Midnight Madness Memories: CABIN FEVER

"Catch it! Fall 2003"

Check out a piece of Midnight Madness history. Midnight Madness Programmer Colin holds one of the surgical masks from the world premiere of Eli Roth's Cabin Fever in 2003. Cabin Fever was Roth's first film at Midnight Madness. Roth's Hostel played Midnight Madness in 2004 and Roth was back last year starring in (and producing) Nicolás López' Aftershock.  Roth is returning to Midnight Madness this year with Green Inferno.

And I'm sure that the test results will reveal that stain is nothing to worry about...

THE GREEN INFERNO screening times:
Sat., Sept. 7th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Mon., Sept. 9th, 1:30 PM, SCOTIABANK 13

The Legend of MANDY LANE

It was Midnight Madness 2006. We'd had quite a ride already, between the infamous aborted Borat screening on Thursday and the North American premiere of Bong Joon-ho's creature feature The Host on Friday. Some of the audience had already been introduced to the Borat character via Da Ali G Show, and we'd all been hearing about The Host since its Cannes premiere the previous May. But Saturday night brought a total question mark. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane had no poster, no trailer and no familiar cast or crew. All we knew was that Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes had granted it the coveted opening weekend Saturday slot.

In the Festival note, a fired up Geddes wrote, "Taking a hammer to the polished image of Hollywood teen horror, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane rips apart all the glossy mallrat stereotypes. Welcome to the post-Columbine world of dead teenagers as envisioned in this impaled, slashed and twisted take on the genre." The only image the Festival book offered was a close-up of the title character:

What the capacity crowd at the Ryerson got that Saturday was a unique take on the teen slasher genre that I won't spoil in case you (like many) have not yet had an opportunity to see the film. What I will say is that the film received a robust Midnight Madness approval from the audience. The following morning brought news that the film had already locked North American distribution via sale to the Weinstein Company. The future looked bright for Mandy Lane. And then, well, nothing happened. Or really, all this happened:

The Wall Street Journal: "Why It Took 7 Years to See 'Mandy Lane'"

Now that Mandy Lane is finally coming out, the Wall Street Journal has detailed every twist and turn that kept the film without a North American release for the past seven years. It's required reading for all Midnight Madness fanatics.

Anthony Pettis Quotes

UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis is one of the most creative and dangerous strikers in the UFC's lightweight division. His striking diversity and creativity stems from his athleticism and originally starting out in the martial art of Taekwondo.

 

 

 

RIGOR MORTIS Gets US Distribution Through WELL GO USA!

Some people will do anything for distribution.

It's always great to see one of the smaller films at Midnight Madness get distribution love, and one of the most exciting films in this year's lineup has done just that.  ShockTillYouDrop.com is reporting that Rigor Mortis, which features one of my favourite trailers of the year, has landed a US distribution deal through the great folks at Well Go USA Entertainment and will see a North American release in early 2014, though I'm sure you'll be biting every neck that gets between you and the Midnight Madness premiere on the 11th!

Well Go USA is one of the few female-run distribution companies, under the watchful eye of president Doris Pfardrescher, who has a fantastic taste for genre flicks.  The Texas-based distribution company has championed such films as Herman Yau's Ip Man: The Final Fight and  Johnnie To's Drug War, which is currently enjoying a run at TIFF Bell Lightbox. You can follow them on Twitter at @wellgousa or find them on Facebook here. To quote our editor Carol Borden, "sisters are distributin' for themselves!"

RIGOR MORTIS Screening Times:
Wednesday, Sept 11th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Thursday, Sept 12th, 12:45 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2
Friday, Sept 13th, 6:00 PM SCOTIABANK 9

Navigating TIFF Part 1: Distance & Foot Travel Time Between Venues

Navigating TIFF's village can be a daunting task for the uniniatied. So, over the next few days, I'll be doing a series of posts on getting around using various modes of transport. My personal favorite way to get around is on foot and a few years ago I used my professional skills as a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (it's a real title folks just ask Jack Donaghy!) to create the matrix below. 

