There’s been a lot of talk about “weird” in the zeitgeist lately. But while some national newsmakers are earning the moniker through an off-putting obsession with other people’s reproductive systems and bathroom habits, the film freaks behind the Dairy Arts Center’s Friday Night Weird series are wearing the mantle more honorably: by showing cool, fucked-up movies you won’t find on Netflix.
“This may be a little too broad, but there is an unofficial throughline of relationships in this month’s films,” says co-curator Shay Wescott. “Relationships that are parasocial and parasitic, relationships that exist beyond the boundaries of bodies and species, and weirdest of all, the institution of marriage.”
For our new monthly column, Boulder Weekly caught up with Wescott, the Dairy’s resident “queen of the weird,” for a look at the strangeness coming to the screen at the nonprofit arts center’s Boedecker Theater in September.
Red Rooms
Friday, Sept. 6 | Saturday, Sept. 7
Pascal Plante, 2023, Canada, 1:58, NR
America is really into serial killers. For evidence, look to one of the year’s highest-grossing horror movies, Longlegs — “a direct Silence of the Lambs rip-off in many ways,” Wescott says — or one of the countless true-crime podcasts and TV shows that continue to captivate mainstream audiences.
“As someone who loves horror and is painfully aware the genre full of gore and monsters is not for everyone, this love of serial killers, blurring the line between justice and entertainment, confounds me a little bit,” she says. “And that’s exactly what Red Rooms director, Pascal Plante, seems to have on his mind.”
The film follows the trial of fictional serial killer Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) and true-crime obsessive Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), who walks a dark path between reality and fantasy to try and solve the case. Wescott says it’s more of a thriller than a horror film, so don’t expect things to skew too heavily toward violence and gore.
“There’s a fascinating duality between disgust and intrigue, or maybe it’s just that it is more palatable when it’s not actually happening to you,” Wescott says of our collective fascination with serial killers. “Red Rooms doesn’t hand out easy answers to the rabid fandom of the true-crime universe, but the 2023 Fantasia Festival Cheval Noir winner is a welcome and unpredictable entry to the genre.”
Cuckoo
Friday, Sept. 13
Tilman Singer, 2024, Germany, 1:42, R
Wescott calls Cuckoo “the kind of film Friday Night Weird was made for,” because it underscores the importance of curation. Starring Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), the sophomore feature by German filmmaker Tilman Singer — about a family trip to the Alps that descends into a bizarre and horrifying conspiracy — has gotten mixed reviews from audiences and critics. But she says context plays a big role in how a movie like this is received.
“I believe part of that narrative comes from seeing it in the same venue as something like Longlegs or Trap and feeling very out of place,” Wescott says. “This is a really fun, unique and oftentimes genuinely sinister movie, but it’s also not really meant to be an easily digestible, memeable piece of pop culture. It’s not overly concerned with spoon feeding you the plot, but there is also enough there that it clearly wants you to exercise your interpretive skills and imagination — and for me, that’s exactly why a theater like the Boedecker exists.”
The Becomers
Friday, Sept. 20
Zach Clark, 2024, USA, 1:26, NR
When you think about the kind of films you can expect to encounter at the average Friday Night Weird screening, a cluster of related genres might spring to mind: horror, science fiction and oddball B-movies, to name a few. But what about romance?
Wescott says plenty of weird love stories feel right at home on the Boedecker screen, including filmmaker Zach Clark’s The Becomers. The director behind the “very underrated anti-Christmas movie” White Reindeer and “goth nun family dramedy” Little Sister returns with a body-snatcher romance about two separated alien lovers who navigate the otherworldly weirdness of contemporary America to find each other again.
“The Becomers is a lot of things and it has a lot of ideas, but the film is at its best when dealing in the specific weirdness that is love,” Wescott says. “Whether it be humans or aliens.”
Sleep
Friday, Sept. 27 | Saturday, Sept. 28
Jason Yu, 2023, South Korea, 1:35, NR
The debut film from director Jason Yu hinges on a troubling question: “How well do you really know the person sleeping next to you?”
The first offering from the emerging 34-year-old filmmaker, who sharpened his skills under South Korean cinema king Bong Joon-ho, centers on newlyweds Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun) and Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi). Their new lives together take a "menacing turn" when Hyun-su's sleeptalking gives way to increasingly strange behavior.
“What makes Sleep so incredibly clever is that the horror is not derived from anything that is phantastical or unimaginable,” Wescott says. “Instead, it comes from the vulnerability exposed in even our strongest relationships by something as benign as a sleep disorder.”
Wescott first came across Sleep at last year’s Telluride Horror Show, so now feels like a full-circle moment as the film sees its proper theatrical release. She says visitors to the Boedecker Theater can expect a topsy-turvy ride that’s sure to generate plenty of conversation on the drive home.
“Like Joon-ho, Yu is already a master at subverting genre expectations, effortlessly elevating this thriller to an absurd climax, while making you earnestly question whether it's actually absurd at all,” she says. “It’s an impressive debut, but the real delight will be the debates after the credits roll, especially if you dare to attend as a couple.”
Looking to become a Dairy Arts Center member? The nonprofit arts center has just revamped membership program. In addition to some new benefits like a free movie during your birthday month, regular feature films are $6 for members — meaning you can see all the September Friday Night Weird offerings for less than $25.