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TIFF Interview: Midnight Madness Programmer Peter Kuplowsky Shares His Top Picks

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Midnight Madness Peter Kuplowsky

The Toronto International Film Festival is a haven for film lovers. Directors, actors, and fans alike flock to the 10 day festival (running Sept 5-15) for some of the newest and most exciting films the industry has to offer. The Midnight Madness program is a genre fan’s dream, serving innovative and transgressive cinematic experiences with something to delight every interest.

The section’s programmer, Peter Kuplowsky — who has been at the helm since 2017 — has established a career championing genre cinema and outsider art at various international film festivals, including Toronto After Dark and Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.

Kuplowsky has also worked as a producer on a number of short and feature films, including Manborg, The Interior, The Void, the Z is for Zygote segment in The ABCs of Death: Part 2, and the short film adaptation of Dave Eggers short story Your Mother and I.

I had the chance to speak with Peter about this year’s Midnight Madness lineup, the community of genre cinema, and his top recommendations for TIFF 2019.


Kelly McNeely: I’m excited for this year’s Midnight Madness, you’ve got a great lineup!

Peter Kuplowsky: Thank you so much, I’m excited too! I was a little self-conscious before the announcement just because of how many unknown entities there are in this lineup. But I’ve been really appreciative of the feedback so far; people seem really excited to discover some new voices. 

KM: I was really excited and surprised to see Crazy World on there, because I know Who Killed Captain Alex is one of those films that not everyone knows about, but it’s such a phenomenal contribution. 

PK: Yeah! I mean it’s one of the themes that kind of emerged by accident, but then when I saw the content was there I wanted to really try and do something with this idea of community directors that made themselves on screen — as you can see in Blood Quantum, The Vigil, and Crazy World.

With Who Killed Captain Alex, a big part of why I wanted to include one of their films in the lineup is I’m so interested in the idea of original filmmaking, filmmakers, and film systems that exist outside of mainstream infrastructures and institutions. And the idea that this is a community of filmmakers and an audience that are constantly making content for each other and entertaining each other. Recently, that content has now been contextualized for the western world and it’s developing an audience.

I find that so remarkable, and I think it’s a testament to the openness of genre audiences and the flexibility of imagination. The idea that you need all these resources to make a movie is a bit of a fallacy. Really you need enthusiasm, creativity, and personality. And that’s what these films have in spades. 

The big hope – I can’t confirm it yet – but we’re in the process of ensuring that the filmmakers themselves are able to attend TIFF and that we actually have live narration for the world premiere of this international version of Crazy World, which would be so exciting.

I have never actually experienced a live narrated Ugandan action film, and I think that idea is really interesting. The tradition came from how their audience was watching American films, because they weren’t subtitled or dubbed, so they needed someone in the room to contextualize it. So the idea that now that their films are going out into the world, they decided to package them with a Ugandan interpreter to sort of contextualize its world too. I’m really looking forward to closing out the lineup with this kind of celebration of a cinema that doesn’t necessarily get as much attention as other quadrants. 

Crazy World via TIFF

KM: I didn’t know you were planning on doing the live narration, that’s so cool!

PK: And that’s something that I hope we can deliver on. The issue has really come down to getting the Visas approved, but we’re in that conversation process and, you know, every part of my body is crossed in hopes that that happens.

KM: On that note, what gets you really excited about a film?

PK: Genre film doesn’t have to be generic, and usually the best genre cinema are the ones that take the familiar formula but are injecting new variables into it. So for me, I’m always interested in seeing something new that I haven’t quite seen before, because the variables are so distinct. But even more simply — and this doesn’t even necessarily apply to movies for the Midnight Madness section — I always just wanna see decisions, and that sounds glib, but I find that sometimes there’s an arbitrariness to the pieces that go together in movies sometimes.

I wanna see a film where I really feel like I’m being guided — I don’t mean this like a single director, even, I mean that the alchemy of all the elements of the movie really feels like there’s not a piece out of place. Everything feels like it’s part of an aesthetic project. That’s something that personally always excites me.

In the Midnight Madness context, the things I look for are momentum and attitude, and something that I feel like is transgressive. It’s breaking a convention or a parameter that is expected. Because that, to me, is what constitutes the difference between a Midnight film and a regular genre film. That there’s this element to it that’s doing something new.

KM: Is there a film you wish you could have had for the lineup that you couldn’t get your hands on?

PK: I track so many films, sometimes years out from them ever being made, so there’s always stuff that it simply isn’t ready. A recent example is a movie that I’m now glad that I didn’t see and subsequently invite, because no one can see it. I was tracking The Hunt, but they were telling me that it wasn’t going to be ready because they were doing a lot of last-minute reshoots on the film, and now no one can see it.