For those worried about the location of the Bloor, if you use Bell Lightbox as a reference point it's almost the same distance as the Bader if you walk. In fact, the Bloor is closer to the Lightbox than Bader if you drive!

Rashad Evans on GSP's dedication to his craft

Rashad Evans on Georges St-Pierre's dedication to his art:

GSP was one of my best training partners. I never met an athlete so dedicated to his craft! After every training session he would stay there and drill for another hour.

Interestingly enough the thing that Georges St-Pierre says he's best at more than anything is in fact dedication. He notes in The Way of the Fight:

Do you want to know what I like best about myself? The truth is, I’ve become “great” at maybe only one thing: dedication.

THE GREEN INFERNO and the MPAA

Our American friends like to get specific with their film ratings. 2013 Midnight Madness world premiere The Green Inferno just received its R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America and it comes with an impressive list of "reasons." See the official rating below for an indication of how far director Eli Roth went with the cannibal carnage in the film. It doesn't sound like it will be boring.

"The Green Inferno - Rated R for aberrant violence and torture, grisly disturbing images, brief graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use."

Check out Roth's past MPAA scorecards. His violence started as "strong," then went to "brutal," then "sadistic," and finally to The Green Inferno's particularly evocative "aberrant." That's called "growing as a filmmaker."

"Cabin Fever - Rated R for strong violence and gore, sexuality, language and brief drug use."

"Hostel - Rated R for brutal scenes of torture and violence, strong sexual content, language and drug use."

"Hostel Part II - Rated R for sadistic scenes of torture and bloody violence, terror, nudity, sexual content, language and some drug content."

THE GREEN INFERNO screening times:
Sat., Sept. 7th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Mon., Sept. 9th, 1:30 PM, SCOTIABANK 13

HORNS & WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL: Between Vanguard & Midnight Madness

 Director Alexandre Aja's Haute Tension pulverized the audience at its North American premiere at Midnight Madness 2003. Since then, Aja has directed several more horror films including The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Piranha 3D (2010). This year, he returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with the world premiere of his new film Horns--not to Midnight Madness, but to its cousin programme, Vanguard. What does this mean? Well, it means that Horns is still a hard-edged, genre-tinged film, but it's not so much of a meat grinder that some of the general citizenry can't appreciate it alongside Midnight Madness fans. In short, it's a film that the Festival doesn't have to wait until the witching hour to unleash.

On the other hand, director Sion Sono is apparently getting crazier the more films he makes. His film Cold Fish was in Vanguard 2010. Likely the bloodiest film in the Festival that year, it blurred the line between Vanguard and Midnight. It had the viscera to satisfy the Midnight crowd, but its 144 minute runtime made for a pace better suited to viewings not, well, in the middle of the night. Sono is back this year with the North American premiere of Why Don't You Play in Hell? and this time he's full on Midnight Madness. We can take this to mean that the director's work has reached the point at which it's no longer safe to exhibit in a non-Midnight situation where it could harm a casual filmgoer.

HORNS screening times:
Fri., Sept. 6th, 6:00PM, BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun., Sept. 8th, 1:00PM, SCOTIABANK 4

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? screening times:
Fri., Sept. 13th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 14th, 3:45PM, SCOTIABANK 1

Jason High on focussing on the process

     
During his post fight interview at UFC on Fox Sports 2, Jason High notes that he isn't concerned about the outcome, but just the process involved with leading up to that destination:

I try to focus on the process and the results take care of themselves. 

 

Having an attitude like that allows one to focus on the steps needed to achieve victory, which increases it's probability of occurring. It also makes the journey all the more pleasurable as you living in the moment.

 

 

Kelvin Gastelum on Learning from Chael Sonnen

When Kelvin Gastelum is asked 22 minutes into this clip, what the most useful thing he learned from Chael Sonnen was, he replies:

He tells me that for a fight you can't worry about the outcome, you just have to worry about performing and that's what I'm thinking coming into every thing. I'm not thinking I'm going to win, just thinking about performing and doing what I need to do to get the job done.

Everything you want to know about... OCULUS

ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE isn't the only remake in this year's lineup. There is also OCULUS, which is based on an award winning short film Director Mike Flanagan made back in 2006. Here is a trailer for the original short:



The full short is available for purchase here.

