The Creators of LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM Get STAGE FRIGHT!

If you attended a film festival in the past two years or so (including this one), you may have seen The Legend of Beaver Dam, the twisted lovechild of writer/director/songwriter Jerome Sable and his collaborator Eli Batalion.  This crazy little musical blew the roof off the Ryerson when it premiered here at the Festival ahead of the raucous FUBAR 2 back in 2010.

Well, Sable and Batalion are back and are at the helm of their very first feature - Stage Fright - which is set to start shooting right here in Ontario on Sept 6, according to Deadline (by way of Twitch).  Described as a "story of a snobby musical theater camp terrorized by a blood-thirsty masked killer who despises musical theater' (I'm thinking Glee taken to its logical, ultraviolent end), this project is drawing major talent, including the likes of Minnie Driver and Meatloaf.  

If Legend of Beaver Dam blew you away back in 2010, you'll definitely want to check out Stage Fright!

@thesubstream - Midnight Madness '11 Ep. 01: The Raid!

Last night was the opening night of TIFF's Midnight Madness program, and relatively speaking it was a pretty low-key affair, at least until the ass whippings started. Seems that programmer-genius Colin Geddes wants to do something a little different this year, and so far we've got to say that we're intrigued... To start things off he screened The Raid, an Indonesian martial arts film that featured non-stop kinetic action sequences, and yes, plenty of dudes getting kicked in the face. Check out our coverage of night one of MIDNIGHT MADNESS!

Full coverage and reviews at www.thesubstream.com

Machete Maidens Unleashed Intro & Q&A

I'm sure many of you think that if you miss a first screening then you miss all the fun. Here is some video from the SECOND screening of Mark Hartley's Machete Maidens Unleashed to prove you wrong. Some of you will remember Mark from when he was here a few years ago with the Australian Exploitation Doc Not Quite Hollywood. He is in the Real to Reel program this year. But don't let that scare you, Colin was the one who picked it and it is a rollicking good time!





Machete Maidens Unleashed screens:

Saturday, September 18, 12:30PM, AMC7

You can purchase tickets from the official TIFF website.

John Carpenter's The Ward Premieres Tonight!

Whoever thinks that the first weekend of TIFF is where are the action is didn't realize that John Carpenter's The Ward premieres tonight. This marks the first time in NINE years that bonafide genre legend has gotten behind the camera and the third time in the last few years that Midnight Madness Alum Amber Heard returns to TIFF screens. Amber was here last year with The Joneses and blew the Ryerson away a few years back playing the lead in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. See everyone tonight!

John Carpenter's The Ward screening times:
Monday, Sept. 13. 11:59pm Ryerson
Sunday, Sept. 19. 12:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 1

Tickets can be purchased at the offical TIFF site.

Midnight Producers Part 4: Jason Blum and Steven Schneider - INSIDIOUS

This the forth in the ongoing series, Meeting the Producers of Midnight Madness 2010.

When the news broke that the producing team behind the hugely successful Paranormal Activity and the writing and directing team of hugely influential genre film Saw were teaming up to work on Insidious there was obvious excitement from the horror community. These heavyweights of genre cinema decided their partnership together would be best suited outside of the studio system in order to best help James Wan bring his vision to the big screen.

Let me introduce you to Jason Blum and Steven Schneider, part of the producing team behind Insidious.

Jason Blum opened Blumhouse Productions in the fall of 2000. Throughout his career, he has cultivated a reputation as a tireless advocate of independent film, and as a skilled producer adept at securing compelling new material and cutting-edge talent and forging deep relationships with studio executives, agents, writers, directors and actors. Since opening his own company, Blum has produced six feature films that demonstrate his unique taste and creative sensibilities. With keen business savvy, and a sharp eye for art house fare, he is constantly striving to expand the Blumhouse Productions slate of films.

Could you talk about how and why you formed your production company Blumhouse Productions?

Jason Blum WHY -I loved making movies and one of my dreams in life was always to have a single purpose company that does just that. HOW- I spent the first ten years of my career working for people who were very successful and I used that time to learn as much as I could always keeping in mind that eventually I wanted to work for myself.

Looking at your filmography you have recently become a producer in the past couple of years, how did you become a producer? What attracted you to the job?

Steven Schneider I grew up in New York City reading comic books and watching horror movies. After ten years (!) of grad school working on various degrees in philosophy and film theory, I found myself missing pop culture more and more. So I started writing and editing books on genre cinema - in particular horror movies from around the world. But to that point I'd still never thought about transitioning into film production once. Then, in 2002, Roy Lee (producer of The Ring, The Grudge, The Departed, etc.) reached out to me because he'd seen some of my books and wanted to know if I had any ideas for horror remakes. After this initial phone call, things immediately started clicking into place. My long-term girlfriend had already begun a successful acting career, and I just wasn't feeling excited about my dissertation work anymore. So later that year, Katheryn and I made the move to Hollywood, and I've been producing full-time ever since.

I've read that you are a strong advocate for independent film. What draws you to producing projects outside of the studio system?

Jason Blum I like making movies for studios and independently equally as much but the two jobs are entirely different. Making studio movies the Producer for the most part answers to the studio first and goes from there. Independent movies allow the producer only to help the director realize his vision without any other factors. Both are fun complicated jobs.

