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 on the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Antiviral: Here’s a bizarre premise: adventures in an underground trade supplying fans with viruses taken from their favorite celebrities. The directing debut of Brandon (son of David) Cronenberg. Antiviral official site.
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To the Wonder: An American man and his French wife struggle with mutual infidelity. Terrence Malick‘s latest is reportedly as minimalist and oblique as the sensational (and Certified Weird) Tree of Life, but it’s also the worst-reviewed film in his distinguished career. To the Wonder official site.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
Only Lovers Are Left Alive (est. 2013): Jim Jarmusch‘s latest tackles vampires in love; we suspect it will resemble Twilight about as much as Dead Man did Young Guns. With Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton (as vampires “Adam” and “Eve”) and Mia Wasikowska in a rare villainous role. This could premier at Cannes. Only Lovers Are Left Alive IMDB page.
NEW ON DVD:
Dead Ball (2011): A baseball prodigy with a (literally) deadly fastball who has sworn off the sport finds himself blackmailed into playing for the team at his juvenile detention facility. It’s from Sushi Typhoon and the co-director of Meatball Machine and Yakuza Weapon; if you’ve been paying attention, you know that this means you’re in for lots of absurd gore and general Japanese b-movie weirdness. Buy Dead Ball
Father’s Day (2011): Read our review. Astron-6′s absurdist grindhouse feature came out last year in an expensive collector’s edition
Sexcula (1974): A mad scientist hires a vampire prostitute to inspire the sex drive into his latest creation: a gigolo monster. It’s Canada’s only X-rated (scenes are described as “explicit”) horror movie, and was thought lost for years. Buy Sexcula
Ultrachrist! (2003): Jesus Christ comes back to Earth as a superhero to fight the minions of the Antichrist (including a resurrected Jim Morrison). I guess it took them ten years to release this on DVD because they were waiting for a time when it wouldn’t seem sacrilegious for the Savior to support lesbian marriage? Buy Ultrachrist!
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Dead Ball (2011): See description in DVD above. Buy Dead Ball [Blu-ray]
Father’s Day (2011): See description in DVD above. Besides the DVD only version and the Limited Edition set, you can buy this midnight hit in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Naked Lunch (1991): Read the Certified Weird entry! The Criterion Collection upgrades David Cronenberg‘s telling of William S. Burroughs‘s junkie nightmare to Blu-ray. Buy Naked Lunch [Criterion Collection Blu-ray]
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:
Attack of the Monsters [AKA Gamera vs. Guiron] (1969): Flying turtle Gamera saves two little boys from space babes who want to eat their brains, and from their knife-headed monster pet. One of the most insanely ridiculous flicks in the entire Gamera canon—and that’s saying something!
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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.
Antiviral is definitely worth a look. I feel that, since a couple of Cronenberg’s recent films have been lacklustre, his son seems to have been appointed to take up his mantle in the realm of body horror, scientific/corporate angst, and general discomfort. It didn’t grab me as much as Cronenberg Snr’s early work, but I’m looking forward to Brandon’s development as a director. Solid debut feature.