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

SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, Nov 11 & 12 at midnight):

Blue Velvet (1986): Read the Certified Weird entry! IFC has made David Lynch‘s sadomasochistic 80s nightmare into a welcome midnight staple. “Now it’s dark…” Blue Velvet at IFC Center.

FILM FESTIVALS – AFI Fest (Los Angeles, CA., Nov. 10- 17):

The American Film Institute’s official film festival strictly hosts premieres. It occurs so late in the year, however, that many movies with awards aspirations choose to debut elsewhere, so programmers cheat just a little for big names like Jackie, La La Land, and Moana, which have played all over the country but make their California premieres here. It’s still a prestigious feather in the cap for smaller art films and late-debuting foreign movies. We’ve already covered the mermaid musical The Lure, which we hope will make a splash here, but here are some more artily weird offerings that are new to us:

• Buster’s Mal Heart – Buster has two (or maybe more) personalities, literally existing in two separate bodies: one a family man, the other a bearded hermit. Debuts Nov. 11 (tonight), with an encore on Nov. 16.
• A Dragon Arrives! – A police inspector buries the body of an assassinated politician found in a shipwreck in the middle of the desert in a nearby cemetery, causing a localized earthquake, in tis absurdist Iranian experimental film. Nov. 15 & 16.
• Fear Itself – A “stream of consciousness” documentary about horror films incorporating clips from several Certified Weird movies: Altered States, Antichrist, Brazil, Carnival of Souls, Don’t Look Now, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Night of the Hunter, Nosferatu, Repulsion, Suspiria, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and Videodrome (credit goes to this IMDB post for the list). Nov. 13 & 14.
  
• Kati Kati – Kenyan magical realist movie where Purgatory exists on the savanna. Nov. 15 & 16.
• Malgré la Nuit – An abstract thriller about a man going undercover to search for his lost love, whom he fears may have become the victim of a snuff film ring. Nov. 15 & 16.

AFI Fest homepage.

FILM FESTIVALS – Ithaca Fantastik Festival (Ithaca, NY, Nov. 9- 13):

In only its fifth year of operation, this out-of-the-way festival held in a college town in upstate New York doesn’t get the big premieres, but they have snapped up some very cool, obscure and, yes, weird films from the second tier. Some of the films we’ve noted playing at other festivals are the Filipino bloodfest Alipato–The Very Brief Life of an Ember, the Swiss psychological detective fantasy Aloys, and the highly recommended outsider ode She’s Allergic to Cats. Here are some others to check out:

• Altered States (1980) – Ken Russel’s creates the world’s big-budgeted trip movie. See it on the big screen Nov 13.
• Nova Seed – Created frame-by-frame by Nick DeLiberto, it’s a post-apocalyptic fantasy that looks like a (nostalgically) cheap 1980s Saturday morning cartoon. Playing today, Friday Nov. 4, at 4 PM, so if you’re in Ithaca and you’re reading this get out there now! The rest of us will wait on a DVD.
• A Page of Madness (1926) – Japan’s first Surrealist film is a silent movie about a man getting a job as a janitor at an insane asylum to be near his mentally ill wife. Avant-garde composer Tenzin Chopak conducts live electronic accompaniment to the Nov. 13 screening.
• Terror 5 – This Argentinian horror import about five horrific events that occur on one night is one of the few films making its American debut at Ithaca; programmers describe it as “experimental,” “dream-like,” and “surreal.” Check it out Nov. 12.

Ithaca Fantastik Festival homepage.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002): Read the Certified Weird entry! Nursing home Elvis and black JFK fight a mummy in this Shout! Factory Collector’s Edition with new commentary from the short story’s original writer, new interviews with cast and crew, and more (although sadly, it looks like they couldn’t get the rights to the in-character commentary track by Bruce Campbell). Buy Bubba Ho-Tep [Collector’s Edition Blu-ray].

