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.
IN DEVELOPMENT (crowdfunding):
“The Felicity Fungus Annual Maternity Tea Society” (est. 2019-2020): A planned 20-minute surrealist short about a group of women who meet every nine months to reminisce, give birth, and prepare a meal out of “questionable and grotesque ingredients.” The director is a young British set designer who cites “Peter Greenaway, Todd Solondz, Jan Svankmajer and Surrealist cinema” as influences. The Indiegogo campaign has 10 days to go and has raised $750 out of its $2,682 flexible goal. “The Felicity Fungus Annual Maternity Tea Society” at Indiegogo.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
9 Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976): A bored socialite explores sexual fantasies with an opium-smoking tarot card reader. The first feature shot by rebel filmmaker Abel Ferrara (under a pseudonym) was an experimental hardcore sex feature; Vinegar Syndrome calls it a “sexual fever-dream” and promises it’s uncut (it seems that the sex scenes were sometimes mutilated to make it into a “hard-R” feature). On Blu-ray. Buy 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy
Beetlejuice (1988): A pair of newly-deceased ghosts hire a “human exorcist” to drive out the obnoxious family who has moved into their home. This Tim Burton hit seems a little mainstream for our tastes, but it always gets a few votes every time we have an open weird movie poll. Out in a steelbook Blu-ray this week. Buy Beetlejuice
Blue (1993): Read Shane Wilson’s review. Experimental filmmaker Derek Jarman monologizes about his upcoming death in front of an unchanging blue screen. On Blu-ray only (naturally). Buy Blue
Decoder (1984): A fast food employee puts revolutionary subliminal messages into corporate muzak, and deals with the consequences. Vinegar Syndrome describes this new wave/punk infused counterculture film (with a cameo by William S. Burroughs) a “criminally under-seen masterpiece of German weirdness.” On Blu-ray. Buy Decoder
Flesh Gordon (1974): Emperor Wang uses his sex ray to amp up Earthlings’ libidos in preparation of an invasion. A ridiculously sexy softcore cult movie with stop motion penis monsters, among other farcical nonsense. See the sex-ray on Blu-ray for the first time! Buy Flesh Gordon
The Garden (1990): Two (or more) intercut stories: a Virgin Mary-like character and her baby are hounded by paparazzi, and two gay men marry and are persecuted. More Jarman from Kino Lorber this week, on your choice of DVD or Blu-ray. Buy The Garden
Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988): Read our review. Newly restored version of the campy post-apocalyptic joke about the last fertile man on Earth fighting mutant frog-people. “You are one weird dude!” Newly restored, in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack from Vinegar Syndrome with a commentary track and other bonus features. Buy Hell Comes to Frogtown
Let My Puppets Come (1976): Puppets make a porno movie to raise half a million dollars to pay off a loan shark. The first (only?) all-puppet hardcore sex film, from the director of Deep Throat; a seldom-seen, semi-legendary curiosity, if nothing else, on Blu-ray. Buy Let My Puppets Come
The VelociPastor (2019): A priest transforms into a dinosaur. Honestly, we saw the listing for this when it came out two weeks ago, but dismissed it as just some dumb Sharknado ripoff. Good reviews (including a glowing one at the AV Club) have put it back on our radar screen. On DVD and VOD (although you still may be able to catch it at a special theatrical screening, if the buzz keeps up). Buy The VelociPastor
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.
- Boston, MA, 8/30 – Fight Club (1999). At the Museum of Fine Arts.
- Dallas, TX, 8/31-9/1 – Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). At the Texas Theater.
- Los Angeles, CA, 8/30 (midnight) – Spirited Away (2001). At the Nuart.
- Memphis, TN, 9/5 – Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971). At the Crosstown.
- New York City, NY, 8/30-9/1 (midnights) – Eraserhead (1977). At IFC Center.
- New York City, NY, 8/30-9/1 (midnights) – Suspiria (1977). At IFC Center.
- New York City, NY, 8/30-9/2 – Vertigo (1958). At the Alamo Drafthouse.
- New York City, NY, 8/30-9/3 – Paprika (2006). At the Metrograph.
- New York City, NY, 8/30-9/5 – Perfect Blue (1997). At the Metrograph.
- New York City, NY, 8/31 – Videodrome (1983). At Lincoln Center.
- New York City, NY, 8/31, 9/2, 9/5 – Pierrot le Fou (1965). At the Metrograph.
- New York City, NY, 9/4-9/5 – Blue Velvet (1986). At IFC Center.
- New York City, NY, 9/5 – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). At Nitehwak Cinema (Prospect Park).
- Santa Ana, CA, 8/31 – The Tingler (1959) (in Percepto!). At the Frida.
- Tuscon, AZ, 9/5 – Akira (1988). At the Loft.
- Vancouver, BC, Canada, 9/4 – Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). At the Rio.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week, it’s to the moon! Giles Edwards takes on the Nazis-on-the-moon sequel Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019); and just so you won’t feel totally lost, he’ll throw in a review of 2012’s original Iron Sky. It’s not all B-movie spoofs, however, as G. Smalley takes on the Czech New Wave‘s early salvo Diamonds of the Night, about two concentration-camp-bound escapees fleeing the… Nazis (there’s your thematic tie in). 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.