Toronto After Dark Film Festival Winners

AUGUST 26:
Toronto After Dark Film Festival is thrilled to announce the Award Winners of its 2010 edition. A record over 4,300 votes were cast by festival-goers this year to determine this year’s Audience Award Winners!

AUDIENCE AWARDS, BEST FEATURE FILM
1. GOLD: THE LAST EXORCISM
2. SILVER: THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE
3. BRONZE: I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE

VISION AWARDS, BEST INDEPENDENT FEATURE FILM
The Vision Awards are given out by the Festival in recognition of outstanding independent genre feature filmmaking.
1. GOLD: HEARTLESS
2. SILVER: THE LAST LOVECRAFT
3. BRONZE: ALL ABOUT EVIL

AUDIENCE AWARDS, BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM
1. GOLD: JUNKO’S SHAMISEN
2. SILVER: KING CHICKEN
3. BRONZE: FIREMAN! and GAME NIGHT (TIE)

AUDIENCE AWARDS, BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM
1. GOLD: OFF SEASON
2. SILVER: PUMZI
3. BRONZE: DEUS IRAE

FANS’ CHOICE AWARDS
New for 2010: Over 100 Festival All-Access Pass Buyers were polled in the week after the festival to select the winners in a range of different film categories. Here are the winners of Toronto After Dark’s inaugural FANS’ CHOICE AWARDS:

BEST HORROR FILM
The Last Exorcism

BEST SCI-FI FILM:
Cargo

BEST ACTION FILM
Centurion

BEST COMEDY
High School

BEST DIRECTOR
I Spit On Your Grave (Steven R. Monroe)

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Last Exorcism (Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland)

BEST LEADING ACTOR
The Last Exorcism (Patrick Fabian)

BEST LEADING ACTRESS
I Spit On Your Grave (Sarah Butler)

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Doghouse, High School (Tie)

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Cargo, RoboGeisha (Tie)

BEST MAKE-UP
Doghouse

BEST SOUNDTRACK
High School

BEST FIGHT
Alien Vs Ninja

BEST KILLS
I Spit On Your Grave

SCARIEST FILM
The Last Exorcism

MOST ORIGINAL FILM
Rubber

MOST DISTURBING FILM
I Spit On Your Grave

BEST TRAILER
RoboGeisha

BEST FESTIVAL BUMPER
5 YEARS YOUNG



Source: Toronto After Dark Film Festival

Toronto After Dark Film Festival: Phobia 2 and All About Evil

I went to the Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TADFF) last night. By myself. I know, I know. What is a self-confessed scardy cat doing at TADFF by herself? Well, I’m not one to hold back on going somewhere just because my friends have other plans. Besides, no one is ever really alone at TADFF; there’s a theatre full of horror/cult/zombie fans to share the experience with you. If a film is scary, there is someone there to jump with you. I’m always surprised that however scared I am, there is always a couple of people squeaking and jumping when I am calm. And, when I do squeak and jump, others are with me, too.



PHOBIA 2Having said all that, I must say, though, that I was nervous about seeing the Thai film, Phobia 2. I can’t take really intense horror, and I had no idea where Phobia 2 fell on the scare-ometre. I hadn’t seen Phobia!, so I had no frame of reference. The film is also made up of five short films, each of which could be any range of scary. I decide to skip the popcorn (didn’t want to choke or get queasy from eating grease on a tense stomach), and opt for lemon-ginger tea (to be sipped only in moments of dialogue to avoid burns).

Thank you TADFF for programming a variety of films to meet the needs of genre audiences. Phobia 2 was just right for scardy cats like me who like a good scare without too much gore and violence. The first of the five stories (Novice) is a morality tale involving a recalcitrant teen in a Buddhist retreat dealing with guilt and the legend of the Hungry Ghosts. The scares in this one comes from very atmospheric music and scenes in a tropical forest at night. Ward was both scary and funny as we see the effects upon a young accident victim who has to share his hospital room with an old man on life support who may or may not be moving. I loved the way that one ended. In Backpackers, two Japanese tourists in Thailand encounter so much more than they bargained for when they hitch a ride with a trucker, his partner, and their cargo. I really enjoyed the way modern elements are included in this story to give the subplot some basis in reality. In Salvage, a woman who deals in restoring and passing off wrecks as “quality” vehicles gets her comeuppance in a horrifying and heartbreaking way. Creepy moments in this film comes from the fact that she is "alone" at night at the dealership. In the End is a much needed palate cleanser of comedy, providing plenty of laughs with life imitating art when a cast member’s ghost reappears on the film set to finish her final scene. This was my favourite of the five. Now that I have seen Phobia 2, I am going to look for Phobia! on DVD and have a marathon of the two films. Maybe I’ll throw in the filmmakers other film, Alone and challenge myself further by watching them on a dark and stormy night.


