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TADFF 2019: Toronto After Dark Film Fest Announces its First 10 Titles

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TADFF Toronto After Dark

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is a scintillating showcase of horror, action, sci-fi, and cult cinema. Since its inception in 2006, the festival has grown to be one of the nation’s best with an impressive track record of genre films that have gone on to become fan favorites. 

TAD (as it’s affectionately known) has just announced the first ten films in its lineup. This year offers some high-concept sci-fi, a quirky zombie comedy, a sun-scorched manhunt, Elijah Wood’s on-screen return to genre cinema, and more. 

The festival runs from October 17-25, 2019, in Toronto, Ontario. For more information and to stay updated on the event, check out their website.

The Assent (USA – World Premiere)

Toronto After Dark

Directed by Pearry Reginald Teo, Starring Robert Kazinsky, Peter Jason, Hannah Ward.

Synopsis: 

Every possession has three acts: 1) the Possession 2) the Affliction and 3) the Assent — the moment when the person finally surrenders and consents to the demon as being part of their soul…

After spending three years in prison for the death of an 8-year-old during a failed exorcism, Father Lambert seeks redemption on a young single father, Joel Clarke, whom he believes has been marked by the Devil himself. Conjuring ‘deliverance’ (unsanctioned exorcisms), Father Lambert convinces Joel that without his help, he will lose his son forever. But there is an even darker force at work.

Blood Machines (France/USA – Canadian Premiere)

Directed by Raphaël Hernandez & Savitri Joly-Gonfard, Starring Anders Heinrichsen, Noémie Stevens, Christian Erickson.

Synopsis: 

Sci-fi fans are in for a glorious treat with this stunning new space epic about a bounty hunter in pursuit of a mysterious spaceship run by an Artificial Intelligence that has the ability to take on human form. The sound design — inspired by John Carpenter amongst others — comes from acclaimed synth wave maestro Carpenter Brut.

Come to Daddy (New Zealand/Canada/Ireland – Toronto Premiere)

TADFF Toronto After DarkDirected by Ant Timpson, Starring Elijah Wood, Steven McHattie, Martin Donovan, Michael Smiley.

Synopsis: 

Norval Greenwood, a privileged man-child arrives at the beautiful and remote coastal cabin of his estranged father, who he hasn’t seen in 30 years. He quickly discovers that not only is dad a disapproving jerk, he also has a shady past that is rushing to catch up with him. Now, hundreds of miles from his cushy comfort zone, Norval must battle with demons both real and perceived in order to reconnect with a father he barely knows.

Extra Ordinary (Ireland – Toronto Premiere)

Directed by Mike Ahern & Eda Loughman, Starring Will Forte, Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward.

Synopsis: 

A woman who has supernatural abilities must save a possessed girl. Though driving instructor Rose has a love-hate relationship with her abilities, she decides to help Martin and his daughter Sarah.

The Furies (Australia)

Directed by Tony D’Aquino, Starring Airlie Dodds, Linda Ngo, Taylor Ferguson.

Synopsis: 

Kidnapped and afraid, a woman finds herself fighting to stay alive as an unwilling participant in a deadly game where women are hunted by masked men.

Mutant Blast (Portugal – Canadian Premiere)

Directed by Fernando Alle, Starring Pedro Barão Dias, Maria Leite, Joaquim Guerreiro.

Synopsis: 

Maria, a fearless soldier, and TS-347, a man with superhuman strength, are being pursued by a military cell responsible for scientific experiments that have resulted in a zombie apocalypse. On the way, they will meet Pedro, a man with few ambitions and a great hangover. Together, they will try to escape to a safe place, but complications will cross their paths in the form of a nuclear bomb.

The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale (South Korea – Toronto Premiere)

Directed by Lee Min-jae, Starring Jae-yeong Jeong, Ga-ram Jung, Nam-gil Kim.

Synopsis: 

When a pharmaceutical company’s illegal experiments inadvertently create a zombie, the strange Park family finds it and tries to profit from it.

Paradise Hills (Spain/USA – Toronto Premiere)

Directed by Alice Waddington, Starring Milla Jovovich, Awkwafina, Emma Roberts.

Synopsis: 

A mysterious boarding school perfectly reforms wayward girls to fit their surroundings’ exact desires.

Witches in the Woods (Canada – North American Premiere)

Directed by Jordan Barker, Starring Hannah Kasulka, Alexander De Jordy, Corbin Bleu.

Synopsis: 

Jill, a tenacious UMass freshman, abandons her studies for an off-the-grid snowboarding trip. When their SUV mysteriously becomes lost, temperatures fall and the group dynamic unravels as a virtual and then literal witch hunt begins.

The Wretched (USA – Toronto Premiere)

Toronto After DarkDirected by Brett Pierce & Drew T. Pierce, Starring John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Zarah Mahler.

Synopsis: 

A defiant teenage boy, struggling with his parent’s imminent divorce, faces off with a thousand year-old witch, who is living beneath the skin of and posing as the woman next door.

For previous Toronto After Dark reviews and interviews, click here! And if you’re a bit too far south of the border for Toronto After Dark, be sure to check out iHorror’s very own film festival! Click here for info and tickets.

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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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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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