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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.
FILM FESTIVALS – (South by Southwest [SXSW], Austin, TX, 3/11 to 3/20):
It snuck up on us, but South by Southwest returns to live screenings this year after two forgettable years online only. SXSW has grown into the second most important of the early season film festivals, and you can often find films that arrived a little too late (or were a little too weird) for Sundance playing there. This year, there are no weird must sees, but a lot of marginally intriguing entries. Here’s what we’ll be keeping an eye on:
- Everything Everywhere All at Once – A multiverse spanning tax-filing comedy from Daniels; the trailer makes it look rather conventional, so hopefully that’s misleading.
- Linoleum – A satellite crashes into an Ohio home and the dad decides to refashion the wreck into his own personal spaceship; says it contains “surreal events,” but how weird can a movie starring Jim Gaffigan be?
- The Man Who Fell to Earth – Showtime’s version of Walter Tevis’ novel that was successfully (and weirdly) adapted with David Bowie in 1976; the first episode of the new (presumably limited) series screens here.
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent – A lightly meta action-comedy starring Nicolas Cage in the role he was born to play (Nicolas Cage); probably not too weird, but the Cageheads out there have been eagerly anticipating this one.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Moon Manor: A man with Alzheimer’s lives out his last day in magical realist style. One of the co-directors is “Machete Bang Bang,” who has at least one surreal short to her credit. Like other low-budget indies nowadays, it’s simultaneously out on VOD. Moon Manor official site.
Offseason: A woman finds herself trapped on an island with odd inhabitants. Reviewers evoke the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft, and Staci Layne Wilson recommends it to fans of “surreal, nightmarish horror.” VOD here. No official site found.
Ultrasound: After a tire mishap, a man is forced to spend the night with a strange couple; the story also follows a woman who suspects her boyfriend is gaslighting her, and a medical technician having ethical doubts about an experiment she’s working on. A sci-fi puzzle-box movie that ultimately, it seems, has a rational solution, but which baffled viewers for most of its runtime. Playing in a few theaters across the U.S., and on VOD. Ultrasound official site.
STREAMING DEBUTS (SHUDDER):
The Seed (2022): Fashion models partying on retreat cope with an alien invasion. Early reviewers cite Society, Under the Skin and The Neon Demon as visual influences on this horror comedy, so it might be worth a look for Shudder subscribers.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Agnes (2021): Read our review. Half campy exorcist spoof à la Ken Russell, half serious drama, now on Blu-ray or DVD. Buy Agnes.
Domina Nocturna (2021): The description makes it sound like a plotless Gothic expressionist experimental film, explicitly influenced by the imagery of Jean Rollin. Released directly to DVD last year, now upgraded to Blu-ray. Honestly, we’ve seen this kind of thing done before, and it rarely works out well for the audience. Buy Domina Nocturna.
The Nowhere Inn (2021): Read our review. Fans of singer-songwriter St. Vincent (Annie Clark) will want to check out this slightly surreal mockumentary; non-fans might become fans after watching. Previously on VOD, now on DVD or Blu-ray. Buy The Nowhere Inn.
Phenomeona (1985): Read our review. The Dario Argento thriller about a girl who communicates telepathically with insects receives a lavish 2-disc 4K UHD release from Synapse, with three different cuts of the film and swarms of extras. Buy Phenomenon.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974): A young woman is forced into prostitution and has her eye gouged out, but learns kung fu and grabs a shotgun to take revenge on her tormentor. A Blu-ray upgrade of the notoriously graphic Swedish exploitation film, which is of questionable weirdness but nevertheless has taken up a long residence in our reader-suggested queue. Buy Thriller: A Cruel Picture.
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
This section will no longer be updated regularly. Instead, we direct you to our new “Repertory Cinemas Near You” page. We will continue to mention exceptional events in this space from time to time, however.
FREE ONLINE WEIRD MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:
A Serious Man (2009): Read the Canonically Weird entry! The Coen Brothers‘ version of the Book of Job, set in 1960s Minnesota, is now listed as “leaving soon” (seriously). Watch A Serious Man free on Tubi.tv.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
Be sure to join us tomorrow night for a Weird Watch Party you won’t want to miss: Quentin Dupieux‘s Keep an Eye Out [Au Poste] (2018), which we selected as the Weirdest Movie of 2021. A free Kast account is required to stream and chat. The link to join will drop here, on Facebook, and on Twitter around 10 PM.
Speaking of the Weirdest Movie of 2021, you can still make your choice heard in our 2021 Weirdcademy Awards Naked Popularity Contest. Vote here!
And speaking of voting, if you haven’t already, you can also cast your ballot in our latest Apocrypha Promotion poll, to see if The Lighthouse (2019) will continue to climb against its Canonically Weird competition.
Next week, Giles Edwards finds himself tempted by current release Big Gold Brick‘s shocking 3.3 IMDB rating, and dives right in to investigate. Shane Wilson goes deep into the past (and into the reader-suggested queue) as he’s cast into 1911’s Italian Dante adaptation L’Inferno. Gregory J. Smalley stays in the reader-suggested queue, but reviews a film that couldn’t be any more different: 2003’s The Glamorous Life of Sakicho Hanai, a pink film that delivers the softcore thrills while also pursuing an agenda as an experimental political satire. Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.