Adam and Eve (1984): The story of Adam and Eve, Italian exploitation style, with dinosaurs and cannibal cavemen. AKA Adam and Eve vs. the Cannibals! Buy Adam and Eve.
Camp (2025): A young woman with a guilty past encounters witchcraft while working as a summer camp counselor. From Avalon Fast, out ahead of Jane Schoenbrun‘s similar Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Camp official site.
Children of the Wicker Man (2024): The 2 half-brother sons of Robin Hardy describe the chaotic production of Canonically Weird classic The Wicker Man and its effect on their father’s life, and theirs. Out now on Blu-ray from Severin, this seems to have skipped VOD entirely. Buy Children of the Wicker Man.
“The Idiot Box” (1991): This MTV comedy sketch show from a post-Bill & Ted, pre-Freaked Alex Winter only lasted 6 episodes before cancellation. It pitched itself as offering “the most astounding, bizarre and alarming comedy ever on the air.” Now collected on Blu-ray by (who else?) Severin. Buy “The Idiot Box”.
Wake in Fright (1971): A teacher finds himself marooned in a hard-drinking Australian outback town whose macho residents want to make him one of them. Reconstructed with the correct color grading for a lavish 4K UHD + Blu-ray presentation from Arrow. Buy Wake in Fright.
No guest scheduled for next week’s Pod 366. In written content, Michael Diamades goes Bird (2024) watching, Shane Wilson digs up Relics: Einstein’s Brain (1994), Giles Edwards explains Toshio Matsumoto‘s shaggy Dogra Magra (1988), and Gregory J. Smalley wonders whether you should go ahead with Touch Me (2025). Happy July 4! Onward and weirdward!
Alpha (2025): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. Although it concerns a plague that turns people into statues, Julia Ducournau‘s third film resembles a Euro-style family drama more than it does the shocking horror films of her early career. Now on Blu-ray. Buy Alpha.
Careful (1992): Read the Canonically Weird entry! A 4K remaster of Guy Maddin‘s neo-expressionist masterpiece about sexual repression (particularly of the incestuous kind). Playing select art-house theaters. In Chicago and NYC this week; check out Careful at Zeitgeist Films for all screenings.
“The David ‘The Rock’ Nelson Collection Vol 3”: Features the epic backyard horror movie anthology Monster Tales (2002), made by a former amateur boxer turned direct-to-VHS auteur (who proudly refers to himself as “The Ed Woodof the 21st century”). How did we miss the first two volumes? Buy “The David ‘The Rock’ Nelson Collection Vol 3”.
Desperate Living (1977): Read the Canonically Weird review! The third entry in John Waters‘ “trash trilogy” is the most ambitious, a depraved fairy-tale for perverted sociopaths. The Criterion Collection does it right, in your choice of Blu-ray only or 4K UHD + Blu-ray. Buy Desperate Living.
Dogra Magra (1988): A man awakes in a mental asylum with no memory and is informed he killed his wife on his wedding night. Toshio Matsumoto‘s final film was an adaptation of an “unfilmable” novel; a commentator once suggested the film is like a Japanese mashup of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with Last Year at Marienbad. This is Radiance’s standard version of the collector’s edition released in late 2024. Buy Dogra Magra.
“Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape”: A Blu-ray collection of the work of digital creator Kelli, partly curated by Jane Schoenbrun. Some (most?) of the bits featured on this collection were unreleased on her YouTube channel. Buy “Girl Internet Show: A Kati Kelli Mixtape”.
Hairspray (1988): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. John Waters’ PG-rated 50s Baltimore nostalgia piece gets the Criterion Collection treatment, also in Blu-ray or 4K UHD + Blu-ray. Buy Hairspray.
Malpertuis (1972): Read the Canonically Weird entry! The Blu-ray debut of this very strange Belgian/international movie about a sailor who returns to the mansion where his very strange family lives. From Radiance, with some new interviews and lots of archival extras. Buy Malpertuis.
Mare’s Nest (2025): Moon explores a strange world with no adults. Discover the extremely limited screening schedule for this art-house experiment at the Mare’s Nest page at Grasshopper Films.
The Nude Vampire (1970): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s Apocrypha Candidate review. Jean Rollin‘s sophomore film includes one of his most bizarre scenarios and sets the plate for the vampire films to come. This is the “US Standard” edition 4K UHD (no Blu-ray), but it contains essentially the same material as the old limited edition. Buy The Nude Vampire.
“Roman Porno Reboot Collection, Vol. 1”: Around 2016, Nikkatsu studios asked contemporary directors to make new movies in the style of its early 1970s “Roman Porno” softcore films. One of the first, and the standout of the series, was Sion Sono‘s subversive Antiporno, included in this set along with more conventional sex pictures with titles like Aroused by Gymnopedies, Dawn of the Felines, Wet Woman in the Wind, and White Lily. “Buy Roman Porno Reboot Collection, Vol. 1”.