ALL ABOUT EVIL
I knew I’d be okay on my own for All About Evil because it was listed as “cult horror black comedy” and I’m good with those; horror comedies are my faves. The film is about a mousy librarian, Deborah, (played by Natasha Lyonne)who gives it all up to carry on her dead father’s dream of packing an old movie house every night. Deborah (rhymes with Gomorrah) Tennis (rhymes with Denise) fulfills her father’s dream by directing and starring in her own brand of cinema verité horror shorts with titles such as The Maiming of the Shrew and The Scarlet Leper (she is, after all, a librarian). Drunk with her own success, and channeling the voice of a 1940’s bombshell, Deborah’s films become progressively disturbing as her audience builds and her celebrity status grows. Assisted by an assortment of like-minded crewmembers (a pair of icy, insane twins, a sociopath and a besotted aging projectionist), Deborah thinks she is unstoppable until her most faithful fan realizes just how real her films are. But, will he be able to bring her deeds to light before its curtains for him? The film does drag a bit in the beginning, but spurting blood, drag queens, teen queens, cinematic lust (and some great designed-for-the-film movie posters) makes this cult horror comedy an over the top treat.


What are you doing After Dark?
See what else is showing at TADF: www.torontoafterdark.com
Tickets: $13 more for galas

Toronto After Dark Film Festival: Game Night, Anyone?

GAME NIGHT(the filmmaking team).
TADFF supports Canadian filmmakers each night by showing a short film before each feature. Last night we, at the Bloor Cinema, had the delightful pleasure of watching friendship go down the tubes when playing an old VHS board game leads to dangerous revelations. Beware of clowns! Game Night was shot in 100 hours and was the recipient of the 2009 Film Racing Grand Prix. I hope this film plays at many festivals so that people can get a chance to see this deliciously funny short. It does what a short film should do: keep your script simple, keep the story focussed and get some good actors. It's 3 out of 3 for Game Night. Gspan style="font-weight:bold;">Game Night screened before Phobia 2 and The Pickles Shane (filmmakers not in attendance) screened prior to All About Evil.

What are you doing After Dark?
See what else is showing at TADF: www.torontoafterdark.com
Tickets: $13 more for galas

Toronto After Dark Film Festival Review: The Last Exorcism

The Last Exorcism is my kind of horror film; it’s not gore porn. I love good storytelling, and that is exactly what this film offers in addition to some good scares, and humour. Shot documentary-style, the film pulls you in from the first frame featuring the charismatic lead actor, Parick Fabian playing the equally charismatic character, Cotton Marcus. In the scene, Cotton, a successful preacher, explainins to the camera how he works his congregation. Indoctrinated as a child into the family business of preaching, Cotton is so persuasive that he could talk a lobster into a pot of boiling water. In one scene, he tells the documentary crew (a director and cameraman) that he could throw a banana bread recipe into his sermon and the congregation wouldn’t even notice. When he proves this oratory slight of hand, we are hooked. Cotton is preacher who works magic, but lacks faith in God; preaching is just a job to that allows him to provide for his family, and we want to know more about this mesmerist. The fact that the camera loves his face adds to the magnetic pull of Cotton Marcus.

Hitching a ride along with the documentary crew, we follow Cotton to Louisiana where he will perform an exorcism on 16 year-old Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell), whose father thinks she is possessed by the devil. Farm animals have been slaughtered at night and Nell's clothes are covered in blood that cannot be explained (she has no memory of leaving the house at night). Plunged into this domestic drama, we can’t help feeling suspicious about the family dynamics. We are continually questioning what we see and hear. Is this a case of a religious zealot trying to control his teenage daughter? What’s the fulminating, mysterious brother hiding? Does the daughter just need psychiatric treatment for psychotic episodes or is something truly unearthly going on?

