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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.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Come True (2020): A college freshman volunteers for a sleep study and something goes wrong, blurring the lines between the waking world and nightmares. It’s a premise we’ve seen before, but the 88% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes suggests that this time they’ve executed the scenario with atypical panache. In (some) theaters, and simultaneously releasing on demand. Come True official site.
Honeydew (2020): A young couple seek shelter on a farm overseen by a weirdly friendly woman, and experience odd phenomena. Another familiar-sounding plot, but mainstream reviewers are using the w-word, so we’ll be giving it a chance. Limited theatrical release only as of now, VOD (and review) coming on April 13. Honeydew official Facebook page.
IN DEVELOPMENT (announced):
Holy Remedies [Santos Remedias] (202?): Sofia Garza-Barba, a young Mexican-American director whose magical realist shorts have earned her comparisons to Guillermo del Toro, plans to make her feature film debut with a fairy tale about an eight-year-old girl who makes a pact with Holy Death to meet her absent father for the first time. It’s just in the pitch stage now, but we’ll keep an eye out for it. Variety has more.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974): Read our review. There’s nothing special about a hole in the ground, or the man in it, but there is something special about this special edition Blu-ray: two separate commentary tracks, one from co-writer Gordon Dawson and the other from a panel of film experts. Buy Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
Touki Bouki (1973): A cowherd and a student go on a road trip, hoping to escape Senegal for France. A rare avant-garde film from Africa that made a splash at Cannes in the year of its release, now on a Criterion Collection Blu-ray (or DVD). Buy Touki Bouki.
Tourist Trap (1979): Read Pete Trbovich’s review. This culty mannequin massacre horror is re-relased in a Blu-ray edition advertised as “uncut.” Buy Tourist Trap.
LPS:
Jeremiah Sand, “Lift It Down” (2020): We missed this when it was released a couple of months ago, but since this recording has been lingering in the vaults for forty years, we’re not that late. It’s the previously unreleased album of hippy-dippy songs from Mandy cult leader Jeremiah Sand, with lots of woozy sitars noodling behind the frontman’s poetic lyrics: “our love, like a laser/her smile, like a razor…” Throbbing Gristle’s Genesis P-orridge supplies the liner notes. We’re not 100% sure who’s behind this prank, or what it might portend (dare we hope for a Sand-focused Mandy prequel?), but Linus Roache is clearly involved, and we have to assume Panos Cosmatos lurks somewhere behind the scenes. They even released a “found footage” music video (below). It’s streaming everywhere, and you can find it on YouTube, or you can buy “Lift It Down” (Vinyl or MP3).
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
As predicted, screenings are starting to pick up, slowly, as the virus recedes. California theaters will be allowed to reopen starting next week (although, at 25% capacity, many might decide it’s not worth it). At any rate, here’s hoping things will be back to near-normal by fall, at the latest.
- Austin, TX
- Denver, CO
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
- The Trylon
- Time Bandits (1981), 3/12-16
- Eraserhead (1977), 3/18
- The Trylon
- Phoenix, AZ
- Tustin, CA
- Winchester, VA
- Alamo Drafthouse – Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), 3/13, 17
FREE ONLINE WEIRD MOVIES ON TUBI.TV:
Careful (1992): Read the Canonically Weird entry. It’s a real surprise to see Guy Maddin‘s experimental incest comedy on Tubi; maybe the rest of his catalogue will follow someday? Watch Careful on Tubi.tv.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Voting for next Saturday’s Amazon Prime Weird Watch Party closes on Sunday, so cast your ballot if you plan to attend and haven’t voted yet.
It will be a busy upcoming week ’round here, as we’ll be releasing the 2020 Weirdcademy Awards ballots while also bringing you reviews from Pete Trbovich (on the ultra-obscure 1990 Satanic cult oddity Empire of the Dark), Giles Edwards (on Joe Badon‘s latest, Sister Tempest) and Gregory J. Smalley (on 1969’s The Curious Dr. Humpp, which, based solely on the title, he suspects might be an unusual film.) 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.