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

NEW ON DVD:

La Grande Bouffe (1973): See description in Blu-ray below. Buy La Grande Bouffe [DVD/Blu-ray combo].

Strangerland (2015): A family’s two children disappear into the Australian wilderness (yes, the same one that swallowed the kids from Walkabout and Picnic at Hanging Rock). Despite Nicole Kidman‘s star power this one passed unnoticed at the box office, and left the few audiences that saw it nonplussed at its odd occurrences and lack of explanations. Buy Strangerland.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

La Grande Bouffe (1973): Read the Certified Weird entry!  Arrow Video stuffs this DVD/Blu combo release so full of extras, you could just die. Buy La Grande Bouffe [DVD/Blu-ray combo].

Strangerland (2015): See description in DVD above. Buy Strangerland [Blu-ray].

Troma’s War (1998): Troma‘s typically bad taste take on the action genre, as the citizens of Tromaville take on an army of terrorists.  Troma’s proudly el-cheapo 1980s films don’t seem to merit the hi-def Blu-ray treatment, but who am I to argue with a paying customer? Buy Troma’s War [Blu-ray].

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 DEVELOPMENT:

The Day the Clown Cried (1972/releases 2025): Jerry Lewis’ unreleased 1972 movie about a German clown thrown into a Nazi concentration camp for making fun of Hitler is legendary. First, the film was tied up in litigation with the producer; then, screenings of the rough cut suggested that the movie was not the Academy Award caliber prestige piece Lewis had thought he was creating, but rather embarrassing kitsch of horrifying, offensive proportions. Until now, Lewis has kept the film in his private vault, unseen by anyone, but he recently donated a copy to the Library of Congress with the proviso that it not be screened for ten years (when Lewis will be 99 and presumably either dead or too senile to care about the critics’ reaction). We’ll just have to keep the site going until then (and we may have to hold slot #366 open just in case…) The Playlist reports the news.

The Trap (est. 2017): Harmony Korine‘s latest will be a revenge thriller (a la Tarantino?) starring Benicio Del Toro and Robert Pattinson (still searching for the role that will make people forget Twilight) as downscale Miami gangsters. It sounds like a further turn towards the mainstream after Spring Breakers, but Korine does promise “complete sensory bombardment” (though not “complete weirdness”). We’ll keep our eye on it. Korine gave an update on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast (incidentally, this is the only time I’ve heard Korine speak where he’s not “in character”). Harmony Korine on WTF podcast (The Trap mention occurs at about 1:09 in).

NEW ON DVD:

Horror House on Highway 6 (2014): Students searching for a horror house hole up in the bomb shelter of a mad scientist awaiting the second coming of Elvis. This is a sequel to the 1985 film Horror House on Highway Five. Buy Horror House On Highway 6.

Patch Town (2014): The story of what happens to those “Cabbage Patch” dolls when they grow up; they become factory workers, creating more dolls for their cruel overlords in an endless cycle of toy exploitation. The Dissolve warns that “anybody unable to get on its weirdo wavelength may grow fatigued by the film’s many flights of fancy“; we suspect our readers are just the sort to get on its weirdo wavelength. Buy Patch Town.

FREE MOVIES ON SHOUT TV:

Bushido Man (2013): Read our capsule review. A martial arts master eats meals based on the diet of his next opponent so he can better understand and defeat them; the fights are good, the plot is nonexistent, the comedy is silly, and there are detectable levels of weirdness. Watch Bushido Man free on Shout TV.

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 Falling (2014): An unexplained plague of fainting spells strikes at a British girls’ school in the 1960s. Picnic at Hanging Rock fans are sure to swoon at this one. The Falling Facebook page.

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet (2014): This anthology of animations inspired by the popular works of the Lebanese poet is noteworthy because of the talents involved: Tomm Moore, Joann Sfar, Nina Paley, and Bill Plympton are among the animators handling a segment. The framing device involves a political prisoner who dispenses wisdom in the form of poems. Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet official site.

SCREENINGS – (AFI Silver Theater, Baltimore, MD, Sat. Aug 8):

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) or Evil Dead II (1987): It’s pick your sweet, sweet poison night at AFI’s “Best of Totally Awesome: Great Films of the 1980s” series. Since their playing in opposite theaters at 11:30 PM and midnight,  you can either watch Buckaroo battle Dr. Lizardo and the Lectroid aliens, or watch Ash fight the reanimated dead and cabin fever, but not both. In either case, you can take in Terry Gilliam’s insane time travel trip 12 Monkeys at 9 PM beforehand. All three titles will be playing at various times throughout the following week, along with other totally awesome 80s cult movies like Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (and, for you 90s kids, Fight Club). Oh, to be young and in Baltimore in the summer! “Best of Totally Awesome: Great Films of the 1980s” list at the AFI website.

