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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.
IN DEVELOPMENT (announced):
The Memory Game (2020?): Charlie Kaufman will adapt Yōko Ogawa’s 1994 dystopian/surreal science fiction novel “The Memory Police
IN DEVELOPMENT (completed):
Jiu Jitsu (Nov. 2020): Since there aren’t a lot of weird new releases to report on this week, we’re sharing this trailer of the latest bit of nonsense from 366-icon Nicolas Cage. This one casts him in what appears to be the role of a mystical jiu jitsu teacher lecturing a group of five jiu jitsu chosen ones about how to defeat an alien jiu jitsu master (who’s apparently also “a poet warrior in the sci-fi sense”). No official site found, but The Hollywood Reporter analyzed the trailer.
DVR ALERT (Turner Classic Movies, 10/16):
TCM’s October horror features two Canonically Weird films today: the spooky Carnival of Souls at 12:15 PM ET (that’s just an hour away!) and the deranged Spider Baby at 4:45. We’ll keep you up to date on the weirdest of the weird on TCM this month, but you can also check out Watching Forever’s handy October TCM schedule.
ONLINE DEBUTS:
“The World of Tomorrow Episode 3: The Absent Destinations of David Prime”: Don Hertzfeldt springs the third installment of his melancholy, comic philosophical stick-figure sci-fi cartoon on the world. It’s a hearty 30 minutes long and only available on Vimeo at the moment. Fans of the series will want to check it out, but a minor caution: precocious moppet Winona Mae appears to have outgrown the series, and it’s heading in different directions. Hertzfeld has neither confirmed nor ruled out plans for an Episode 4. Rent “The World of Tomorrow Episode 3: The Absent Destinations of David Prime.”
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Motel Hell (1980): “It takes all kind of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s fritters!” This cult cannibal comedy has been released on Blu-ray before; this is a collectible steelbook with new cover artwork featuring the chainsaw-wielding pig-man. Buy Motel Hell
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
Theaters are cautiously starting to reopen across North America at diminished capacity, and we’re seeing a trickle of new screenings. You’ll have to use your own judgment as to whether it’s safe to go to movie theaters at this time (if in doubt, try a drive-in!)
- Columbus, OH
- Gateway Film Center – Akira (1988), 10/17-18
- Coxsackie, NY
- Hi-Way Drive-In – Brides of Blood (1968), with Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1968) and Beast of Blood (1979) (triple feature), 10/16-18
- La Grange, KY
- Sauerbeck Family Drive-In – The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) with Little Shop of Horrors (1986) (double feature), 10/17
- Memphis, TN
- Malco Summer Drive-In – Yellow Rose (2020) with The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (double feature), 10/17
- Phoenix, AZ
- Alamo Drafthouse – Vertigo (1958), 10/19-21
- Vancouver, BC
- The Rio
- Suspiria (1977), 10/16
- Donnie Darko (2001), 10/17
- Evil Dead II (1987), 10/19
- The Rio
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Reminder: tomorrow we’ll be meeting up virtually on Netflix to watch Crispin Glover in the 2018 adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. As usual, we’ll post the link to join around 10 PM here, on Facebook, and on Twitter. Please join us! If you can’t make it tomorrow, our next weird watch party will be held on Amazon Prime and will occur on Halloween night.
As for next week’s reviews, Gregory J. Smalley will cover a couple of new releases in the Turkish dystopian horror The Antenna and Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead‘s latest, the sci-fi oriented Synchronic. Giles Edwards, meanwhile, digs into the long-neglected reader-suggested review queue fora look at (and listen to) Peter Strickland‘s 2012 breakthrough horror film, Berberian Sound Studio. Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.