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):

High-Rise (2015): A satire set in an ultra-lux high-rise apartment building where a class war breaks out between residents of different floors. Britain’s prolific Ben Wheatley strikes again with another weird one. If it’s not playing near you, you can stream it on demand. High-Rise official site.

The Lobster (2015): Set in a magical realist dystopia in which everyone must be in a government-mandated two-person romantic relationship; singletons must find a mate within 45 days or be turned into an animal of their choosing. Giorgos Lanthimos‘ unabashedly weird first English-language feature unexpectedly garnered accolades and a limited release (helped, no doubt, by a bankable cast led by Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz); at the official site, you can take a quiz to see what kind of animal you would be turned into. The Lobster official site.

SCREENINGS – (Videology Bar & Cinema, New York City, Friday, May 13th, Midnight):

Being John Malkovich (1999): Read the Certified Weird entry! Between Videology, Spectacle, IFC Center, and Lincoln Center, it’s the rare week when a Certified Weird choice is not screening somewhere in the NYC area (and that’s not even counting The Rocky Horror Picture Show). Being John Malkovich at Videology Bar & Cinema.

FILM FESTIVALS – Cannes Film Festival (Cannes, France, May 11-22):

Cannes is an odd duck. Not known as a “weird-friendly” festival—movies like David Cronenberg‘s Crash and Antichrist have been famously hooted at by Cannes crowds who were having none of that—it aims to flatter the mainstream arthouse crowd with middle-of-the-road dramas (and, rarely, dramadies, so long as they are not too funny to be taken seriously). Cannes programmers revel in the dry, the conventional, and the pompous; Cannes’ juries’ tastes resemble those of Academy Awards voters, but with an even higher premium placed on boringness. Still, one or two movies worth looking at always seem to find their way onto the card. In many years a Cannes debut will end up Certified Weird: three films in the past five years, including, most recently, 2012’s Holy Motors. Movies at Cannes may either be screened “in competition” for the big prize, the Palm D’or; screen out-of-competition; or be entered in the “Un Certain Regard” section (a sort of also-ran competition for films that are either from first time directors, or are considered too daring or different to have a shot at the Palme d’Or). Recently, several major filmmakers have been debuting their films in the parallel festival called Directors’ Fortnight, which runs contemporaneous to Cannes proper but does not hand out awards for individual films. We indicate which section each of the three films we highlighted is playing in. Also playing at Cannes this year, but of only marginal interest two us: two from Jim Jarmusch (a typical Jarmushian drama and a documentary about the punk band the Stooges) and one from Chan-wook Park (a period lesbian romantic drama). Also of note: a special screening of a new restoration of the Certified Weird classic Solaris on the 14th of May.

• Endless Poetry [Poesia Sin Fin] – Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s second installment of the autobiographical project that began with the Certified Weird The Dance of Reality, concerning his experiences as a young bohemian artist in Santiago. Director’s Fortnight, March 14th & 15th.
• The Neon Demon – An aspiring model (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles and is menaced by a cabal of mysterious women in what looks like Nicolas Winding Refn‘s glamorous take on Starry Eyes‘ Satanic scenario; one of the most buzzed-about films at the fest (not just here). In competition, screening May 20.
  
• Slack Bay [Ma Loute] – Tourists disappear in a north France beach resort; since the stills are aimed at the “Downton Abbey” crowd, we might not have noticed Bruno Dumont’s latest this if not for the Variety reviewer who complained of it’s occasional use to the beloved “weird for weirdnesses sake” aesthetic. In competition, screening today, May 13.

Cannes Film Festival official home page.

Director’s Fortnight official home page.

NEW ON DVD:

Eisenstein in Guanajuato (2015): The imaginary story of Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein’s ten day trip to Mexico, where he gives in to his homosexual yearnings while gathering material for a movie which is ultimately never made. This fantastic homoerotic biopic sounds like Peter Greenaway‘s attempt to make a Ken Russell movie. Buy Eisenstein in Guanajuato.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974): A female chemist is haunted by visions of a woman in black. A giallo-esque psychological horror sleeper. Buy The Perfume of the Lady in Black [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Love Me If You Dare (2003): Read our review. Do you dare to watch this anti-romantic black comedy about a couple whose escalating dares lead to bitterness and tragedy? Watch Love Me If You Dare free on YouTube.

