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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):
Keep an Eye Out [Au Poste!] (2018): Read our review. Quentin Dupieux returns with an absurdist police procedural, which just might be his most Buñuelian effort yet. Mostly in virtual cinemas, starting today. Keep an Eye Out official site.
Sister Tempest (2020): Joe Badon strikes again with another crowdfunded surrealist epic; this one is a psychological thriller-type tale taking place in a dreamspace equally inspired by Jodorowsky and Zardoz. In virtual theaters (and live screenings at the Zeitgeist if you live in New Orleans). Sister Tempest official home page.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Seed in the Sand (est. Summer 2022): It took Christiane Cegavske thirteen years to hand-animate her very personal surrealist fairy tale Blood Tea and Red String (2006). When she completed it, she immediately announced plans for a followup in the same style. That was fifteen years ago, and now it looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, with enough work completed to make a teaser trailer (below). She describes the plot thusly: “Driven by starvation in this dry, dying world, one desperate nest-dwelling creature obsessed by mysterious dreams of an island of dancing dolls abandons his mate and egg to find deliverance or ruin beyond the sea of sand” and promises she will continue “mixing dream images and symbols from magic, folklore, and pre-Grimm versions of familiar fairy tales to create my own surreal mythology.” You can support her efforts via Patreon. Seed in the Sand project page.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1 [AKA Crazy Samurai Musahsi] (2020): Read Giles Edwards’ review. Maybe not weird per se, but it is a single-take movie where a lone samurai fights all comers for 90 minutes, which is something you don’t see every day. DVD/Blu-ray/VOD. Buy Crazy Samurai 400: vs 1.
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
While theaters across the land are beginning to reopen at limited capacity—New York is open, Boston soon to follow—weird screenings are still light, with only a single drive-in in Portland holding down the fort this week. Even worse, there’s bad news in the repertory theater biz, as Alamo Drafthouse will be declaring bankruptcy. As part of their reorganization, they have already announced they’ll be closing the Ritz in Austin (fortunately, the city has spare Drafthouses), along with their outlets in New Braunfels and Kansas City, and possibly more to come. Still, things are generally heading in the right direction, and the summer is looking up. Expect to see more and more listings in this space in the coming weeks.
- Portland, OR
FREE ONLINE WEIRD MOVIES (Tubi.tv):
Dead Leaves (2004): Read the canonically weird entry! The availability of this ultraviolent, hyperkinetic, hallucinatory anime has been up and down over the years, so you might as well check it out as long as it’s on Tubi–it’s listed as “leaving soon.” Watch Dead Leaves free on Tubi.tv.
YOU LINK US! YOU REALLY LINK US!:
Strange Screenings: What’s New in Weird Movies, March 2021 – It’s our first syndicated column, as we’ve teamed up with the surrealist art zine Babou 691 to keep their readers apprised of the latest happenings in weird movies via a monthly digest version of the very column you’re reading now. Check them out.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:
Join us tomorrow on Netflix at 10:15 PM for our weird watch party, Freaks (2018). As always, the link to join will appear here, on Facebook, and on Twitter around 10 PM ET (and in your email inbox too, if you’re a subscriber).
Next week sees the irregularly scheduled return of Alfred Eaker, whose starting a short series on “progressive westerns” with The Searchers (1956). Giles Edwards will champion Russia’s Iron Mask (2019), which has both Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger and is actually Viy 2 (it’s a long story). Gregory J. Smalley (366weirdmovies) dips into the reader-suggested review queue for the zombies vs. yakuza epic Versus (2000). All this, and we’ll be announcing the nominees for the 2020 version of the Weirdcademy Awards, too! 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.