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 on the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Archaeology Of A Woman: An elderly woman with dementia is a suspect in a murder investigation. Slant calls it “Lynchian” (albeit in a one-star review) and 72-year old Sally Kirkland has a nude scene (her first since 2010’s Flexing with Monty!) Archeology of a Woman official Facebook page.
Bird People: Two-parter set at a hotel by the De Gaulle airport: in the first segment, and American businessman abandons his career, and in the second something magically real happens to a hotel maid (no one wants to spoil the surprise). Reviews of this French drama have been love-it-or-hate-it, and it comes with a “slow” warning. Bird People official site.
RETROSPECTIVE – (Lincoln Center, New York City, Sep. 5-14):
“Fifty Years of John Waters: How Much Can You Take?”: We’re a little late reporting on this mini-festival of John Waters atrocities hosted and curated by the aging Prince of Puke himself, so we won’t tell you that you’ve already missed ultra-rare screenings of the seminal shorts Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (1964), Roman Candles (1966), Eat Your Makeup (1968) and The Diane Linkletter Story (1970) from the director’s personal stash of 16mm prints, and instead focus on what’s coming up: the Hollywood satire Cecil B. Demented (2000) tonight at 7PM, his final film A Dirty Shame (2004) on Sep. 13, Cry-Baby (1990) and Pink Flamingos (1972) both on Sep. 13 & 14, and the art world send-up Pecker (1998) on Sep. 14. Also check out John’s pick of David Cronenberg’s Crash (1996) (which he calls “hilarious”) as one of his eight “Movies I’m Jealous I Didn’t Make,” screening Saturday, Sep. 13. “Fifty Years of John Waters: How Much Can You Take?” retrospective at Film Society of Lincoln Center
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (est. 2015): The original Samurai Cop (1991) was a quickly-forgotten piece of direct-to-video dreck that was rediscovered and championed as a so-bad-it’s-good classic in the 21st century, mainly on the basis of an infamous, awkwardly hostile sexual flirtation between samurai cop and a random horny non-actress nurse. Refashioned, we’re guessing, as deliberate camp, most of the original cast returns for this belated sequel, accompanied by George Lazenby (!) and a trio of blonde porn starlets. What catches our attention, however, is the unexpected announcement that Room-mate Tommy Wiseau will be appearing in the film in an unknown capacity. That, in our mind, is enough to elevate this proposed sequel from curiosity to novelty. At this writing, the project is $11,000 short of its modest $50,000 Kickstarter goal. Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance Kickstarter page.
NEW ON DVD:
Borgman (2013): Read Ryan Aarset’s review. Alex van Warmerdam‘s mysterious dark fable remains a candidate for the List. Buy Borgman
Seizure (1974): Oliver Stone’s first film is this undistinguished but bizarre story of a horror writer who finds his character “the Queen of Evil” has come to life, along with her executioner and dwarf henchmen. Check out the cast: Jonathan Frid, Hammer girl Martine Beswick, and Hervé Villechaize, with Troy Donahue and Mary Woronov among the victims. Buy Seizure
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Borgman (2013): See description in DVD above. Buy Borgman [Blu-ray]
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004): According to its own opening narration, this dark children’s comedy is about “clever and reasonably attractive orphans, suspicious fires, carnivorous leeches, Italian food and secret organizations.” It’s also in our reader-suggested review queue. Buy Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events [Blu-ray]
Seizure (1974): See description in DVD above. Buy Seizure [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.
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