SCREENINGS – (Egyptian Theater, Los Angeles, CA, Tues. Aug 11):

Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival (2015): Lucifer declares war on Heaven, using the power of song as his chosen weapon. The second installment in a series (read our review of the first) from the team behind Repo: The Genetic Opera. Tuesday’s World Premiere is sold out, but they’ll be touring the U.S. (with live musical acts and circus entertainment) through late summer/early fall.  Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival official site.

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.

SCREENINGS – (Cinefamily, Los Angeles, Fri. July 31-Tues, Aug 4):

The Films of Roy Andersson: It’s a Certified Weird weekend with this double feature of the first two-thirds of Roy Andersson‘s unofficial absurdist trilogy. Horrifying modernist vignettes haunt Songs from the Second Floor (2000), which is set at the dawn of the millennium in a nameless city undergoing an apocalyptic panic, while You, the Living [Du Levande] (2007) continues the deadpan despair, beginning with a dream that the bombers are coming. Cinefamily completes the set with Andersson’s latest, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Contemplating Existence, screening on Monday and Tuesday. The Films of Roy Andersson at Cinefamily.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Seances (post-production, 2015 release): Guy Maddin comes out with a new one, which has actually been filmed in bits and pieces over the past three years. It’s a collection of shorts based on (you guessed it) lost, forgotten and fragmentary early films. Although the details have changed over the course of the production, it was originally planned as an art installation and an Internet installation (where an originally planned 100 short films would be shown in random order to create an always-unique experience). Talent includes Charlotte Rampling, Udo Kier, Mathieu Amalric, and Maria de Medeiros; co-written with The Forbidden Room co-director Evan Johnson (who seems to have taken George Toles’ place as Maddin’s main collaborator). More information in this 2013 National Film Board of Canada press release.

NEW ON DVD:

Jauja (2014): A Danish soldier (Viggo Mortensen) hunts for his eloped daughter in the wilds of Patagonia in this minimalist experimental feature. Reviews were generally good, but this is one of those arthouse features that comes with a “slow” warning. Buy Jauja.

White God (2014): A young Hungarian girl is forced to give up her beloved pet because of a citywide tax on half-breeds, and the castaway mutts rise up against their human masters. We sniff a political allegory. Buy White God.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

White God (2014): See description in DVD above. Buy White God [Blu-ray].

FREE MOVIES ON SHOUT TV:

Sleepaway Camp (1983): Read Ben Sunde’s review. Aside from the famous ending, per Ben it makes for a “a uniquely schizophrenic experience of a horror film” by “incorporating a wistful portrayal of summer camp into the sleazy slasher mold.” Viewers should be over 17 years old, please. Watch Sleepaway Camp free on Shout TV.

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):

Horse Money (2014): Ventura, a Cape Verdean immigrant suffering from dementia, wanders an expressionistically shadowed hospital, conflating his modern reality with past events. Critics are describing Portuguese director Pedro Costa’s first film in ten years as “incomprehensible” and “overtly surreal.” Horse Money official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

31 (est. 2016): Rob Zombie, the best movie director named after a reanimated corpse working today, is back at it with a new flick that he promises will be his most “brutal” and “gruesome” effort yet. It involves an involuntary “game” where contestants strive to survive a night in a funhouse full of killer clowns. The best thing about it may be the character names: it stars Malcolm McDowell as “Father Murder” and Elizabeth Daily as “Sex-Head,” and includes other characters with names like “Venus Virgo,” “Sister Serpent,” and “Fat Randy Bumpagussy.”

NEW ON DVD:

Committed (1984): Expressionistic biopic of troubled actress Frances Farmer. J. Hoberman called it “the unexpected missing link between ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’ and ‘Shock Corridor’,” while an Amazon purchaser had a different take: “this movie sucks big time!” Buy Committed.

Love Unto Death (1984)/Life is a Bed of Roses (1983): A mid-80s French pair from Alain (Last Year at Marienbad) Resnais. Love is a talky philosophical film about a man who returns from the dead, while Bed of Roses features three confusingly intertwined stories set in a castle (one is a fantasy imagined by children); it’s also a musical. Buy Love Unto Death/Life Is a Bed of Roses.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Love Unto Death (1984)/Life is a Bed of Roses (1983): See description in DVD above. Buy Love Unto Death/Life Is a Bed of Roses [Blu-ray].

FREE MOVIES ON SHOUT TV:

Stroszek (1977): An alcoholic German ex-con and a prostitute try to start a new life in Wisconsin in what Roger Ebert declared “one of the oddest films ever made.” We have shared just about all of Shout Factory’s wonderful Werner Herzog collection with you lucky readers by this point; bless them for putting these cinema treasures online for free. Watch Stroszek free on Shout Factory TV.

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.