Day Three with Kari's Scaries

Another caffeine- and carnage-fueled day has come and gone. Yesterday we caught Room 237, which convinced me (at least for a few minutes) that everything that ever happened is part of a weird conspiracy that probably involves Nazis and dick jokes, and DePalma's latest split-screen sleaze-a-thon, Passion. As usual, though, the highlight of the day wasn't even part of the day at all—it was the Midnight Madness premiere of JT Petty's Hellbenders. 

Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes and Hellbenders writer/director JT Petty. I don't remember
what they were saying, but it looks like it was beautiful, man--just beautiful.

Dan Fogler demonstrates proper hellbending technique.

Who's cooler than Clancy Brown? Not me, that's for damn sure.

Next up: tonight's premiere of Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem, with the man himself in attendance. I'm expecting it to be a quiet, low-key event.

HELLBENDERS 3D screening times:
Tues., Sept. 11, 7 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Sat., Sept. 15, 9:15 PM, SCOTIABANK 2

LORDS OF SALEM screening times:
Mon., Sept. 10, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 5 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

Day Two with Kari's Scaries

I'm fairly certain time works differently during TIFF. Yesterday was only my second full day at the festival (thanks to the Kari's Scaries bursary), but I've managed to pack in a whack of screenings, sightseeing and, since the reason I'm here is a little something called Midnight Madness, some truly deranged carnage. I don't ever want to leave.

Yesterday started with a screening of Dredd 3D, after which we hoofed it across town to catch Hotel Transylvania at the beautiful Princess of Wales Theatre. Afterwards, we met up with some of the hardest-working folks in the horror biz: assorted components of the Rue Crew, who are punch-drunk and sleep-deprived after finishing Rue Morgue's massive Halloween issue (on stands October 1!). My colleagues at RM are some of my favorite people in the world, so it was an absolute pleasure to meet up with Editor-in-Chief Dave Alexander and contributors Liisa Ladouceur and Marie-Eve Larin. 

When you see why this guy needed to rinse off, you'll fall madly in love with No One Lives. Trust me.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Ryerson for the Midnight Madness screening of No One Lives, the insanely gory new flick from Midnight Meat Train director Ryuhei Kitamura. There was a long wait in line, but luckily Toronto Batman was there to make sure things didn't get out of hand. Shit got profound. Case in point—the following exchange between Toronto Batman and a Midnight Madness attendee:

Toronto Batman: "What movie is showing tonight?"

Moviegoer: "No One Lives."

Toronto Batman: "No One Lives? My parents died."

Well played, Toronto Batman. Well played.

The night ended with Knoxville Horror Film Fest director William Mahaffey and me riding around Toronto with Dave and Don Coscarelli, who's in town with his new film John Dies at the End. Don is an incredibly friendly guy, and, incidentally, had some very nice things to say about No One Lives. 

So the bar is high for tonight's Midnight Madness premiere of JT Petty's Hellbenders 3D. Maybe JT will buy me a cupcake.

NO ONE LIVES screening times:

Mon., Sept. 10, 9:45 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10

Fri., Sept. 14, 4:45 PM,  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS  6

JOHN DIES AT THE END screening times:

Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59 PM, RYERSON 

Sun., Sept. 16, 5:00 PM,  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS  2

HELLBENDERS 3D screening times:

Sun., Sept. 9th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Tue., Sept. 11th, 7:00 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Sat., Sept. 15th, 9:15 PM, SCOTIABANK 2

Day One with Kari's Scaries

Yesterday was my first full day at TIFF and my first Midnight Madness screening (thanks to the Kari's Scaries bursary program), and all I can say is this: If you love genre cinema, this is something you must experience at least once in your life.

We headed out of Possum Holler, Tennessee at insane o'clock on Thursday morning, rolling into Toronto fourteen hours later. In case you're curious, much of Canada looks like this:

Incidentally, this is a visual aesthetic that is shared my most of Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, so the drive was grueling but somewhat less than stimulating. Happily, most of Toronto looks like this:

...and our hotel looks like this:

...and even this:

...so things certainly got way more interesting and lots fancier.

We kicked off our day with a screening of Ben Wheatley's Sightseers, which was terrific and absolutely supports my theory that romantic comedies set in the bucolic British countryside are much better when lots of people get their heads cracked open. After that was a press screening of Midnight Madness selection John Dies at the End, (directeed by the great Don Coscarelli), which was completely batshit and a lot of fun. Next up was Pusher at the newly renovated Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, followed by the high point of the entire day: the Midnight Madness screening of Seven Psychopaths.The experience was spectacular; I wish I could see every movie with a theater full of 1,200 cheering genre nerds and Christopher Walken.