Continue to page 2 for Peter’s TIFF recommendations!

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Childhood Memories Collide in New Horror Film ‘Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble’

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It looks like ITN Studious and Jagged Edge Productions are going the Avengers: Infinity War route with their upcoming film Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. From the deranged mind of Rhys Frake-Waterfield (Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey) comes this belligerent mash up of beloved childhood icons.

According to an article out of Variety today, Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble will consist of Winnie the Pooh, Bambi, Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tigger, Piglet, The Mad Hatter, and Sleeping Beauty. All of these iconic figured will be warped into nightmarish versions of their former selves. Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble is set to be released upon the world sometime in 2025.

Poohniverse

Actor-producer Scott Chambers (Malevolent) had the following to say about Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. “As horror fans, we would love an Avengers that is all villains. It’d have Freddy Krueger, Jason, ‘Halloween,’ ‘Scream,’ all of those. Obviously that will never happen, but we can make it happen in our own little way, and that’s where this film has been born.”

Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble will be a part of The Twisted Childhood Universe. Just like the MCU, each character will first get a standalone film. After introductions are made, they will be reunited in an Avengers style film. Although they will be killing off the survivors from the previous films, they won’t be working together.

Chambers describes this as an “epic sequences of monster vs. monster.” And I don’t know what more fans could ask of the studio. This fantastical idea is a huge risk but Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble sounds amazing.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Check back here for more updates on Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. If you haven’t already, check out the trailer for Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 below.

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Blumhouse’s ‘The Wolf Man’ Reboot Kicks Off Production with Leigh Whannell at the Helm

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Blumhouse Productions has officially commenced filming its reboot of the Universal Monsters legend, “Wolf Man”. Under the direction of Leigh Whannell, known for his acclaimed work on “The Invisible Man” (2020), the project promises to breathe new life into the iconic tale. The film is slated for a theatrical release on October 25th, marking a new chapter in the storied franchise.

Wolf Man

The journey of a “Wolf Man” reboot began in 2020 when actor Ryan Gosling presented a fresh take on the classic story to Universal. This concept quickly evolved into a screenplay crafted by the talented duo Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, who are known for their work on “Orange Is the New Black,” alongside contributions from Whannell and Corbett Tuck. The narrative is set in contemporary times, drawing inspiration from the atmospheric tension of Jake Gyllenhaal’s “Nightcrawler,” albeit with a distinct supernatural twist.

The film has seen its share of directorial and casting shifts, with Whannell initially signing on to direct in 2020, only to step away and then return to the project after Ryan Gosling and director Derek Cianfrance exited. The lead roles have been filled by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, both of whom bring significant talent to the screen. Abbott portrays a man whose family faces the terror of a lethal predator, with Garner likely playing his wife, sharing in the familial peril. The storyline also hints at a daughter named Ginger, adding a layer of depth to the family’s harrowing experience.

Julia Garner and Christopher Abbott

This reboot represents a collaboration between Blumhouse and Motel Movies, with Jason Blum producing. Ryan Gosling remains involved as an executive producer, alongside Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner, and Whannell himself. The announcement of the film’s production start was made by Jason Blum, who shared an exciting glimpse of Whannell on set, signaling the beginning of what is hoped to be a memorable addition to the horror genre.

As the “Wolf Man” reboot moves forward, fans and newcomers alike are eager to see how this modern interpretation will pay homage to its roots while offering a fresh and thrilling experience. With a talented cast and crew at the helm, the film is poised to reintroduce the timeless tale of transformation and terror to a new generation.

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‘Immaculate’ Stars Reveal Which Horror Villains They Would “F, Marry, Kill”

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Sydney Sweeney is just coming off the success of her rom-com Anyone But You, but she’s ditching the love story for a horror story in her latest film Immaculate.

Sweeney is taking Hollywood by storm, portraying everything from a love-lusting teenager in Euphoria to an accidental superhero in Madame Web. Although the latter got a lot of hate among theater-goers, Immaculate is getting the polar opposite.

The film was screened at SXSW this past week and was well-received. It also gained a reputation for being extremely gory. Derek Smith of Slant says the, “final act contains some of the most twisted, gory violence this particular subgenre of horror has seen in years…”

Thankfully curious horror movie fans won’t have to wait long to see for themselves what Smith is talking about as Immaculate will hit theaters across the United States on March, 22.

Bloody Disgusting says that the movie’s distributor NEON, in a bit of marketing smarts, had stars Sydney Sweeney and Simona Tabasco play a game of “F, Marry, Kill” in which all their choices had to be horror movie villains.

It’s an interesting question, and you might be surprised at their answers. So colorful are their responses that YouTube slapped an age-restricted rating on the video.

Immaculate is a religious horror movie that NEON says stars Sweeney, “as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia’s warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.”

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