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 at the official site links.

SCREENINGS – (AFI Silver Theater, Silver Springs, MD, Nov. 6-17):

There’s an uncommon amount of great weird stuff screening at the American Film Institute’s east coast outpost this week. We’ll start off by mentioning that Charles Laughton‘s lone directorial effort, the Certified Weird Appalachian noir Night of the Hunter, will be playing all week. The continuing silent movie series also rocks this week, with the Expressionist masterpiece Cabinet of Dr. Caligari taking the spotlight tonight at 7:00 PM, while Lotte Reiniger‘s cutout fantasia The Adventures of Prince Achmed  plays a hip Saturday matinee at noon. Both silents feature live musical accompaniment by composer Gabriel Thibaudeau, and Caligari offers an unbeatable perk: free admission. Finally, actor Keir Dullea will be on hand Sunday for Q&A screenings of Otto Preminger‘s odd thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing (at 4 PM) followed by a little movie some of you may have heard of, 2001: A Space Odyssey, at 7 PM. Classic weird movie fans in Maryland should be in heaven. AFI Silver Theater homepage.

IN DEVELOPMENT (POST-PRODUCTION):

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016): We don’t have great hopes for this long-gestating project: the graphic novel seemed original when it came out in 2009 but was beat to the screen long ago by lousy period undead ripoffs like 2012’s Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Still, the autumn doldrums have fallen on the weird movie horizon like a lead curtain, and there are few rays of hope to highlight. P&P&Z could end up as passable amusing entertainment, though it does seem aimed at the mainstream.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Roar (1981): A gang of lions, leopards and tigers attack African homesteaders in a nonstop barrage of fangs and claws. The danger was very real; the ad copy brags that over 70 members of the cast and crew were injured making this insane feature! Not necessarily “weird” but definitely out-there and hard-to-believe. Buy Roar [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON SNAGFILM:

The Bedroom [AKA Unfaithful Wife: Shameful Torture] (1992): “Pink” movie set in a fetishistic club where female volunteers are drugged with a sedative/hallucinogen, then left to the pleasure of their male clients. Things are complicated when real life murders start to occur at the club. Speaking of real life murders, one of the actors in the film is Issei Sagawa, a confessed cannibal who murdered (and partially ate) a Dutch woman, but was set free due to a bizarre series of international legal conflicts. Because of his presence, some may have moral objections to the movie even beyond its perverse content (the synopsis should tell you this is not one for the kiddies). Watch The Bedroom free on SnagFilm.

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.