The Red Carpet Interviews for LIVID's Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury.

Here are the red carpet interviews with directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. (Still photos by: Ian Goring)

The Intro/Q&A for LIVID

Sunday, September 11th saw the triumphant return of Julien Maury and Alexandre the directors of the Midnight Madness sensation, A' L'interieur with their follow up film Livide--which was four years coming, with various trials and tribulations of the film making business getting in the way. To say expectations were high would be an understatement.

Here is the Introduction and Q&A of the world premiere of Livid.

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness '11 Ep. 04: Livid!

Tonight sees the Midnight Madness homecoming of, in programmer Colin Geddes' words 'the Daft Punk of french cinema' - co-directors of the bloody À l'intérieur, Julien Maury & Alexandre Bustillo. This time they're here with Livid, a film that goes in a completely different direction. Plus, guest host Matt Brown talks to Hitfix.com's Drew McWeeny who tells us a pretty crazy story about his uncle's haunted house. All this and more in the fourth instalment of thesubstream.com's TIFF 2011 Midnight Madness coverage!

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness Review - LIVID

Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's first film, À l'intérieur (Inside, 2007), was a jaw-dropping demonstration of precisely how much tension and horror can be wrung from a simple premise by two directors with a knack for gore. A woman with scissors wants in, a pregnant woman wants to keep her out. It was shocking and tense enough to be almost unendurable, all floated on the back of an exceedingly uncomplicated idea.

Their second film, Livide (Livid), is… more complex. To put it mildly. It opens with Lucy (Chloé Coulloud), a brooding young nurse-trainee with David Bowie eyes, waiting to be picked up by her trainer. She's taken to visit Mrs. Jessel, a profoundly old woman laying comatose in her enormously creepy, taxidermy-filled house. Jessel was a dancer and was fabulously rich, and her treasure is said to rest with her in the house (where she lays, having asked to be left to die, her dwindling life maintained by daily blood transfusions brought by the nurse).

When Lucy's boyfriend Will hears this tale, he enlists his brother and soon the three are crossing the moor (on Halloween, no less) to seek the treasure of the maybe-not-so-comatose Mrs. Jessel.


To describe Livide as a fairy tale, as many have, is to do it a kind of justice. It certainly has fairy tale elements - unnatural flames flickering in the forest, a catfish having tea with a deer (this is as terrifying as it sounds) - but while it shares the fable-like elliptical logic of a Grimm story, Livide is a fairy tale that's been pushed screaming through a bloody wire mesh of '70s Italian horror movies.

Focussing more on atmosphere than on linear A to B narrative, Bustillo and Maury augment the standard "three kids making bad decisions in a scary old house" structure with odd bits of geographic disorientation, sucking characters into hidden, secret spaces, and with odd, surreal flashbacks to Jessel's monstrous past. For every viscerally bloody murder (and there are a few) there are scenes that attempt to communicate a more intellectual type of thrill, some of which succeed and some of which... don't.

It's frustrating fare for folks not used to this kind of horror, and I have to admit that a lot of it went right by me, in the exact same way Dario Argento's work (which inspired Livide, to hear the directors tell it) did. It's not for everyone, but everyone is not everyone. While there are details and odd bits of the film that don't work (or were never supposed to) it'll satisfy fans looking for a little blood-red fairy tale dreaminess amidst the throat ripping and face biting.

LIVID: There's No Crazy Like Ballerina Crazy

So the scariest thing about the above image from Livid for me? The ballet slippers. I look at her pointe shoes and I know Livid is going to be something fierce because the ladies out there know there's no crazy like ballerina crazy.  Ballerinas will do whatever it takes to be beautiful, ethereal, unearthly creatures
.

No more ugly duckling!

Even if it means growing wings, bleeding out your eyes and slowly picking your toenails apart.

Or putting glass in someone's pointe shoes--or going ahead and performing with glass in your pointe shoes, if the Wishing Stairs is anything to go by.

"I am a beautiful swan!"

Nothing scary about this intensity at all.

Besides, if Suspiria is anything to go by, and I'm pretty sure it is actually a docudrama fictionalized to protect the innocent, most ballet schools are secretly covens dedicated to drugging ballerinas and sacrificing them to diabolical powers. (Unlike the covens in your communities, which are dedicated to potlucks and Winter Solstice parades with lanterns and papier maché puppets).

