Join us weekly as?Rotten Tomatoes reports on what’s opening, expanding, and coming to the specialty box office. From promising releases from new voices to?experimental efforts?from storied filmmakers – or perhaps the next indie darling to go the distance for end-of-year accolades – we will break it all down for you here each week in Fresh?Indie Finds.?

This week at the specialty box office, we have a pair of sci-fi horror flicks and a World War II true story. InColor out of Space, Nicolas Cage battles a meteorite that brings a colorful terror to his back yard, and inZombi Child, a Haitian legend inspires a time-traveling horror tale about “the walking dead.” InThe Last Full Measure, a?DOD official searches for the truth behind a hero’s forgotten tale of valor. In our spotlight section, we highlight the Oscar underdog-turned-frontrunner and the undisputed king of our Awards Leaderboard,?Parasite, and in our indie trailer section, we have new clips from?,?,?Stranger Things?lead?Ethan HawkeAnjelica HustonNoah Schnapp, and?Riley Keough.

Opening This Weekend

The Last Full Measuretells the dramatic true story of Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger, who personally saved over?60 men during a rescue mission. His selfless choice to?stay rather than take the opportunity to save himself was kept hidden due to an inconvenient history the military?wished to keep buried. Bureaucracy and incompetence left his valor unrewarded for over?30 years until a DOD officer is tasked with chronicling the whole story so he can finally recommend giving?Pitsenbarger his long-deserved Medal of Honor.writes the film “focuses more on the soldiers in a way that made me recognize the pain these men faced (and continue to face) after leaving the war and how it never really left them.”Rachel Leishman of The Mary Sue

?this weekend.Playing New York & Los Angeles

reteams with?some of the producers of his acid-dipped revenge horror flick,, in an adaptation of a sci-fi tale from famed author H.P. Lovecraft. Cage plays the patriarch of a family that finds an eerie meteorite has fallen in their back yard.?Suddenly, he and his family are infected by a psychedelic force that literally consumes and colors the world around them. Cage, who continues to lean into the B-movie genre and mine Certified Fresh cinematic gems, is in the driver’s seat of “a wild ride, teeming with evil energy and grotesque visuals,” writes?.Nicolas Cage?MandyBrian Orndorf?of?Blu-ray.com

Playing?this?weekend. Albuquerque, Athens, Atlanta, Austin,? Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Fort Collins, Grand Rapids, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Los Angeles, Lubbock, Minneapolon DC

Indie horror director??follows up his 2016 breakout hit?withZombi Child, a french sci-fi horror take-off on the Haitian legend about?Clairvius Narcisse, who was fabled to be a real-life Zombi. Skipping playfully between the time of Narcisse and the?present day, the non-linear narrative cleverly?comments on how the religion of Voodoo has been stereotyped in mass media and cinema. In addition to the social commentary and the pure horror on screen, Bonello?also weaves in a powerful?statement on the links between the living and the dead. “Zombi Childis the kind of lithe and lucid dream that gets its tendrils ’round your brain stem so that when all hell finally breaks loose, you can’t jolt yourself awake from its grip,” writes?Bertrand BonelloNocturamaRobbie Collin?of The?Daily Telegraph.

?this?weekend. Expanding to?Los Angeles,?San Fransico, Boston Miami, Seattle, Dallas & Fort Worth soon.?Playing New York

Fresh and Still in Theaters – Spotlight Pick!

Last week, the Palme d’Or-winning??added?500 theaters and posted a healthy per-screen average despite already playing in theaters for nearly four months. On Tuesday it was announced that a black-and-white edition of the film would also be hitting theaters soon. On the heels of its historic six Oscar nominations and a surprise Best Ensemble win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the unlikely Best Picture contender looks to capitalize on the awards?momentum?and pad its already impressive box office run. Following a low-income family as they try to hustle their way to a better life through their association with an affluent family, Bong Joon-ho’s masterful work?takes several hilarious twists and turns on the road to its dramatic?conclusion. It’s “a condemnation of choosing to ignore the inconvenient suffering of your fellow human beings, presented in a series of accomplished visual metaphors that’ll make you rethink all sorts of ordinary household objects,” writes?.ParasiteKatie Rife of the?AV Club

?this weekend.?Playing?Select Theaters

Along with…

Weathering with You (2020), a new anime tale about a Japanese boy living in a remote village who leaves home to travel to Tokyo and find himself.Les Misérables (2020), about a Paris riot that breaks out suddenly and pits the local cast of characters against the police.Clemency (2019), a drama about a prison warden grappling with the morality of her profession?after years of presiding over death row executions.Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria) (2019), a drama about an aging director who reflects on his films, collaborators, and legacy after he’s sidelined by severe back pain.The Lighthouse (2019),?a surreal psychological horror film about two men tortured by the elements and each other while isolated in a remote lighthouse.Citizen K (2019), a thought-provoking?documentary on post-Soviet Union Russia and the oligarchical system that runs it.New Indie Trailers

?The Lodge(2020)80%

The Sundance horror standoutThe Lodgeunveils its second trailer; in it, we learn more?about the story, which follows a woman () left alone with her boyfriend’s children who is then tormented to the point of insanity by forces unseen.Riley Keough

Waiting for Anya(2020)

Stranger Thingslead?WWII drama about a French town that hid Jewish children and helped them escape to Spain during the German occupation.Noah Schnapp?stars alongside?Anjelica Huston?and?Jean Reno?in this new?

The Truth (La vérité)(2020)81%

Catherine Deneuve,?Juliette Binoche, and?Ethan Hawke?star in this French familial dramedy from famed Japanese director?Hirokazu Koreeda,?who helmed last year’s Oscar-nominated foreign-language entry,?Shoplifters.

Thumbnail images by Roadside Attractions, RLJE Films, Film Movement

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