366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.

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.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

“Boogiepop and Others: The Complete Series” (2019): A 2019 alternative to the 2000 anime series “Boogiepop Phantom,” about a mysterious angel of death; this one is animated by Madhouse (Satoshi Kon‘s old studio). Compared to the older series, these thirteen episodes (on one Blu-ray) cover some of the same territory, and some new side plots (both animes are sourced from an expansive series of fourteen short novels by Kouhei Kadono). Buy “Boogiepop and Others: The Complete Series”.

Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971): A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown at a lake finds herself haunted by the undead. A surreal-ish, atmospheric budget horror with a misleading title and a small cult following. On Blu-ray from Shout! Factory with special features, including a director’s commentary. Buy Let’s Scare Jessica to Death.

Tammy and the T-Rex (1994): A mad scientist implants Tammy’s dead boyfriend’s brain into a Tyrannosaurus rex. This new release restores the gore that was cut from the original to qualify it for a PG-13 rating. Your choice of a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack or (for a little more moolah) a 4K HD disc. Buy Tammy and the T-Rex.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly or monthly screening near you.

• Chicago, IL
  • Gene Siskel Film Center – Audition [Ôdishon] (1999) (1/31, 2/4)
• Denver, CO
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/4)
• Los Angeles, CA
  • The Nuart – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) (1/31) (midnight)
• Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
  • Alamo Drafthouse
    • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (2/1)
    • Wild at Heart (1990) (2/3)
  • The Trylon – Gummo (1997) (1/31-2/2)
  • Uptown Theatre – House [Hausu] (1977) (1/31-2/1) (midnights)
• New York City, NY
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Audition [Ôdishon] (1999) (2/3)
  • IFC Center
    • Mulholland Drive (2001) (1/31-2/1) (midnights)
    • Suspiria (1977)(1/31-2/1) (midnights)
  • The Roxy – Adaptation. (2002) (2/5)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: We’re fast approaching the final week of voting for the Weirdcademy Awards, and while The Lighthouse holds a solid lead in most categories it was nominated in (ironically, its closest competition is in the Weirdest Picture category), the Weirdest Actress and Weirdest Short races are still in doubt. Vote away to your heart’s content (as long as your heart is content with casting one vote every 24 hours).

As far as what we’ll be adding to our massive weird online database next week: from the reader-suggested review queue, Giles Edwards investigates Mystery Men (1999), while Terri McSorley takes on Godzilla vs Hedorah (1971) (and gives you the scoop on Criterion’s massive Godzilla box set, to boot). G. Smalley will toss in a review of Noboru Iguchi‘s The Machine Girl (2008), specifically, the new “Jacked!” DVD release. 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.

366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.

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 (LIMITED RELEASE):

Assassination 33 A.D. (2020): Islamic terrorists develop a time machine to go back to the Holy Land and assassinate Jesus Christ before he can be crucified; devout Christians rig up their own machine and race back to stop them. It all sounds, as Life of Brian‘s Pontius Pilate might say, “wisible.” Assassination 33 A.D. official site.

https://youtu.be/XFnVZnrFWdo

Color out of Space (2019): Read our review. Richard Stanley + H.P. Lovecraft + Nicolas Cage = the first cult movie event of 2020. Producer SpectreVision’s official Facebook page.

IN DEVELOPMENT (post-production):

Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences (2020): Cory McAbee‘s movie apparently begins when a man approaches a robot at a party and discovers he must justify humankind. This has been in production for years, with McAbee publicly performing the character he plays in the movie (a singing New Age motivational speaker); it seems to be either finalized, or at least complete enough to release the teaser trailer below. Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences official site.

Dunwich Horror (202?): Speaking of Color out of Space (above), SpectreVision has reportedly already greenlit another Richard Stanley Lovecraft adaptation. It’s “The Dunwich Horror,” about a mysterious monster sequestered in an Arkham farmhouse. There may be a third Stanley/Lovecraft movie after that (title not yet revealed). Stanley intends to connect the stories (slightly), in the trendy “extended universe” style. The news comes straight from Stanley via an interview with Rue Morgue magazine.

NEW ON NETFLIX:

“What Did Jack Do?” (2017): Detective David Lynch interrogates a monkey suspected of murder for 17 minutes. Netflix dropped this short, made for an art installation in 2017 and rarely screened since, as a surprise on Lynch’s 74th birthday. “What Did Jack Do?” on Netflix.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.

