I Miss Toronto After Dark

I had a surprisingly good time at this year's Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD). I'd been to a couple of films last year, and I interviewed Festival Director, Adam Lopez when the festival first started, but I really didn't think this festival was for me. If you've been reading this blog, then you know that horror dramas are not for me. This year, the diversity of films on offer, and the quality of films on offer, aroused my curiosity enough for me to venture out, sometimes even by myself!

I didn't get a chance to see everything I wanted to because of scheduling conflicts, but I managed to see 7 of the 18 films on offer. (Last year I saw 2-Netherbeast Incorporated, which I loved and Mutant Chronicles which I did not.) If TAD keeps offering me choices of sci-fi, zombie comedies, martial arts epics and edgy action/fantasies, then I will be back for more next year, and I'll be bringing other scardy cats with me.

Now that TAD is done, I miss being in a theatre where people responded to the screen en masse. It may seem strange to those of you who haven't been to the festival, but there is something really satisfying about exclaiming "eeeuuuw!" together or applauding a really good kill or villain. At every screening, you become instant companions in the make-believe world glowing on screen in the darkened Bloor Cinema. Another thing I appreciated was not having to wait until Midnight to see these films. (I'm no spring chicken--I need my rest.)

Shout Outs!
Thanks to Chris L. for being my horror drama proxy and sharing his thoughts on those films I was too scared to see.

Thanks to the TAD Team.

See you next year After Dark...


Festival Director, Adam Lopez with BLACK director, Pierre Laffargue and producer, Lauranne Bourrachot.




Blogger, Heidy M. showing off her BLACK t-shirt (love audience giveaways!); at right, STRIGOI director, Faye Jackson and her producer husband, Ray Muraru.




TAD Programmer, Todd Brown (left); BLACKHEADS director, Chris Nash (right)







Zombie friends, Colin, Kenneth and Roland at DEAD SNOW screening.






Roland (left); Colin (right)











TAD programmer, Dave Alexander (left); Zombie Walkers (right)

Photo Credit: donna g

Toronto After Dark Award Winners

I was thrilled that two of my favourite films from the Toronto After Dark Film Festival are award winners: Dead Snow and Strigoi. Congratulations to the filmmakers, and thank you to all the audience members who took the time to vote. Awards like these mean a lot to the filmmakers in terms of promoting their existing work and getting funding for future projects.

Did any of your faves win?
Have a look at the press release below:

TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL is thrilled to announce the Award Winners of its 2009 edition. A record over 3,700 votes were cast by festival-goers this year to determine this year’s Audience Award Winners.

AUDIENCE AWARDS, BEST FEATURE FILM
GOLD: DEAD SNOW
SILVER: TRICK ‘R TREAT
BRONZE: BLACK DYNAMITE

VISION AWARDS, Best Independent Feature Film
The Vision Awards are given out by the Festival in recognition of outstanding independent genre feature filmmaking.
GOLD: STRIGOI
SILVER: THE REVENANT
BRONZE: GRACE


AUDIENCE AWARDS, Best Canadian Short Film
GOLD: CAPTAIN COULIER (SPACE EXPLORER)
SILVER: BLACKHEADS
BRONZE: DANSE MACABRE

AUDIENCE AWARDS, Best International Short Film
GOLD: THE USERS GUIDE TO IMAGINARY FRIENDS (ABRIDGED)
SILVER: THE HORRIBLY SLOW MURDERER WITH THE EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT WEAPON
BRONZE: KING OF POWER 4 BILLION %

Source: Press Release courtesy of www.torontoafterdark.com

Toronto After Dark: Motherhood Scares Chris L. and donna g Says "It's A Wrap"

I really wanted to go to the closing night gala for the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD), but no way could I bring myself to see a movie about a blood-craving baby and its devoted mother. Lucky for me, Chris L. was available. Thank you Chris for being my horror drama proxy, and being plucky enough to see GRACE.

