Our latest Amazon Prime Watch Party—The Forbidden Room (2015)—starts in fifteen minutes.
You’ll need to be an Amazon Prime member in the US (we think) 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/iq6Veq7
See you soon!
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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):
Akira (1988) 4K remaster: Read the Canonically Weird entry! Despite the utter confusion it generates in the uninitiated, the seminal cyberpunk anime is getting a gratifyingly wide release in theaters across the U.S. this week. (Apologies if you missed the IMAX release, which was yesterday only). Akira 4K info page at Funimation.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Kajillionaire (2020): A family of con-artists take on a new swindle as the daughter questions their relationship. That synopsis doesn’t sound too weird, but this one is from Miranda July and a mainstream critic warns that it may be “a little too weird to handle…” (that warning is not addressed to you, btw). Kajillionaire official site.
FILM FESTIVALS – Fantastic Fest (Austin, TX and online, 9/24-10/1):
Just a reminder that this year’s Fantastic Fest has started, is largely online, and is free. We won’t repeat our brief rundown from last week’s Weird Horizon, but you can follow the link if interested. Or simply visit the Fantastic Fest home page to see what’s playing now.
FILM FESTIVALS – Nightstream (Online [geolocked to U.S.], 10/8-11):
“Nightstream” is a 2020 collaboration between five smaller film festivals that were canceled due to the pandemic: Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, North Bend, Overlook, and Popcorn Frights. Selections Climate of the Hunter, Dinner in America, and Time of Moulting have already been reviewed on these pages. Also included are a number of webcasts/podcasts and special events, including cocktails, trivia, and a feature where Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, and Issa López critique their early home movies. We’d also like to highlight the following films:
Nightstream Festival official homepage.
FILM FESTIVALS – Sitges Film Festival (Sitges, Spain 10/8-18):
Despite the pandemic, Spain’s venerable Sitges Festival soldiers on with a hybrid of live screenings and online presentations. As far as we can tell, unlike most other festivals, online screenings do not seem to be geolocked to particular countries (but we admit we did not try to buy tickets to test that out). Among their massive slate, here are some we’ve previously mentioned or reviewed: At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (1964), Fried Barry (screening online), Quentin Dupieux‘ Mandibles (see above, screening online), Minor Premise (online), Monster Seafood Wars (online), She Dies Tomorrow, Spookies (1986), The Old Man Movie (online), and Viy (1967). Sitges will also screens early previews of Brandon Cronenberg‘s Possessor and A24’s delayed St. Maud (neither available online). The films and revivals highlighted below are of special interest:
Sitges Film Festival official site.
STREAMING (Amazon Prime):
“Utopia”: A TV series about fans of the graphic novel “Utopia” who discover that events predicted in the story are coming true in real life, and whose investigation leads to a cultlike leader played by John Cusack. It’s based on a British TV show that ran from 2013-2014 that was canceled despite a cult following. Debuts today. “Utopia” on Amazon Prime.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005): Read our review. Alphabetically, this is the first of several Robert Rodriguez features re-released on DVD and Blu-ray this week. Buy The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
The Brothers Grimm (2005): A couple of fairy-tale writing charlatans find themselves trapped in a real fairy tale. The frustration of filming what turned out to be a flop fantasy encouraged a bitter Terry Gilliam to make Tideland (2005). Re-released on DVD or Blu-ray. Buy The Brothers Grimm
Fellini’s Casanova (1976): Donald Sutherland plays the famous libertine as he bed-hops across Fellini‘s avant garde vision of Europe. Casanova is almost a forgotten Fellini film, since it hasn’t been available in the U.S. in forever; it is, however, in our reader-suggested review queue. (This is a preorder: the Blu won’t be available until Dec. 8). Preorder Fellini’s Casanova
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996): Read our review. Robert Rodriguez‘ Quentin Tarantino–penned vampire movie is getting another Blu-ray release, for unknown reasons (we just report ’em, we don’t explain ’em). Buy From Dusk Till Dawn
Lord Love a Duck (1966): Read Shane Wilson’s review. Kino Lorber releases a remastered version of this cult high school satire on Blu-ray for the first time. Buy Lord Love a Duck
“Rob Zombie Trilogy”: This Blu-ray release of the serial-killing Firefly family saga features the weird (but annoying) House of 1,000 Corpses, the popular (but not weird) The Devil’s Rejects, and the few-bothered late sequel 3 from Hell. A bare-bones Blu that may be of interest to Zombiephiles. Buy “Rob Zombie Trilogy”.