What I love about The Last Exorcism, is that we see everything from the point of view of the camera; its lens is our eye. With present day reality shows and paparazzi chasing celebrities and fauxlebrities, we’ve become so used to cameras documenting everything (trying for the “money shot”) that we never question why the camera is still capturing certain scenes. We want to see everything. We need to see everything. Each time we think we have a logical explanation of what we see and/or hear, something happens that cannot be explained easily. We are kept off balance until the last unexpected scene where we all go, “Oh, my God!”

Actress, Ashley Bell is a treasure. Seeing her in person at the Toroto After Dark premiere wearing her short sexy dress, and her tresses tumbling down her back, it is hard to believe that she is the frumpy, shy, sweet teenager in the film. She inhabits the role of the naive Nell with a charm that it makes us feel protective towards her. Like the documentary director in the film, we want to scoop her up out of that house and get her some place where she can be helped and taken care of. Given the title, you can’t help but make comparisons with Linda Blair, but Ashley Bell has her own style down pat. This is not a remake and she is not channeling Linda Blair. Nothing about this movie is like the 1970’s version.

For those of you who like gore porn and slaher films, be warned: this is not a film for you. I mean it. Don’t go see it and then badmouth it on Facebook and Twitter because it wasn’t bloody enough. Let those of us who enjoy intelligent, creepy films have our chance to see something on the big screen that we can rave about. We who love the original Exorcist, The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist demand our share of the horror movie pie.

Thanks to producer Eli Roth and the filmmakers for allowing the Toronto After Dark fans a sneak peek at this film.

The Last Exorcism open in theatres August 27th. The film is directed by Daniel Stamm and produced by Eli Roth and written by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland

What are you doing After Dark?
See what else is showing at TADF: www.torontoafterdark.com

Toronto After Dark Film Festival: Eli Roth Premiere's The Last Exorcism in Toronto

I had a fantastic time at Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TADF)last night: Eli Roth (irresistibly funny and good looking, what a combo?) and the cast of The Last Exorcism, which Roth produced. Roth’s enthusiasm about the film was so expansive, I’m sure it reached beyond the balcony of the eight-hundred seat Bloor Cinema and out onto the streets. Roth is no stranger to Toronto or to genre films (he is the director of Hostel), so when Adam Lopez, founder of TADF, asked him to premiere the Toronto release of The Last Exorcism at the festival, Roth was eager to do so. Roth praised Toronto audiences for understanding and appreciating indie genre films, and urged us to spread the word about his film. He also promised to give oral sexual favours to all of us if we promoted his film—his two leads also gestured that they would do the same (it was that kind of night). Judging from the reactions last night, I don’t think Roth or the cast have to worry too much about negative comments on social networking sites (whether the sexual favours are granted or not).

In photos: Adam Lopez; Adam and Eli Roth; Adam welcomes the leads of The Last Exorcism, Ashley Bell (Nell Sweetzer) and Patrick Fabian(Cotton Marcus)

SummerWorks Interview: Susana Vera, Costume Designer for The Haunted Hillbilly

donna g: I like to think of costumes as the silent ammunition in an actorís arsenal, but in The Haunted Hillbilly the costumes are at the forefront of the play because the lead character, Hyram Woodside (Matthew Raudsepp) is trying to establish his country music image. Could you please describe your progression in developing Hyramís style?

Susana Vera: Well, from the beginning of the process I was in direct communication with both Graham Cuthbertson(playwright) and Andrew Shaver(director) to understand the story they wanted to convey through the wardrobe. I was informed that Nudie (the vampire) was based off a real man: Nudie Cohn. He's known for designing crazy rhinestone covered suits for celebraties such as Elvis Presley and Gram Parsons. And I was directed to 50's western wear for the general. With this base I was able to play with with my own sewing past.... how I made clothes before and after I studied costume making.

Hyram's clothes were first made by his loving wife Audrey with her self-made talents--as mine when I was young. Then his wardrobe was "professionalized" into super stardom with Nudie's tailored suits which I made with my new tailoring expertise.

donna g: Another major character in the play, Nudie (Greg Kramer) is a couturier with his own atelier, not an occupation, or a workplace that I ever expected to see in a hillbilly musical. What were your first thoughts about the character of Nudie, and how did you decide on his look?

