The final weekend in March saw a sudden influx of weirdness to the Boston area with the arrival of the 18th annual Boston Underground Film Festival, the region’s primary hub for new independent genre fare. Ever concerned with keeping the 366 Weird Movies community up to date with the latest in the bizarre, I took in a few of the weirder-looking titles (minus the special Belladonna of Sadness screening, which I reported on from Fantastic Fest).
The Lure (dir. Agnieszka Smoczynska)
In her first feature, Agnieszka Smoczynska brings to life a delightfully strange genre mash-up that combines elements of fairy tale, horror, romance, coming-of-age drama, and dark comedy, played out in catchy new wave musical numbers and set against a slightly surreal Soviet backdrop. With a loose, dreamy narrative structure, the story follows the adventures of mermaid sisters Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszanska) as they come ashore in Warsaw and establish themselves as a musical act at a seedy nightclub, shacking up with the house band, an eccentric mother/father/son trio. The sweet-natured Silver begins dating the son, a hunky but noncommittal bassist, though Golden warns her against the consequences of falling in love with a human. The sisters experience the ups and downs of life in show business (drugs, sex, betrayal, etc) while also occasionally feeding their lust for human blood.
Yes, The Lure has a lot going on, and yes, it is overly ambiguous at times, but if you aren’t completely entranced by a lush, synth-driven musical about killer mermaids then I don’t know how to help you. The film is at times funny, at others tragic, and frequently strange and viscerally gross. The locations pair dingy interiors and rain-soaked streets with neon lights and sequined costumes, with subtle reminders of the Soviet regime peppered throughout. The soundtrack, composed by Ballady i Romanse (a real-life sister act who partially inspired the film’s premise), is absolutely stellar, emotionally varied but generally sticking to the 80s discotheque vibe. While it offers weirdness in spades with its many genre oscillations, perhaps what is most notable about the film is how it subverts tropes relating to gender and sexuality. Silver and Golden are introduced as the typical seductive sirens many myths associate with mermaids, but their naiveté is soon made clear. They are viewed as sex objects from the beginning, but also treated as children due to their lack of understanding of the human world, a sly commentary on the sexualization of young girls so dominant in the media. A cult-friendly oddity with a feminist slant, The Lure is the first List-worthy release I’ve seen this year.
Chasing Banksy (dir. Frank Henenlotter)
Largely based on a true story, indie horror favorite Frank Henenlotter‘s latest film focuses on Anthony (Anthony Sneed, playing a version of himself), a street artist struggling to make it in New York, who hatches a wild scheme to steal one of the Banksy artworks that popped up in the American South a few years after Hurricane Katrina. He enlists a few artist friends to help him out for a share of the Continue reading REPORT: BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 2016→
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):
My Big Night [Mi Gran Noche] (2015): During a Spanish New Year’s Eve broadcast, the producers struggle with blackmail, huge egos, and an assassination attempt. This madcap farce from Alex de la Iglesia abandons the horror/comedy trappings of his most recent cult hits for exuberant campiness and kitsch. My Big Night U.S. distributor site.
SCREENINGS – (Cinefamily, Los Angeles, CA, Friday, 4/15 to Monday, 4/18):
“Underground USA: Independent Cinema of the 1980s Encore”: A little mini-festival of hip 80s weirdness courtesy of the ‘family. On Friday night it’s Forbidden Zone (with Richard Elfman in attendance and a “wild” after party); Saturday brings a double feature of Deadbeat at Dawn and Diary of a Deadbeat (see the DVD, listed below); and Sunday and Monday evening they’re screening the seminal punk-junk flick, Repo Man. Also, on 4/20 (?) there’s an event called “Keep Netflix Weird” (they won’t say what’s on the menu, but the announced guests are Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr, Maria Bamford, Mitch Hurwitz, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Mike Price and Pam Brady). “Underground USA” at Cinefamily.
SCREENINGS – (AFI Silver Theater, Silver Springs, MD, Saturday, 4/16):
A Page of Madness (1926): An early example of Japanese film in the European avant-garde style: a surreal/expressionist tale of a sailor who goes undercover as a janitor in an insane asylum hoping to free his wife, who has been committed for infanticide against their son. Jazz drummer/composer William Hooker will provide a live score. A Page of Madness at AFI Silver Theater.