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.

You may justifiably complain that we’re putting out our 2015 review in May of 2016, but last year we actually debuted the 2014 Yearbook in July 2015!

Don’t worry, we’re already at work on 2016 edition! (There’s nothing in it yet, but we have created a placeholder file).

As always, the recycled ad copy speaks for itself:

Covering everything weird, from art house surrealism to next-generation cult movies to so-bad-they’re-weird B-movie atrocities, 366 Weird Movies has been meeting all of your weird movie needs since 2009 with a combination of sly humor and serious insight. This is our annual Yearbook covering all the weird movies released and re-released in 2015, from “ABCs of Death 2” to “Winter in the Blood”, with over 50 full-length reviews and extensive supplemental listings. If it’s weird, and it’s a movie, and it’s from 2015, and 366 Weird Movies covered it, you’ll find it here. Now with less fewer grammatical errors than ever before!

You can buy the 366 Weird Movies 2015 Yearbook from Createspace (our preference, due to higher royalties) or from Amazon. Don’t forget that it’s also available (for a mere $3.49!) in a Kindle version.

All profits derived from your kind purchase will go towards paying our hosting costs. Any leftover monies will be wasted on G. Smalley’s relentless and desperate pursuit of hedonistic excess: an ocean of gin, a parade of cheap floozies, and impulsive weird movie purchases that leave him feeling physically spent, but empty and soulless. Good times!

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):

Viktoria (2014): A baby born without a navel in 1979 Bulgaria connects with her estranged mother after the fall of Communism. There may be some sort of political allegory at play here. Viktoria official site.

SCREENINGS – (IFC Center, New York City, Apr 29-30):

House [Hausu] (1977): Read the Certified Weird review! Who wouldn’t want to see this Japanese pop-surrealist haunted house movie—inspired by the fantasies of the director’s eleven-year old daughter and featuring a schoolgirl-eating piano among its many absurd horrors—on the big screen at midnight? House at IFC center.

IN DEVELOPMENT – STREAMING SERVICES:

Filmstruck.com: Normally, the launch of yet another streaming service is not something we’d get jazzed about, but this one is getting significant buzz, and promises to be the exclusive online home for many of our Certified Weird films (in fact, clips from eight of them dominate the sixty-second trailer). Yes, the Criterion Collection is moving its streaming digs from Hulu to this new startup, where they will team up with Turner Classic Movies. While everyone out there seems to be prematurely cinemagasming, many questions remain to be answered. Since the Collection is already (mostly) online, what exactly will TCM be throwing in from its library? (Every specific film example they site in the press release is a Criterion release). Also, there may actually be fewer films available at one time than the current Hulu set up. The press release refers to “a broad, constantly changing cross-section of Criterion titles,” which suggests a Mubi-style platform with a limited selection that rotates monthly. There is mention of a (separate?) “Criterion Channel” (extra charge)? And ominously, the price point remains yet to be determined. Don’t let that dim your enthusiasm (yet), but if it sounds too good to be true… Filmstruck official site (pre-launch).

NEW ON DVD:

That’s Sexploitation! (2013): Frank Henenlotter co-curates and co-hosts two-plus hours of naughty, sometimes bizarre sleaze from the golden age of pre-hardcore pornography, much of it rarities from the “Something Weird” label’s vaults. Something Weird founder/That’s Sexploitation! producer Mike Vraney and co-host/legendary B-movie producer David F. Friedman have both passed away since this doc wrapped. Buy That’s Sexploitation!

What? (1972): Read our conflicted List Candidate review. This Severin Films release may give us a reason to re-evaluate Roman Polanski‘s erotic Alice-in-Wonderland folly. Buy What?

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

That’s Sexploitation! (2013): See description in DVD above. The 3+ hours of bonus material, including rare sleaze shorts, all fits on one Blu-ray. Buy That’s Sexploitation! [Blu-ray].