If you want to know everything about OCULUS then you need to come to the Ryerson at midnight on Sunday, September 8th. But if you want a little taste of what Mike Flanagan has in store for you then you might want to check out:

• The TIFF site with a thorough description by Colin Geddes
• Mike Flanagan's Official website with information about his other films
• The Twitter accounts of the cast and crew:
• Director Mike Flanagan
• Actress Katee Sackhoff
• Actress Karen Gillan

OCULUSScreening Times:
Sunday, Sept 8th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Tuesday, Sept 10th, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK 14
Sunday, Sept 15th, 6:00 PM SCOTIABANK 11

Hitoshi Matsumoto Returns to Midnight Madness with R100

Hitoshi Matsumoto, the director of BIG MAN JAPAN and SYMBOL returns to Midnight this year with his latest cinematic oddity, R100.

R100 tells the story of a mild-mannered family man with a secret taste for S&M finds himself pursued by a gang of ruthless dominatrixes — each with a very special talent.

Check out the trailer:


R100 Screening Times:
Thursday, Sept 12th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Friday, Sept 13th, 11:30 AM SCOTIABANK 9
Saturday, Sept 14th, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK 10

Court McGee on overcoming heroin addicted

Court McGee almost lost his life to heroin addiction, but now has turned his life around completely and tries to inspire others who are in the same position he was to do so to. McGee notes in the NY Post:

I was strung out, the heroin addict, the drunk, the liar, the cheat, the thief. That’s who I thought I was. I never thought I was going to amount to nothing...My job now is to carry the message to people who struggle out there. My job allows me to do that and it allows me to be a dad. It allows me to be all these things I never thought I could be.

WTF Trailers: WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? vs. WITCHING & BITCHING

Want to know how wild this year's Midnight Madness lineup is going to be? Watch the full trailers below for North American premiere Why Don't You Play in Hell? and world premiere Witching & Bitching. Then try to decide which one looks more insane. Neither trailer is subtitled, but the wackness translates loud and clear.

Why Don't You Play in Hell?:



Witching & Bitching:



WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? screening times:
Fri., Sept. 13th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 14th, 3:45PM, SCOTIABANK 1

WITCHING & BITCHING screening times:
Sat., Sept. 14th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 15th, 12:00PM, SCOTIABANK 14

Josh Barnett on Expecting Great Things

Josh Barnett makes an interesting point about expecting greatness from yourself. Winning is not a surprise to him, it's something that he expects to happen. He notes this about winning the UFC heavyweight title at 24 years of age:

My mindset was so set that there could be no other outcome. I get the belt and it wasn't like, "Oh my God, I did it." It was like, "Of course. Of course I did it. What else should I have expected?"

It falls in line with why Mike Tyson said he didn't celebrate after winning; it was because it is what he expected so it'd be silly to celebrate. Additionally, Italian soccer player Mario Balotelli had a great quote on him just doing his job so he doesn't need to celebrate:

“I don’t celebrate because I’m only doing my job. When a postman delivers letters, does he celebrate?”

It all falls in line with expecting greatness, victory, and peak performance out of yourself.

Colin Geddes Talks Midnight Madness 2013!

Midnight Madness MC Colin Geddes has been making the press rounds the last few weeks pumping up this year’s stellar line-up.  I've pulled some choice bits from his interviews with Fangoria, MSN Movies, and Society Vernacular. Click on the links below for the full stories.

At Fangoria, Colin talked about some of the titles in this years lineup:

Fangoria: Which film is that big unknown for you this year?

CG: …watch out for ALMOST HUMAN by Joe Begos… It’s a film with that vibe of some of the best 80s intense horror thrillers, which has that action element to it. It’s really fresh and fun. A guy gets abducted by aliens—or we assume aliens since he goes into a blue light. Ten years later his friend who has been accused of the murder finds out that he has come back, however he is not the same and now he likes to use shotguns, chainsaws and axes on people.

Fangoria: What about the film most likely to get under your skin?

CG: OCULUS has got the INSIDIOUS factor... You don’t really know what’s going on and it’s going to definitely permeate nightmares.