SCREENINGS – (Alamo Drafthouse, Kansas City, MO, Sat., 4/16):
The Devils (1971): Ken Russell‘s artsploitation/nunsploitation classic is loosely (and we mean loosely) based on Aldous Huxley’s non-fictional examination of 17th century witchcraft hysteria, “The Devils of Loudun.” Warner Brothers basically suppressed their own production due to (quite accurate) complaints that the film was blasphemous; a print has been making the arthouse rounds recently, but no word on whether Warners is testing the waters and intends on loosening their grip on the property’s home video prospects. The Devils at Alamo Drafthouse.
FILM FESTIVALS – Tribeca Film Festival (New York City, April 14-24):
With more arthouse, revival and first run theaters per capita than anyplace in the world, every day in New York City is like a film festival, so Tribeca as an event is almost redundant. Still, there are some fine movies debuting here. Besides festival fave High-Rise, which is at the end of its fest cycle, here are some possibly weird offerings (plus one fairly big event):
Icaros: A Vision – In the wake of Embrace of the Serpent comes this trippy pseudoautobiographical film about first worlders traveling to the Amazon to partake in ayahuasca rituals; the co-director died of breast cancer soon after the movie was completed. Take the shamanistic journey 4/16, 18, 21 or 24.
Lavender – Psychological thriller about an amnesiac photographer who discovers she may be a murderer; programmers describe it as “a riveting hallucinatory tale…” Check it out on the 18, 19, 22 or 23.
Parents – Two empty nesters return to the apartment where they lived as a young couple in this Danish drama with “just a touch of surrealism.” North American debut tonight (4/15), with encores on the 17th, 20th and 21st.
Seances – Not a movie per se, but (it appears) a Guy Maddin experimental movie making machine that shows short reels in random order; you will recognize what look like outtakes from The Forbidden Room. See it n the 16th or 17th.
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. Brian Yuzna takes over directing duties from Stuart Gordon, and while this outing is not as transgressively original as the first film (or as disgustingly surreal as Yuzna’s previous Society), it is still worth seeing for fans of gross-out horror comedies. Buy Bride of Re-Animator [DVD/Blu-ray combo].
Diary Of A Deadbeat: The Story Of Jim VanBebber (2015): Portrait of underground director VanBebber (Deadbeat at Dawn, The Manson Family). Includes tributes from fellow undergrounders Richard Kern (Fingered), Damon Packard (Reflections of Evil), Buddy Giovinazzo (Combat Shock) and others. Buy Diary of a Deadbeat: The Story of Jim VanBebber [DVD/Blu-ray combo].
German Angst (2015): Angsty Germans—Jorg Buttgereit, Andreas Marschall, and Michal Kosakowski—tell a trio of surreal and transgressive stories about death. Buttgereit’s segment is the first and the shortest; we confess to being unfamiliar with the other two directors. Buy German Angst.
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (2015): We originally thought we would pass over Joann Sfar‘s latest as too conventional, but audience complaints like “none of the pieces ever add up or seem to have been meant to add up” and “coherence and sense make a lot of watching any film” made us reconsider. Buy The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun.
Medousa (1998): A retelling of the medusa myth set among thieves in modern Athens; distributor Mondo Macabro describes it as “surreal.” It’s director George Lazopoulos’ only known film. Buy Medousa.
Bride of Re-Animator (1989): See description in DVD above. The Arrow release contains the unrated version with special features on DVD and Blu-ray, and the R-rated edit on a second Blu-ray (by all accounts the differences in the two versions are hardly noticeable, however). Buy Bride of Re-Animator [DVD/Blu-ray combo].
“Sex, Murder, Art: The Films Of Jorg Buttgereit”: Set includes Nekromatik, Nekromantik 2, Der Todesking, and Schramm (see above), plus rare shorts and music videos, and CD soundtracks of all four films. If you had your heart set on winning this package in our contest but your entry wasn’t picked, you pretty much have to buy this now, right? Buy “Sex, Murder, Art: The Films of Jorg Buttgereit”.
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES:
The Quest for the Cine-Rebis, A Mutant Film (2016): From Clara Pais and Daniel Fawcett comes this witty experimental manifesto on film calling for an embrace of mutant cinema. Look for quick clips of Certified Weird movies mixed in (we caught at least one). An accompanying .pdf text is available as “Film Panic Issue #2“.
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.
We received a total of 22 entries in the contest; there’s an impressive amount of creativity out there in 366 land. Unfortunately, some of our favorite entries came from Europe (and were therefore ineligible for the prize). For example, this one from Berlinerin that we thought caught the spirit of the contest, but which is unfortunately not eligible:
Here are a couple of runners-up before we announce the winner:
(thanks russa03!)
(thanks Ben M.!)