• Austin, TX
  • Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar) – Carnival of Souls (1962) (1/28)
• Boston, MA
  • The Brattle
    • Metropolis (1927) with Aelita: The Queen of Mars (1924) (double feature) (1/25)
    • L’Inhumaine (1924) (1/29)
• Los Angeles, CA
  • The New Beverly – Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) (1/25-26)
• Nashville, TN
  • The Belcourt – Fight Club (1999) (1/25) (midnight)
• New York City, NY
  • IFC Center
    • Un Chien Andalou (1929) with L’Age d’Or (1930) (double feature) (1/24-26)
    • Mulholland Drive (2001) (1/24-25) (midnights)
    • Suspiria (1977) (1/24-25) (midnights)
  • The Metrograph – Branded to Kill (1967) (1/27)
  • Spectacle – Reflections of Evil (2002) (1/27)
• Omaha, NB
  • Alamo Drafthouse – Santa Sangre (1989) (1/28)
• Pittsburgh, PA
  • Row House Cinema – Fantastic Planet [La Planète Sauvage] (1973) (1/24-30)
• San Diego, CA
  • Ken Cinema – Wild at Heart (1990) (1/25) (midnight)
• Schenectady, NY
  • Proctor’s Theatre –Phantasm (1979) (1/28)
• Toronto, ON
  • The Royal – The Taste of Tea (2004) (1/26)
• Washington, DC
  • Smoke & Barrel – After Hours (1985)(screening with unspecified “short films of Martin Scorsese“) (1/27)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: With the 2020 movie season yet to crank up, out writers will spend next week taking a crack at that massive (and actually still-growing) reader-suggested queue. To that end, look for reviews of Guy Ritchie‘s mystical gangster goof, Revolver; the sado-sexy Norwegian psychothriller Naboer (AKA Next Door); and Rian Johnson‘s high school noir, Brick. (There’s a common theme to these selections; does anyone see it?) At any rate, so as long as readers don’t add three new titles to the request queue next week, we will have whittled it down just a tad.

Meanwhile, you can continue voting for the 2019 Weirdcademy Awards, where The Lighthouse currently has a big lead in every category it was nominated in (Weirdest Actress is a tighter race, and the Weirdest Short poll is still anyone’s game). 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.

366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.

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 (LIMITED RELEASE):

My Hindu Friend (2015): A filmmaker, dying of cancer, is visited by death. Despite being made in 2015 and garnering festival awards for Willem Dafoe, the film was never properly released when director Hector Babenco died soon after making it (he survived cancer, then succumbed to a heart attack). Rock Salt Releasing is giving it a second life in specialty venues. My Hindu Friend official Facebook page.

The Wave (2019): Read our review. A corporate lawyer impulsively takes a mysterious drug that, among other disorienting effects, causes him to skip forward randomly in time. In select cinemas and contemporaneously out on video-on-demand; a physical media release should follow later in the year. The Wave official site.

FILM FESTIVALS – Sundance Film Festival (Park City, UT, Jan 23-Feb 2):

The 2020 movie season will officially kick off with Sundance, where a hundred hopeful independent movies, including a few off-the-wall ones, come to vie for a handful of distribution contracts. In recent years, Sundance added the “Next” and “Midnight” screening sections to add some weirdness to the otherwise tame lineup of dramas about privileged white people and their problems. There is usually at least one memorably strange film that sneaks by the screeners: 2019 brought us the Groundhogian grief nightmare Koko-di, Koko-da. Here are a few titles we’ll be keeping our eyes on this year:

• The Nowhere Inn – Singer St. Vincent creates a fictional documentary described as “distorted and bizarre” and slated for the Midnight category. Screens 1/25-26, 1/30-2/1.
• Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia – Portmanteau feature centered around a Miami speedboat; it counts Swiss Army Man directing team Daniels among the contributors. On 1/26, 28-29, 31, or 2/1.
• Wendy – Benh Zeitlin‘s second feature film comes 8 years after Beasts of the Southern Wild; it’s a retelling of Peter Pan set in Neverland and told from Wendy’s perspective. 1/26-28, 2/1-2.

Sundance Film Festival official site.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019): Read Giles Edwards’ review. The Nazis-on-the-moon sequel is now on Blu-ray after being strictly VOD. Buy Iron Sky: The Coming Race.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We’ll only list irregularly scheduled one-time screenings of this audience-participation classic below. You can use this page to find a regular weekly screening near you.

