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Host: Colin Geddes

2008 Contributors:
Carol Borden, Darryl Shaw, Jeff Wright , Robert Mitchell, Sanjay Rajput. Sachin Hingoo, Steve D'Alimonte

Full Love

From Jean-Claude Van DammeMonday, September 8, 2021 at 2:52pm Jean-Claude Van Damme sends you his hello from Thailand. He turns his next film "Full Love" as actor and director. Everything goes well, he promised us beautiful scenes of actions, many twists and maybe even... a love story? Twists! Beautiful actions! A love story! Could we ask for anything

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September 13, 2021

Sexykiller and The Horror Mashup

Posted By Sachin Hingoo At 8:45 AM

File under: Celebrities, Directors, Memories

Anyone in attendance at last night's screening of Sexykiller was privy to, in my opinon, the most unbelievably fun movie (with the possible exception of last Friday's Detroit Metal City) of this year's Midnight Madness programme. In true Midnight Madness fashion, the beach balls were busted out and there was no shortage of zombies on hand to liven up the red carpet! Sexykiller was truly an overture of love from director Miguel Marti to his favourite horror films....

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September 10, 2021

Genre Down Under: An Email Roundtable

Posted By Eric Veillette At 4:10 PM

File under: Directors

Over the years, quite a few films shown at Midnight Madness have come from New Zealand: The Irredutable Truth about Demons, Black Sheep, Heaven, and The Ugly. Until this year, Australian output had been somewhat under-represented, but as we all know, that has changed with the inclusion of Not Quite Hollywood and Acolytes. On Monday, Festival Daily covered a roundtable discussion about Australian exploitation cinema. In attendance were Mark Hartley, Jon Hewitt, Michael and Peter Spierig and Colin Geddes."Jon Hewitt: I think the films of that era were made with an irresistible...
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"The Burrowers" Joins Revisionist Canon

Posted By Steve D'Alimonte At 11:43 AM

File under: Directors

In many ways, the Western is the original American genre. It not only shows an America in its infancy, but sets out all the ideals that are to guide the fledgling nation for many decades to come (up to and including present day). Family values, bringing civilization to the uncivilized (replace with democracy today in Iraq) and simple good vs. evil, are all dealt with in the classic Western films. Because the Western is such an aged genre, it has seen many interpretations from both Hollywood and beyond....

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September 9, 2021

"Ozploitation": A Model for Canada?

Posted By Steve D'Alimonte At 9:47 PM

File under: Directors, Distribution, Politics

I wanted to wait until after seeing Acolytes before discussing Not Quite Hollywood (NQH) so that I could discuss both of them in regards to Australian film culture in general. I must admit, I knew little to nothing about “Oz” film (other than what Quentin Tarantino told me) so it was interesting to see the films from the past two nights, and hear the discussions that followed. In this blogger’s opinion, both NQH and Acolytes were fun films,...

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Acolytes delivers...Screams!

Posted By Sachin Hingoo At 7:17 PM

File under: Directors

Wow, I guess I'm out of ideas for post titles. In any case, much fun was had by all at last night's screening of Jon Hewitt's Acolytes. You could tell that Hewitt was really excited about having his film screened for us rubes - not least because he gave away a veritable cornucopia of stuff to a particularly fortunate audience member. That lucky bastard got:- a mounted poster for Acolytes. It's a pretty cool poster, considering that Hewitt comes from a graphic design background.- a burned CD (arrrrrrrr!) featuring the...

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What Does A Director Do After His Film Premieres At Midnight Madness?

Posted By Robert Mitchell At 11:31 AM

File under: Directors

Acolytes begins with John Ford-esque vistas of Australia, defining the landscape that forms the backdrop to this film. Both a character study of three teenagers as well as a thriller, once a terrible secret is unearthed. Acolytes will have you swept away in its vistas, jumping with the shocks, as well as the amazing sound design and great musical score. As a viewer you will be pulled in as the film takes a slow decent to the darkest places of the human condition.Jon Hewitt (left) speaking during the Q&A last night after...

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September 8, 2021

A Few Words with JT Petty

Posted By Robert Mitchell At 11:36 AM

File under: Directors

Director JT Petty holding a large dog. Last night after the great documentary Not Quite Hollywood that screened at Midnight Madness I ran into director JT Petty (The Burrowers) and spoke with him about his career. Robert Mitchell - RMJ.T. Petty - JTRM "You went to NYU film school and I was wondering what your first job was from film school?"JT "I didn't know film school resulted in jobs. The first film I made, Soft For Digging, was made at NYU and was my senior project. It was shot for six thousand...

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September 5, 2021

"He has his own music"

Posted By Sachin Hingoo At 9:46 AM

File under: Biography, Celebrities, Directors, Humour

I think I am with the majority of the audience in attendance at JCVD last night in saying that I was shocked. Not in your normal Midnight Madness sense, of course, where you may be shocked at the sheer amount of corn syrup being sprayed around or the number of fingers severed from someone's hand before you have to look away, but by an actual emotional performance. An emotional performance by Jean-Claude Van Damme, no less. What we saw last night was probably one of the...

