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.
SCREENINGS – (Los Angeles, Cinefamily, 8/19):
Suspiria (1977): Read the Certified Weird entry! Dario Argento‘s expressionist witchcraft classic is one of the most commonly screened Certified Weird films in the midnight repertoire. Screens tonight, Sug. 19, at 11:00 PM PST. Also playing at the Cinefamily this weekend: a selection of archival public access films made by the bizarre UFO cult the “Unarius Academy of Sciences” (Sunday evening); the Los Angeles premier of Danny Perez‘s psychedelic horror film Antibirth (with the director and star Natasha Lyonne in attendance) late Monday night; and their ongoing Andrzej Zulawski tribute wraps up with a screening of his first film, 1971’s The Third Part of the Night, on Tuesday, with his final feature Cosmos playing on Wednesday and again on Friday (August 24 & 26). Check out the entire Cinefamily calendar.
IN DEVELOPMENT (PRE-PRODUCTION):
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (201?): Writer/director Giorgos Lanthimos and acotr Colin Farrell continue their collaboration from the Certified Weird The Lobster with their next project, described as a “psychological thriller.” Farrell plays a doctor who takes in a troubled teenager; Nicole Kidman plays his wife. Lanthimos’s regular co-scripter Efthymis Filippou is also on board, as is distributor A24. To be filmed in Cincinnati. More at Variety.
IN DEVELOPMENT (IN PRODUCTION):
Jacob’s Ladder (201?): Read the entry for the Certified Weird original. A remake of a movie that relies on a twist ending that everyone knows by now? We’re required to keep an open mind, but it’s hard to see how this could possibly work. There are a few minor changes: the main cast is now African-American, and Jacob now has a brother who plays a prominent role. Variety has more details.
NEW ON DVD:
Wild in the Streets (1968): A rock musician gets the voting age lowered to fourteen, then runs for President on a platform that includes mandatory LSD dosing for anyone over 35. A counterculture goof with a minor cult following that has been hard to find on video for a while. Buy Wild in the Streets
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984): Read the Certified Weird entry! The adventures of the titular rock star/adventurer come to life on this collector’s edition Blu-ray in a disc packed with two commentaries, a new 2-hour featurette, and a bonus DVD with alternate footage, trailers and even more features. Buy The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension [Collector’s Edition Blu-ray]
Wild in the Streets (1968): See description in DVD above. There are no advertised special features on either the DVD or Blu-ray. Buy Wild in the Streets [Blu-ray]
YOU LINK US! YOU REALLY LINK US!:
We got a lot of traffic recently from the Screen Rant listicle “13 Cartoons Completely Disowned by Their Creators,” which borrows some knowledge from in their paragraph on Cool World. Cool!
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.