WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 10/5/2018

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 THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Longing (2017): A middle-aged bachelor receives a phone call telling him he has unknowingly been a father since college, and he searches for information about his son. Basically an Israeli arthouse drama, but reviewers describe a couple of dream sequences that may make it worth a look for weirdophiles. Longing Cineuropa entry.

FILM FESTIVALS – New York Film Festival (New York City, NY, Sep.28 – Oct 14):

We’re a little late in reporting on the NYFF. There are not a lot of debuts here, and a number of films overlap with Sitges (covered in a bit more detail below). Notable weird-ish U.S. premieres include ‘ period piece, The Favourite, and s The Image Book. 

New York Film Festival home page.

FILM FESTIVALS – Sitges Film Festival (Sitges, Spain, Oct. 4 – 14):

Although Sitges always offers an excellent slate of fantastic films, they’re more into quantity than exclusivity. We’ve seen many of the choicest offerings— France’s All the Gods in the Sky; s An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn; ‘s Keep an Eye Out; the documentary Blue Velvet Revisited; Cam, Gaspar Noé‘s LSD orgy Climax; the surreal soccer flick Diamantino and Italian arthouse weirdness Happy as Lazzaro (both also at the New York Film Festival this week); the anthology The Field Guide to Evil; ‘s amneisac FugueGuy Maddin and Vertigo tribute, The Green Fog; s fashion horror In Fabric; the Czech stop-motion Laika; the black metal doc Lords of Chaos; Luz; Mandy; the telepathy horror Murder Me, Monster; ‘s Night is Short, Walk on Girl; ‘s sacrilegious animation Seder-MasochismTop Knot Detective, the 2017 mockumentary about a fake Japanese TV show; Under the Silver Lake; and the Suspiria remake—debuting at other film festivals (and some have even already had theatrical releases). This makes Sitges a kind of “best of” 2018 festival. Among the many revivals are screenings of the restored versions of 2001: A Space Odyssey on Oct. 13th and Hour of the Wolf  on Oct. 6. Skipping those, here are a couple of notable films and long shots we noticed:

  • 10 Years Thailand – Four Thai directors, including , imagine the future in this omnibus film screening on 10/8.
  • Luciferina – A novice nun learns the secret behind her psychic powers. Oct. 10.

Sitges Film Festival home page.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

“Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun” (Jul 2019): Not a movie but a novelization of the Certified Weird classic, co-authored by  and fantasy author Cornelia Funke and illustrated by Allen Williams. Del Toro’s active participation ensures it will be canonical. Announced at the Bookseller.

BOOKS:

“True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking”: Three-time Certified Weird director reflects on his 30+ years as an independent filmmaker. Coscarelli is touring heavily to promote the book, often in conjunction with screenings of his cult films Phantasm or Bubba Ho-Tep, so be on the lookout for a book signing in your town (and check our repertory screenings list below). Buy “True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking.”

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

Housewife (2017): A housewife with a disturbed past gets sucked into a cult called “the Umbrella of Love & Mind.” The sophomore film from Turkish horror upstart , folks are using the “w word” to describe it. DVD or VOD. Buy Housewife.

CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.

FREE MOVIES ON TUBITV:

Giorgio Moroder presents Metropolis (1927/1984): Read our review. A divisive, restored and re-tinted version of ‘s seminal urban dystopia, with a cheesy New Wave pop score from then-popular acts like Loverboy, Billy Squier and Pat Benetar. Once the best-looking version of the film available, it’s now a curiosity of cinema history.  Watch Giorgio Moroder presents Metropolis free on Tubi.tv.

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.

2 thoughts on “WEIRD HORIZON FOR THE WEEK OF 10/5/2018”

  1. Moroder’s reconstruction was my introduction to “Metropolis”, and it will forever live in my heart as a special and irreplaceable gem. It helps that I looooooooooove New Wave music and can’t think of it as cheesy, too.

    1. Hear, hear.

      “New Wave” music isn’t cheesy; cheesy NewWave music may be, but then, all cheesy music is.

      As for “Metropolis”, I grew up with a VHS copy of whatever form it existed in … oh those many years ago. Unfortunately, the “score” provided was merely a loop of five or six German vocal-free “standards”.

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