Only one more movies to Certify Weird! Many of you have already guessed the title, but feel free to try again in the comments.

Next week, we’ll be taking time out from reviews (with the exception of our 366th choice) for some reflections, starting with thoughts from  our gadfly Alfred Eaker. We’ll also bring you an updated list of the top weird movies not yet released on home video, and G. Smalley will add some thoughts on the 366 milestone, looking back fondly on what we’ve accomplished—and looking ahead to where this site will be going in a post-366 world.

Some things will be changing here in the coming weeks. We’ll let you in on the first change right now: we’re no longer going to list the upcoming reader-suggested review queue every week. (You can always see the complete list, alphabetized, on our Suggest a Weird Movie page). We will allow you to continue making suggestions for new movies, however.

Another change is that we will no longer be tracking the Weirdest Search Terms of the Week, since we’re seeing diminishing returns and a lot of repeats. If you’re disappointed by that, rest assured that at least we’ve been holding some very weird searches back—and we’re now going to dump them on you all at once, as a farewell to the series. These searches all came about because we link Pussy Goes Grrr in our sidebar. “Pussy” is, for some reason, a popular internet search term. Combine that with our high Google rank for the search term “weird” and you get a lot of strange, and often disturbing, searches combing “weird” and “pussy.” We’ve been saving some of these searches for almost a decade now. You can now finally enjoy them. Be warned, however: some of the items below contain pussy-related concepts you never thought of, and quite likely, never wanted to think of. Broad-minded, mature adults only, please. Try to keep the snickering to a minimum and do not attempt image searches on any of the following. This list may be illegal to access in Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Utah; check you local laws. Peruse at your own risk; 366 Weird Movies will not be responsible for any arousal, distress or insanity caused by reading the following list.

Continue reading WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: #366 EVE →

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.

The first week of January is even less eventful for movies than the last week of December. New releases, in theaters or on home video, are scarcer than character development in a Michael Bay film. Things will pick up when Sundance rolls around. For now, we only have a few repertory screenings to report on.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

• Chicago, IL, 1/4-1/5 (midnights) – Mandy (2018). At the Music Box Theater.
• Dallas, TX, 1/4 – The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), with Candy Clark Q&A before and Bowie karaoke after. At the Texas Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 1/4 – Akira (1988). At the Nuart Theatre.
• Los Angeles, CA, 1/7 – The Favourite (2018) with The Lobster (2015) (double feature; free with RSVP). At the Aero Theater.
• New York City, NY, 1/4 – Spirited Away (2001) (subtitled). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 1/4 – La Grande Bouffe (1973). At the Quad.
• New York City, NY, 1/4-1/5 – Mind Game (2004). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 1/4-1/5 (midnights) – Eraserhead (1977). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 1/4-1/5 (midnights) – The Holy Mountain (1973). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 1/4-1/5 (midnights) – Mandy (2018). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 1/5 – If…. (1968). At the Quad.
• Oakland, CA, 1/6 – Spirited Away (2001) (dubbed). At the New Parkway.
• Pittsburgh, PA, 1/5-1/11 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). At Row House Cinema.
• Pittsburgh, PA, 1/5-1/11 – Solaris [Solyaris] (1972). At Row House Cinema.
• San Diego, CA, 1/5-1/6 (midnights) – Perfect Blue (1997). (subtitled 5th, dubbed 6th). At Ken Cinema.
• Toronto, Ont., Canada, 1/8 – The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). At the Royal.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada, 1/9 – Mandy (2018). At the Rio.
• Yonkers, NY, 1/6 – Pink Flamingos (1972). At the Alamo Drafthouse.
• Yonkers, NY, 1/9 – Night of the Hunter (1955). At the Alamo Drafthouse.

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.

The 2018 Online Film Critics Society awards are out. A few weird films garnered nominations this year—Annihilation and Suspiria for Best Picture, Sorry to Bother You for Best Original Screenplay and Best Debut Feature—but we had no winners from our genre (unless you count the marginally weird Hereditary).

The Online Film Critics society has predicted the Academy Awards Best Picture winner three out of the last seven years.

Normally I add comments on my choices, but due to a time crunch this year, I am merely listing the winners, along with my votes for posterity.