Chris L.: I'd become rather blasé about horror films over the past few days, having seen more suspense and horror comedies than anything else at TAD (my schedule didn't always match TAD's screening of horror dramas) and then I saw GRACE. I will never underestimate the creepiness of the closing gala film any more. GRACE was... unsettling, or as one girl remarked on the way out, "a little nasty". (No wonder I couldn't convince donna g and many of my friends to come with me! They must have sensed something I didn't.)

Kudos to the filmmakers! The picture is actually fairly restrained in terms of violence and blood. Its effectiveness lies in the gradual introduction of disturbing moments and images (got milk anyone?) as the film unfolds; subtly at first, until things end both madly and badly. The film works well because it takes the wholesomeness of motherhood and clean living and thoroughly perverts it by focusing on the obsessive qualities of mothers in providing for their children and on the vegan mission for food purity. I felt itchy all over at the end of the film. I even itched when I handed in my film rating ballot (4 out of 5, by the way). Who can forget that one-liner ending! Thanks After Dark, but I'm seriously "horrored out" right now. Signing off.

It's a Wrap for Toronto After Dark
Yea, Chris, you're right. What I "sensed" about GRACE was the poster showing a baby bottle filled with blood! As I said in my first After Dark post, I go to TAD for the other types of films that are offered...

I thoroughly enjoyed the French/African action/fantasy BLACK, the Nazi zombie comedy DEAD SNOW, and the wonderful Chinese epic, WARLORDS (love Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, but who knew that Jet Li could really act! Wow!).




I had fun at the Japanese school girl bubble gum battle film, VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRENKENSTEIN GIRL (who can't appreciate a severed arm propeller?),
was enthralled by the production values of Meanwhile City in FRANKLYN (could have done with less screen time for Eva Green, but Ryan Phillippe wasn't bad), and very much appreciated the classic sci-fi end-of-the-world plot of THE DARK HOUR (really should be The Cold Hour since the Spanish title is La hora fría, but I guess "dark" seems more scary).


My Choice for the Audience AwardI'll have to wait until the audience ballots are counted to find out what the favourite film at TAD was, but
my absolute favourite film was the amazing Romanian political vampire movie STRIGOI. I've been going around muttering "strigoi" since I saw the film. I love the sound of the word, and it evokes images of the main character's grandfather reclaiming blood from his grandson ("It's my blood. I gave it to you"). A well-executed tale about the undead, property rights, communism, and endurance. Bravo to the filmmakers (who flew in to spend their anniversary evening at the screening of Strigoi) for making a horror comedy about Romania's lingering past!

Toronto After Dark: Chris L. Goes Beyond The Forbidden Door

No way was this Scardy Cat going to see a movie called The Forbidden Door. Thanks to Chris L. for not only braving the storm last night to attend the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD), but for finding out just what popular Indonesian sculptor, Gambir (Fachri Albar) and his beautiful wife (Marsha Timothy) are hiding behind that door.

Chris L.: I don't often hear of horror films from Indonesia- and so despite a crazy tornado storm last night, I appeared at the steps of the Bloor Cinema, looking as though I had just jumped into a swimming pool, ready to enter The Forbidden Door. The film starts off normally enough, except for a slightly weird (but hot) wife and some jarring creepy music, then things get a little strange as events of increasing bizarreness are layered on (I especially liked the choice of home decor), with some child abuse thrown in (which seems like something of a theme in this year's film fest), and you're not sure any more what kind of film you're in (which I appreciate). At its heart, the film is a mystery to which there are only so many solutions. The film pulls a familiar kind of "bait and switch" plot device, which I don't generally like in stories of this type, but I'll forgive it because when our protagonist finally entered that door, I was pretty tense, the hairs on the back of my neck were up and I still wasn't sure what exactly would happen- all good signs.

Chris L's Rating: 4 out of 5

The hairs stood up on the back of his neck? No thank you! No way could I have made it through that film, not even for the chance to see TAD's first ever selection (co-presented by Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival) from Indonesia.

TONIGHT'S CLOSING GALA
I wonder how Chris will react to seeing tonight's closing gala, GRACE. As with every TAD screening, the film will be preceded by a Canadian short, and even though I absolutely love Denis Villeneuve's brilliant work, Next Floor, and would love to see it again, I don't think I can watch a movie about a new mom and her blood craving little baby. Tonight looks like a wonderful conclusion to TAD for those of you who are not as easily scared as I am. 7PM. Bloor Cinema. Tickets $12/$10 students.