• Chicago, IL
  • Gene Siskel Film Center – Millennium Actress (2001) (1/17, 23)
  • The Music Box – Mandy (2018) (1/17-18) (midnights)
• Dallas, TX
  • Texas Theatre
    • Santa Sangre (1989) (1/17-18)
    • Metropolis (1927), with live score by David DiDonato (1/18)
• Los Angeles, CA
  • The Nuart – Pink Floyd the Wall (1982) (1/18) (midnight)
• Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
  • The Uptown – Fantastic Planet [La Planète Sauvage] (1973) (1/17-18) (midnights)
• New York City, NY
  • IFC Center
    • The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) (1/17-20)
    • Eraserhead (1977) (1/17-19) (midnights)
    • Mulholland Drive (2001) (1/17-19) (midnights)
  • Lincoln Center – mother! (2017) (1/17)
  • The Metrograph – Branded to Kill (1967) (1/17-19)
• Oakland, CA
  • The New Parkway – Repo Man (1984) (1/17)
• San Francisco, CA
  • The Castro – A Woman Is a Woman (1961) with Pierrot le Fou (1965) (double feature) (1/23)
• Seattle, WA
  • Central Cinema – Freaks (1932) (1/17-22)
• Tuscon, AZ
  • The Loft – Mulholland Drive (2001) (1/17-18)
• Vancouver, BC
  • The Rio – Blue Velvet (1986) (1/17) (midnight)

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Before announcing next week’s lineup, we’ll remind you to vote in our 2019 Weirdcademy Awards poll (and also in the Weirdest Short Film of 2019 poll). These polls usually show some separation early, and this year it’s The Lighthouse that’s pulled far ahead in the Weirdest Actor and Weirdest Scene races, and also leading (though not necessarily dominating) the Weirdest Movie category. Weirdest Actress is still a contest, however, and Weirdest Short is anyone’s game. Polls close February 9.

Moving on, we’ll have a busy week of reviews next week as we give you the scoop on the highly anticipated Richard Stanley–H.P. Lovecraft–Nicolas Cage collaboration The Color out of Space. We’ll also have reviews of a couple of not-quite-as-fresh-but-still-newish offerings as El Rob Hubbard enters The Shasta Triangle and Shane Wilson finds I Lost My Hand. We’ll even throw in one from the reader-suggestion queue, as Giles Edwards celebrates the post-apocalyptic punk madness of Derek Jarman‘s Jubilee. That’s a pretty busy week for us. 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.

Joaquin Phoenix can play a pot-smoking detective investigating a dental cabal (or something like that, who can follow the plot?) in Inherent Vice and not get a sniff from the Academy; but get D.C.’s blessing to dress up like an angsty sociopathic clown, and suddenly it’s Oscar time? Scarlett Johansson plays a Scottish alien who sinks her victims into black goo and it’s like she’s not even in the room, but cast her as an actress with a hit TV show going through a messy divorce—like a third of the Academy’s female voters—and its nomination city, baby.  Laura Dern‘s been in about fifty David Lynch movies without Oscar raising a gilded eyebrow, so her agent begged them to cast her as a spunky lawyer in a Noah Baumbach snoozer so she could finally get some recognition. Movies about European dancers taking LSD got zero nominations this year. Feminist comedies about suburban adults wearing braces and giving birth to soccer balls? The same. Movies about how the Homeless King secretly rules Hollywood… well, maybe that one hits too close to home for the Academy. So what do you have to do to get a Most Conventional Picture nomination from the Academy in 2019? Does Martin Scorsese have to make the same movie he’s been making for 50 years now again, only this time cast a bunch of 90-year-old actors to play gangsters in their twenties, and have it run for five hours?

Yes, the Oscars are a joke, and everyone knows it. (Just try finding someone willing to host the ceremony.) But you, my friend, you aren’t content with the same-old same-old. You want weird in your movies. The Weirdcademy Awards are for you, the moviegoer whose friends roll their eyes and sigh loudly when you suggest buying tickets to that movie starring the guy from Twilight having sex with a mermaid.

Although the editors of 366 Weird Movies select the nominees from the pool of available movies, the Awards themselves are a naked popularity contest, and do not necessarily reflect either the artistic merit or intrinsic weirdness of the films involved. The Weirdcademy Awards are tongue-in-cheek and for fun only. Ballot-stuffing is a frequent occurrence. Please, no wagering.

The Weirdcademy Awards are given to the Weirdest Movie, Actor, Actress and Scene of the previous year, as voted by the members of the Weirdcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Weirdness.

Who makes up the Weirdcademy? Membership is open to all readers of 366 Weird Movies. If you can figure out how to vote in the poll, you are smart enough to join. You can not be turned down because of your age, sex, religious affiliation, pronoun, or number of appendages. There is no requirement that you’ve have to actually see any of the movies listed before voting. You can vote for any or all categories.

Vote as many times as you like, but only once per day, please. We’ll keep voting open until February 9 at 12:00 Noon EST, so we can announce our results before the Academy Awards and steal their thunder.

Be sure to also vote for Weirdest Short Film of the Year. To watch all five nominees and to cast your vote, please click here.

Without further delay, we unveil the nominees for the 2018 Weirdcademy Awards below:

Direct links (if you can’t see the embedded polls in your browser):
Weirdest Picture of 2019
Weirdest Actor (Best Actor in a Weird Movie) of 2019
Weirdest Actress (Best Actress in a Weird Movie)
Weirdest Scene of 2019