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 DEVELOPMENT:
Alice in Wonderland 2 [This Time, It’s Curiouser?] (no street date): To Alfred Eaker‘s eternal dismay, Johnny Depp is reported to have signed up to reprise his maddening role as the Hatter in a sequel to Disney’s disappointing 2010 Alice in Wonderland adaptation. The only shred of good news here is that Tim Burton will not be directing, leaving those duties to the highly competent James Bobin (The Muppets) instead. The horrifying news comes courtesy of Deadline.
NEW ON DVD:
The Devil’s Backbone (2001): A twelve-year old boy is sent to a haunted orphanage after his father is killed in the Spanish Civil War. We still say Pan’s Labyrinth is Guillermo del Toro‘s masterpiece, but there is a vocal minority who think Backbone is the better film. This is a 2-DVD set from the Criterion Collection. Buy The Devil’s Backbone (Criterion Collection)
Night Across the Street (2012): An old man remembers incidents from his life—including such suspect reminiscences as his boyhood trip to the movies with Beethoven—and stories are interwoven inside stories. This is the final film of Raoul Ruiz, who died of a lung infection in August 2011 soon after completing it. Buy Night Across the Street
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Dark Minds (2013): A psychiatrist seduces and molests his female patients under hypnosis, and it’s up to a police psychic to stop him. This indie that’s scheduled for a theatrical release in September but is already out on Blu-ray looks like nothing so much as the Asylum knockoff version of Vanishing Waves. Buy Dark Minds [Blu-ray]
The Devil’s Backbone (2001): See description in DVD above. Buy The Devil’s Backbone [Criterion Collection 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.