Midnight Madness is Over. Now What?!

The gods of genre cinema can be so kind during Midnight Madness, but as the chaos and bloodshed of the program wash over us, we often forget that their kindness lasts only 10 days.

Now that we've reached the end of Midnight Madness, how are we supposed to maintain our high? We can't just shut down until next year's TIFF rolls around.

Thankfully there are tonnes of great events and screenings in the coming months to keep us up at night (though in most cases, not as late as midnight).

The Revue Cinema will once again be hosting its annual all-night Shock & Awe event on Saturday, September 28th, featuring screenings of Mac & Me, Jess Franco's Jack the Ripper, and headlined by a 35mm screening of JCVD and Bolo Yeung in BLOODSPORT!!! All films at Shock & Awe are presented on 16 and 35mm film!

You've no doubt seen the spots for them before TIFF screenings, that TIFF Bell Lightbox is putting on a huge exhibition and screening series on the films of David Cronenberg, this Fall! They're also screening The Changeling and Ginger Snaps on Halloween, as well as putting on retrospectives of the Coen Brothers and Nicolas Winding Refn.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs October 17th to 25th at their new home, the Scotiabank Theatre. I'm sure their line-up is going to be full of stuff to get excited about, but until they announce it, I'm most excited about the Scotiabank's Super-Pop machines. Another exciting thing about the festival moving to the Scotiabank (have I said Scotiabank enough yet?) is that your purchases of TAD tickets will earn you Scene points!

The Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival runs November 29th to December 1st, showcasing new Canadian horror films.

I'm sure there are a lot more too, so post yours or other people's events in the comments section.

Midnight Madness Audience Treated to a Clip of BERANDAL (THE RAID 2)

If you weren't at the World Premiere of ALMOST HUMAN on Tuesday night, cross your legs before you read on, because you're going to want to kick yourself.

Before the film, the crowd in attendance were treated to a clip from BERANDAL, the sequel to Gareth Evans' THE RAID. If you've been following the film's production, you've likely read about a character named Hammer Girl. A vicious female assassin whose weapons of choice are two hammers.

I'd rather not spoil the scene for those who weren't there, but rest assured that it kicked as much booty as you'd expect it to! Get excited for when the film premieres in 2014!!

ALMOST HUMAN screens one last time:

Friday September 13
Scotiabank 9
2:30 PM

Mike Flanagan's OCULUS Premieres Tonight!!

Director Mike Flanagan (whose feature, ABSENTIA, you might have seen at Toronto After Dark a couple years back) has landed in Toronto, and is ready to unleash of his new film OCULUS tonight.

Hello Toronto!
— Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) September 7, 2013

So far this year, Midnight audiences have seen soul-sucking cheerleaders, a remote weather station overrun by mutants, and jungle-dwelling cannibals. But are they ready for  the terror that an Evil Mirror can bring?!?!

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

Program Your Own Midnight Madness Retrospective!!

Torontoist wrote about the 25th anniversary of Midnight Madness and had the great idea to program their own dream retrospective of 18 of their favourite films from previous Midnight Madness line-ups.

Of all of the films that have screened at Midnight Madness in its 25 year history, which 10 would you show. Here's a handy list of every film to have screened to help you out.

Tomorrow I might pick a different 10, but here's my fantasy Midnight Madness retrospective to get the ball rolling.  Post your lists in the comments section.

 BORAT

 BRAINDEAD

 ONG-BAK

WILD ZERO

 FREEWAY 2: CONFESSIONS OF A TRICK BABY

 CLIP CULT and ELECTRIC DRAGON 80,000 VOLTS

 SWORDSMAN II

 DAINIPPONJIN (BIG MAN JAPAN)

 CREEP

INSIDE (A L'INTERIEUR)

p.s.
This was extremely difficult!!

TIFF Midnight Madness 25th Anniversary T-Shirts Now Available!

For the past 24 years of the Midnight Madness program, if you wanted to be able to identify a fellow Midnight Madness devotee during the day, unless they were wearing a horror or action movie shirt, your odds of guessing weren't very good.

This year, TIFF is removing the guess work and have put out an official Midnight Madness 25th Anniversary t-shirt, designed by Kagan McLeod. You might know Kagan's work from his kung-fu comic book epic, Infinite Kung-Fu, or from his many illustration work that he's done for The National Post, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and The Hollywood Reporter.

As of Tuesday, these beautiful navy blue t-shirts are available in unisex t-shirt sizes XS - XXL in a limited edition for $30 (+ tax) at the TIFF Shop (at TIFF Bell Lightbox) and at the TIFF Shop pop up location at the Festival Box Office at Metro Centre.

Look how dashing you're going to look in your new Midnight Madness shirt!!

The Devil's in the details.

So pick up your shirt and let everyone at that 9AM screening know that you're running on less than 5 hours of sleep.

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

COME OUT AND PLAY with Photoshop

Come Out and Play premieres tonight at Midnight Madness, which of course is going to bring about comparisons to other horror films, tv shows, etc. that feature creepy and/or murderous children.

I thought "What if..." (TM Marvel Comics, I'm sure) some of those terrifying tykes (unnecessary alteration ahoy!) made cameo appearances in Come Out and Play though?

If you want to play along, post yours in the comments!

Please pardon my atrocious Photoshop skills.

COME OUT AND PLAY screens:
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Fri., Sept. 14th, 3:15 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10
Sat., Sept. 15th, 6:45 PM SCOTIABANK 11

The Occult Tunes of TIFF '12

 Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem premieres tomorrow night at Midnight Madness. The plot revolves around a mysterious black metal LP, which seems to summon evil forces from the past. There are other films at the festival whose soundtracks have hints of the occult in them via their soundtracks.

Ben Wheatley's Sightseers features Donovan's song about everyone's favourite Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman buddy picture.

And Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master features a bit of old timey Satanic resistance music. Have you noticed any more in the films you've seen so far?

And here's Rob Zombie's song, "Lords of Salem", which I assume will be in the film somewhere. We'll find out soon enough.

Screening Times:
THE LORDS OF SALEM:
Mon.,  Sept. 10, 11:59:  Ryerson Theatre
Wed., Sept. 12, 5PM: Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 6

SIGHTSEERS
Tues., Sept. 11, 9:00PM:  Ryerson Theatre

Thurs. Sept. 13, 12:00PM:  Ryerson Theatre
Sun., Sept. 16, 7:00PM:  The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

THE MASTER
Sun., Sept. 16, 6:00PM:  TIFF Bell Lightbox 1