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):
The Double: Jesse Eisenberg stars as a timid man whose physical double arrives one day and begins to take over his life. This nearly exact match of Enemy continues 2014’s reputation as the Year of the Doppelganger. The Double official site.
SCREENINGS – (Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA, May 10):
Omadox: The plot of this microbudget feature has something to do with a helium corporation. Looks quite absurd. Omadox official Facebook page.
NEW ON DVD:
“Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection”: Fourteen movies, plus one disc of supplemental material, for a 15-disc box set. Seems like a lot to pay just to get a copy of Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but we’re not judging. Buy “Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection”
Godzilla vs Hedorah [AKA Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster] (1971): Godzilla battles a pollution-monster literally made of smog in one of the strangest movies featuring Japan’s favorite fire-breathing dinosaur. Section 23 Films also snagged the rights to two other second tier Godzillas: Ebirah – Horror of the Deep [AKA Godzilla vs the Sea Monster] (1966)
Mr. Jones (2013): A couple of artists retreat to (where else?) a cabin in the woods, where they discover that their neighbor, a reclusive fellow artist known as “Mr. Jones,” is one strange dude. A rare PG-13 horror that went (almost) straight to DVD from Anchor Bay. Buy Mr. Jones
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
“4 Film Favorites: Comics Collection”: The four “favorites” are the fairly weird Watchmen, the slightly weird but very bad Jonah Hex, a 2010 action movie called The Losers with an unknown connection to comics, and David Cronenberg‘s A History of Violence (which was based on a graphic novel). This set of “comic” inspired movies yields one good superhero pic, one superhero flop, an action flick, and an arthouse film; an eclectic and slightly weird set. Buy “4 Film Favorites: Comics Collection” [Blu-ray]
The Birds (1963): Although it’s known today mostly as the inspiration for James Ngyuen’s Birdemic, this Alfred Hitchcock movie about a series of relentless and unmotivated attacks by our fine feathered friends is sort of strange, when you stop and think about it. Universal keeps re-releasing its Hitchcocks every couple of years in various configurations; this fairly deluxe set with tons of Birds extras and some generic Universal Studios propaganda films thrown in is the single disc version of a Blu formerly only available as part of the “Alfred Hitchock Masterpiece Collection” box set. Buy The Birds [Blu-ray]
Godzilla vs Hedorah [AKA Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster] (1971): See description in DVD above. Buy Godzilla Vs. Hedorah [Blu-ray]
Mr. Jones (2013): See description in DVD above. Buy Mr. Jones [Blu-ray]
Vertigo (1958): A detective suffering from the titular phobia uncovers even deeper psychological issues when he falls in love with a woman who dies before his eyes, then comes across her exact double… Like The Birds above, this is the single disc version of the “Masterpiece Collection” box set. Buy Vertigo [Blu-ray]
White Zombie (1932): Read our capsule review. Film archivist Cary Roan supervised the restoration and promises this will be the definitive version of the early Haitian zombie classic starring Bela Lugosi. Buy White Zombie: Cary Roan Special Signature Edition [Blu-ray]
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.
THE LOSERS is also based on a graphic novel series – though, like many of the other adaptations bundled with it, is better read on the page than seen on the screen.