A 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.
Most of the time it’s famine in the world of weirdness, but sometimes it’s feast… this is one of those weeks, with two Certified Weird movies seeing Blu-ray releases and tons of other interesting releases. Let’s dive right in…
IN THEATERS (WIDE RELEASE):
Devil: Synopsis: “A group of people trapped in a elevator realize that the devil is among them.” We doubt this is weird (we have high standards for weird), but we can’t verify because there haven’t been any pre-release screenings for the press. Apparently this is because there is a twist the producers don’t want leaked, but we also note the name “M. Night Shyamalan” in the credits, a fact which also provides a potential motive to keep the movie away from the critics for as long as possible. Devil official site.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Never Let Me Go: Speculative tale about a fascist alternate-past England where students of a boarding school are raised to give “donations,” but can escape this fate by falling in love. Adapted from a novel by celebrated writer Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day; but, more interesting to us is the fact that he wrote the screenplay for Guy Maddin‘s The Saddest Music in the World). Never Let Me Go official site.
The Temptation of St. Tony [Püha Tõnu kiusamine] (2009): Black and white, surrealist Estonian film about a mid-level manager who begins to question the value of virtue; the scenario seems to be inspired equally by the story of St. Anthony and Dante’s “Inferno.” Comparisons to Werckmeister Harmonies make us drool (the janitor at 366 World Headquarters complained about having to mop up the saliva trails). We’ve had our eye on this one since we first heard of it playing at Sundance, and the fact that an actual Eastern European weird art film is being released in the US at all is cause for celebration, even if it’s only playing in one Manhattan theater with a single LA date to follow. The Temptation of St. Tony official site.
SCREENINGS (NEW YORK CITY, ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES):
The Anchorage (2009): Plot synopses are vague, which seems accurate: there doesn’t appear to be much story in this one. It follows the daily routine of a hermit woman on a Swedish island, whose isolation is only broken by visits from her daughter and a “strange” deer hunter. For better or worse, it’s being compared to Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman. Playing all week. The Anchorage at Anthology Film Archives.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
We R Animals: A Swedish film about grotesque puppet animals forcing cute puppet animals into prostitution. Looks like it’s aimed at the Meet the Feebles crowd (and director Thobias Hoffm addresses, if not embraces, the early Peter Jackson comparison). The stills are a little bit frightening; you may want to check them out. We R Animals Facebook page.
NEW ON DVD:
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (2009): Here’s another one we’ve been anxiously awaiting. An actor who’s killed his mother holds a family hostage while a detective investigates his bizarre personal history. Sounds like it could be a mundane tale of descent into madness, except that it comes from a weird dream team: directed by Werner Herzog, and executive produced by David Lynch! Buy My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
Necromentia (2009): The scenario has something to do with a Ouija board tattooed on a man’s back opening a portal to Hell. This one is also in the reader-suggested review queue, so expect it to be reviewed here posthaste. In the meantime buy Necromentia
Paper Man (2009): A writer (Jeff Daniels) hires a babysitter (Emma Stone) to make sure he works on his novel; he’s also periodically visited by his imaginary friend, a superhero named Captain Excellence. Offbeat-sounding, but panned by most critics. Buy Paper Man
Starcrash (1978): By all accounts this Roger Corman produced Star Wars exploiter is crazy, campy fun. With a cast featuring fundamentalist con-man turned B-movie leading man Marjoe Gortner, Caroline Munro, Christopher Plummer, and a young David Hasselhoff, it has a significant curiosity factor, at the very least. Buy Starcrash
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Delicatessen (1991): Read our Certified Weird entry. A major event in weird Blu-rays! This release includes all the special features from the 2 disc special edition DVD and adds a new one hour retrospective featurette. Buy Delicatessen [Blu-ray]
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): This Donald Sutherland led reimagining of the 1956 paranoia classic about aliens possessing the bodies of your friends and neighbors stands as one of Hollywood’s better remakes, and it’s arguably weirder than the original. This package also includes a DVD version; not being a marketeer, I’m mystified as to why any company would sell a redundant Blu-ray/DVD in the same package, but here it is. At least the price isn’t more than a typical single disc. Buy Invasion of the Body Snatchers [Blu-ray+ DVD Combo]
Jacob’s Ladder (1990): Read our Certified Weird entry. The bizarro Blu-ray bonanza of the past two weeks continues with this classic psychological thriller with knockout hallucination scenes. Descriptions lead me to believe that the extras are exactly the same as the Artisan DVD. Buy Jacob’s Ladder [Blu-ray]
Return of the Living Dead (1985): Before the zombie genre became way, way overdone, master B-movie screenwriter Dan (Dark Star, Lifeforce) O’Bannon penned and directed one of the best Dawn of the Dead ripoffs (plotwise its a Return of the Living Dead ripoff, but in the mucho gorier style of Romero’s sequel). Lots of nudity and punk music and gallows humor, but there’s also a surprising 1980s innocence. Another DVD/Blu-ray combo. Buy Return of the Living Dead [Blu-ray + DVD Combo]
Se7en (1995): Not a weird movie, but David (Fight Club) Fincher fans will want to know about this release. Buy Se7en [Blu-ray]
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:
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.