Fangoria: What will be the craziest, loudest screening at Midnight Madness this year?

CG: That might be WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL? … It may not sound like a horror film but this has more blood than most of the other films at the festival. …I think we’re going to have a special team of cleaners just to sweep the jaws off the floor. It’s going to start hitting those “WTF” synapses in the brain, which people are going to love.

Over at MSN Movies Colin talked about "...programming, why 'found footage' should get lost, the roar of the crowd, and more ...":

MSN: The question on everyone’s mind: How many films did you start with?

CG: It was ... 180.  One of the things I've done this year was actually keeping a diary of what films I watched every day, so I've got a little note on my phone through which I can scroll through and ... "I watched three films that day, five films that day, when I was in Cannes," and know how many I was watching then.

MSN: What, for you, is the best possible kind of midnight film?

CG: … I like being able to take a director who is unknown, even if maybe he's done a couple films… I love being able to give these films a platform and helping see them get to the next level and engage with an audience.  Maybe engage with an audience outside their own country.

Finally, he talked to Society Vernacular about a wide range of topics covering 25 years of Midnight Madness:

SV: When did you first move to Toronto and how soon after did you discover TIFF and Midnight Madness?

CG: ...1988...the first films I saw at the film festival were Hellraiser II and Brain Damage.

SV: How do you handle the responsibility of delivering programmes every year, knowing you have hundreds of fans eagerly awaiting fresh recommendations?

CG: I feel duty bound to be loyal to the audience. I’ve always picked films that I feel the audience are going to enjoy. Maybe they might not expect or anticipate it but I’m aware that there is a ticket price… that gets worse every year because of inflation. I don’t want to waste the audience’s time. I want to give them something new and fresh. I don’t want to do something that’s kind of a rehash of old ideas. I’m not a fan of the whole ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ train of thought. I like surprising them and entertaining them. I’m always paying attention to the audience and what’s going to be a good night out for them.


ALMOST HUMAN Screening Times:
Tuesday, Sept 10th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wednesday, Sept 11th, 7:15 PM SCOTIABANK 3
Friday, Sept 13th, 2:30 PM SCOTIABANK 9

OCULUSScreening Times:
Sunday, Sept 8th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Tuesday, Sept 10th, 4:15 PM SCOTIABANK 14
Sunday, Sept 15th, 6:00 PM SCOTIABANK 11

WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELLScreening Times:
Friday, Sept 13th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Saturday, Sept 14th, 3:45 PM SCOTIABANK 1

Two hour Dan Hardy interview with London Real podcast

This is almost a two hour interview with Dan Hardy with the London Real podcast. Exactly an hour into the interview Hardy gives a great quote about his openness with people and intention in life:

My intention with life is to have as much experience as possible; to connect with as many people as possible.

Cain Velasquez on being a role model

Cain Velasquez hopes to be a role model to young Hispanics growing up:

Growing up, in the media I didn't see anybody that looked like me. Nobody that was big and Hispanic. So I didn't have those dreams that I could be something when I was little. Now I want to show people...I'm Mexican, just to be a role model.

Everything you want to know about... THE GREEN INFERNO!

Okay, the post title is a little misleading, but I need to drive traffic to the blog so I'm not below a little stealth marketing. If you really want to know everything about THE GREEN INFERNO then you need to come to the Ryerson at midnight on Saturday, September 7th. But if you want a little taste of what Midnight Madness favorite Eli Roth has in store for you then you might want to check out:

• The TIFF site with a thorough description by Colin Geddes
• The Official Facebook page with lots of behind the scenes pictures
• The Twitter accounts of the cast and crew:
• Director Eli Roth
• Actress Lorenza Izzo
• Actress Sky Ferreiroa
• Actress Kirby Bliss Blanton

THE GREEN INFERNO Screening Times:
Sat., Sept 7th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Mon., Sept 9th, 1:30 PM SCOTIABANK 13

The Hip Hop preacher Eric Thomas, who also addressed Anthony "Showtime" Pettis and others at Roufusport gym here:



_______________
Quotes from MMA fighters:

Anderson Silva
Chael Sonnen
Chris Weidman
Fedor Emelianenko
Georges St-Pierre
Jon Jones
Ronda Rousey

Frank Mir on Improving and Moving outside his comfort zone

Frank Mir on constantly improving and moving outside of his comfort zone by doing things such as training at the Jackson team in Albuquerque, New Mexico:

I'm constantly trying to find other people to better me, to improve. I'm moving outside of my comfort zone.