And now, our winner…
By Andy Hershberger. Only a true Jörg Buttgereit fan would submit that for his entry. It’s funny, and it seems Andy just may appreciate the prize the most. Thanks for participating, everyone!
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):
Mad Tiger (2015): Entering his mid-40s, “Red” (of the Japanese punk rock/performance art band-from-another-planet, Peelander-Z) considers that it might be time to hang up his tentacles and guitar and start acting like an adult, throwing bandmate “Yellow” into an emotional crisis. Indiewire called it “much crazier than your average concert documentary” (and it needs to be, if we’re going to cover it). Mad Tiger official site.
YOU LINK US! YOU REALLY LINK US!:
“Psychedelia in the Movies”: Part 1 of a Roger Keen article on the depiction of drug experiences in movies that originally appeared in the “Psychedelic Press Volume XII” and is reprinted on Reality Sandwich. We’re cited as a source for Altered States(but not for 2001, Naked Lunch, or Skidoo: what’s up with that?) Plus, they don’t technically link us, as they neglected to format a clickable hyperlink. Still, we’ll take whatever attention we can get. “Psychedelia in the Movies” at Reality Sandwich.
NEW ON DVD:
Dangerous Men (2005): A woman goes on a serial killing spree against masculinity after her fiance is killed. Made by an Iranian immigrant over a period of 26 years; those who have seen it report being baffled by the film’s utter lack of logic. Buy Dangerous Men [DVD/Blu-ray combo]
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Dangerous Men (2005): See description in DVD above. This Blu-ray/DVD combo from Drafthouse Films, who uncovered the similar lost trashterpiece Miami Connection in 2012. Buy Dangerous Men [DVD/Blu-ray combo].
FREE MOVIES ON SNAGFILMS:
The Brick House (est. 2013): A modern adaptation of “the Three Little Pigs,” with actors wearing rubber snouts and a nice, folky soundtrack. Watch The Brick House free on SnagFilms.
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.
Darling: A young woman goes insane while taking care of an old New York house; in black and white. Staring Jug Face‘s Lauren Ashley Carter. Official Darling Facebook page.
Dead 7 (2016): In a post-apocalyptic world, a cowboy, a samurai, a mime, and four others team up to fight zombies. The heroes are all played by ex-members of the Backstreet Boys, NSYCNC, and some more obscure boy bands. Proudly presented by the folks who brought you Sharknado. Dead 7 at SyFy channel.
FILM FESTIVALS – StraightJacket Guerilla Film Festival (Everywhere and nowhere, 4/1-4/7):
Here’s an idea that’s probably overdue: an exclusively online film festival. No pesky plane tickets and hotel rooms for out-of-towners to buy, or even $3/kernel bags of popcorn. Each day of the festival, several new full-length films and music videos just show up online. The films are supposed to adhere to the “Pink 8” manifesto, which includes tenets like “no script” and “the cast must NOT know what your film is about,” though we’re not sure how strictly these rules will be enforced. The only thing we’ve heard of is Kelly Hughes‘ 1995 cross-dressing undead action film La Cage aux Zombies, which magically appears on April 3.
“Death Walks Twice: Two Films by Luciano Ercoli”: Due gialli from Ercoli starring “Susan Scott” (Nieves Navarro). In Death Walks on HighHeels, she’s an exotic dancer fleeing a jewel thief; in the weirder Death Walks at Midnight, she’s a model who takes LSD and witnesses a murder that happened six months earlier. Buy “Death Walks Twice”.
Fascist Frauleins [AKA Airplays of Old] (1969): An Amazonian Nazi dominatrix with a transgendered m-t-f daughter kidnaps Allied airmen and keeps them in her torture chamber, where she feeds them hallucinogenic drugs and forces them to engage in “experimental” orgies. Bizarre, forgotten Nazisploitation made at the height of the psychedelic era, in black and white but with splashes of color (red for blood, yellow and pink spirals swirling onscreen during the hallucination sequences). Buy Airplays of Old.
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
“Death Walks Twice: Two Films by Luciano Ercoli”: See description in DVD above. This is only available in a 4-disc set: 2 DVDs, 2 Blu-rays. Buy “Death Walks Twice”.
The Gong Show Movie (1980): A week in the life of “Gong Show” host Chuck Barris, featuring R-rated outtakes from the show arranged around a plot, of sorts. Not available on DVD, as it would be a cinematic crime to watch a visual spectacle of this magnitude in anything but the highest definition possible. Buy The Gong Show Movie.
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.
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!
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