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“Fantastic Fest 2025”: Fantastic Fest generally marks the end of the festival season for us, usually debuting a few late-bloomers that missed earlier festivals and traditionally reviving a strange forgotten B-movie or two. Here are four titles Giles Edwards will be keeping an eye out for, post-fest:

• Dawning – remote vacation home, trauma recovery, mysterious visitor are the spooky elements in this Spanish/Norwegian picture to be released stateside by SpectreVision
• Decorado – Alberto Vázquez‘ feature length expansion of his existential mouse short
• Dildo Heaven – Doris Wishman‘s final film, released in 2002, has been restored (!) and will be out and about in some form or another soon
• The Ice Tower – Lucile Hadzihalilovic‘s scenario concerns a teenage runaway who lands at a film set for an adaptation of “The Snow Queen”; full review coming soon

Fantastic Fest homepage.

No! You’re Wrong, or, Spooky Action at a Distance (2025): Another Crispin Glover experimental film, with little to go on other than the Expressionistic trailer. As with many of Glover’s specialist films, this will tour with the director available at each screening, starting at its world premiere at the Museum of Modern Art this upcoming Oct. 2 (and probably will not reach streaming or physical media). No! You’re Wrong at Crispin Glover’s home page.

One Battle After Another (2025): Leonardo DiCaprio is a burnt-out radical stoner fighting the Man to save his missing daughter. Paul Thomas Anderson learned his lesson from the last time he tried to adapt Thomas Pynchon—but did he learn the right lesson? One Battle After Another official site.

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror (2025): Richard O’Brien‘s son, Linus O’Brien, directs this tribute to the sci-fi musical cult classic. In limited theaters; you can check for a venue near you at the Strange Journey official website.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

Circumstances (almost) beyond our control delayed the posting of this week’s Pod 366 episode, and will cause us to shift this week’s Saturday Short to a Sunday Short. But never fear, even with a busy week ahead, we should be back on schedule for next week’s Pod 366 (“The Return of Greg”) to drop on Friday. In upcoming written content, Shane Wilson begins his Halloween reader-suggested watch season with the unserious Gory Gory Hallelujah (2003); Enar Clarke encounters Shôhei Imamura‘s Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001), and Giles Edwards climbs The Ice Tower (see above). Onward and weirdward!

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

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The Devil’s Bride (1974): Read Giles Edwards’ review. The Blu-ray release of this new-to-the-West Lithuanian folk-rock-musical contains all the usual informative extras Deaf Crocodile is known for. Buy The Devil’s Bride.

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004): Read the Canonically Weird entry! Isn’t it great to live in a world where Hayao Miyazaki classics return to theaters yearly? Sept. 20-24; find a venue near you at GKids Howl’s Moving Castle official site.

Megadoc (2025): Mike Figgis’ behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Francis Ford Coppola‘s mad Megalopolis will screen in theaters. The trailer suggests a sanitized appreciation rather than the warts-on-all treatment we were hoping for, but we’ll take all the Mega we can get. Megadoc official site.

The Pied Piper (+Jiri Barta shorts) (1986): Read El Rob Hubbard’s review of The Pied Piper. Barta‘s strange stop-motion adaptation of the folk tale had been previously available from Deaf Crocodile, but this release adds six new experimental shorts (one of the seven total shorts had appeared on the previous release). Buy The Pied Piper.

So Unreal (2023): A highly stylized and experimental documentary from the ever-weird Amanda Kramer exploring the social anxieties revealed by science fiction films of the 80s and 90s. Narrated by Debbie Harry, on Blu-ray only (we’d assume a VOD will follow soon).  Buy So Unreal.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

No guest on Pod 366 next week; Greg will be out of town again, so Giles and Pete will preview Fantastic Fest 2025 for you. In written content, Shane Wilson reports on a pair of shorts (Hans Richter‘s 1928 experiment “Ghosts Before Breakfast” and Jaume Balagueró’s 1994 dystopian fantasia “Alicia”), while Giles Edwards goes where Joe Badon‘s choose-your-own-adventure microbudget surrealist feature The Wheel of Heaven leads him. Onward and weirdward!

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

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“Todd Rohal F___ My Son interview”: Director Todd Rohal‘s interview about his transgressive comedy (which just premiered at TIFF) is at Variety.

The Surfer (2024): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s Apocrypha Candidate review. The Blu-ray release of this Nicolas Cage-led psychological machismo thriller includes director’s commentary from Lorcan Finnegan and a “making of” doc. Buy The Surfer.

Uzumaki (2024): The Adult Swim production of the same Junji Ito manga that inspired the Apocryphally Weird feature film was plagued by production issues in the later episodes. Also available on VOD and a steelbook edition. Buy Uzumaki.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

No guest scheduled on next week’s Pod 366, and Greg will be off (Pete Trbovich will fill in with Giles.) In written reviews, Shane Wilson grooves to the hip-hop sci-fi musical Wave Twisters (2001), while Gregory J. Smalley looks at Charlie Kaufman protégé Duke Johnson‘s first solo directorial feature, the dreamlike amnesia riff The Actor (2025). Onward and weirdward!

