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.

DVR ALERT – (Turner Classic Movies, Sat, Jan. 30, 2:00 AM EST):

Some Call It Loving (1973): Read El Rob Hubbard’s review. Sexy fairy tale about a man who buys a sleeping beauty sideshow attraction at a carnival and takes her home to his love nest. Is TCM stalking us for suggestions or what? Some Call It Loving post at Movie Morlocks.

SCREENINGS – (New York City, IFC Center, Fri-Sat. Jan 29-30):

Videodrome (1983): Read the Certified Weird entry! David Cronenberg‘s video nightmare on the big screen at the witching hour. You’ll be hailing the New Flesh… Videodrome at IFC Center.

SCREENINGS – (New York City, Lincoln Center, Tues. Feb 2):

The Science of Sleep (2006): Read the Certified Weird entry! Not sure what this has to do with Groundhog Day, but Lincoln Center’s programmers call it “a surrealist’s delight”. The Science of Sleep at Lincoln Center.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

The Insects (est. 2018): A new project from octogenarian Czech surrealist animator Jan Svankmajer. It will be based on Karel and Josef Čapek’s play “An Insects Life,” combine live action and animation, and be “a very misanthropic film.” It’s been in the works for at least two years. Given that Jan’s last movie, 2010’s Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) still has not earned a U.S. home video release, we despair of ever seeing this one. The Insects Facebook page has a lot of information.

NEW ON DVD:

Chi-Raq (2015): After a child is accidentally gunned down, the woman of Chicago go on a sex-strike to stop gang violence. Spike Lee‘s “Lysistrata”-based hip-hopera isn’t all that weird, by our high standards, but it is crazy and alive; on a slow week you could do a lot worse than a movie that features Samuel L. Jackson as a pimped-out single-man Greek chorus. Buy Chi-Raq.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

Chi-Raq (2015): See description in DVD above. Buy Chi-Raq [Blu-ray].

Sonny Boy (1989): Two career criminals raise a kidnapped baby to be their murderous accomplice in a fondly-remembered cult movie that’s odder than the synopsis makes it sound. David Carradine plays the entire film in drag. Buy Sonny Boy [Blu-ray].

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Shanks (1974): Read the Certified Weird entry! William Castle directs mime Marcel Marceau in this fairy tale-ish oddity about a mute puppeteer who animates dead bodies and moves them with a remote control. Then the bikers show up. Weirdness results.

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.