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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 THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):

Ten Minutes to Midnight (2020): An aging punk radio host is bitten by a bat, and may be turning into a vampire. Apparently it gets wild and gory, as it’s earned some comparisons to Evil Dead II and Dead Alive.  Ten Minutes to Midnight official Facebook page.

ONLINE RE-RELEASE:

Faust (1994): Read Alex Kittle’s List Candidate review. Of course,  it’s fantastic news that Jan Svankmajer‘s second surrealist feature mixing  stop-motion and live action is restored and available again, but what’s really exciting is the possibility that this re-release may signal revived interest in the rest of the Svankmejer’s catalog, which has been shamefully neglected in recent years. See a list of online rental partners at distributor KimStim’s Faust page.

STREAMING (HBO):

“The Third Day” (2020): Told in two halves, “Summer” and “Winter,” describing two separate characters visits to an barely-accessible British island where villagers practice their own peculiar form of paganism. This HBO miniseries is Wicker Man-inspired, obviously, but we assume it finds it’s own spin on the subject. “The Third Day” HBO page.

FILM FESTIVALS – Fantastic Fest (Austin, TX and online, 9/24-10/1):

The bad news: due to the pandemic, this year’s edition of Fantastic Fest has a dramatically slimmed down slate. The very good news: the offerings they do have will (with a few exceptions) be screened online for free for U.S. residents. The Old Man Movie (on 9/26) is one free offering. Also of note:

• Daughters of Darkness (1971) – Harry Kümel‘s classic, strange lesbian vampire movie in a new restoration—with Kümel on hand for a Q&A afterwards. Sep. 27.
  
• Possessor (2020) – Eight years after his weird debut Antiviral, Brandon Cronenberg is back with another feature film about future assassins who possess the bodies of innocents to carry out their kills. Sorry, in-theater only on Sep. 23 (though it will be in theaters and on VOD screens worldwide soon enough).
  
• Triple Fisher: The Lethal Lolitas of Long Island (2012) – For anyone  who fondly remembers the Amy Fisher scandal of the 1990s, here is Dan Kapelovitz’s experimental trash film that edits all three (!) made-for-TV movies exploiting the underage sex and violence scandal into one mind-numbing Fisher farrago. Sep. 28.

Visit the Fantastic Fest home page for complete schedule and instructions on how to access the screenings.

IN DEVELOPMENT:

Reflections of Evil 2: The Same Day (202?): A sequel to Damon Packard‘s uncategorizable experimental DIY magnum opus about an obese watch salesman, his dead sister, and Steven Spielberg? According to  IMDB, it’s been announced, complete with a tagline: “Bobby is back and he’s fatter than ever.” One problem: we couldn’t find any updates since the project was announced back in 2016 (and Packard’s completed two features, the thriller Fatal Pulse and the horror anthology Tales Beyond Madness, since). Still, we can hope. Reflections of Evil 2: The Same Day listing on IMDB.

NEW ON HOME VIDEO:

“The Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection”: Here’s a Blu-ray box set release that may be of minor interest to some here. It includes Fando y Lis (1968),  El Topo (1970), The Holy Mountain (1973), and Jodorowsky’s latest film, Psychomagic, A Healing Art (2019) (which is not yet available separately). New interviews with Jodo and others and the short “La Cravate” (1957) are included among the numerous extras. Buy “The Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection”.

Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (2019): Read Giles Edwards’ Apocrypha Candidate review. Miguel Llansó‘s wild tale of an unlikely CIA agent infiltrating “Psychobook” via virtual reality is out on Blu-ray in a limited edition from Arrow Video, packaged with an exceptional bonus feature: Llansó’s rarely seen but equally surreal debut Crumbs (2015). Buy Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway.

Tommaso (2019): Willem Dafoe stars as a stand-in for director Abel Ferrara: an expatriate, ex-alcoholic director struggling with issues both artistic and personal. Mainly an introspective drama, but with surreal touches. Buy Tommaso.

CANONICALLY WEIRD (AND OTHER) REPERTORY SCREENINGS:

Independent theaters are cautiously starting to reopen across North America at diminished capacity, and we’re seeing a trickle of new screenings. As predicted, this section is slowly growing as fall arrives. You’ll have to use your own judgment as to whether it’s safe to go to movie theaters at this time.

• Austin, TX
  • Alamo Drafthouse – A Clockwork Orange (1971), 9/18-19, 24
• Columbus, OH
  • Gateway Film Center – Akira (1988), 9/24
• Coxsackie, NY (see comments)
• Denver, CO
  • Alamo Drafthouse – A Clockwork Orange (1971), 9/18
• Kansas City, MO
  • Screenland (Armour) – Stalker (1979), 9/19, 22
• Memphis, TN
  • Malco Summer Drive-In – Videodrome (1983), with Scanners (1981) and The Dead Zone (1983) (triple feature), 9/19
• Omaha, NB
  • Alamo Drafthouse – A Clockwork Orange (1971), 9/19-20
• Phoenix, AZ
  • Alamo Drafthouse – A Clockwork Orange (1971), 9/18-22
• Vancouver, BC
  • The Rio
    • Fantasia (1940), 9/18
    • Donnie Darko (2001), 9/20
• Winchester, VA
  • Alamo Drafthouse
    • Batman Returns (1992), 9/18-24
    • A Clockwork Orange (1971), 9/22
    • Akira (1988), 9/24

NEPOTISM CORNER:

Interviewing the Unorthodox: Greg Smalley of 366 Weird Movies: We’re flattered that Gregory J. Smalley was the inaugural unorthodox interview for this column at the new online mag Babou 691, which bills itself as “dedicated to the bizarre and the surreal in literature, film, and art… celebrating the weird in its many forms.” That’s a mission statement we heartily endorse.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Due to lack of response, there will be no Amazon Prime watch party next week. We’ll try again for a September 26th party, but we may stick to the better-attended Netflix Parties once or twice a month from here on out.

We’ll continue presenting online reviews (while working in the background on the 2020 Yearbook and our “Big Book” project). So next week you can read Giles Edwards take on Coma (2019), (the Russian Inception) and Gregory J. Smalley on Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) (the Japanese Django Unchained, or something like that). Onward and weirdward!

What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that we have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.