Frank Mir has taken that approach to experimenting with different training methods and programs and diet throughout his career. That has allowed Mir to stay fresh and continually reinvent himself during his decade-plus run in mixed martial arts.

_______________
Quotes from MMA fighters:

Anderson Silva
Chael Sonnen
Chris Weidman
Fedor Emelianenko
Georges St-Pierre
Jon Jones
Ronda Rousey

 

Georges St-Pierre on suffering and appreciation

Georges St-Pierre speaks on the relationship between suffering and appreciation in his book The Way of the Fight:

Suffering allows you to truly appreciate release, which means there’s an odd relationship with balance. When great depths of unrelenting sorrow are punctuated by great peaks of joy and liberation, the result is delicious. It’s about appreciating the little things that make my life so great—a glass of water, eggs and bacon, a slice of chocolate cake. Getting tipsy. To truly understand the greatness of these things, I have to suffer. I have to suffer and live through it, and then I can appreciate more. It's why they say that true pleasure does not exist; it’s just the temporary release from suffering.

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? Poster and Teaser

"This had to be in. There are so many WTF moments. The audience isn't going to believe it." --Colin Geddes, Midnight Madness programmer

The North American premiere of Why Don't You Play in Hell? will mark the first ever appearance of iconoclastic director Sion Sono (Suicide Club, Love Exposure, Cold Fish) in Midnight Madness. The teaser trailer below promises vintage Sono: jaw-dropping and blood-soaked. Festival page located here.

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? screening times:
Fri., Sept. 13th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 14th, 3:45PM, SCOTIABANK 1

Randy Couture on sleeping before fights

Jay Glazer in this UFC roundtable with legends speaks with Randy Couture before about how he took a nap before his fight with Mark Coleman. Couture makes an interesting point about how conserving energy, relaxing, and "unplugging" can be a great way to save all your force for fighting and not waste any mental and physical energy beforehand with nerves and anxiety and overthinking:

We get there so early, three hours, we were there early. Sit there in a little room. You've got to relax and unplug; if you're keyed up that early you're spending energy you're going to need when you have to walk out there. You learn to unplug.

Joe Rogan on being Responsible for your thoughts and actions

Joe Rogan on his podcast explains how to overcome the desire to blame others for your problems. Other people may have had a negative impact on your life, but ultimate you are the choice-maker in terms of how you interpret the situation, how you respond, react, and the meaning which you give it:

You can blame everybody for your problems in life and you might be right. But, you can't change that. What you can change is what you think and how you react and what power you give other people's actions and thoughts over you. You can keep from getting pissed off at them by using that energy for yourself. Using that energy for positive s**t. Using that energy to try and accomplish s**t.

 

Alexander Gustafsson on Improving

In Fight Magazine, Alexander Gustafsson was asked what changes he has noticed about himself on the journey from becoming a contender to the number one contender for the UFC light-heavyweight title. He answered with the following:

I've learned that I need to work harder every day and never be satisfied. You can't be too comfortable. I have to keep pushing myself to be a better fighter every step of the way.

The Awesomely Retro Poster and Trailer for ALMOST HUMAN!

Debut feature director Joe Begos' Almost Human has my absolute favourite movie poster of the year.  It has a neat 80's horror look to it, combining several 80's poster features like the hand-drawn aesthetic and muted blues of the Friday the 13th poster, a font that looks almost sci-fi inspired like Evil Dead, and the 'person/object in front of a spotlight' look of Friday the 13th Part 6 and The Thing (and, okay, most of the posters from this period). Behold!