We're off to a screening of Dredd 3D (we missed its Midnight Madness premiere, sadly), followed by whatever we can squeeze in between it and tonight's MM screening of No One Lives.

Many thanks to the family and friends of Kari Ramjattan, in whose honor Kari's Scaries was established, and to Colin Geddes and the rest of the TIFF crew. Our reception has been amazing, and they're taking great care of us. Off to Day Two!


Screening Times:

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS :
 Sat., Sept. 8th, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

NO ONE LIVES:
Sat., Sept 8th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Mon., Sept 10th, 9:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Fri., Sept 14th, 4:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6 

PUSHER:
Sun., Sept. 9th, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10 12:00PM

SIGHTSEERS:
Tue., Sept. 11th, 9:00 PM RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 12:00 PM RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16th, 7:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

JOHN DIES AT THE END:
Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59pm:  RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16, 5pm:   CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2

Everyone wins with NO ONE LIVES

Now that I’m only three days away from my trek to Toronto for Midnight Madness courtesy of Kari’s Scaries, I’m getting wound up about some of the more mysterious titles on the schedule. Among these is No One Lives, which the program describes as an “exuberantly gory thriller about a clan of backwoods road bandits whose latest victims are far less helpless than they seem.”

So, wait, does Midnight Madness offer valet parking or not? I'm going with "not."

Sounds fun, right? It gets better: No One Lives is the latest from director Ryuhei Kitamura, a filmmaker who has yet to get the attention he deserves on this side of the pond. Kitamura has an impressive filmography under his belt, including Versus, Azumi and Godzilla: Final Wars, but it’s his 2008 gorefest The Midnight Meat Train that really put him on my radar.

Based on a Clive Barker short story of the same name, Train has never gotten the kudos it deserves. That’s too bad – it’s a gorgeously designed, slickly directed and extremely entertaining flick. It goes off the rails a bit at the end (if you’ve read the story, you know the climax is nearly impossible to film), but it's loaded with so much style and crazy gore that I can’t imagine why any horror fan wouldn’t dig it. The goofier stuff, including a dude whose eyeballs fly out of his skull when the killer whacks him on the noggin with a mallet, is CG, but it absolutely works in the context of the movie. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have a thing for horror films involving trains. Horror Express? Terror Train? Creep? Yes, please. And thanks to 1973's Raw Meat, everyone knows that subterranean mutant cannibals live in abandoned subway tunnels, which just adds to the appeal.)

Check out Kitamura’s official reel below, then keep on scrolling for a batshit, totally NSFW helping of grue from The Midnight Meat Train.


Ryuhei Kitamura Works from Kazuki Hirata on Vimeo.



A trailer for No One Lives has yet to hit the web and we've only seen a few images, but you can see why I'm stoked nonetheless.

NO ONE LIVES screening times:
Sat., Sept. 8, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Mon., Sept. 10, 9:45PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Fri., Sept. 14, 4:45PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

Unsung Heroes of the Exorcism Biz

Clifton Collins Jr. in JT Petty's Hellbenders. If exorcising shit never got rougher than this, I could totally handle the job.

I've been thinking a lot about exorcisms lately. It’s JT Petty’s fault – of all the movies screening at Midnight Madness this year, Petty’s 3-D horror-comedy Hellbenders is one of the films I’m most excited about. It’s been described as Animal House meets The Exorcist, with liberal doses of Ghostbusters—I could only be more jazzed if every ticket came with a free plate of hot, syrupy waffles.

So let's talk about exorcists. This doesn’t seem like an appropriate place for the same old exorcism movie list; who among us has not seen William Friedkin's 1973 classic and its sequels or, for better or worse, more recent fare such as Constantine and The Last Exorcism?

Instead, let’s talk about the dudes who don’t get the props they deserve. Let's face it: being an exorcist has got to be one of the most thankless jobs in horror. Kids talk shit about your mom, the pay sucks, and good luck not ending up on the business end of a demonic possession when you punch the clock at the end of the workday. Take Abby, for instance—a woefully under-appreciated 1974 flick featuring Blacula himself (the great William Marshall) as Dr. Garrett Williams, a professor who must save a young marriage counselor from the West African deity that has possessed her. Written and directed by William Girdler (he of Three on a Meathook and Grizzly fame), Abby is often and unfairly dismissed as an Exorcist rip-off. In fact, in spite of its initial box office success, it was pulled from theaters when Warner Bros. sued its distributor for copyright violations. The devil you say, Warner Bros. Abby is a damn good time, and it’s well worth seeing.