Susana Vera: Nudie was a lot of fun for me. A tailor who has been on this planet lurking for who knows how long. Who would he have tailored for? Who would have he been taught his trade by? I decided to take him back to the 17th Century where men were just as decorated as women. I tailored his suit as a modern version of an embelished 17th suit with "goth" embeshiments. I embroidered the flowers with deep blood red floss in the form of stitches...stitches for repairing a cut on flesh.

donna g: How did you arrive at the contrasting looks of Audrey Woodside (Gemma James-Smith) and Bobbi (Alexis Taylor)? The two women have such distinctive styles.

Susana Vera: I wanted to make Audrey look like a "homemaker" and "supporter" of her husband's plans, what ever they may be. To do this I choose a red gingham blouse embelished with green trim. Why? Well it just reminds me of the "How to" Singer sewing books that most housewifes worked from in the 70's. The inspiration for Bobbi was was Katy Keene a sexy bombshell from the comics of 1940's. Someone who looks better than her capacity or need to achieve anything.

donna g: In a festival such as SummerWorks, the play is sandwiched between other shows on a daily basis. Do you have to design the costumes based on the fact that The Haunted Hillbilly doesn't have a permanent home?

Susana Vera: The Haunted Hillbilly was created to work on it's own no matter where it's presented. It wouldn't matter what it is sandwiched between as the play brings you into it's own fantastical world of music and blood.

ABOUT SUSANA VERA:
Susana Vera has been designing costumes for Montreal theatre and dance productions for the past five years. She is a recipient of a MECCA (Montreal English Critic Circle Award) for The Jungle Book (Geordie Productions). Recent credits include designing and constructing the flamenco show El12 by La Otra Orilla. Ohter credits include Death and the Maiden (Centaur), Swan Song of Maria (Black Theatre Workshop), Inherit the Wind (Segal Centre), and Dracula (Fallen Angel Production).

THE HAUNTED HILLBILLY
Friday, August 13, 8:00 PM
Sunday, August 15, 12:30 PM
Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace
(1 block east of Bathurst, 1 block north of Queen)

For complete details visit: www.summerworks.ca
Box Office: 416-504-7529

All photos by donna g

SummerWorks Review: Even Darkness is Made of Light

The aptly named, Even Darkness is Made of Light, is a one-woman dark comedy featuring the playwright herself, Edwige Jean-Pierre, as the teenage Carrie Edison, who develops depression following the death of Carlos, the object of her affection. The two used to hang out together in a favourite, but precarious spot, doing drugs and taking about homework and how life "sucks".

As a major Twilight fan, Carrie sees Carlos as her Edward but it is never quite clear whether or not Carlos sees Carrie as his Bella. We meet Carlos in flashbacks, but the whole performance is from Carrie's perspective, so we only have her words on the status of their relationship. The heightened emotions of a teenage girl combined with depression could lead the viewer into wondering what is true and what is imagined by Carrie. Are the health care providers and a youth motivational speaker who are supposed to help Carrie with her illness as incompetent as they seem, or is this Carrie's view of them? The play could be read either way which brings depth to the script.

What is certain is that Carrie's suicide attempts have alienated her from her friends at school, who don't know how to talk to her about her illness, and damaged the trust her younger sister had in her; the former scene is hilarious to watch while the latter is resonates with heartbreaking innocence. What is also certain is that Carrie cannot live without her Edward nor can she deal with the pain of her depression. Her plan to exit the world is both comic (the plan she masterminds is called "Operation Exit F!@#$% Up Planet") and tragic as she thinks up various ways to leave this world behind. Underscoring and enhancing the humour and pain in the play are music selections (from Lilly Allen to Frank Sinatra) that mirror and advance the story.

Well-directed by Patrick Conner, Edwige Jean-Pierre enthralls as she brings all the characters to life and pulls the audience into the chaotic, teen-romantic bubble that is Carrie's life.

Rating: **** 4/5 Stars

EVEN DARKNESS IS MADE OF LIGHT
The Theatre Centre (Queen/Dovercourt)
Friday, August 13, 10:00 PM
Sunday, August 15, 2:00 PM

http://www.summerworks.ca/2010/home.php
Box Office: 416-504-7529