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Toronto After Dark Film Fest: 5 Films We’re Stoked to See

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TADFF Toronto After Dark

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival (known as TADFF) has announced their full roster of films for the 2018 lineup (running October 11-19), and there are some choice cuts this year.

Toronto After Dark runs annually in Toronto, Ontario (Canada), bringing nine nights of horror, sci-fi, and action. As with their 2017 Festival, I will attend and report back to share the scares (to our local or visiting readers, I hope to see you there! Come find me!).

I’ve listed the top 5 films I cannot wait to see (click on each title for the trailer). This… was a difficult choice. And maybe I cheated a little bit. Which is fine.

You can find a full list of the 18 titles playing at this year’s festival over at TADFF’s website.

via TADFF

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (Mexico) Toronto Premiere
Director – Issa Lopez
“With her latest feature film, director Issa Lopez perfectly balances the the harsh reality and fantastic nightmares of the street children of Mexico. Part PAN’S LABYRINTH, part CITY OF GOD, this creepy Guillermo del Toro-esque fairytale is about a young girl whose supernatural intuition leads her to form an alliance with a gang of orphaned boys. A critically acclaimed winner of over 20 film festival awards.”
Tigers Are Not Afraid was one of Guillermo Del Toro’s top films of 2017, and it looks stunning.

via TADFF

THE RANGER (USA) Toronto Premiere
Director – Jenn Wexler
“Jenn Wexler’s SXSW film fest hit is a good old fashioned crowd-pleasing throwback to 80s slasher movies, with the added bonus of a kick-ass punk soundtrack! A bunch of teen punks head off for some mayhem in the woods. It’s not long before they come up against the local authority – an unhinged park ranger with a serious axe to grind – and they’re in a bloody fight for their lives!”
Read our review by Jacob Davison!

via TADFF

SATAN’S SLAVES (Indonesia) Special Presentation
Director – Joko Anwar
“One of the scariest films of the year, Indonesian maestro Joko Anwar’s (MODUS ANOMALI) latest horror sensation has become a massive box office hit in Asia! In this supernatural haunting tale, a family is terrorized by demonic forces including the spirit of their recently deceased mother. “
I love this trailer. Satan’s Slaves looks terrifying, and I am 100% here for it.

via IMDb

OVERLORD (USA) Canadian Premiere
Director – Julius Avery

“With only hours until D-Day, a team of American paratroopers drop into Nazi-occupied France to carry out a mission that’s crucial to the invasion’s success. Tasked with destroying a radio transmitter atop a fortified church, the desperate soldiers join forces with a young French villager to penetrate the walls and take down the tower. But, in a mysterious Nazi lab beneath the church, the outnumbered G.I.s come face-to-face with enemies unlike any the world has ever seen. From producer J.J. Abrams, OVERLORD is a thrilling, pulse-pounding action adventure with a twist.”
Overlord looks viciously, deliciously fun. I’ve heard nothing but good things out of its American premiere at Fantastic Fest, so Canadian genre fans are going to want to get in on this one.

via IMDb

YOU MIGHT BE THE KILLER (USA) International Premiere
Director – Brett Simmons
“YOU MIGHT BE THE KILLER is one of the smartest and funniest horror films you will see this year! In the middle of the night, a remote summer camp counselor Sam (CABIN IN THE WOODS’ Fran Kranz) calls up Chuck (BUFFY’s Alyson Hannigan), his best friend back home, in a blind panic! Sam’s surrounded by brutally killed fellow counselors and worried there’s an axe-wielding psycho on the loose! Luckily Chuck’s well-versed in slasher movie tropes and she leads Sam through all the necessary steps to survive the night. At the same time they try to identify the actual killer. With great banter between two delightful leads, a brutal killer in the woods, and lots of clever bloody twists, YOU MIGHT BE THE KILLER is a horror fan’s delight!”
Fran Kranz! Alyson Hannigan! You Might Be the Killer looks like the perfect love letter to the slasher subgenre.

Bonus entry:
MEGA TIME SQUAD (New Zealand) Toronto Premiere
Director – Tim van Dammen
“In this sci-fi comedy hit from New Zealand, a small-town criminal tries to use an ancient time travel device to defeat a brutal local crime boss. It’s soon clear that time travel has unintended consequences and can create as many problems as its solves! Don’t miss an absolute crowd-pleaser from some of the same people who previously worked on the festival hit, DEATHGASM!”
Is this a horror film? No. Do I care? No. Mega Time Squad looks fun as hell.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs October 11-19. You can keep an eye out for the full schedule and single ticket sales on their website.

Artwork by Gary Pullin – via TADFF

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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