You can thank (or not thank) The Toronto After Dark Film Festival for ostensibly being the reason this web site even exists. Without TAD, Andrew never would have met Kurt and at the very least, the domain name of RowThree would be something completely different… it’s a long story. So even though TIFF is right around the corner and carries the weight of all the discussion around here, the much smaller, but often just as fun insanity of The Toronto After Dark Film Festival likes to announce its first wave of titles; and we mention them because hey, it’s a fun time and as mentioned above it does hold a good chunk of space in our hearts.
The Toronto After Dark Film Festival (or TAD for short) is “8 nights of Horror, Sci-Fi, Action and Cult Cinema” from all around the globe. After the inaugural year’s line-up in 2006, which included two (almost 3) of my top ten films of the year, I was hooked and have returned every year since. Truly a case of Planes, Trains and Automobiles for me (not to mention trolleys and busses), somehow I make my way around the great lakes into Toronto each Halloween season. This year will be no different and earlier today Adam Lopez (festival founder and co-programmer) announced the first eight titles to shock us all. More titles will be announced later on September 24th, but for now, here is as much info as I could gather on the first eight. Enjoy!
Thanks to Filmopia for the poster images!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
details and trailers under the seat…
Repo! The Genetic Opera
IMDb profile
Country: USA
Official site: http://www.repo-opera.com/
Synopsis: In this horror/rock musical, a worldwide epidemic encourages a biotech company to launch an organ-financing program similar in nature to a standard car loan. The repossession clause is a killer, however.
Trailer:
Tokyo Gore Police
IMDb profile
Country: uh… Japan
Official site: N/A
Synopsis: Audition‘s Eihi Shiina plays Ruka, a beautiful, self destructive cop of the near future. Tokyo’s police force has been privatized and authorized to execute justice on the spot. The officers are both hated and feared but are a necessity in a world plagued by ‘engineers’, mutant creatures that generate powerful weapons from any significant wound on their body; meaning that they become more dangerous the more that you fight against them. Eliminating them is a task that falls to specialized sword wielding hunters within the police force. Ruka is the best of the best.
Trailer:
Idiots and Angels
IMDb profile
Country: USA
Official site: http://www.idiotsandangels.com/
Synopsis: An animated feature from the legendary Bill Plympton about Angel, a selfish and morally bankrupt man, wakes up one morning to find wings on his back. As Angel tries to adapt to the wings, he discovers that now that he can fly, he has greater opportunities to abuse others. However, the wings seem to have a will of their own, and they foil all of his greedy plans.
Trailer:
Trailer Park of Terror
IMDb profile
Country: USA
Official site: http://www.trailerparkofterror.com/
Synopsis: Six troubled high school students and an optimistic youth Pastor seek shelter for the night after their bus crashes in the middle of nowhere in a seemingly abandoned trailer park. However, when the sun sets, it’s not refuge they find. Instead, terror finds them in the form of Norma, a damned redneck reaper with a killer body who dispenses vengeance and death aided by her cursed companions, a bloodthirsty brood of Undead trailer trash.
Trailer:
Red
IMDb profile
Country: USA
Official site: http://www.magpictures.com/
Synopsis: An older, reclusive man’s best friend and inspiration for living is his 14-year-old dog named “Red.” When three troublesome teens kill the dog for no good reason, the grieving man sets out for justice and redemption by whatever means available to him.
Trailer:
Let the Right One In
IMDb profile
Country: Sweden
Official site: N/A
Synopsis: Terrorized by bullies, lonely 12-year-old Oskar befriends a new neighbor, a mysterious young girl whose arrival coincides with a series of gruesome deaths and attacks. Though Oskar realizes that she’s a vampire, his friendship with her is stronger than his fear.
Trailer:
Mirageman
IMDb profile
Country: Chile
Official site: http://www.miragemanmovie.com/
Synopsis: The story of security guard turned martial arts superhero.
Trailer:
Who is KK Downey?
IMDb profile
Country: Canada
Official site: N/A
Synopsis: N/A
Trailer:
Isn’t After Dark supposed to be horror or really weird films? Or am I mistaken? If it is supposed to be that then I wonder why Red is showing as part of it, it’s a thriller/drama, but more of the latter.
Not nec. horror or “weird” films. It is all sorts of stuff. “Exciting” cinema is what I would classify it as. Last year they had just a straight up Martial Arts picture. So if it’s a bit bloody, campy, weird, fantastical or just plain cool, it is fair game for the festival.
Oh, and Robert Englund is in “Red”, so it’s automatically in the running right off the bat.
You forgot to mention the cheap VIP passes went on sale yesterday. Limited numbers, get them while you can.
From the submission info on this years festival the films genres for consideration were:
“Film Types: Horror, Supernatural, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Animation, Crime, Action, Thriller, Suspense, Cult, Bizarre, Genre-defying, Experimental as well as:
- Documentaries, with a genre-related or cult/bizarre subject matter
- Music Videos, with a genre-related or cult/bizarre aesthetic”
Which actually does sum up the films they have.
I’m really lokoing forward to the festival this year, although I was suprized that all of the titles were winners or selection from other film festivals. I’m not sure if that is a change, I pretty much began festivalling last Sept.