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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.
ONLINE DEBUTS:
Deerskin (2019): The seventh feature from Quentin Dupieux features Jean (The Artist) Dujardin as a man who becomes obsessed with a deerskin jacket. Like any new Dupieux release, it’s highly anticipated ’round these parts; it’s late March theatrical debut was obviously sabotaged, and we hope this online release helps salvage the film’s prospects. Renting it from a local theater (which you can find at the link below) will help a business pay their overdue rent. Deerskin official site.
FILM FESTIVALS – Fantasia Film Festival (Online, Aug 20-Sep 9):
On April 29, Montreal’s Fantasia became the latest Film Festival to announce that they will be holding their event entirely online. Worse yet, the online screenings will be geolocked to Canada only. This may effect our coverage, as we’ve depended on Fantasia since 2016 to locate the some of the weirdest new release movies. We can’t complain, though, as everyone is suffering, and doing their best. At any rate, the official selections we may or may not be able to see will be announced later this month. The statuses of two important late Summer/early fall events—Toronto International Film Festival (which is floating ideas for some kind of “hybrid” of live and online screenings) and Fantastic Fest—are still up in the air.
Fantasia International Film Festival virtual festival announcement.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Butt Boy (2019): Read our review. The deadpan tale of an anal killer now graduates to Blu-ray after its VOD run. Buy Butt Boy
Deadline (1984): A horror screenwriter loses the ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy… you know the drill. Made by a Maltese director working in Canada and briefly rescued from obscurity by Vinegar Syndrome in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Buy Deadline
The Lost Continent (1968): A Hammer Studios feature about shipwreck victims who discover man-eating seaweed and a ship of conquistadors, but no Lost Continent, apparently. Sounds like generic kiddie adventure stuff, but reviews are replete with tasty signifiers like “psychedelic,” “absurd,” and “bizarre” (including one Amazon buyer who declared it “Hammer’s weirdest movie ever”). Now on Blu-ray thanks to Shout! Factory. Buy The Lost Continent
Lucid Dreams [Ba bu ban xi nu ai le] (2018): Director Teddy Robin Kwan recounts four of his dreams. No real information beyond that. Buy Lucid Dreams
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005): Read our review. Miranda July‘s quirky/outrageous ensemble piece is a surprise addition to the Criterion Collection (we bet they went back and forth on the decision to include it). Features the usual extras, including two of July’s early experimental shorts, on your choice of DVD or Blu-ray. Buy You and Me and Everyone We Know
Olivia (1983): An American engineer unknowingly meets a female British serial killer while planning to move the London Bridge to Arizona (?), then encounters her doppelganger years later. Vinegar Syndrome is trying to market this Blu-ray release directly to us with ad copy like “this nearly unclassifiable piece of early 80s genre weirdness…” Buy Olivia
“Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto”: Ten film retrospective (eight features, two shorts) of Tsukamoto‘s weird career, spread over four Blu-rays and naturally highlighted by the canonically weird Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Includes the home video debut of his latest film, Killing. Box set from Arrow Video. Buy “Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto”
CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:
We actually have something to announce here today!
- Nashville, TN (er, or anywhere)
- The Belcourt – 5/2 – The Wicker Man watch party (pre-videos at 8:30 PM EST, introduction at 9:00 PM EST. feature at ?). Please note: this time conflicts with 366 Weird Movies’ Weird Watch party (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which starts at 10:15 PM EST on 5/2)
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: The voters have spoken, and our Weekly Weird Netflix party will be The Killing of a Sacred Deer, tomorrow night (May 2, 2020) at 10:15 PM EST. We’ll drop the link here and on Facebook and Twitter at 10 PM. Come join the regulars!
As for the rest of the week, Gregory J. Smalley is planning on checking out Deerksin (see above), while Giles Edwards dips into the depths of the reader-suggested queue for Alex Proyas‘ post-apocalyptic debut Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (1989), and new contributor Jake Fredel chips in with the first of a series looking at Seijun Suzuki‘s Tasiho trilogy with Zigeunerweisen (1980). Stay indoors watching weird movies for another week at the very least! 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.