The trailer, too, has a similar 80's throwback feel to it:

It's hard to know for sure what exactly is at play here, other than the fact that it's probably aliens, but there is definitely a lot of creepy to spare in this Midnight Madness selection! If you're into alien abduction, indie horror, and are still hanging desperately onto the hope that Duran Duran are going to tour again, put Almost Human at the top of your Midnight Madness list!

Almost Human screening times:
Tuesday September 10, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Wednesday September 11, 7:15 PM, SCOTIABANK 3
Friday September 13, 2:30 PM, SCOTIABANK 9

THE STATION Poster and Trailer

Marvin Kren's isolation-horror creature feature The Station is the first Austrian film to ever play Midnight Madness. Check out the poster and trailer below and see the world premiere Friday, September 6th, 11:59PM at the Ryerson. Festival page located here.

THE STATION screening times:
Fri., Sept. 6th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 8th, 2:15PM, SCOTIABANK 14
Fri., Sept. 13th, 9:15PM, SCOTIABANK 9

Joe Rogan: Haters are unrealized potential

 

From the Joe Rogan podcast:

"100% of all haters in the world are unrealized potential...They see someone doing well and it bothers them. To a person like a Michael Jordan or a winner, they see someone doing well and it inspires them to take it up another notch."

Wanderlei Silva: I Fight with All my Heart

Wanderlei Silva on why fans love him worldwide:

"Why do I have so many fans? Why does everybody want to watch me fight?...It's because I fight with all my heart."

WITCHING & BITCHING Poster and Teaser

Midnight Madness alumnus Alex de la Iglesia (Accion Mutante in 1993 and The Day of the Beast in 1995) is returning to close out this year's lineup with the world premiere of Witching & Bitching. Check out the poster art and raucous teaser trailer below. Festival page located here.

WITCHING & BITCHING screening times:
Sat., Sept. 14th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 15th, 12:00PM, SCOTIABANK 14

Miesha Tate on overcoming negativity and becoming positive

44:25 into this clip, Miesha Tate talks about how she overcome her extreme anger and negativity towards Ronda Rousey and got into a more healthy and positive mindset towards her and the sport:

The first time that we fought each other I was the one that was unhappy about things and I was the one that was being manipulated her attacks; I just had never dealt with someone like that and after I lost, I really had to re-evaluate myself as a person, I realized that, how stupid that was to play into that and how much it really affected me and how much I did not like it, and how much it made me not like MMA, because all those kind of politics with it. So I just had to change my stance. I remember Bryan (Carraway) and I were in the car driving somewhere and I was really thinking about it really hard...and I was doing some soul searching and I said, "You know Bry, do you think that let my anger and hatred and dislike towards Ronda be like my fire and motivation for the reason I want to fight and beat her again? Or do you think I should let it go and just be appreciative of what she's done and try to be positive about it and be better instead of bitter". And he's like, "Absolutely,  you need to let it go. You're not the kind of person that feeds off of negative energy well and you don't perform at your best when you're under negative charge. And so I says, "I think you're really right". And so I just prayed and tried to clear my heart of any negative emotions or standpoint and I think I did a good job.

Behold the Amazing Poster for ALMOST HUMAN

To all other films bringing poster art to the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, good luck competing with this beauty. Midnight Madness world premiere Almost Human's poster art was created by Tom Hodge, a.k.a. The Dude Designs. See more work by The Dude Designs below and check out his website here.

Hobo with a Shotgun poster art:

The Innkeepers poster art:

They Live Scream Factory DVD/Blu-ray cover art:

ALMOST HUMAN screening times:
Tue., Sept. 10th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 11th, 7:15PM, SCOTIABANK 3
Fri., Sept. 13th, 2:30PM, SCOTIABANK 9

A Beautiful And Utterly Horrifying Trailer For RIGOR MORTIS!

What if the Wachowskis and Guillermo Del Toro decided to make a Hong Kong vampire movie? What would that trailer even look like? Former pop star (yep, that's right) Juno Mak might have the answer with this gorgeous, gory, mindblowing trailer for Midnight Madness 2013 selection Rigor Mortis.