BEST PICTURE

Winner: Roma

My Vote: The Death of Stalin (not nominated); Hereditary (official vote)

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

My Vote: Night Is Short, Walk on Girl (not nominated); Incredibles 2 (official vote)

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

My vote: Wes Anderson, Isle of Dogs (not nominated); Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here

BEST LEAD ACTOR

Winner: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

My vote: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

Winner: Toni Collette, Hereditary

My vote: Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madeline (not nominated); Olivia Colman, The Favourite (official vote)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Winner: Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther

My vote: Daniel Kaluuya, Widows (not nominated); Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Winner: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

My vote: Tilda Swinton, Suspiria (not nominated); Rachel Weisz, The Favourite (official vote)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Winner: Paul Schrader, First Reformed

My vote: Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Winner: Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk

My vote: The Death of Stalin (not nominated); Can You Ever Forgive Me? (official vote)

BEST EDITING

Winner: Eddie Hamilton, Mission: Impossible – Fallout

My vote: Mission: Impossible – Fallout

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

My vote: Mandy (not nominated); Roma (official vote)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Winner: Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk

My vote: Mandy (not nominated), First Man (official vote)

BEST DEBUT FEATURE

Winner: Ari Aster, Hereditary

My vote: Hereditary

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Winner: Roma

My Vote: Night Is Short, Walk on Girl (not nominated); Roma (official vote)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Winner: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

My vote: Free Solo

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Winners:

Annihilation, Best Visual Effects
Black Panther, Best Costume Design
Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Best Stunt Coordination
A Quiet Place, Best Sound Design
A Star Is Born, Best Original Songs

My votes:

Border, Hair and Makeup
Mandy, Production Design
November, Production Design
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Visual Effects
Suspiria, Hair and Makeup

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…

We are now in the movie industry post-Christmas doldrums, with almost no new releases either in theaters or home video. Things will pick up soon as a new season begins with Sundance debuts in late January. But here’s a few items for you…

IN DEVELOPMENT:

The Caring Only Cry at Night (2019?): A company transports the unwanted elderly to remote locations to die. The filmmakers cite Dogtooth and Stalker as inspirations for the tone. We discovered the project in a Teleflim Canada funding application, where they identify one of their target demographics as “Absurdist Dark Comedy fans” and write “Through our research we have found where these communities live on the internet. They include websites such as 366 Weird Movies…” In other words, they are making this movie (at least partly) for you guys. According to their proposed production schedule the film should be in post-production now, although we don’t know for sure. No official site (yet), but the Telefilm application is publicly available.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

• Chicago, IL, 12/28-12/30, 1/1-1/3 – Mandy (2018). At the Music Box Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA. 12/28 – Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941) with It’s a Gift (1934) (double feature). At the Aero Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 12/28-12/30 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At the Egyptian Theater.
• New York City, NY, 12/28-12/29 (midnights) – Eraserhead (1977). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 12/28-12/29 (midnights) – The Holy Mountain (1973). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 12/28, 12/30 – La Grande Bouffe (1973). At the Museum of Modern Art.
• New York City, NY, 12/30, 1/2 – Spirited Away (2001). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 12/30 – Mind Game (2004). At the Metrograph.
• New York City, NY, 12/30 – A Clockwork Orange (1971). At the Quad.
• New York City, NY, 1/1 – If…. (1968). At the Quad.
• New York City, NY, 1/1 – La Grande Bouffe (1973). At the Quad.
• New York City, NY, 1/2 – Desperate Living (1977). At the Quad.
• New York City, NY, 1/2 – Female Trouble (1974). At the Quad.
• San Diego, CA, 12/29 (midnight), 12/30 – Perfect Blue (1997) (Saturday subtitled, Sunday dubbed). At Ken Cinema.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada,  12/29 – Sorry to Bother You (2018). At the Rio.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada 12/30 – Mandy (2018). At the Rio.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada 12/31 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At the Rio.
• Vancouver, BC, Canada, 1/1 – Akira (1988). At the Rio.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:

Dogtooth (2009): Read the Certified Weird entry! The Favourite might be headed for an Oscar, but we’ll always treasure our first encounter with the weird world of Giorgos Lanthimos, this story of three children secluded by the parents in a chateau and taught bizarre, purposeless untruths about the outside world. Watch Dogtooth free on Tubi.tv.

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.

Enjoy your day off—we know we will!