Sin City (2005): Read the Canonically Weird review! Like From Dusk Till Dawn (above), the reason for this re-release of another Rodriguez/Tarantino classic at this time is not clear, but it does show up in Amazon’s listings with no details given. Your choice of Blu-ray or DVD. Buy Sin City
“Stanley Kubrick 3-Film 4K Collection”: Includes the Canonically Weird 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Shining (1980), and Full Metal Jacket (1987), all restored in 4K. Buy “Stanley Kubrick 3-Film 4K Collection”
“The Vincent Price Collection”: Includes the horrors The Pit and the Pendulum, The Haunted Palace, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death, Witchfinder General, and, most notably, the canonically weird The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). This in-time-for-Halloween release is a reissue of a 2013 set previously reviewed on this site by Alfred Eaker; it loses the Price introductions from the original set, and adds an extra minute of footage to the Red Death disc. Buy “The Vincent Price Collection”
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
Independent theaters are cautiously starting to reopen across North America at diminished capacity, and we’re seeing a trickle of new screenings. You’ll have to use your own judgment as to whether it’s safe to go to movie theaters at this time.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: This week’s weird Amazon Prime party screening is Guy Maddin‘s fragmentary The Forbidden Room (2015). Join us tomorrow at 10:15 PM (ET), won’t you? We’ll provide the link to join about 10 PM here, on Facebook, or on Twitter.
In reviews, next week El Rob Hubbard reports on the unexpectedly and sadly relevant “12 Monkeys” TV series; Giles Edwards explores The Wild Wild World of Jayne Mansfield (1968); and Gregory J. Smalley looks at Abel Ferrara‘s newly-released biopic Tommaso (2019). We wouldn’t rule out (or necessarily expect) a surprise pop-up review in what turns out to be a crowded week. 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 our latest Amazon Prime watch party, scheduled for Saturday, Sep. 26, 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 gets the most votes. Management will break any ties. Note that unlike our other polls, you can only vote once. Poll closes at midnight EST on Wednesday, Sep. 23. You may vote for multiple movies, but not for every movie (because that would be pointless). Now, vote!
We didn’t get the required five RSVPs for our Saturday, September 9 party, so we canceled it. However we have received an RSVP for next week, so we’re starting a new announcement poll.
As stated, we have one RSVP so we’re looking for four more. If you RSVP’ed for the canceled party, you’ll need to do so again (and re-nominated a movies for screening). We will carry over two nominations from the previous post: Capone (2020) and The Forbidden Room (2015).
If we get four more RSVPs (and, optionally, screening nominations), our next party will be scheduled for September 26 at 10:15 PM. After we get the minimum number of nominees and likely attendees, we’ll put up a poll. Management will break any ties.
Amazon Prime’s catalog of movies is larger (and less exclusive) than Netflix’s. Ed Dykhuizen’s availability spreadsheet is a good resource to check for Canonically Weird movies (look for ones marked “free w/ Prime” in the “Amazon” column). Or, do your own research and come up with a title from Amazon. Eligible movies will have a “watch party” button on their Amazon page. You must be a Prime subscriber; you don’t have to download an extension or additional software.
We will not provide tech support; you’re on your own. Help each other.
When the party is set to begin we’ll announce it in three places:
Now, RSVP and make your nominations in the comments below.
This notice came in too late to make the regular column, but we thought we’d add it.
FILM FESTIVALS – Beyond Fest (Montclair, CA, 10/2-10/8):
Films are being screened exclusively at the Mission Tiki Drive-in. Please note that many of these showings are already sold out. At this writing, there are still tickets for one film we’ll be keeping track of in the near future: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead‘s latest head trip, Synchronic.
