A look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
This is a monster week in terms of DVD/Blu-ray releases, with improved editions of two Certified Weird movies, plus the home video release of our weirdest movie of 2010, among other treasures. We advise you to stay home this weekend and catch up on some weirdness.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Kaboom (2010): Little Gregg Araki is growing up. The 53-year-old has graduated from making movies about horny high schoolers to making movies about horny college students. This one involves a hunky bisexual protagonist, hallucinogenic cookies, and a murdered dream girl, and is also described as “a sci-fi story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students.” As with other films distributed by IFC, Kaboom will also be simultaneously available on many cable systems’ “on demand” feature for those who can’t catch it in theaters. Kaboom official site.
Scream of the Banshee (2011): The official press release explains that the story describes what happens when the titular folkloric creature’s “scream begins to haunt all that heard it in strange and surreal ways.” The press release also reveals what we suspect has to be the strangest and most surreal incident in the movie: “she and her students hear a horrifying scream belonging to that of a bloodthirsty banshee. They think nothing of it…” (emphasis ours). Hopefully they took as much care writing the script as they did the ad copy. With Lance Henriksen, from After Dark Originals, co-produced by SyFy. Rotten Tomatoes seems to think it’s being released theatrically; we suspect they’ve been had. Scream of the Banshee Facebook page.
NEW ON DVD:
Dogtooth [Kynodontas] (2009): Read Kevyn Knox’s review. Bizarre Greek black comedy about kids raised on an estate and kept completely apart from the world with their own unique language. Buy Dogtooth
Enter the Void (2010): Read our review. DVD release makes our early choice for weirdest movie of 2010, about a hallucinating ghost in Tokyo, officially eligible to join the List. Buy Enter the Void
Santa Sangre (1989): Read our certified weird entry! This is the first official American release of Jodorowsky‘s weird mix of surrealism and serial killers, replacing the old “Singapore” version which contained the documentary The Constellation Jodorowsky. This two-disc release from Severin Films contains 5 hours (!) of bonus material, and also includes a commentary track from Jodorowsky and journalist Alan Jones. Big news indeed. Buy Santa Sangre
Violent Blue (2010): From Gregory Hatanaka, director of the intriguing but unseen Mad Cowgirl, comes this story of a composer whose ex-husband locks her in a cage. It’s the baffling “WTF?” trailer (below) that caught our attention. Buy Violent Blue
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Enter the Void (2010): See entry in DVD above. Buy Enter the Void [Blu-ray]
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004): Read Eric Young’s certified weird entry! Writer Charlie Kaufman and director Michel Gondry team up for this mindbending speculative romantic comedy about memory erasure that’s a favorite of sentimental weirdos everywhere. A quick scan of Universal’s planned special features doesn’t reveal anything significant that hasn’t appeared on previous releases. Buy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [Blu-ray]
Santa Sangre (1989): See entry in DVD above. Buy Santa Sangre [Blu-ray]
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.