Rigor Mortis screening times:

Wednesday September 11, 11:59 PM, RYERSON

Thursday September 12, 12:45 PM, TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2 Friday September 13, 6:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9 

Get Your Midnight Madness Fix Early with Phanstasm II at Lightbox!

Can't wait till September 5th to get your Midnight Madness Mojo working? Or are you worried that your Q&A skills might need so polishing up? Then why don't you come out to the Rue Morgue/TIFF co-presentation of Phantasm II on Saturday, August 24 at 9:30 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St. West.) Colin Geddes will be there to present the film and host a Q&A with Midnight Madness Alum Don Coscarelli. Tickets are $15 and can be scored here.

Ronda Rousey's mom on Making the World Better

In UFC 360 Magazine, UFC women's champion Ronda Rousey says that her mom (Ann Maria Rousey DeMars) taught her that her life's mission is to make the world a better place:

My mom has a lot of sayings, and one of them is, "Your mission in life is not to be happy. It is to leave the world better than how you found it." So I feel like I am finding my own way of doing that. 

Rousey has been able to leverage her fame into doing charity work for organizations such as FreeRice.com

Bruce Buffer: There are no problems, only solutions

UFC Octagon announcer and semi-pro poker player, Bruce Buffer, maintains a very positive and passionate approach to everything in life:

"There are no problems in life, only solutions"

YOU'RE NEXT Filmmakers Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett: "We are the horror audience."

Midnight Madness Alumni Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett talk about their film You're Next with The Los Angeles Times.

You're Next had a rollicking world premiere in 2011 as part of the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival that had the audience on its feet cheering during the screening.That first showing has become part of the film's lore, a signal of its effect on audiences. It opens Aug. 23 around the U.S.

"We came to realize that the best way to deconstruct horror nowadays is actually just to make a really great horror movie," Wingard, 30, said recently in East Hollywood, not far from where he and Barrett live on the same block. "You don't have to sell the reference thing or be that clever. Recognizing all the horror tropes and playing off audience expectations is kind of the new deconstruction."

Though the film is full of spiky scares and elaborate bloody kills, it is also driven by a sharp wit[.]

"We went into the recesses of our minds and said, 'What got us into filmmaking?'" noted Wingard. "And we realized it's fun, action-y horror stuff geared toward having a good time."

Read more here.

Joe Rogan on Happiness

Joe Rogan on Happiness:

I'm not saying I've always been happy, I was very dark early in my life. When I was young, when I was in my early twenties and my teens, I was not a happy person by any stretch of the imagination, not even remotely. But I knew it was possible. And because you manage your life the correct way, because you get the to a situation where you have a lot of good fortune and you have a lot of good friends, literally your mental state becomes a happier mental state. People don't understand is a lot of the reason why you feel like shit is because your life f***n sucks, and you're supposed to feel like s**t to motivate you to get the f**k out of the life you're in. Whether it's a relationship, whether it's a job, whatever the situation is that sucks, whatever the thing is inside you that's rotting you out from the inside, whether it's you wanted to do something else but you didn't have the balls to pursue it, you wanted another girl but you couldn't keep her because you're a liar. Whatever the f**k it is that eats at you, you got to straighten that s**t out or you will never be happy. You can't just flood yourself with chemicals and trick your brain into thinking this reality is acceptable because it's not really what's going on. What's going on is you know that you haven't done the best that you can do.

Jason Ellis on Believing in Yourself

ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE...The Remake?

One of programmer Colin Geddes' most puzzling hints this past Midnight Madness Lineup Announcement Eve teased a remake of a 2001 film:

Lots of incorrect guesses followed. Even after the lineup was announced the following morning, some wondered, "Where's the remake?" Well, that remake is All Cheerleaders Die, which directors Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson first made in 2001 as a low budget shot-on-video feature. It's hard as hell to get a copy of that version now and persistent Internet searching yields precious few screen captures:

McKee and Sivertson are bringing their spiffy new version of All Cheerleaders Die to the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival for its world premiere as the opening night film of Midnight Madness.

ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE screening times:
Thu., Sept. 5th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Fri., Sept. 6th, 3:00PM, BLOOR HOT DOCS
Sun., Sept. 15th, 9:30PM, SCOTIABANK 11