TIFF 2012: Midnight Madness and Vanguard Lineups Announced; Lots of New Images
Steve Barton
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TIFF.net
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Horror fans, get ready to salivate over the lineup of genre films heading to Toronto this September for the Midnight Madness and Vanguard sections of the Toronto International Film Festival. We have all the details you need along with lots of new stills!
The fest runs September 6th-16th, and the full schedule will be posted on August 21st. While a few of the films listed aren’t pure horror, they fall in the categories horror fans will be focusing on so we’ve included them here for general information.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
The wild side: midnight screenings of the best in action, horror, shock, and fantasy cinema.
The ABCs of Death – World Premiere
Kaare Andrews, Angela Bettis, Adrián García Bogliano, Bruno Forzani & Hélène Cattet, Ernesto Díaz Espinoza, Jason Eisener, Xavier Gens, Jorge Michel Grau, Lee Hardcastle, Noboru Iguchi, Thomas Cappelen Malling, Anders Morgenthaler, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Simon Rumley, Marcel Sarmiento, Jon Schnepp, Srdjan Spasojevic, Timo Tjahjanto, Andrew Traucki, Nacho Vigalondo, Jake West, Ti West, Ben Wheatley, Adam Wingard, and Yûdai Yamaguchi Twenty-six directors… 26 ways to die! The ABCs of Death is perhaps the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived, featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film. With each director assigned a letter of the alphabet, they were then given free rein in choosing a word to create a story involving a tale of mortality. It’s an alphabetical arsenal of destruction orchestrated by some of the most exciting names in global horror including Ben Wheatley (Kill List), Ti West (House of the Devil), Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), Xavier Gens (Frontieres), and Nacho Vigalondo (Time Crimes).
Aftershock – Nicolás López, USA/Chile – World Premiere (more images here)
In Chile, an American tourist’s vacation goes from good to great when he meets some beautiful women travellers. But when an earthquake ravages the underground nightclub they’re in, a fun night quickly turns to terror. Escaping to the surface is just the beginning as they face nightmarish chaos above ground. Starring Eli Roth and Selena Gomez.
The Bay – Barry Levinson, USA – World Premiere
A brutal and harrowing film about a deadly parasite, The Bay chronicles the descent of a small Maryland town into absolute terror.
Come Out and Play – Makinov, Mexico – World Premiere
Beth and Francis vacation before the birth of their child. Francis insists on venturing to a more serene island, Beth hesitantly agrees. They set out to a beautiful island, but soon discover it’s mysteriously abandoned, and the only people on the island are children. Beth and Francis are left to uncover the mystery of the disappearances, and a day in paradise quickly turns into a struggle for survival. Cast includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vinessa Shaw and Daniel Gimenez Cacho.
Dredd – Pete Travis, USA/United Kingdom/India – World Premiere
The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland (28 Days Later) and director Pete Travis bring the iconic masked police officer Dredd to life in this futuristic neo-noir action film. Filmed in 3D with stunning slow-motion photography sequences, the film returns the celebrated comic book anti-hero to his dark, violent and visceral roots. Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey.
Hellbenders – JT Petty, USA – World Premiere
Hellbenders, an R-rated 3D exorcism comedy, follows the Order of Hellbound Saints (Brooklyn Parish), a highly secretive and profoundly blasphemous men of God, as they battle demonic forces too terrible to be cast out by traditional Vatican-approved methods. Cast includes Clancy Brown, Clifton Collins, Jr., Robyn Rikoon and Andre Royo.
John Dies at the End – Don Coscarelli, USA – Canadian Premiere
In John Dies at the End, it’s all about the Soy Sauce, a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly, a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John (Rob Mayes) and David (Chase Williamson), a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can’t. Adapted from David Wong’s audacious trans-genre horror novel, John Dies at the End is written and directed by Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-Tep) and also stars Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti.
The Lords of Salem – Rob Zombie, USA/United Kingdom/Canada – World Premiere
Heidi, a radio station DJ, receives a wooden box containing a record. Heidi listens, and the bizarre sounds within the grooves immediately trigger flashbacks of Salem’s violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the Lords of Salem returning for revenge on modern day Salem?
No One Lives – Ryuhei Kitamura, USA – World Premiere
From the director of Versus and The Midnight Meat Train, No One Lives is a smart and original horror movie with, at its heart, a killer in the grip of a dark and twisted love affair. A ruthless criminal gang takes a young couple hostage and goes to ground in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. When the captive girl is killed, the tables are unexpectedly turned. The gang finds itself outsmarted by an urbane and seasoned killer determined to ensure that no one lives. Featuring Luke Evans, Adelaide Clemens, Derek Magyar, Lee Tergesen and America Olivo.
Seven Psychopaths – Martin McDonagh, USA/United Kingdom – World Festival Premiere
Written and directed by Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh, the comedy Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) kidnap a gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu. Co-starring Abbie Cornish, Tom Waits, Olga Kurylenko and Zeljko Ivanek.
