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 Film Festival (SXSW) (Austin, TX, Mar. 8-16):
If you can’t get your indie film into Sundance, the massive SXSW festival in Austin, Texas is your next best bet. With the continued mainstreaming of Sundance, and the increasingly homogenized “indie” product spotlighted there, if your movie’s a bit on the weirder side, SWSX may even be a better fit—in a normal year. 2019, on the other hand, has been a very weird-light year in the early festivals, an unhappy trend that continues at SWSX. Maybe Us, Jordan Peele’s art-horror followup to Get Out, will tip slightly into the weird column, though we’re skeptical. There’s also a reprise of Sundance debuter Greener Grass, the absurdist satire based on a Saturday Short and a screening of the restored True Stories (1986) (see “Screenings,” below). Here’s a couple more to look out for down the road:
- The Beach Bum – Harmony Korine‘s first feature film since 2912’s Spring Breakers stars Matthew McConaughey as a comic hippy beach bum sentenced by a judge to finish his novel; looks fairly conventional by Korine standards. Debuts tomorrow, Mar. 9.
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J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and The Church of the SubGenius – Conspiracy-funded documentary, made with the participation of the cult itself, on the Church of the Subgenius (Arise!), falsely suggesting that the fake religion is a hoax. Mar. 10.
IN DEVELOPMENT (Post-production crowdfunding):
Greatland (est. 2019): An artificial intelligence (which appears as a blinking toy plastic heart, among other forms) sets the rules in this budget indie described as “a teenage love story in a dystopian future.” The director (a young woman from Kazakhstan) cites The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Un Chien Andalou, A Clockwork Orange and Idiocracy as influences. It’s seeking an additional $16,500 for post-production in the next 24 days. Greatland crowdfunding page at Seed & Spark.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Female Human Animal (2018): The curator of a retrospective of Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington becomes lost in dark psychosexual fantasies. A modern surrealist documentary/thriller mashup shot on VHS tape (!) Streaming exclusively on Mubi (available with a Prime Video Channels Free Trial
CERTIFIED WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). We won’t list all the screenings of this audience-participation classic separately. You can use this page to find a screening near you.
- Austin, TX, 3/13 – True Stories (1986), with David Byrne Q&A. Part of the SWSX festival. At the Paramount Theater.
- Boston, MA, 3/8 (midnight)- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At the Coolidge Corner Theatre.
- Boston, MA, 3/8-3/10 – Suspiria (1977). At the Brattle.
- Chicago, IL, 3/14 – Gummo (1997). At Music Box Theater.
- Denver, CO, 3/13 – Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012). At the Alamo Drafthouse.
- Los Angeles, CA, 3/9 – The Black Cat (1934). Part of an all-day Boris Karloff/Bela Lugosi marathon that also includes Frankenstein (1931), The Raven (1935), Dracula (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), and Son of Frankenstein (1939). At the Egyptian Theater.
- Minneapolis, MN, 3/8-3/9 (midnights) – Donnie Darko (2001). At Uptown Theatre.
- Nashville, TN, 3/9-3/10 – Pierrot le Fou (1965). At the Belcourt.
- New York, NY, 3/-3/9 (midnights) – Blue Velvet (1986). At IFC Center.
- New York, NY, 3/-3/9 (midnights) – Eraserhead (1977). At IFC Center.
- Oakland, CA, 3/14 – A Clockwork Orange (1971). At the New Parkway Theater.
- San Diego, CA, 3/9 (midnight), 3/10 – Videodrome (1983). At Ken Cinema.
- Toronto, Ont. Canada, 3/9 – Zardoz (1974), with a new live score by Castle If and “Zardoz cosplay encouraged” (so break out the red diapers). At the Royal.
- Tuscon, AZ, 3/8-3/9 – Phantasm (1979). At the Loft.
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:
In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2001): Documentary covering the short career of the extraordinary Maya Deren, godmother of American avant-garde film. Interviewees include Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage, and ex-husband/collaborator Alexander Hammid. Watch In the Mirror of Maya Deren free on Tubi.tv.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week we’ll be continuing our March Mad Movie Madness tournament to determine the weirdest/best of the 366 Weird Movies. 110 movies have already been eliminated, and the remaining 256 will be pitted against each other in single elimination head-to-head matchups next week. Look for the brackets to be revealed on Saturday and Sunday. With the tournament taking up so much of our attention, it will be a light week of reviews, with Giles Edwards covering Blue Movie, the recently rediscovered Dutch softcore sex comedy, while G. Smalley previews the upcoming weird apocalypse horror-drama, Starfish. Onward and weirdward!
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.