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The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is a five-night premier showcase of international thrilling cinema. The first annual festival takes place shortly before Halloween, October 20-24, 2006, in Toronto, Canada at the historic Bloor Cinema. The program features a diverse selection of feature-length and short films on the cutting edge, including acclaimed new Sci-fi, Horror, Fantasy, Animated, Action and Cult movies from Asia, Europe, and North America.
Toronto After Dark's primary mission is to showcase innovative, independent and international thrilling films, in front of Toronto audiences that would otherwise never get to see these works in a theatrical setting. All of the feature films are guaranteed to be Toronto premieres and in several cases, North American and Canadian premieres. Each year, the festival will also support homegrown thrilling genre filmmakers by showcasing emerging Canadian talent, hosting a filmmaker masterclass, and awarding valuable prizes for the best locally produced films, as voted by a prestigious jury.
visit torontoafterdark.com
For daily updates of events, happenings and general festival thoughts and experiences, refer to the Movie Patron BLOG
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SCREENINGS (in choronological order)
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SPECIAL
Dir: Hal Haberman & Jeremy Passmore
Star: Michael Rapaport, Paul Blackthorne, Josh Peck, Robert Baker, Jack Kehler |
(USA, 2006) "As if Kevin Smith directed Unbreakable" – Efilmcritic. Shortly after Parking Enforcement officer Les (Michael Rapaport) begins taking a new experimental drug, he gains the ability to fly, becomes telepathic, and finds himself walking through walls. Les quits his job to focus purely on performing heroic acts, but it isn’t long before two strange men in suits begin following him, and the use of his powers seems to exact a terrible toll.
Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival.
81 min. Oct. 20, 7pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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FROSTBITE
Dir: Anders Banke
Star: Petra Nielsen, Grete Havnesköld, Emma Åberg, Jonas Karlström |
(Sweden, 2006) "Exciting, funny and enjoyable…a thrill ride with bites" – Moviexclusive. Bathe in the blood of Sweden’s first Vampire film! A teenage girl moves with her doctor mother, who specializes in blood research, to Sweden’s far north where night can last for entire seasons. Cue mysterious disappearances, vampires, teen rebellion, and a talking dog and you end up with Frostbite, an incredibly polished genre picture that’s more Buffy than Nosferatu and a whole lot of fun. Let the bloodletting begin!
95 min. Oct. 21, 3.30 pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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SHINOBI
Dir: Ten Shimoyama
Star: Yukie Nakama, Jô Odagiri, Tomoka Kurotani, Erika Sawajiri, Kippei Shiina, Takeshi Masu |
(Japan, 2005) "Flat out gorgeous from beginning to end" – Twitchfilm. If there was a one-line synopsis for Shinobi, it might read Romeo and Juliet, with super-powered ninjas. Gifted with a fantastic cast, including Azumi’s Jo Odagiri and Versus’ Tak Sakaguchi, and an incredible eye for visuals, Shinobi is a stunning masterpiece. As well as being beautifully shot, once the swords come out it’s pure entertainment.
101 Min. Oct. 21, 6.30 pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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RETRIBUTION
Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Star: Riona Hazuki, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Manami Konishi, Jô Odagiri, Kôji Yakusho |
(Japan, 2006) Hugely acclaimed Japanese horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Kairo, Bright Future) joins forces with uber-producer Taka Ichise (Ringu, Ju-On), in this suspenseful horror thriller. As Detective Yoshioka (Koji Yakusho) investigates a series of murders, he begins to suffer memory lapses, forcing him to consider that the serial killer he is chasing might in fact be himself.
Official Selection – Venice Film Festival.
104 min. Oct. 21, 9.15pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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BEACH PARTY AT THE THRESHOLD OF HELL
Dir: Jonny Gillette and Kevin Wheatley
Star: Kevin Wheatley, Paul Whitty, Chandler Parker, Jamie Bullock, Bill English, Stewart Carrico |
(USA 2006) "One of those films that cult film fans love to discover" – Independentfilm.com. In the year 2097, a group of post-apocalyptic survivors, led by JFK descendent Tex Kennedy (Kevin Wheatley) emerge from their bunkers and set off a comical and bloody epic voyage to create a ‘New America’, encountering all sorts of dangers, including the Devil himself. With cameos from Jane Seymour and Daniel Baldwin.
Official Selection, LA Film Fest.