LIVID screening times:

Sun., Sept. 11th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Tues., Sept. 13th, 5:00PM, AMC 7

LIVID: The Old Dark House

From the design sketches for Livid, it looks like there's a new house in the neighborhood of creepy or just plain haunted cinematic houses.

Artists from James Whale and Shirley Jackson to Charles Addams and Alfred Hitchcock knew that a house is just as important as any of the characters in their stories.

Norman's mothers house in Psycho.

Mom's not home...

The Addams Family house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. (I took the picture from this blog post that looks at the interior and exterior of the house).

aka, casa de I want to live there.

Roderick Usher's house in Roger Corman's The Fall of the House of Usher.

I have lived in a poorly wired house like this one.

 The Amityville Horror's jack-o-lanterny house.

"Happy Halloween--Now get out!"

The just plain wrong house of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. The only movie version that I acknowledge is The Haunting (1963).

The Haunting 1999 never happened.

Karen Black and Oliver Reed's dream house in Burnt Offerings. Well, more Karen Black's dream house than Oliver Reed's.

"I'm sure nothing could go wrong in this creepy old house..."

And a little more of the sweet design art of the house in Livid.

Catch Livid's premiere tonight!

LIVID

Sun., Sept. 11th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Tues., Sept. 13th, 5:00PM, AMC 7

BlogTO Submits Five Picks for MIDNIGHT MADNESS 2011!

Excited for Midnight Madness yet? If, for some reason, you haven't made your picks for this year's lineup yet, BlogTO has posted their five top picks to see in our little late-night fiesta of fists and phantoms!

First up is Midnight Madness opening film The Raid, which screens tomorrow night:

"I ALSO declare a thumb war!"

Sometimes the best ingredients for a film at Midnight Madness is fast-paced frenetic action film with a little bit of martial arts and perhaps some disposable criminals to punish. The opening night film Midnight Madness film, The Raid provides all of the above.

Next is, uh...You're Next. No, not you - the film! It screens this Saturday the 10th:

Brenda would stop at nothing to win Dinner Party Wars.

This year director and writer Adam Wingard returns with You're Next a locked-house horror film about a family reunion gone completely awry. Remember that feeling, which only arises at family functions, of wanting to commit matricide or patricide to get your parents to stop talking? How would you react if somebody else tried to beat you to the punch? You're Next attempts to find that out, as a dinner with the family turns deadly when a group of armed invaders attack and send the familial unit on the defense as they try to band together against their assailants.

Third up is the film I'm most looking forward to, that gruesome French fairy tale, Livid which screens this Sunday the 11th:

"Well dammit, now you owe me a new bedsheet, ya jackwagon! You are SO never sleeping over again."

The directors who presented the unapologetically gory and disturbing film Inside to horrified audiences at Midnight Madness in 2007 return this year with Livid, a dark, dream-like horror film about going where you don't truly belong...Rumoured to be the goriest film at Midnight Madness this year, Livid promises to be a terrifying fairy tale of horror that you won't soon forget.

Fourth is the dark post-apocalyptic road movie with a stellar cast and a distinctly bleak outlook, The Day, screening next Thursday the 15th:

"This commute is really starting to get to us."

The story sounds similar to other zombie-related apocalypse films, but The Day seems like it might have a more ambiguous edge to it that will propel the story further than your average survival flick. With an interesting ensemble cast with lesser known but respectable names such as Dominic Monaghan (LOTR), Shannyn Sossamon (The Rules of Attraction) and Shawn Ashmore (X-Men Franchise), there seems to be something a bit different here, while absolutely bleak at the same time.

Finally, the funniest Japanese flick you'll see at TIFF this year, Smuggler, providing you a necessary break from the high tension (see what I did there?) of the rest of the lineup next Friday the 16th:

"Dye job? WHAT DYE JOB??"

While there aren't too many laughs to be found on the programme this year, Smuggler makes up for that in spades as a ridiculous black comedy about Kinuta, a man indebted to the Yakuza and burdened with the unfortunate task of disposing of their dead. When a major Yakuza boss is murdered, Kinuta and his associates are imperiled when his minions plot revenge on anybody they believe may have had a part in his death. And let me assure you, stuff is only about to get stranger.