What? (1972): See description in DVD above. Both the DVD and the Blu come with a set of interviews, including one with Sydne Rome. Buy What? [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) WEBSERIES ON YOUTUBE:

“The Mephisto Box Episode 1: Jail Bait”: A seedy Anton La Vey clone introduces every episode of this new Kelly Hughes webseries with the phrase, “dear Children of the Beast”; in this first episode, a psychiatrist gets dunk and high with his employer’s young hot-to-trot daughter, which predictably turns out to be a poor decision. There’s some PG-13 blood, intoxication and disrespectful language in this episode; a disclaimer warns, “please view with caution if you are easily triggered by scenes of drug use, bloody violence, or Satanic violation. These will only grow more intense as the story progresses.” “The Mephisto Box” series on YouTube.

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):

Men & Chicken (2015): Our own Alex Kittle described it as “a sick, strange, and funny family drama about 5 brothers and their enigmatic scientist father.” Rising star Drafthouse Releasing picked up this Danish import and debuts it in New York and L.A. this week, with spotty coverage throughout the U.S. the rest of the summer. Men & Chicken official site.

Tale of Tales (2015): A triple fantasy of tales of three magical kingdoms; it’s sexy, it’s gory, and Salma Hayek eats a heart (which is both sexy and gory). After its Cannes debut (where it received good reviews) we heard nothing about Matteo Garrone‘s fairy tale experiment and had given up on seeing a Stateside release; it looks like IFC will play it in New York City, with a simultaneous VOD release agreement with Direct TV. Tale of Tales official site.

DVR ALERT (Turner Classic Movies, Sat., 4/23, 2:00 AM EST):

Possession (1981): Read Pamela De Graff’s (still controversial) review. A rare screening of Andrzej Zulawski‘s divisively weird Isabell-Adjani-makes-it-with-an-octopus opus. Richard Harlan Smith adds his musings at Movie Morlocks.

SCREENINGS – (New York City, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Apr. 22-24):

“An Early Clue to the New Direction: Queer Cinema Before Stonewall”: When sexuality is repressed, it surfaces in weirdness. That’s not the thesis of this week-long examination of pre-sexual revolution subtextual cinema, but from our perspective it should be. There are dozens of films playing this series, but to us the crucial screenings are the triple feature of Kenneth Anger‘s “Fireworks,” Jean Genet’s “Un Chant d’Amour” and Jean Cocteau‘s “Blood of a Poet” on Friday night; Persona (interesting choice) on Saturday evening; and gender-bending classick Glen or Glenda? on Sunday night. “An Early Clue to the New Direction: Queer Cinema Before Stonewall” at Film Society of Lincoln Center.

SCREENINGS – (New York City, Videology Bar and Cinema, Friday, 4/22 at Midnight):

Trash Humpers (2009): Read the Certified Weird review! Clearly, the best way to watch Harmony Korine‘s aggressively transgressive low-budget lark about vicious old people humping trash is while getting trashed at a bar. This one is a recurring fave at Videology. Trash Humpers at Videology Bar and Cinema.

IN DEVELOPMENT (PRE-PRODUCTION):

Valley of the Gods (est. 2016): The story concerns the richest man in the world, his biographer (who may have the ability to alter reality with his words), and ancient Navajo legends. Josh Hartnett, Charlotte Rampling, and Keir Dullea are among the names attached; Lech Majewski will direct (that’s a good thing). Read more on Valley of the Gods at Variety.

NEW ON DVD:

Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents (2015): A documentary about the cult band the Residents, a group of eyeball-masked oddballs who dubbed one of their tours “the Wonder of the Weird.” More significant than the documentary itself may be the numerous rare Residents short films and music videos included on the disc, including an animated segment from an unfinished feature film. Buy Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Stuff (1985): Read Pamela De Graff’s review. Arrow “stuffs” this Blu-ray of B-auteur Larry Cohen‘s horror comedy with mini-docs, trailers and a booklet. Buy The Stuff [Blu-ray].

Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents (2015): See description in DVD above. Buy Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Anarchy in the UK: The New Underground Cinema (2016): Partially autobiographical doc/manifesto from underground filmmaker Fabrizio Federico, full of bits from his works and those of his pals (including clips from Savage Witches). Watch Anarchy in the UK: The New Underground Cinema free on YouTube.

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.