Info: www.torontoafterdark.com
Photo Credit: TAD website

Toronto After Dark: Chris L. Gets Rough

What are you doing after dark? Well, Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD) fan, Chris L. took in some martial arts action on Day 6 of the festival. I asked Chris his opinion of director, Hun Jang's Rough Cut, since I couldn't make it to the screening.

Chris L.: I thought Rough Cut was a surprisingly well-thought out action drama. From the handful of Korean films I've seen make it to North America, I've noticed that the Koreans are pretty good at taking elements from seemingly different genres of film and merging them together into a coherent, even plausible whole. In Rough Cut, there are unexpected bright spots of comedy and the hint of romance or, at least, of tangled relationships. It's also a good gangster yarn with well-executed scenes of violence. There are times where betrayal and deception beg the ultimate martial arts movie question:how much can a man change if given a good enough beating?

Chris's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Info: www.torontoafterdark.com
Photo Credit: TAD website

Toronto After Dark: Chris L. Saves Scardy Cat, donna g from The Children

I've shared with you the fact that I can't watch scary films, but love the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD) because it offers other genre films that I can watch (see my other posts). So, having been creeped out by some of the TAD movie trailers, I've asked Chris L. to help me out. Below Chris shares his reasons for going to TAD and his take on The Children.

donna g: How long have you going to TAD?

Chris L.:I discovered the fest last year and really enjoyed it, being also a fan
of the Midnight Madness venue at TIFF. TAD also turned out to be an interesting (although slightly unusual) event to take dates to.


donna g: Why do you go to TAD?

Chris L.:
1. For the thrills (much like why someone might ride a rollercoaster) and also to see something surreal
2. I like to comment/talk/make snide remarks/shout during movies, and at TAD, that's not (or at least less) annoying to people
3. There's a lot of innovation to be found in the horror genre (well, at least right now), unlike other areas of film.


donna g: So what did you think of The Children?

Chris L.: It's always nice to see yet another taboo broken down by a horror film- namely killing kids. There's also a lot of satisfaction in seeing certain parents get killled by their own darling little brats; and in seeing said brats get murdered (in self-defense, of course). Not to sound crude or insensitive or anything, but I have to say there wasn't enough child-killing in the movie. I also kept thinking if it were me in that film, I'd be wacking li'l kids left and right with a baseball bat. No mercy.

Chris L's Rating: Good effort overall, 3 out of 5 stars.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival: Zombies, Anyone? This Scardy Cat Soldiers Forth

The Zombies were out yesterday for the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD). Showing its filial love of Zombies, TAD offered half-priced tickets to screenings of the Norweigan Nazi zombie film, Dead Snow, and the American zombie buddy comedy, The Revenant. Many Zombies accepted the offer and could be seen shuffling into the Bloor Cinema in pairs and groups.

As you know, I'm a self-confessed Scardy Cat, so I wasn't sure if I could make it through Dead Snow. Yes, I love zombies, and horror comedies, but I didn't want to embarrass myself in the midst of hard-core TAD-goers, so I was a bit aprehensive. Well, I didn't have to worry. Not only wasn't I the only Scardy Cat there, it was comfortingly cathartic to sit in a sold-out 800 plus seat theatre with people who really love their genre films.

Dead Snow is a Norweigian film about a group of med students who go to a remote cabin in the mountains for Easter break. Their cell phones don't work, they have hiked 45 minutes from their parking spots to the cabin, but all's good because they're in gorgeous, a pristine setting and they have beer. Well, they also find some Nazi gold and have incurred the icy wrath of an undead Nazi army. In classic horror movie mode the students start dying one by one, and that's when the gore and gaffaws start. Yes, I was scared, but I was also cheering along with the capacity crowd as the intestines stretched and blood splattered--really, what else can you do when someone is hanging on to dear life by zombie entrails?

