Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Escape from Tomorrow: A middle aged man follows two jailbait teen girls through an increasingly fantastic and surreal theme park. We never thought Disney would let this movie, which was shot on their property guerrilla style without permission, see the light of day, yet here it is. Simultaneously released on video on demand. Escape from Tomorrow official site.
FILM FESTIVALS – Sitges Film Festival (Sitges, Spain, Oct. 11-20):
Alhough Sitges has a fine slate of fantastic films as always, we’ve seen most of the offerings at other film festivals (a handful of the features are already out on DVD here in the U.S.). Here are a few notable films we noticed that appear to be debuting there:
- 3x3D – Three renowned filmmakers—France’s still-kicking Jean-Luc Godard, England’s reclusive Peter Greenaway, and Portugal’s nearly-local Edgar Pêra—experiment with the possibilities of 3D filmmaking beyond the Hollywood blockbuster. Screens once only, on Oct. 15.
- Abductee – The wildly uneven splatterpunk farceur Yûdai Yamaguchi tries his hand at a serious speculative Cube-like drama, about people who are abducted and imprisoned with only a numeric tattoo and a black stone as clues to their fate. Oct. 15.
- Cheatin’ – Bill Plympton‘s latest weird animated feature is about a woman who, with a magician’s help, takes the shape of her paramour’s ex-girlfriends. Oct 18.
- Goltzius & The Pelican Company – speaking of Peter Greenaway, his latest lavish feature film is based on a Renaissance engraver’s depictions of Bible stories. Oct. 11.
- The Taking – A man wakes up tied to a tree with a stranger, menaced by an odd family, in this horror that’s said to have a Lynchian feel. Oct. 17.
. - Vic+Flo Saw a Bear – A couple of lesbian ex-cons hole up in a backwoods cabin but are besieged by strange visitors. Oct 15 & 16.
- Wrong Cops – A comedy about cops-gone-wrong from Quentin Dupieux; the cast includes Eric Wareheim, Marilyn Manson, and former “Twin Peaks” spouses Grace Zabriske and Ray Wise. Oct 15.
Sitges Film Festival official site.
NEW ON DVD:
Night Train to Terror (1985): See description in Blu-ray below.
Resolution (2012): A buddy ties his meth addict pal up in a cabin in the woods for an involuntary detox, and things get weird in this low-budget meta-horror that earned some comparisons to The Cabin in the Woods. The Village Voice’s Nick Schager even claims it puts Cabin to shame. Buy Resolution
Suzune Evolution [AKA The Parasite Doctor Suzune: Evolution] (2011): The long-awaited sequel to Suzune Genesis is finally here! We never did figure out what Suzune Genesis was, but it’s from Japan, concerns a “parasite doctor,” and the DVD cover has women in tight black leather and maid’s costumes on the front cover, so we figure we’d dig it. Buy Suzune Evolution
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983): The least-successful, grossest and most sketch-oriented of the Python’s three original sketch films, Meaning of Life os still memorable for it’s exploding gluttons and paeans to the sanctity of sperm. This “30th Anniversary Edition” includes an hour-long reunion with the surviving Pythons. Buy Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life [Blu-ray]
Night Train to Terror (1985): In the train ride framing sequence, God and Satan argue over the fates of various mortals. Their debates are illustrated by three full length movies cut to fit into a 20 minute time slot (sacrificing character development where necessary, but keeping all the gore and nudity); the result is an incoherent train wreck of a movie that nevertheless manages to make it to Blu-ray before Celine and Julie Go Boating. Buy Night Train To Terror [Blu-ray + DVD]
Resolution (2012): See description in DVD above. A DVD + Blu-ray combo pack. Buy Resolution [Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack]
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.