Night Has a Thousand Desires (1984): A woman who works in a telepathic nightclub act who dreams of murders that come true. It’s a typical uneven Jess Franco erotic horror of the post-Franco period, complete with a nude Lina Romay, although some say it’s both weirder and better-made than some of Jess’ other schlock cheapies. Buy Night Has a Thousand Desires.

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.

Next week, we’ll take a twisted tour of the Louvre with Russian avant-gardist Aleksandr Sokurov as our guide in 2015’s Francofonia; Pete Trbovich will tell you all about China’s biggest blockbuster ever, the Stephen Chow romantic fantasy/comedy The Mermaid; and we’ll knock another one out of that crazy-long reader-suggested review queue with a review of Federico Fellini‘s semi-autobiographical Amarcord. If that’s not enough, we won’t ignore the big hit out there this week, as Alfred Eaker takes a trip into the strange (by Marvel standards) with Dr. Strange. It’s a cosmopolitan selection of blockbusters and art films from across the globe next week as we transition into year-end mode.

There were only a few truly weird search terms we saw this week, but those we did catch were certainly bizarre enough to make it well worth the few pixels we’ll expend describing this week’s Weirdest Search Terms. Some advice: if you don’t want your search terms showing up here, you should learn basic spelling (especially distinguishing your homophones) and grammar. Otherwise, you might end up featured in this space, like the guy looking for “seeing a mother has sex with a lover sun became strange movie name?” Of course, for some people it’s useless to even attempt to search in the English language; for example, the poor soul who wasted his time typing “vlages anti bating sex vedio” into that Google box. (Although I think I figured this one out: he’s looking for “villages aunty bathing” movies, which is definitely a Hindi thing). Neither of these, however, can match the strangeness of our official Weirdest Search Term of the Week, “classical pron movie uspeakable acts of… mate mummy.” The ellipsis (“…”) really helps the weirdness; the “unspeakable acts of mate mummy” ain’t so strange, but the “uspeakable acts of… [wait for it…] mate mummy”—now that‘s weird!

Here’s how the ridiculously-long reader-suggested review queue now stands: Amarcord (next week!); Candy; The Last Days of Planet Earth; Jack and the Beanstalk (1974, Japan); The Saragossa Manuscript; Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE →

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):

Creepy (2016): Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s latest is a return to his horror roots, as a detective comes out of retirement to investigate a cold case and finds an irrational world instead. This Halloween season offering got good reviews during its film festival run, including one from Jonathan Romney mentioning its “weirdness.” Creepy official site.

SCREENINGS – (New York, NY, IFC Center, Fri.-Sat., Oct 21-22):

Eraserhead (1977): Read the Certified Weird review! IFC Center continues its fine tradition of reviving midnight movie classics with David Lynch‘s searingly weird debut about an alienated man with a bad haircut and his monster baby. Eraserhead at IFC Center.

SCREENINGS – (Silver Spring, MD, AFI Silver Theater, Thurs., Oct 27):

The Exterminating Angel (1962): Without explanation, guests at a bourgeois dinner party find themselves unable to leave, as the days turn into weeks and they start to starve and turn on each other. Luis Buñuel‘s surreal satire makes for an unconventional existential horror choice for this blessed Halloween season. The Exterminating Angel at AFI Silver Theater.

FILM FESTIVALS – Cambridge Film Festival (Cambridge, UK, Oct. 20-27):

Though it gets no big debuts, the Cambridge festival is a medium-large festival with mix of big movies (Denis Villeneuve‘s Arrival, and lesser Oscar bait like Manchester by the Sea), experimental features, and classic revivals (actress Ingrid Bergman  and director Michael Curtiz are spotlighted this year).

• Crash (1996) and Always (Crashing) – David Cronenberg‘s controversial movie about a secret cult of fetishists turned on by car crashes is paired with a new 14-minute experimental short based on the same J.G. Ballard story. On Oct 26.
• The Kingdom of Shadows – The latest underground feature from Clara Pais and Daniel Fawcett is a typically surrealist offering, set in an old dark house. See it Oct 24.
• Salome (1922) – Stylized silent adaptation of the Bible story that’s noteworthy for its extremely bizarre avant-garde costuming (made by Natacha Rambova for her friend and rumored lover, Alla Nazimova). Screens Oct. 23.
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory – You know this one. See it on the big screen Oct 23.