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

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Kill the Jockey (2024): A jockey who’s addicted to horse drugs (!) and in debt to the mafia suffers a concussion and is reborn. The distributor describes it as “a wild and surreal crime comedy.” Buy or rent Kill the Jockey.

Toronto International Film Festival (Sep. 4-14): Toronto is a huge film festival, and a huge commercial market for upcoming films looking for distributors. Most TIFF films are reliably mainstream, but with over 200 features, there will inevitably be some weird ones. Here are the ones we’ll be tracking in the coming months:

• Barrio Triste – a “hallucinatory” found footage movie set among Medellin’s juvenile delinquents; from Harmony Korine‘s EDGLRD productions
• Dead Lover –  a gravedigger reanimates her dream man in a campy and gonzo spin on Frankenstein
• Egghead Republic – Swedish satire set in an alternative history where Kazakhstan was nuked, and the aftermath may have produced radioactive centaurs; programmers say it “teeters between a surrealist farce and an incisive critique of the media-industrial complex”
• F*** My Son! – a decrepit mother tries to get her mutant son laid; from Todd Rohal, so probably even stranger than the premise already suggests
• Junk World – a robot tries to unwind time-travel anomalies in Takahide Hori’s stop-motion prequel to his oddball Junk Head
• Levers – explores the effects of a “global day of darkness” on the residents of a small Canadian town; dreamlike and per the director shot in 16mm on “broken Bolex cameras”
• The Man in My Basement – Charles is in financial trouble; a mysterious businessman comes to his rescue by requesting to rent his basement for an exorbitant sum

The Wheel of Heaven (2023): A female mechanic reads a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book that leads her through wild, surreal scenarios. Director Joe Badon will return to Pod 366 to discuss this one when it hits streaming/VOD, but for now you can get it on Blu-ray, with two cast and crew commentaries and an interview linking the film and the Tarot. Buy The Wheel of Heaven.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

No guest on Pod 366 next week (we think), but Greg and Giles will return with a look at upcoming weird movies. In written content, Shane Wilson goes psychedelic Snorkeling (2025), Giles Edwards decides to Kill the Jockey (see above), and Gregory J. Smalley makes one post about Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993). Onward and weirdward!

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

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I Can See You (2008): Read the Canonically Weird review! The “psychedelic campfire tale” arrives on Blu-ray for the first time; includes the short 3D film “The Viewer” and three other shorts (plus a music video) from director Graham Reznick. Buy I Can See You.

Only the River Flows (2023): A Chinese policeman questions whether they have the right suspect in a murder, as he struggles with nightmares that suggest madness. More than one critic described it as “enigmatic”; now on Blu-ray. Buy Only the River Flows.

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (2024): The Quay Brothers return with their first feature film in two decades, an adaptation of the same source material as Wojciech Has‘ The Hourglass Sanatorium done in the style of Street of Crocodiles. Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass official U.S. distributor page.

The Toxic Avenger (2023): Peter Dinklage (that’s right) takes the lead role in this remake of Troma’s scuzzball hit. In theaters everywhere. The Toxic Avenger official site.

Venice International Film Festival, Aug 27 – Sep. 6: Venice is always worth a peek. This year, Werner Herzog receives an honorary Golden Lion (presented to him by no less than Francis Ford Coppola) as a prelude to what looks like a fairly weird slate. The big item for our eyes is Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Bugonia, a remake of Save the Green Planet! that’s getting great early reviews (but no reports of major weirdness, sadly). Also getting buzz (from us): Mike Figgis’ behind-the-scenes feature about the making of Megalopolis, Megadoc. The “looks interesting” category features three foreign films (two with uncertain distribution prospects): an Azerbaijani film whose title translates as Sermon to the Void, which appears to be a desert quest set during the end of the world; a new animated fantasy from Mamoru Hosoda called Scarlet; and an experimental avant-garde Italian adaptation of the Orpheus legend (Orfeo). Plus, in the not-weird-but-we’ll-be-watching-anyway category: Guillermo del Toro‘s take on Frankenstein. Venice International Film Festival official website.

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001): Discussion begins. A salaryman romances a village woman who has a river inside her. Shôhei Imamura‘s final movie is a weird romantic comedy focused on female sexuality. A Blu-ray came out in 2023; not sure why there’s a follow-up release so quickly. Buy Warm Water Under a Red Bridge.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

No guest (definitively) scheduled for next week’s Pod 366, but Greg and Giles will return with a look at the week’s weird news and releases. In written content, Shane Wilson considers whether We Are the Strange (2007) lives up to its name, Enar Clarke reviews four (!) Something Weird roughies in one post, Giles Edwards investigates a Dream Hacker (2025), and Gregory J. Smalley plans to report on The Toxic Avenger remake. Onward and weirdward!