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September 9, 2021

Finally! Video from the Mother of Tears Premiere!

Posted By Shane McNeil At 12:05 PM

File under: Directors

Here it is, for those of you that missed out! Exclusive footage from the Mother of Tears premiere. We've got some kind words from Dario Argento, followed by Colin's intro and then Dario and Asia Argento introduce the film before the entire crowd sings Dario 'happy birthday'. Apologies for some shaking with the camera... it was my first day. More video to come, I promise! For those of you that missed out, there is still another screening of Mother of Tears on Friday, Sept. 14 - 11:15 p.m. at Varsity Theatre

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September 8, 2021

The Final Frontiere(s)

Posted By Shane McNeil At 5:31 PM

File under: Directors

Before everyone gets too wrapped up in Romero Mania tonight, some words on Midnight Madness Round Two last night with Xavier Gens' Frontiere(s). Gens himself was there to introduce the film and answer questions afterwards and it's fresh to see a filmmaker so happy with what he's done and eager to get people seeing his film. Last night was the first time an audience saw the film and the reaction was incredible. I got a chance to talk with Gens beforehand as the audience was streaming in and he was borderline giddy to get things underway. Introducing the film he was appreciative and...

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Exclusive Romero doc trailer

Posted By Shane McNeil At 1:25 PM

File under: Directors

Does anyone else feel like it's Christmas Eve? Tonight the first screening of George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead will go down at the Ryerson theatre- and, in honour of this, we have quite the scoop indeed. The above trailer (if you've not already basked in the glow of its awesomeness, I recommend you do so) is for Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero, a new doc on the Diary of the Dead filmmaker. This is officially the WORLD PREMIERE of the film's trailer, so get a good luck and...

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September 7, 2021

Exciting News From Jake West

Posted By Shane McNeil At 5:39 PM

File under: Directors

Great news, guys! Jake West (Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes, Evil Aliens, Razor Blade Smile) gave us a sneak peek at his next film that may just end up in Midnight Madness ’08. Check out these crazy early images… sure looks awesome. From the man himself: “I'm just in the very early stages of Pre-Production on Doghouse, doing concept art. The film is being financed by Carnaby International in the U.K! It should be finished for Cannes...

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September 6, 2021

Hidden Argento Gem from MM 1990!

Posted By Midnight Madness Blog Reporter At 7:53 PM

File under: Directors

Check this out, friends! In our ongoing recovery of archived Midnight Mandess footage, we pulled an epic, FOUR-PART interview with the man of the evening himself, Dario Argento! Each segment clocks in at about 10 minutes or so, but we promise that it's nothing but pure gold. What better way to get primed for tonight's Mother of Tears screening when the clock strikes (more...)
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September 5, 2021

Welcome to the new Frontiere(s)!

Posted By Midnight Madness Blog Reporter At 6:10 PM

File under: Directors

Hey there friends, we just received an awesome set of pictures and a friendly greeting from Xavier Gens, French director of Frontiere(s): "It's a very great pleasure for me to be in Toronto for the beginning of Midnight Madness this year. And when I look the selection of the movies it's a great honour to be here and to present you my first feature film Frontiere(s). The only self imposed rule I have is to crank it up...

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USA loves Midnight Madness!

Posted By Midnight Madness Blog Reporter At 6:00 PM

File under: Directors

That's right, all of it! OK, maybe just USA Today, but that'll do for the time being. The daily posted a quality feature on the Midnight Madness trifecta of horror masters; George A. Romero, Dario Argento and Stuart Gordon. Susan Wloszczyna wrote-up Romero for today's online edition, talking about him taking leadership in getting the zombie movie back to the top of its game. She credits Romero for modernizing the genre giving us a "post-9/11 and Hurricane Katrina image of widespread chaos for the YouTube/MySpace generation". Wloszczyna, who called Romero's Diary of the Dead one of her top TIFF picks earlier...

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The Envelope opens for Argento!

Posted By Midnight Madness Blog Reporter At 3:15 PM

File under: Directors

The LA Times has a nice feature up on Argento's Mother of Tears in their special section, The Envelope: The Awards Insider. The article looks at Argento's work habits, his return to films about witches and his relationship with daughter Asia Argento. While the article makes no mention of possible kudos, the fact that it's mentioned in The Envelope site itself bodes well for Argento's hopes for recognition with this film. Who knows? After Borat's success last year, maybe Midnight Madness will become the new launch pad for the major awards season. Hey......

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August 12, 2021

MM Flashback: ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE

Posted By Colin Geddes At 4:42 PM

File under: Distribution, Directors, Picks

Over the course of the days leading up to Midnight Madness 2007, I've asked some of the directors who have had films debut in the series to send us their reflections and memories of being in TIFF. First up we have Jonathan Levine, director of ALL THE BOYS OF MANDY LANE, a sleeper hit of 2006, although I don't remember the leggy supermodels and drugs the night we went to Ted's Collison before the Fest started... "The night my movie ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE screened at Midnight Madness...
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