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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 THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):

Saint Maud (2019): A young and devout hospice nurse seeks to save souls—then the body horror sets in. A hit at last year’s Fantastic Fest that got picked up by A24. Those are good credentials. We’ve been waiting on this for a while; it was originally supposed to be out in Summer 2020, but was pushed back by the pandemic. In select theaters this week, opening wider next week. Saint Maud official site.

IN DEVELOPMENT (pre-release):

Annette (2021): A musical based on the music of cult band Sparks (whose songs were featured in Holy Motors and The Forbidden Room), directed by Leos Carax, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. We can’t swear this will be weird, but look at that collection of talent again. Here’s some info from The Playlist.

IN DEVELOPMENT (post-production):

Memoria (2021): Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s first English-language film will star the dependably odd Tilda Swinton as a Scottish woman traveling in Colombia who, according to the spare plot description, “begins to hear strange sounds.” Neon will distribute. Film Comment posted a set diary from a writer working on a book about “Joe.”

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

The Curious Dr. Humpp (1969): To prevent himself from aging, a mad scientist kidnaps frisky couples and drains their life essence while they make love. The American distributor added 17 minutes of raunchier 1969-style sex and nudity to this already strange Argentinian film; American Film Genre Archives restores and releases it on Blu-ray (while describing it, with probable, hyperbole as “what might have happened if Mario Bava collaborated with Doris Wishman after an acid binge”). Buy The Curious Dr. Humpp.

“Gamera: The Showa Era Collection”: The original 7-film giant fire-breathing turtle series from Showa, which starts as a seriously-intended Godzilla competitor but ends up as semi-coherent kiddie fare. This set includes the weirdest film in the series, Gamera vs. Guiron, and Gamera vs. Viras. Arrow had previously released the entire Gamera series (including the 1990s reboot) as a set, but if you only want the campy originals, this is cheaper. On Blu-ray only. Buy “Gamera: The Showa Era Collection”.

Southland Tales (2006): Read Alice Stoehr’s review of the theatrical cut. Richard Kelly‘s crazy, divisive apocalyptic satire gets a Blu-ray re-release from Arrow video, including the rarely-seen fifteen-minutes longer Cannes cut. Buy Southland Tales [Cannes Cut + Theatrical Cut].

The Swimmer (1968): Read the Canonically Weird entry! Grindhouse keeps rerelasing Burt Lancaster‘s surreal suburban swimming movie; we’re not sure what the difference between this “deluxe” edition and last fall’s “limited” edition is (it may be just the packaging), but both come with Blu-ray, a DVD, and Marvin Hamlisch’s soundtrack on CD. Buy The Swimmer.

Synchronic (2019): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson‘s latest supernatural feature isn’t as trippy as their prior work, but with the pair moving into the Marvel Extended Universe, this could be their last weird gasp. On DVD, Blu-ray and VOD. Buy Synchronic.

The Theater Bizarre (2011): Read Pamela de Graff’s review. This is the first U.S. Blu-rau release of the Grand Guignol horror anthology hosted by human puppet Udo Kier. Buy The Theater Bizarre.

CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

Screenings remain sparse in a Covid world, but we do have a couple (including one very special double feature) to mention this week. As always, it’s up to you to decide whether you think it’s safe to visit theaters at this time. By the end of the year (or, fingers crossed, this summer) we should be back to normal.

• Kansas City, MO
  • Screenland –  2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 1/30-31, 2/2
• Van Nuys, CA
  • The Plant Drive-In – Forbidden Zone (1982) (director’s cut) with Aliens, Clowns & Geeks (2019) (double feature)

Forbidden Zone Director’s Cut intro (NSFW)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: We’re still in the voting phase for February 6th’s Weird Netflix Party. Currently My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (2016) is in the lead, but with only a few votes separating the top and bottom choices, it’s still anyone’s gane. The poll closes tomorrow at midnight, and you (yes, you!) can vote here.

We’ll have two reviews for you next week, both of them reader-suggested, and both sexy (we mean the movies are sexy, though the reviews might be so too, metaphorically). Giles Edwards takes on the gooier of the two with a report on the legendary, seminal tentacle porn feature, Legend of the Overfiend (1987-1989). Then Gregory J. Smalley examines the less explicit (in that everyone keeps their long underwear on while having sex) feature, Fellini’s Casanova (1976). 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.

Here’s the poll to vote in February’s Netflix Weird Watch Party, which will start on Feb. 6 at 10:15 PM ET. If you plan on virtually attending, please vote for the movie we’ll be watching below. We’ll screen the movie that get the most votes; your host, Gregory J. Smalley, will personally break any ties. Note that unlike our other polls, you can only vote once. Poll closes at midnight ET on Friday, Jan. 30. You may vote for multiple movies, but not for every movie (because that would be pointless).

Now vote!

We’re sticking to our plan of one Netflix and one Amazon Prime watch party per month. It’s Netflix’s turn.

We’re open to suggestions for different starting times, dates, or methods of propagating the watch link.

Our next Netflix Party will be scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6 at 10:15 PM. We’ll take nominations for movies to screen in the comments until we reach at least five entries (from five different attendees), then put up a voting poll.

The Canonically Weird movies on Netflix that we haven’t yet screened yet are A Clockwork Orange (1971), Kung Fu Hustle (2004),  Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), and Swiss Army Man (2016). Feel free to nominate any of these, or ignore them in favor of other selections. Since we’ve rolled over into a new year, we could technically decide to watch something we’ve seen before (if it’s still on the platform). For reference, the movies we’ve already screened are The Platform, April and the Extraordinary World, The Bad Batch, Skins [Pieles], Under the Skin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Enemy, A Ghost Story, Escape from the ‘Liberty’ Cinema, Between Worlds, Buster’s Mal Heart, The Aerial [La Antena], The Endless, The Wicker Man (1973),  Murder Party (2007), I Lost My Body (2019), I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018), Cadaver (2020), Being John Malkovich (1999), and Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017).

Here’s a list of stuff arriving and leaving Netflix in February.

To participate, you’ll need a U.S. Netflix account, a Chrome-based browser, and the Netflix Party (now TeleParty) extension.

Make your nominations in the comments below.

This month’s Amazon Prime Watch Party—The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)—starts in fifteen minutes.

You’ll need to be an Amazon Prime member in the US to participate.

There will be no pausing or rewinding except for technical reasons.

We are offering no technical support, so help each other out if needed.

Here is the link to join: https://amz.onl/9JqrA2q

See you soon!