Cambridge Film Festival home page.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Untitled Willy Wonka Project: No firm news on this, except that Warner Bros. has cut a deal with the Roald Dahl estate for the rights to the Wonka character. Before we all freak out, it appears this is not a reboot of the Certified Weird Gene Wilder classic (which was already remade by Tim Burton and Johnny Depp—it seems like just yesterday). It’s to be an original story starring the character (most likely a prequel, maybe of his time spent in Loompaland among the Oompa Loompas). Will it be weird? With Warners behind it, not likely, but we thought you should know. Variety has the announcement.

NEW ON DVD:

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016): Read Alfred Eaker’s review. If you must… Buy Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Bride of Re-Animator (1989): See description in Blu-ray below. Buy Bride of Re-Animator [DVD/Blu-ray combo].

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006): Read the Certified Weird entry! The new Criterion edition ports over most of the features from New Line’s disc, including Guillermo del Toro‘s excellent commentary, and adds some new interview features with del Toro and Doug Jones along with “animated prequels” for some of the fantasy characters. Buy Pan’s Labyrinth (Criterion Collection).

The Pit (1981): A creepy, crazy kid takes advice from the talking teddy bear who advises him to lure his enemies into a pit where a bunch of subhumanoids eat them. A seldom seen, campy Canadian black comedy. Buy The Pit.

“Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro”: This Criterion Collection set matches Guillermo del Toro‘s Certified Weird fairy tale Pan’s Labyrinth with the vampirish Cronos and the Spanish Civil War ghost story The Devil’s Backbone. On five special-features-packed DVDs; the DVD release has a different (and to my mind, much cooler) cover than the Blu-ray. Buy “Trilogia de Guillermo del Toro”.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016): See description in DVD above. Buy Alice Through the Looking Glass [Blu-ray].

Bride of Re-Animator (1989): Dr. Herbert West and his glowing green needle return from the 1985 cult original to re-animate more dead bodies, with predictably tragic and gory results. This Special Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo is a slightly scaled-back version of the Limited Edition Arrow Films released back in April (the main exclusion seems to be there is no extra disc with the R-rated cut of the film). Buy Bride of Re-Animator [DVD/Blu-ray combo].

Gas-s-s-s [AKA Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It] (1970): The military accidentally unleashes an experimental chemical weapon that kills everyone over the age of 25. This Roger Corman directed counterculture comedy would make a great double feature with Wild in the Streets (and it was in fact paired with that title on a previous DVD release). Buy Gas-s-s-s [Blu-ray].

“The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection”: The Blu-ray edition of the classic set including Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and of course our weird favorite, Duck Soup. With commentaries on every flick and archival interviews with Groucho and Harpo. Buy “The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection” [Blu-ray].

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006): See description in DVD above. Buy Pan’s Labyrinth [Criterion Collection Blu-ray].

The Pit (1981): See description in DVD above. Buy The Pit [Blu-ray].

“Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro”: See description in DVD above. Why not buy both sets? Buy “Trilogia de Guillermo del Toro” [Blu-ray].

NEW ON VIDEO-ON-DEMAND:

Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story (2015): Read Giles Edwards’s review. The Henderson brothers’s epics (Curse of Stabberman and Cannibal Swim Club) made it all the way from VHS to VOD, at least in mockumentary form. Buy or rent Winners Tape All: The Henderson Brothers Story.

BOOKS:

“The Secret History of Twin Peaks”: Co-creator (with David Lynch) of the cult TV series “Twin Peaks” produces a fictional history of the strange northwestern town where “the owls are not what they seem.” The series’ new season (season 3) will debut on Showtime sometime in 2017 so fans can see what’s been going on in the fifteen years since Agent Cooper last entered the Black Lodge. Buy “The Secret History of Twin Peaks”.

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.