VANGUARD
Provocative, sexy… possibly dangerous. This is what’s next.
90 Minutes – Eva Sørhaug, Norway – World Premiere
Director Eva Sørhaug (Cold Lunch) reveals the rage and violence lurking beneath seemingly tranquil domesticity in her bold and uncompromising sophomore feature.
Berberian Sound Studio – Peter Strickland, United Kingdom – North American Premiere
Set in 1976: Gilderoy is hired to orchestrate the sound mix for the latest film by Italian horror maestro Santini. As time and realities shift, Gilderoy is lost in a spiral of sonic and personal mayhem and has to confront his own demons in order to stay afloat.
Here Comes the Devil – Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Mexico/Argentina – World Premiere
On a family vacation a couple’s son and daughter disappear while exploring a cave-riddled mountainside. The children eventually return home seemingly unharmed but are withdrawn and devoid of emotion. The parents fear they have fallen prey to something inhuman — and that this dark evil has come home with them.
iLL Manors – Ben Drew, United Kingdom – International Premiere
iLL Manors is the highly anticipated directorial debut by pioneering British music artist Ben Drew (a.k.a. Plan B). A unique crime thriller set on the unforgiving streets of London, iLL Manors follows six disparate lives, all struggling to survive the circles of violence that engulf them. Narratively linked through original music from Plan B, the film is a visually stunning and emotionally impactful experience laced with street-wise humour. The film’s soundtrack just topped the U.K.’s album chart.
Painless – Juan Carlos Medina, Spain/France/Portugal – World Premiere
At the dawn of the Spanish civil war, a group of children insensitive to pain is locked in a sanatorium in the heart of the Pyrénées. In the present day, brilliant neurosurgeon David Martel discovers that he has a tumor and starts searching for his biological parents, in order to get the bone marrow transplant necessary for his survival. During his quest, he will exhume terrifying secrets about his origins, reanimate ghosts of his country and confront Berkano, the only fateful survivor of the insensitive children. From the writer of [Rec].
Pusher – Luis Prieto, United Kingdom – North American Premiere
As edgy and explosive as Nicolas Winding Refn’s (Drive) 1996 cult classic, this English language remake tells the story of a week in the life of Frank, a big time drug pusher in London. Frank’s life is a fun-filled rollercoaster ride that spins out of control. Friendships start to vanish, there is no longer room for love within his life, and violence takes over. Danger and chaos ensue, and eventually Frank is left with no one to turn to and nowhere to go.
Room 237 – Rodney Ascher, USA – Canadian Premiere
Room 237 fuses fact and fiction through interviews with ardent fans convinced they have decoded Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining’s secret messages regarding genocide, government conspiracy, and the nightmare that we call history. Ideas of five devotees of the film are braided together in a kaleidoscopic deconstruction of the horror classic.
Sightseers – Ben Wheatley, United Kingdom – North American Premiere
Chris (Steve Oram) wants to show Tina (Alice Lowe) his world, and he wants to do it his way: on a journey through the British Isles in his beloved Abbey Oxford caravan. Erotic odyssey… Killing spree… Caravanning holiday… The trip taken by Tina and Chris in Sightseers is all these things and more.
Thale – Aleksander Nordaas, Norway – Canadian Premiere
Two crime-scene cleaners discover a mythical, tailed female creature in a concealed cellar. She never utters a word, unable to tell her story, but the pieces of the puzzle soon come together: She’s been held captive for decades for reasons soon to surface.
In addition, in the City to City: Mumbai section you’ll find:
Miss Lovely – Ashim Ahluwalia, India – North American Premiere
Set in the lower depths of Bombay’s C-grade film industry, Miss Lovely follows the devastating story of two brothers who produce sex-horror films in the mid-1980s. The film gets under the skin of the Bollywood underground — an audacious cinema with wild cinemascope compositions, lurid art direction, rollicking background soundtracks, and gut-wrenching melodrama. Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh and Anil George.
In the TIFF Kids section there’s one film that should be of interest to horror fans:
Hotel Transylvania – Genndy Tartakovsky, USA – World Premiere
Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world’s most famous monsters — Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more — to celebrate his daughter Mavis’ 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem — but his world could come crashing down when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis. A considerable portion of animation on Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania was completed out of the newly-expanded Sony Pictures Imageworks’ offices in Vancouver.
Finally, for fans of the classics, in the TIFF Cinematheque section is:
Dial M for Murder – Alfred Hitchcock, USA
Alfred Hitchcock’s devilish drawing-room thriller, about a retired tennis pro (Ray Milland) who plans the “perfect” murder of his adulterous wife (Grace Kelly), is revived in a new, eye-popping 3D digital restoration.
Be sure to visit the official Toronto International Film Festival website for more info on these films and all the others that will be shown during the event.
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