Don't forget that if you're still undecided, no one would fault you for foregoing sleep all week like your intrepid blog team will be doing, and coming out to all the screenings! Whoever said that sleep was integral to a healthy lifestyle (other than most health professionals)?!

The Raid screens:

Thurs., Sept. 8th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sat., Sept. 10th, 12:15PM, AMC 2

You're Next screens:

Saturday September 10 11:59pm RYERSON

Monday September 12 6:30pm AMC 7

Friday September 16 4:00pm TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2

LIVID screens:

Sun., Sept. 11th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Tues., Sept. 13th, 5:00PM, AMC 7

The Day screens:

Thur., Sept. 15th 11:59pm Ryerson

Fri., Sept. 16th 3:00pm Scotiabank Theatre 2

Sat., Sept. 17th 9:45pm Scotiabank Theatre 11

Smuggler screens:

Friday September 16 11:59 PM RYERSON

Saturday September 17 6:45 PM SCOTIABANK THEATER 4

Sunday September 18 12:00 PM SCOTIABANK THEATER 4

3 New Design Sketches from LIVID

These sketches offer a nice little tease of the beautiful design work that's in store for Midnight Madness attendees who come out to see LIVID.

LIVID screening times:

Sun., Sept. 11th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Tues., Sept. 13th, 5:00PM, AMC 7

French Faces of EVIL

Yeah, I'm aware he's not French, but Vincent's setting the tone for this museum of True Evil!

<Spoilers Warning Yellow... these are slightly older movies, catch em  quick if you missed em!>

Over the past decade or so, the French could populate a whole wing of Batman’s Arkham Asylum with the over the top villains they’ve created. That is... if we saw a lot more incest, cannibalism and general dismemberment in the world of Batman. 

Let’s take a Midnight Madness Comments Poll of which bad guy YOU think is the most badass, or downright disturbing! ...Or to put it another way, who would you least want under your bed? Tell us why!

And now... take a tour of the French Gallery of Villainy!

Film: Martyrs
Director: Pascal Laugier

She's a good listener, but a terrible sharer

Villain: Mademoiselle

Motivation: To inspire visions of God in others

Most heinous deed: How she goes about this, and the fact that she selfishly all keeps the results to herself.

Other crimes: Skin exfoliation taken to abusive new levels

Memorable Quote: “Keep doubting.” 


Film: Haute Tension aka High Tension aka Switchblade Romance
Director: Alexandre Aja

What I love about this guy, he comes through the front door!

Villain: Trucker Dude Killer (menacing performance by I Stand Alone’s butcher Philippe Nahon)

Motivation: I’m gonna go out on a limb and say repressed sexuality

Most heinous deed: Severed head blow job

Other crimes: Works for the federal “bureau” of decapitation

Memorable Quote: “You can’t escape from me, bitch.”

Film: Inside aka À l'intérieur
Directors:  Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury 

 Her version of The Shawshank Redemption's rock hammer 

Villain: The Woman

Motivation: Revenge

Most heinous deed: Manual C-section

Other crimes: Running with scissors

Memorable Quote: (slow burn off her cigarette as she watches through the outside window as she broods, simmering in her own vile hatred)

Film: Calvaire aka The Ordeal
Director: Fabrice Du Welz

He just wants hugs, really

Villain: Mr. Bartel the innkeeper

Motivation: Seeks Companionship

Most heinous deed:  You have to wear his wife’s polka dot dress

Other crimes: His taste in local entertainment

Memorable Quote: “Why do you leave, now you’re back? You want to step on my heart again?”

Film: Frontier(s)
Director: Christophe Gans

Table manners are about the only thing this guy has going for him

Villain: Le Von Geisler

Motivation: War criminal who heads up a family of fascist psychopath cannibals

Most heinous deed: Tie between bolt cutter snip of foot tendons and slow baked person

Other crimes: Chances are you ARE the grits at this bed and breakfast.

Memorable Quote: “Hang them up! And skin the fat off of them.”

Film: Sheitan aka Satan 
Director: Kim Chapiron

A retina searing smile 

Villain: Joseph the house keeper (gleefully performed by the one and only Vincent Cassel)

Motivation: Preserve a pact with the devil

Most heinous deed: Spawning the devil incarnate

Other crimes: Casual racism and unsanitary use of delicious goat milk 

Memorable Quote: <censored racial slur>--but its even more appalling from this grinning goat herder!