What attracted you to producing Insidious? How difficult was the financing of the project?

Steven Schneider On the heels of Paranormal Activity's success last year, my partners on that movie (Jason Blum and Oren Peli) and I entered into a slate deal with Alliance Films. (The head of Alliance, Charles Layton, had previously worked with Jason at Miramax for years, so they already had a good relationship.) The basic idea of the Alliance "Haunted Movies" slate is to make a number of very scary horror movies on very low budgets; and to work with amazing filmmakers who are excited to trade bells & whistles for creative freedom. As for Insidious, James Wan and I sat down after Paranormal came out, and as soon as he pitched me the idea, I was in. Loved the concept, loved James' vision for it, and couldn't wait to get started. Fortunately Jason and Oren agreed, and Alliance was totally supportive. Insidious is the first Haunted Movies production, and the Paranormal Activity-Saw combination is lethal!

What for you are some of the keys to making a package to present to investors and/studio executives?

Jason Blum There are only 4: Script Director Cast Budget If your budget is low enough and you script, cast, actors are compelling even now there is money out there to make your movies.

What unique challenges did you face in bringing Insidious to the screen?

Steven Schneider I think everyone involved would agree that the biggest challenge with Insidious was just making sure we could help enable James and Leigh (Whannell) achieve their amazing, ambitious vision for the movie given the relatively miniscule (by Hollywood standards) budget. But with the help of an incredible, passionate crew of true professionals - including Albert Cho, Aaron Sims, John Leonetti, Jeanette Brill, Rick Osako, Annie McCarthy, Jennifer and Tom Spence, Kristin Burke, and all of our wonderful actors (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye and many others) - we were fortunately able to achieve it. At least we think we have - you tell us after the premiere!

Insidious screens:

Tuesday September 14th. 11:59 PM RYERSON

Thursday September 16th 3:00 PM AMC 9

You can buy tickets from the official TIFF website

Red Carpet Photos from James Gunn`s SUPER!

Photographer Ian Goring was on the red carpet for the most bat-shit crazy superhero movie you're ever likely to see - SUPER on Friday night! Check it out!

Super screening times:
Monday, Sept. 13. 9:30am Varsity 8
Saturday, Sept. 18. Scotiabank Theatre 4

Tickets can be purchased at the official TIFF site.

Midnight Producers Part 3: Keith Calder - BUNRAKU

This is the third installment in the ongoing series Meet the Producers of Midnight Madness 2010.

Let me introduce you to Keith Calder. Mr. Calder arrived on the film scene as an executive producer for the Midnight Madness film All The Boys Love Mandy Lane. In subsequent years he has also produced such films as "Battle For Terra" and "The Wackness" and is executive producing Walter Hill's next film St. Vincent. Bunraku marks Mr. Calder's return to the Midnight Madness programme.

1) It has been five years since you produced All The Boys Loved Mandy Lane. What changes have you seen in the business side of the film industry in those five years?

In all honesty, it's hard for me to separate my own personal experience from the overall business. When we shot ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, I was a year out of film school. I thought I knew how to make movies, and I thought I knew how the film business worked. Here I am five years later, and I realize that I'm only just starting to learn how to make movies and how the film business works. It's hard for me to tell how much the film business has changed, and how much of the perceived "change" is just me understanding the film business better. But with my current understanding of the film business, I'll try to answer as best I can. The biggest change I've seen in the film business over the last five years is that it's now easier to get talented people to want to work on your independent film, but it's harder to sell your finished film.

2) Bunraku was financed outside the studio system yet attracted top name talent,. How did so many name actors sign onto the project?

We had a pretty hefty package of material that we presented to actors when we approached them to be in BUNRAKU. We had the screenplay, and a DVD of concept art, previz, and style clips. On top of that, Guy Moshe is obviously a talented and compelling director and the actors were drawn to the idea of working with him on the film. I think that a lot of the actors were taking a big risk coming a board an independent film like this, but their doubts were answered after a couple days working with Guy, the rest of the cast, and our incredible crew.

3) There is always pressure for a film to perform well in the BO and I'm sure this pressure has increased ten-fold in recent years. Does this pressure ever affect the vision of a film? Is there ever a temptation to make a film more mainstream and more accessible?

The short answer is easy: Yes, there is always a temptation to make a film more mainstream and more accessible.

The long answer is more complicated. With every film I produce, I try to make a classic of the genre. It may sound egotistical to say that, but I think there's no other way to be successful in this business. You aim for greatness, so if you fall short you still have a good film. If you aim for "good-enough", you'll end up landing at "piece-of-crap". So with a big independent film like BUNRAKU we took on a huge risk, but we only did so because we believed it had the potential to be a classic of the genre. It's too soon to say if we landed close to our mark, but when your goals are that lofty you start to worry less about "accessible" and "mainstream". "Accessible" and "mainstream" are really sub-goals of "awesome" and "great". If it's great enough, then it becomes accessible. If it's awesome enough, then it becomes mainstream. So yes, I always try to make my films mainstream and accessible, just not by dumbing them down or sacrificing the craft.

Bunraku screens:

Saturday September 11th 11:59PM Ryerson

Tuesday September 14th 10:15PM Scotiabank Theater 2

Friday September 17th 5:00PM Scotiabank Theater 2



You can buy tickets from the official TIFF website