97 min. Oct. 21, 11.59pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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VENGEANCE
Dir: NAME HERE
Star: Nattanun Jantarawetch, Chalad Na Songkhla, Sorachai Sang-aakaat, Watchara Tangkaprasert |
(Phairi Mawrana, Thailand, 2006) When a gang of notorious thieves breaks out of jail and heads for Thailand’s remote northern border it falls to a squad of local cops to head them off before they escape the reach of the law. But the pursuit takes them all into the heart of an uncharted deadly forest. With giant snakes, poison lizards, flesh-eating wasps, time travel, gun play, dismemberments, shape shifting and karmic retribution – Vengeance has got it all! 99 min. Oct. 22, 4.15pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS
Dir: Mathias Dinter
Star: Tino Mewes, Manuel Cortez, Thomas Schmieder, Collien Fernandes, Hendrik Borgmann, Nadine Germann |
(Germany, 2004) "A zombie comedy that knocks ‘em dead" – Variety. "It’s not easy being a misfit at Fredrich Nietzsche High School. As three nerds discover, in many ways, being undead at school is a hell of a better time! An audience favourite wherever its been shown, Night of the Living Dorks is a whacked-out, feel-good flick that totally works." – Mitch Davis, Fantasia.
Winner of the Audience Choice Award, Fantasia.
89 min. Oct. 22, 6.45pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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RE-CYCLE
Dir: The Pang Brothers
Star: Angelica Lee |
(Hong Kong, 2006) "Incredibly creative…hypnotizing and daring" – Arrow In The Head. Angelica Lee (The Eye) stars as Tsui, a struggling young writer in this visually stunning dark new fantasy from Hong Kong’s acclaimed Pang Brothers (The Eye, Bangkok Dangerous). When Tsui discards the opening chapter to her latest work, she begins to be plagued with visions and events.
Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival.
100 min. Oct. 22, 9.30pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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MAD COWGIRL
Dir: Gregory Hatanaka
Star: Sarah Lassez, James Duval, Devon Odessa, Vic Chao, Walter Koenig |
(USA, 2006) "There will not be another movie this year like Mad Cowgirl" – Village Voice. Sarah Lassez stars as Therese, a meat inspector with a failed marriage, a fixation on an aging televangelist (Walter Koenig from Star Trek), a brain tumour, quite possibly mad cow disease, and a conviction that she must become The Girl With The Thunderbolt Kick. Not to be missed!
Winner of the Audience Choice Award at San Francisco IndieFest.
89 min. Oct. 22, 11.59pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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TOKYO ZOMBIE
Dir: Sakichi Sato
Star: Tadanobu Asano, Sho Aikawa, Erika Okuda, Arata Furuta, Hina Matsuoka |
(Japan, 2005) "More Shaun of the Dead than Dawn of the Dead…Very Funny" -Efilmcritic Mitsuo and Fujio – Japanese cult icons Tadanobu Asano and Sho Aikawa - play a pair of slackers fleeing an undead apocalypse in this dryly hysterical zombie comedy. Director Sato appeared in Tarantino’s Kill Bill Sato and is also a frequent collaborator with cult icon Takashi Miike for whom he scripted Ichi the Killer.
104 min. Oct. 22, 6.45pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT
Dir: Ishimine & Miki Ishii
Star: Tadanobu Asano, Susumu Terajima |
(Japan, 2005) "hilariously bizarre" – Variety. With elements of science fiction, traditional Japanese stand up, animation, recurrent characters such as the Guitar Brother and the Babbling Hotspring Vixens, Funky Forest is completely unpredictable and shows every sign of having been created while under the influence of a great many recreational pharmaceuticals. Director Ishii is best known on these shores for his animation work on Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
150 min. Oct. 23, 9.30pm
FULL REVIEW HERE
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SL8N8
Dir: Frank van Geloven and Edwin Visser
Star: Kurt Rogiers, Victoria Koblenko, Carolina Dijkhuizen, Jop Joris, Lara Toorop, Serge-Henri Valcke, Steve Hooi |
(Holland 2006) This stylish debut from two Dutch directors dives headlong into the bloody pool of classic slasher films with a string of terrific thrills and kills. While touring an abandoned mine, an experiment with a ouija board by a group of teenagers awakens the spirit of a dead killer, who believes collecting eight severed heads will free him from hell.
90 min. Oct. 24, 6.30pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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BEHIND THE MASK: RISE OF LESLIE VERNON
Dir: Scott Glosserman
Star: Robert Englund, Zelda Rubinstein, Scott Wilson, Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals |
(USA, 2005) "A masterpiece...the best horror movie to come by in years" – Film Threat. Set in an alternate reality where Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Mike Myers and all the great slasher icons of yore are actual people, Scott Glosserman’s darkly comic debut feature introduces a new icon to the mix: Leslie Vernon. Winner of the Audience Choice Awards at Fantasia and Gen Arts Film Festivals.
92 Min. Oct. 24, 9.30pm.
FULL REVIEW HERE
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