The film will be released in North America, so look out for it. Advice to Scardy Cats like me: yes, you can take it. This film is up there with another favourite, the scary, employee team-building comedy, Severance--sorry, no zombies in that one, but there is a severed head and other nasty killings.

Zombie friends (left to right), Colin, Kenneth, and Roland, distracted from seeing their Zombie cousins on screen by the lure of as-yet-uncoooked meat at Acme Burger, paused in their pursuits to pose for me. Since my flesh was being fried by the 34-degree sun, I did not appeal to them and so was spared disembowelment.

Info: www.torontoafterdark.com Tickets are $12/$10 students (with proof of student status)

Photo Credit: Dead Snow photo courtesy of TAD; photos of Zombie Friends by donna g (thanks guys).

Toronto After Dark Film Festival: Filmmakers Navigate Racism in France

The French filmmakers of BLACK were surprised to discover how racist their country is when they tried to get funding for their film, which has a predominantly Black cast. They shared their new-found knowledge about their country's film industry with us last night at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD) screening.

Unfortunately, I was not as surprised as the filmmakers or the TAD audience, having heard the same story from director, François Dupeyron at the TIFF '08 screening of his film, Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera/With A Little Help From Myself (Sept. 6/09 post). Like, Dupeyron, director, Pierre Laffargue and producer, Lauranne Bourrachot, had to contend with blatant racist comments that they were making a film for black people and that whites would not be interested. Parisian theatre owners feared masses of black people would attend screenings of Black and cause riots at their cinemas.

Laffargue did get his funding, and I'm glad he did because BLACK is a sensational African action/fantasy romp starring MC jean Gab'1 as Black (Nico in District 13) and Carole Karemera as Pamela (Sometimes in April). (Coincidentally, the film also features Mata Gabin from Aide-toi in the role of Fatoumata.) I love the fact that the filmmakers deliberately sought an actress that was taller than their hero, who could drag him around in handcuffs and shoot a gun at the same time (Karema took shooting lessons). Pamela is a no-nonsense heroine who is well aware of Black's player personality. If you assume she will be the type of woman who will fall quickly and easily into the hero's arms in typical movie fashion "tu rêves" (as Pamela tell Black in one scene).

Lucky for Toronto audiences the film will be released by Evokative Films in the next few weeks at the Yonge/Dundas AMC. Check reality at the door and enter the world of the Lion and the Panther and the Serpent and the Witch.

BLACK's official website: www.blacklefilm.com English content.
Toronto After Dark website: www.torontoafterdark.com
TAD runs until August 21st at the Bloor Cinema. Tickets are $12 per screening.
Photo Credit: photo of Pierre and Lauranne by donna g; BLACK poster courtesy of Evokative Films

Toronto After Dark Film Festival: Confessions of a Scardy Cat

Confession time. I can't watch scary movies. I get so tense imagining what's going to happen on screen, that I scare myself before anything actually happens.  So why the heck, do I go to the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TAD)? Well, in addition screening straight up horror films, TAD also includes such genres as sci-fi, action, cult, martial arts, and horror comedies (sometimes one film can encompass all of these elements). 

My favourite film from TAD 2008 was Netherbeast Incorporated, an office vampire movie that had me in stitches. I'd go to work and have humour flashbacks at my desk (very hard to explain).

For TAD 2009, this confessed scardy cat is looking forward to seeing the opening night gala, Black Dynamite, as well as Black, homages to '70's blaxploitation films. I also have on my list the sci-fi film The Dark Hour, the fantasy film, Franklyn (Ryan Phillippe and Eva Green), the horror comedy Strigoi and Zombie flicks Dead Snow and The Revenant (I can't resist a good Zombie comedy). Maybe, just maybe, I'll see Anna Pacquin's film Trick 'r Treat--not sure, though. I'll have to screw my courage to the sticking place for that one.

The pièce de résistance for me will be the Asian triumverate of Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro in Peter Chan's WARLORDS.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs Friday, August 1th until August 21st at the Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West (Bloor and Bathurst).
Website: www.torontoafterdark.com
Photo/Logo Credit: TAD website