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 at the official site links.

IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Endless Poetry: Alejandro Jodorowsky’s second installment in the psychoautobiographical project that began with the Certified Weird The Dance of Reality, now concerning his experiences as a young bohemian artist in Santiago. We were shocked by how little Jodo had lost when Reality came out after a 21-year hiatus from filmmaking, making us even more excited for this second installment. Endless Poetry Indiegogo page.

The Persian Connection: A “neon-noir fever dream” set in the Persian and Russian gangster underworlds of L.A.. This drug, sex, and violence cocktail was originally titled The Loner when it played the Tribeca Film Festival. The Persian Connection Facebook page.

FILM FESTIVALS – Fantasia Festival (Montreal, Quebec, 7/13-8/2):

As its name implies, Montreal’s Fantasia Festival originally began as a showcase for fantastic films from Asia; it has since morphed into a major event on the genre cinema calendar. Not that they’ve let mainstream success get to their heads; there’s still more rare weirdness to be found at Fantasia than at just about any film festival on the globe. We make watch lists from Fantasia’s programming, and we’re always saddened when less than half of the most daring films find meaningful distribution in the U.S. (We’re still awaiting release of the video-art black comedy She’s Allergic to Cats, never mind the completely bizarre and incomprehensible Atmo HorroX). Because of the large number of entries, we’re highlighting only films here that are debuting at Fantasia or that are totally new to us. We’ll mention that the indie comedy Brigsby Bear, Casey Affleck’s A Ghost Story, Takashi Miike‘s WFT The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio, the surreal Estonian fairy tale November, and the Filipino Town in a Lake are also playing, while Luc Besson‘s big-budget epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets gets an early screening at Fantasia. Also of note are revivals of God Told Me To (and other movies from Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Larry Cohen), a rare screening of Rape of the Vampire, and the debut of the restored print of the Certified Weird Suspiria, which will be touring North America in late summer.

• Animals – Black comedy/horror about a couple whose vacation becomes a surreal nightmare after their car hits and kills a sheep. Screening July 16 & 18.
  
• Assholes – This incestuous anal sex themed comedy with a butt monster aims to be the grossout ticket of the year. See it Aug 1, if you dare.
• The Endless – Bored by life on the outside, two apostates return to the UFO death cult they had abandoned. Screens Aug 1.
  
• The Honor Farm – High school seniors decide to take an after-prom shroom trip in an abandoned prison; bad idea. July 15 & 17.
• Infiltration [Le Problème d’Infiltration] – A wealthy reconstructive surgeon’s life falls apart after he is threatened with a malpractice suit. World premiere Aug. 2.
• Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Takashi Miike opens the festival once more with this manga adaptation that pits a hero with bizarre hair against a serial killer. Debuted yesterday, with an encore screening July 23.
  
• The Laplace’s Demon – Eight researchers are trapped in a castle in this retro B&W feature exploring concepts of chance and free will. See it July 21 or 23.
• Night Is Short, Walk on Girl – Anime about a college student following his dream girl through a surreal all-night used book store. July 30 & 31.
  

As a special treat, 366’s own Giles Edwards is in attendance and will be bringing us updates weekly (perhaps more frequently) on the Fest’s biggest and weirdest contenders. Fantasia Festival home page.

NEW ON DVD:

Pulse (2001): Read our review. Arrow Video’s release of Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s apocalyptic millennial J-horror comes with a ton of extras for fans, including a collectible booklet available with this pressing only. Buy Pulse [Blu-ray/DVD combo.

NEW ON BLU-RAY:

The Fifth Element (1997): Read our review. Luc Besson‘s cult-y sci-fi epic upgraded to a 4K presentation; no extra features are listed. The Fifth Element Blu-ray.

Pulse (2001): See description in DVD above. Buy Pulse [Blu-ray/DVD combo.

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.

• Los Angeles, CA, 7/14 (midnight) – El Topo (1970). At Nuart Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 7/14 – Wild at Heart (1990), on a double bill with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, hosted by Dolly Read. At Aero Theater.
• Los Angeles, CA, 7/17 – Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), on a double bill with The Happiness of the Katakuris, hosted by Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison), whose experimental feature Kuso will be previewed at the same venue Friday at midnight. At Cinefamily.
• Los Angeles, CA, 7/20 – Stalker (1979). At Cinefamily.
• New York City, NY, 7/14-7/18 – Stalker (1979). At IFC Center.
• New York City, NY, 7/15 & 7/17 –Rubin & Ed (1991). At Spectacle Theater.
• New York City, NY, 7/18 – The Bed Sitting Room (1969). At the Museum of Modern Art.
• New York City, NY, 7/18-7/19 – A Scanner Darkly (2006). At the Museum of Modern Art.
• New York City, NY, 7/20 – Fantastic Planet [La Planète Sauvage] (1973) with live electronic score by Adrianna “Gooddroid” Moschides. At Videology Bar & Cinema.
• Nottingham, UK, 7/17 – Society (1989). At Savoy Cinema.

FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:

Maximum Shame (2010): Read our review of Carlos Atanes‘ “apocalyptic fetish horror musical chess sci-fi weird feature movie.” You can watch it on YouTube or embedded on the director’s personal site.

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.