No guest scheduled for next week’s Pod 366 (although we suppose a surprise could always pop up), but the crew will be back to discuss the week’s weird news and new releases. In written content, Michael Diamades sets the stage for Decorado (2025), Enar Clarke scores a Fresh Kill (1994), Shane Wilson decides to Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (1971), and Gregory J. Smalley wonders what a Wetiko (2022) is. Onward and weirdward!
Matador Bolero (2026): An underground movie done in the style of a 1960s Super-8 experimental film, about the murder of an actress and possible links to a cult worshiping a super-intelligent computer. Now in theaters.
The Cell (2000): Read Giles Edwards’ review. The 4K UHD (+ Blu-ray) standard edition release from Arrow (so lots of extras) of the psychological thriller where Jennifer Lopez enters the mind of a serial killer. Buy The Cell.
Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979): Read Shane Wilson’s review. Deaf Crocodile releases the standard Blu-ray + UHD for the Soviet sci-fi mystery, previously available only in a limited edition. Buy Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel.
The Holy Mountain rescore: Alternate scores of existing movies are a cool thing, and have moved on from silents to alternate versions of existing talkie scores. For The Holy Mountain, the Cue Northwest Music Residency held a contest to rescore the film, which was won by the avant-rock group Zen Mother. The band will play the score live at a screening at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle sometime in 2027, and hopefully their version will also be available elsewhere. Read the announcement at The Stranger.
The Trouble with Terkel (2010): A bullied 6th grader turns to booze to deal with the guilt caused by his being responsible for the suicide of a classmate. Pixar passed on remaking this transgressive Danish animated comedy. Buy The Trouble with Terkel.
Wetiko (2026): Billed as a “psychedelic jungle thriller,” this feature addresses the phenomenon of “shamanic tourism.” Now on VOD after a brief run in theaters. Wetiko on VOD.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
No guest on next week’s Pod 366. Gregory J. Smalley will be on vacation, but Giles Edwards and Pete Trbovich will talk about two canonically weird classics (Audition and Perfect Blue, if you want to do your homework), among other topics. In written content, Enar Clarke fills out our Jean Rollin coverage with The Living Dead Girl (1982), Michael Diamades takes on the AI-generated feature film Brainstare (2025), and Shane Wilson surveys the entire run of the Muppet-style existential horror show for kids “Don’t Hug Me, I’m Scared”. Onward and weirdward!
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026): Human beings become trapped in a virtual reality world overseen by a deranged AI ringmaster in this YouTube sensation turned Netflix series. In theaters nationwide from June 4-18, debuting on Netflix on June 19. Expect a review of the entire series within weeks. The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act official site.
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002): Read the Canonically Weird entry! The ultimate steelbook release of the weirdest movie about Elvis and black JFK fighting mummies in a nursing home you’ll ever lay eyes on. Buy Bubba Ho-Tep.
Iron Lung (2025): A surprise modest hit about a convict sent to explore a mysterious ocean on an interstellar moon in a ramshackle submarine. We ignored this video-game adaptation when it came out, but a loyal reader has since tipped us off that they think it’s weird; it’s now available for rental exclusively on YouTube. Rent or buy Iron Lung on VOD.
R.I.P. Yoshihiro Nishimura: We are sad to report that Yoshihiro Nishimura, the director of Tokyo Gore Police, has died at age 59 of liver disease. We published an interview with Mr. Nishimura in 2017; he was the first celebrity to give us a restaurant recommendation. Variety recaps his career.
Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror (2025): Read Pete Trbovich’s review. The ultimate Rocky Horror documentary (made by Richard O’Brien‘s son) is finally available in the US on VOD on Plex, Apple TV, or Google Play. Blu-ray drops in the US on July 7.
The Wizard of Oz (1939): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. The Wizard of Oz has probably been released in as many different physical media incarnations as any film ever made; this is the standard edition of the 4K release previously available in a limited edition set. No Blu-ray included in this one. Buy The Wizard of Oz.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
We may have a guest for next week’s Pod 366: underground filmmaker and musician Jonathan Rosado (of Matador Bolero). It’s another packed week in written content, as Pete Trbovich puts out another Perverted Pick with Jess Franco‘s Venus in Furs (1969), Enar Clarke celebrates pride month with Flaming Ears (1992), Michael Diamades addresses the Czech comedy Buttoners (1997), Shane Wilson is happy to compose his thoughts on reader-suggestion Allegro (2005), and Gregory J. Smalley descends in an Iron Lung (2026). Onward and weirdward!
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!
