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Audio only link (Soundcloud download)
Quick links/Discussed in this episode:
Asteroid City (2023): Discussion begins. Read Gregory J. Smalley’s Apocrypha Candidate review. Wes Anderson‘s Cold War-set meta-comedy turned out to be much weirder than expected; it’s now on DVD and Blu-ray. Buy Asteroid City.
Caverna (2023): Discussion begins. Patients act out mythological scenarios as part of an experimental therapy in this Italian drama that bills itself as “dreamlike.” Just an hour long, it was released straight to video-on-demand. Caverna official site.
Fantastic Fest (Sep. 21-28, Austin, TX):
Discussion begins. The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX may be America’s coolest movie theater. Their brand grew so big that they have franchised Drafthouses across the country, and have partnered with American Genre Films Archives on a number of exploitation film re-releases. One of the Alamo’s hippest projects is Fantastic Fest, now back in full force in its eighteenth year. As per usual, there is a fantastic slate of weird movies and some neato revivals here. Coming at the tail end of the film festival season, we’ve already either noted or reviewed a number of these, most notably the dystopian weirdofest Divinity, the Spanish black comedy The Fantastic Golem Affairs, the Korean black comedy Killing Romance, the Stuart-Gordian Suitable Flesh, and the Adams family’s period horror Where the Devil Roams. Big-ticket revivals include the insane Blood Diner (1987), the mysterious Messiah of Evil (1973), and the nihilistic Nowhere. Here are some newer releases we’ll be keeping an eye out for:
- “30 Coins,” Season 2 – The Fest will premiere the first two episodes of the upcoming season of Alex de la Iglesia‘s Satanic TV show (Season 1 review here).
- Caligula: The Ultimate Cut – Original cut reviewed here. This “ultimate cut” of the disgusto vanity project from Bob Guccione uses mostly B-roll footage, runs for 2.5 hours, and might be better than the original (though that’s not saying much).
- Conann – Conann the Barbarian as you’ve never seen her before! From the “incoherent” Bertrand Mandico.
- The Jar – A surrealist horror.
- The People’s Joker – The festival defies corporate bullies for a second screening of this underground hit about a trans Joker.
- The Toxic Avenger (2023) – A remake of Troma’s offensive original starring the actor who was born to play the role: Peter Dinklage!
Last and First Men (2020): Discussion begins. Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson composes a score, illustrates it with black and white photographs of Czech brutalist architecture, and hires Tilda Swinton to read a dystopian novel over the images. This experimental movie, Jóhannsson’s only feature as director, was one of his last completed works before his death from an accidental drug overdose in 2018. On Blu-ray only. Buy Last and First Men.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
Pat Tremblay, who has just published a fascinating new book of fake (but weird!) movies, will be our guest on next week’s Pod 366. In reviews next week, Shane Wilson will revisit Modus Operandi (2009), Giles Edwards takes the Corner Office (2023), and Gregory J. Smalley plans on shooting off something about Tommy Guns (2022). Onward and weirdward!