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Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
IN DEVELOPMENT: STILL ALIVE :
Nosferatu (202?): Variety reports that Harry Styles has dropped out of Robert Eggers remake of Nosferatu (1922), co-starring Anya Taylor-Joy. (Also no longer attached to the project: recent Oscar winner Will Smith). We’re neutral on Styles’ departure, but the news here is that Eggers’ cursed Nosferatu project is not yet dead—it remains, it seems, in some weird unearthly state between life and death. Read more at Variety.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
The American Scream (1988): A family takes a vacation at a winter resort filled with oddballs in this confusing amateur horror film filled with WTF? moments. A candidate for the so bad it’s weird club. First time on Blu-ray (only) from Culture Shock. Buy The American Scream.
Delta Space Mission (1984): Done in the style of a children’s cartoon and earning comparisons to both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Fantastic Planet, this science fiction epic from behind the Iron Curtain (Romania, to be exact) concerns a super-intelligent AI computer who falls in love with an alien journalist. New player Deaf Crocodile releases the deluxe Blu-ray. In our reader-suggested review queue, with streaming options (and our coverage) coming in April. Buy Delta Space Mission.
Flesh for Frankenstein [AKA Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein] (1973): Read Alfred Eaker’s mini-review of Flesh for Frankenstein. Less famous but gorier and possibly even campier than it’s companion piece, Blood for Dracula, this features Udo Kier as Frankenstein stitching together a monster (and doing naughty things to cadaver organs along the way). Vinegar Syndrome releases a 3 disc pack, with a UHD disc, a 3-D Blu-ray, a standard Blu-ray, and two hours of supplementary materials. Buy Flesh for Frankenstein.
(WARNING: above trailer NSFW for gore, nudity and declarations of intended gall bladder molestation)
Hair for Hyde [AKA Andy Warhol’s Jekyll and Hyde] (1974): Having lost the services of Udo Kier (who had decided to leverage his cult fame to make serious movies with Fassbinder), Paul Morrissey unwisely leaned too far into camp, and hired a spectacularly miscast Jerry Lewis for a dual role (making this the “Nutty Professor’s” only gore movie). A spectacular misfire on every level, it’s weird for reasons never intended (Jerry Lewis in patchy werewolf makeup attempting to rape a barmaid played by Holly Woodlawn?), and ended the series of Warhol-backed horror remakes—and Morrissey’s career. Blu-ray only with minimal supplements. Buy Hair for Hyde.
Ham on Rye (2019): Read Giles Edwards Apocrypha Candidate review. Adolescents undergo a strange ritual that will allow some of them to escape their nowheresville town, while others will be left behind. Their fates hinge on whether they slip up at the deli counter and accidentally order pastrami on wheat. The Blu-ray includes an optional director’s cut, deleted scenes, and a commentary track. Buy Ham on Rye.
Red Spirit Lake (1993)/We Await (1996): Of these two direct-to-video horrors from microbudget director Charles Pinion, We Await, which concerns a cannibal family who eats hallucinogenic ooze from a green crystal and keeps a human dog, seems the stranger by far. Lots of bonus features on this double feature Blu-ray from an outfit called Saturn’s Core. Buy Red Spirit Lake/We Await.
Sister Tempest (2020): Read Giles Edwards’ review. Anne defends herself against an intergalactic tribunal in the case of her missing sister. She also performs one of the stranger karaoke numbers in recent memory. Now on DVD; Blu-ray coming to retailers in May. Buy Sister Tempest.
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
This section will no longer be updated regularly. Instead, we direct you to our new “Repertory Cinemas Near You” page. We will continue to mention exceptional events in this space from time to time, however.
FREE WEIRD MOVIE STREAMING EVENTS:
“The Legacy of Satoshi Kon” – The National Museum of Asian Art and the Japan Information & Culture Center have teamed up to offer a series of free streaming screenings of Satoshi Kon films (sorry, U.S. i.p.s only). As we write this, you can select a la carte from Millennium Actress, Paprika, the documentary Satoshi Kon: Illusionist, or “Doubles and Composites: How Satoshi Kon Animates the Self,” an academic lecture by Thomas Lamarre of the University of Chicago. The event ends April 10, and virtual seats are limited (Kon’s other two features already “sold out”). Note: this is not an April Fool’s joke, even if you can’t get in for a screening. “The Legacy of Satoshi Kon” at Eventive.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
It looks like Ari Folman‘s dystopian virtual reality animation The Congress will be the featured screening at our next Weird Watch Party in the late hours of Saturday, April 9, but we will leave the discussion open through the weekend.
In next week’s reviews, Gregory J. Smalley will take on the psychopathic Period Piece (2006) from the reader-suggested review queue, then move to the new-release front for a look at the twisty psychological thriller Ultrasound (2022). Finally, in a 366 exclusive, Giles Edwards uncovers and transcribes a previously unpublished interview on the genesis of Leslie Stevens‘s Esperanto horror film, Incubus. Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
