Island [Ein Toter hing im Netz] (1960). At Spectacle Theater.
• New York City, 8/18 – 8/21 – Stalker (1979). At IFC Center.
• New York City, 8/18-8/24 – 3 Women (1977). At Film Society of Lincoln Center.
• New York City, 8/23-24 – Tekkonkinkreet (2006). With a live score by Rachika S. At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• Silver Spring, MD, 8/19 – Evil Dead II (1987). At AFI Silver Theater.
• Silver Spring, MD, 8/19, 21 & 24 – House [Hausu] (1977). At AFI Silver 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.

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):

The Ghoul (2017): A police detective goes undercover as the patient of a suspicious psychotherapist while investigating a series of bizarre murders that leave victims in an undead state. You have to take notice of any psychological thriller that gets a good review in “The Fortean Times.” The Ghoul official site.

Planetarium (2016): A movie director seeks to exploit two psychic sisters (Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp) in between-the-wars Paris. Reviews suggest that it’s a mess, but perhaps a somewhat weird mess. Planetarium Facebook page.

IN DEVELOPMENT (completed):

Mother (2017): Paramount released the first trailer for Darren Aronofsky‘s Mother (starring Jennifer Lawrence) this past week. Anticipation is sky-high for this “psychological horror” movie, despite the fact that there have been few to no leaks about the plot. The trailer suggests weirdness is still a live possibility. It premieres at the Venice Film Festival in a couple of weeks, so we’ll know soon enough. Mother official Facebook page.

NEW ON DVD:

“Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho Trilogy”: Full of eroticism, ghosts, and mysterious widows, this set collects three surreal period films from Japanese maverick Seijun Suzuki: Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kageroza (1981), and Yumeji (1991). All set during the Taisho era (1912-1926), these three movies have never been released on Blu-ray before and have been long out-of-print on DVD. Buy “Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho Trilogy” [DVD/Blu-ray].

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Re-Animator (1985): Stuart Gordon‘s influential 80s black comedy adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft‘s story about a couple of mad scientists raising the dead is an outrageous hoot and a seminal cult film. Arrow Video pulls out all the stops with this 2-Blu Limited Edition that includes the original cut and the much-longer “integral” version (it’s complicated), along with the commemorative booklet and reams of extras you’d expect. Buy Re-Animator [Limited Edition Blu-ray].

“Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho Trilogy”: See description in DVD above. Set includes three DVDs and three Blu-rays. Buy “Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho Trilogy” [DVD/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.

• Los Angeles, 8/12 (midnight) – Pink Flamingos (1972). At the Vista.
• New York City, 8/11-8/16 – Stalker (1979). At IFC Center.
• New York City, 8/11 (midnight) – The Horrors of Spider Island [Ein Toter hing im Netz] (1960). At Spectacle Theater.
• New York City, 8/12 – Eraserhead (1977). At Film Society of Lincoln Center.
• New York City, 8/12 – The Face of Another (1966). At the Museum of Modern Art.
• New York City, 8/12 & 8/15 – Videodrome (1983). At the Museum of Modern Art.
• New York City, 8/12-8/13 – Mulholland Drive (2001). At Nitehawk Cinema.
• New York City, 8/13 – House [Hausu] (1977). At Film Society of Lincoln Center.
• Silver Spring, MD, 8/13 – Léolo (1992). At AFI Silver Theater.
• Silver Spring, MD, 8/16 – My Winnipeg (2007). At AFI Silver Theater.

BOOKS:

“The Holy Mountain” – A full-length appreciation of Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s mystical masterpiece by Latin American literature professor Alessandra Santos. We haven’t gotten out hands on it yet, but we do now this site’s review is cited in the bibliography.  Buy “The Holy Mountain (Cultographies)”.

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.