Don’t forget to voice your vote, or make a case for someone awful that I’ve missed!

Look out for new additions to the gallery of French horror villains in The Incident (where an asylum is literally turned loose) and Livid (the directors of Inside return with their highly anticipated film inspired by Dario Argento’s Suspiria!)


Screening times:

LIVID

Sun., Sept. 11th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Tues., Sept. 13th, 5:00PM, AMC 7

THE INCIDENT
Mon., Sept. 12, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Fri., Sept. 16, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 3
Sun., Sept. 18, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 2

2 Lovely LIVID Posters

Check out these beautifully creepy posters for Livid, the latest film from directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, who brought Inside/A L'Interieur to Midnight Madness in 2007 (via Bloody Disgusting).

LIVID screening times:

Sun., Sept. 11th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Tues., Sept. 13th, 5:00PM, AMC 7

Torontoist Excited About LIVID

Torontoist.com named its top 11 picks for TIFF 11. Devoted midnight maniacs will immediately recognize four of the names on the list:



Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo who showed us all how much damage a simple pair of scissors could do in À l'intérieur (Midnight Madness 2007).



Pen-ek Ratanaruang who presented 6ixtynin9 at Midnight Madness 2000.



And Johnnie To who brought us the GREATEST. ACTION. MOVIE. EVER: Fulltime Killer (Midnight Madness 2001). That is an indisputable title which I am allowed to confer because I'm a blogger. Don't believe me? Go watch it... Now... See, told you!

Here's some of what they had to say about their films at TIFF11:

Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s Livid ...promises some of the same claustrophobic indoors tension of Inside. And if it’s even half as tense and pants-shittingly gnarly, then all you sicko gorehounds out there are in for a treat.



Johnnie To’s Life Without Principle ...is a heist caper and mini–morality drama involving a bank teller, a small-time crook, and a cop. Sounds promising.



Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Headshot ...is about a cop who gets double-crossed and shot in the head, then wakes up three months later to find that he sees the whole world upside down. ...sounds amazingly trippy and inventive...

Livid Screening Times

Sunday September 11 11:59:00 PM RYERSON

Tuesday September 13 5:00:00 PM AMC 7



Life Without Principle Screening Times

Monday September 12 9:00:00 PM VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN)

Wednesday September 14 3:30:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 1

Saturday September 17 8:30:00 PM SCOTIABANK THEATRE 3



Headshot Screening Times

Sunday September 11 9:00:00 PM SCOTIABANK THEATRE 2

Monday September 12 5:30:00 PM SCOTIABANK THEATRE 2

Saturday September 17 3:00:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 1

A Kindler, Gentler Midnight Madness???

What does a kindler, gentler Midnight Madness look like? I suspect it has something to do with the fact that the killers in You're Next wear cute little kitty cat masks. But for the real answer check out this interview with TIFF Programmer Colin Geddes at The Toronto Star.



In the article Colin gave some insight into some of this years titles: The Raid: ...features silat, a style of martial arts that is probably unfamiliar to audiences here. Plus, audiences will get a first look at 28-year-old Iko Uwais in action.

God Bless America: ...a satire about a possibly terminally ill man who decides this town needs some cleaning up with the help of a teen sidekick. “It’s Bonnie and Clyde for the 21st century,” says Geddes.

Livid: ...“Like Black Swan, only bleaker,” says Geddes with pleasure.

You’re Next: ...it’s a home-invasion mixed with the “awful, biting family pettiness that goes on at any (family) reunion.”

You’re Next Screening Times

Saturday September 10 11:59:00 PM RYERSON

Monday September 12 6:30:00 PM AMC 7

Friday September 16 4:00:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2



The Raid Screening times:

Thursday September 8 11:59:00 PM RYERSON

Saturday September 10 12:15:00 PM AMC 2



God Bless America Screening Times

Friday September 9 11:59:00 PM RYERSON

Sunday September 11 1:30:00 PM AMC 6

Friday September 16 6:30:00 PM AMC 7



Livid Screening Times

Sunday September 11 11:59:00 PM RYERSON

Tuesday September 13 5:00:00 PM AMC 7