The Maine movie scene is a seesaw of theatrical emotions this week. While PMA Films and Kinonik tag-team a full week of the most intentionally depressing movies of all time, various other Maine movie (and and musical theater) venues counter-program your moviegoing June with some of the most outrageous feel-good (or at least feel-weird) fare imaginable. So sit back, hang on tight, and get ready for an unpredictable slate of upcoming Maine movies. 

‘Black Girl‘

June 11, PMA Films, 7 Congress Square, Portland, portlandmuseum.org/films

In a theme week seemingly pulled from my own existential film geek depths, PMA Films and Kinonik are teaming up for Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair! Look, movies aren’t all meet-cutes and funny dogs, so here’s to two of Portland’s arthouse champions for teaming up to present a week’s worth of cinematic explorations of ennui, despair and hopelessness… and inexplicable beauty. Out of the impressively varied movie depictions of bleakness (how to choose!), the June 11 PMA screening of “Black Girl” deserves the spotlight. Senegalese master director Ousmane Sembène’s 1966 drama follows a young woman traveling from her African homeland to serve as live-in help for a wealthy white French couple. Finding deeply ingrained cultural racism permeating every aspect of her new existence, the young woman’s increasing isolation mirrors the colonial experience in oppressively personal terms. Presented at the PMA by Kinonik in gloriously stark black and white 16mm. 

‘Stop! That! Train!‘

Starting June 12, Maine Film Center, 93 Main St., Waterville, watervillecreates.org

There’s no more exuberant way to celebrate Pride Month than with this deliriously silly disaster movie spoof set in the RuPaul’s Drag Race universe. When the fabulous luxury train the Glamazonian Express seems headed for runaway disaster, it’s up to former Drag Race stars Ginger Minj, Jujubee, Latrice Royale, Monet X-Change—along with RuPaul Charles’ U.S. President Gagwell—to, well, stop that train. An all-star cast (including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Chris Parnell, Joel McHale, Rachel Bloom, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and more) all hop aboard this hilariously hurtling camp comedy cavalcade from “Hairspray” director Adam Shankman. 

‘Taste of Cherry‘

June 14, PMA Films, 7 Congress Square, Portland, portlandmuseum.org/films

Back to the beautiful bleakness, as this stunner from Iranian cinematic icon Abbas Kiarostami (“Certified Copy,” “The Wind Will Carry Us”) presents a road movie to the literal grave. A middle-aged man (Homayoun Ershadi, whose impassive face reads like a secret text) drives his car through the Iranian countryside, approaching an odd selection of strangers with a proposition — will they help him commit suicide? Having already dug his own grave, he asks each bewildered passenger to either bury him or lift him out if he chooses to live during the night. A mystifying, mesmerizing, deeply human mystery of life, death and the hazy barrier between, this is the sort of film you sit and ponder long after it’s over. Followed by a discussion of the film with none other than Oscar-winning director Todd Field (“In the Bedroom,” “Tár”). 

And if these two selections aren’t challenging enough for you, Bleak Week (a project of those kooks at American Cinematheque) also includes screenings of: Ingmar Bergman’s “Cries and Whispers” (June 8); the double feature of “Kiss Me Deadly” and “La Jetée” (June 9); Antonioni’s “Red Desert” (June 10); Béla Tarr’s “The Turin Horse” (June 12); Claire Denis’ “Beau Travail” (June 12); the animated double-blast of “Watership Down” and “The Plague Dogs” on June 13; and Michael Haneke’s soul-wrenching love-with-dementia story “Amour” on June 14. Bring tissues. And maybe your therapist’s home number. 

‘Army of Darkness‘

June 17, Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St., Portland, patriotcinemas.com

After all that introspective bleakness, who else needs to kick back and watch Bruce Campbell chainsaw some demons? In this 1993 third entry in his over-the-top “Dead” series, horror master Sam Raimi directs his favorite B-movie punching bag Campbell, whose boomstick-wielding sad sack hero finds himself transported back to the Dark Ages, where his inept handling of the Necronomicon has unleashed a horde of ravenously unkillable monster-men. Well, unkillable unless you’re Bruce, who wisecracks, hacks, blasts and pratfalls his way through the very armies of hell, all captured with Raimi’s ghoulish slapstick genius. All hail the Nick’s Wayback Wednesday series. 

‘Saw: The Musical‘

Playing through July 12, The Hill Arts, 76 Congress St., Portland, thehillarts.me

Toss the grim, gory thrills of the “Saw” horror franchise in a blender with the live musical madness of “Little Shop of Horrors” and you get this blood-soaked, utterly bananas new touring musical extravaganza. (Also, did Jigsaw in the “Saw” movies put people in a blender at some point? It all — pardon — blends together.) Featuring original songs lampooning the original series’ grimy, Rube-Goldberg trap nihilism while delving deep into the convoluted sexual and psychological natures of Jigsaw’s unfortunate victims, this impossible-to-describe (and, again, completely unauthorized) live experience is for the stout of heart and broad of mind, with practical gore, (very) adult themes, and plenty more to satisfy both the horror and theater geek lurking inside you.

Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and his cat.