Next up is an Argentinean short film called Deus Irae, about a group of rabblerousing, punk-rock priests who face off with a monstrous demon. I freaking love this film. Think of it as Constantine done right—batshit gore, gnarly creature FX and creepy atmosphere to spare. Very NSFW, and not appropriate for kiddies (unless they’re possessed, in which case this is a cautionary tale and you should totally make them watch it).


Finally, there’s this guy. It’s just a commercial so maybe it’s cheating, but it’s still a hell of a lot of fun squeezed into a minute and a half.


So be sure to check out Hellbenders at Midnight Madness. It'll be good for your soul.

HELLBENDERS screening times:
Sun., Sept. 9, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Tues., Sept. 11, 7PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Sat., Sept. 15, 9:15PM, SCOTIABANK 2

Greetings from Possum Holler

Greetings from Possum Holler, fellow midnight mavens! I’m April Snellings, and I have the unique and considerable honor of being the first recipient of the Kari’s Scaries bursary. One week from today, I will make my way from Knoxville, Tennessee to Toronto, where I will eat my weight in poutine* and indulge in the non-stop debauchery known as TIFF Midnight Madness.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kari’s Scaries, please allow me to explain. Kari Ramjattan was a TIFF volunteer and staffer whose passion for genre movies–horror flicks in particular–knew no bounds. Kari passed away in 2010, so her family, friends and colleagues created Kari’s Scaries in her honor. The idea is to remember Kari by giving a horror journalist the opportunity to travel to Toronto, attend the Midnight Madness screenings, meet with Festival delegates, enjoy special events hosted by Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes, and have one hell of a time at North America’s coolest film festival. (Incidentally, the lovely art you see at the top of this post was provided by Kari’s son, Kelvin Ramjattan Jr. I really hope I get to meet him soon.)

J.T. Petty's Hellbenders

Though this is my fourth trip to Toronto (I’m a contributing writer and online editor for Rue Morgue Magazine), it will be my first time at TIFF. I can’t imagine a better year to go–I’m crazy excited for several of the films on this year’s roster, including J.T. Petty’s Hellbenders, Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End and Drafthouse Films’ The ABCs of Death. I’m jazzed about The Bay, psyched for Come Out and Play and pumped about No One Lives (in these parts, I’m known as That Chick Who Liked Midnight Meat Train). In other words, I’m looking forward to everything.

Making the journey with me will be my close friend and Knoxville Horror Film Fest Director William Mahaffey. We’ll head out at ridiculous o’clock on the morning of September 6 to make sure we roll into Toronto in time to see people get shot in the face in slow-mo (and 3-D!) in Dredd. If you’ve never driven from Tennessee to Toronto, I ask you: Where’s your sense of adventure? And by “sense of adventure” I mean, of course, your complete disregard for your own sanity.

If you’re interested, keep an eye on this space; I’ll be blogging about our trip and about the movies I’m so excited to see. I never had the pleasure of meeting Kari, but I hope her family–both the one she was born into and the one she picked up along the way–knows how much this trip means to me. I intend to make the most of it, and to honor Kari by doing exactly what she’d do: watch movies until my eyeballs shrivel up, and enjoy every last bit of Midnight Madness that Colin and the gang can sling my way.

Cheers, Kari, and thank you.

* If you’re unfamiliar with poutine, it is a pile of French fries roughly the size of your head that has been slathered with gravy and buried beneath a mound of fresh cheese curds. It’s amazing. Fries, gravy and cheese–can you think of a reason we don’t have this in Tennessee? Me neither. 

HELLBENDERS screening times:
Sun., Sept. 9, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Tues., Sept. 11, 7PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Sat., Sept. 15, 9:15PM, SCOTIABANK 2

JOHN DIES AT THE END screening times:
Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16, 5PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2

THE ABCS OF DEATH screening times:
Fri., Sept. 14, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 15, 3:15PM, SCOTIABANK 9
Sun., Sept. 16, 9PM, SCOTIABANK 9

THE BAY screening times:
Wed., Sept. 12, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13, 2:45PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

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

NO ONE LIVES screening times:
Sat., Sept. 8, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Mon., Sept. 10, 9:45PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Fri., Sept. 14, 4:45PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

DREDD screening times:
Thurs., Sept. 6, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 8, 12:30PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7