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Discussed in this episode:
Cat Sick Blues (2015): Dave Jackson explains his inspirations for this strange slasher about an Internet celebrity whose life revolves around her cat’s viral video performances and a fellow with a fetish for defiling and murdering women while dressed as a cat who meet at a pet-loss support group.
- Pete Trbovich’s Apocrypha Candidate review.
- Cat Sick Blues Blu-ray
- Cat Sick Blues on Tubi
- “Show Me Something Wrong,” Dave Jackson’s Podcast
Bouchra (2024): A lesbian refugee coyote in America reconnects with her mother in Morocco; all the characters are animated anthropomorphic animals, and there’s a talking elevator shaft. Coincidentally, this was recommended in the reader-suggestion box just yesterday; it’s playing in select theaters starting this week. Fortunately, it’s also on Mubi or available to rent on VOD separately. Bouchra official site.
Fantastic Fest: Austin’s original Alamo Drafthouse hosts the last major festival event of the year. This year there are fewer repeats from Fantasia than in previous years, although they do have at least one repeat from Toronto’s TIFF. Here’s what we’ll be tracking in coming weeks and months.
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- The Face of Horror – Anna Biller‘s Gothic horror throwback showed out well in Toronto, but might be campy (a term Biller disfavors) rather than weird. She did release a clip:
- Flapjax – aliens promote an addictive fast food item called “flapjax”; Fangoria says the movie exhibits a “uniquely weird approach”
- Full Phil – One of 2 Quentin Dupieux features screening at the festival (as a double feature), this one is about a daughter and father reconciling while watching an old monster movie and features Dupieux’s most marketable cast: Kristen Stewart, Woody Harrelson, Tim Heidecker, and Eric Wareheim.
- Roma Elastica – the “incoherent” Bertrand Mandico‘s latest is in English and stars Marion Cotillard as a movie star with cancer cast in a 1980s European film; it will get weird
- Roy From Space – in a previous pod we discussed this lost Mexican psychedelic animation; it’s already on Blu-ray, but here it is on the biog screen for a lucky few
- Vertiginous – Q. Dupieux’s other movie this year is about a man trying to convince a friend that we’re all living in a simulation
Ghost in the Shell (1995): Read Gregory J. Smalley’s review. This seminal cyberpunk anime isn’t that weird, but it is essential animation that’s available in theaters this week. Ghost in the Shell at Fandango for theaters and showtimes.
The Master and Margarita (2024): An adaptation of the popular Mikhail Bulgakov novel about a banned novelist who loses touch with reality while writing his latest work. This film was censored in Russia and has been the subject of litigation here due to another set of filmmakers claiming exclusive rights; a couple of sources say this will nevertheless be in cinemas next week, but no reports as to where. Here’s an article on the film, and a legal dispute, announcing its supposed release.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
No guest scheduled for next week’s Pod 366 (although we do have someone for the following week), but the gang will be back to discuss the week’s weird movie news and releases. In written content, Michael Diamades translates Themroc (1973) for you, Shane Wilson celebrates the late Jim Henson‘s birthday with a look at a pair of his early experimental shorts, Enar Clarke reports on the restored version of 1994’s Nadja, and Gregory J. Smalley visits the microbudget absurdity Swollen Creek (2026, and already on Tubi if you want to get a head start). Onward and weirdward!