THE TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL from tonight (Thursday, October 20) to October 27, at the Toronto Underground Cinema (186 Spadina). See Indie & Rep Film.
The sixth Toronto After Dark Film Festival involves eight nights of movies from the far shores of horror, science fiction, weird comedy and anime.
This year the fest has scored a trio of world premieres: military-minded zombie movie War Of The Dead, bizarre superhero flick VS and Troma’s serial-killer actioner, Father’s Day. Guests on hand include Dee Wallace with Exit Humanity Michael Biehn with The Divide and Jimmy Hart, Robert Maillet and Art Hindle all attending opening-night gala Monster Brawl (Thursday, October 20, 7 pm rating: NNN).
That rating is strictly for fans who appreciate a truly goofy idea: a wrestling show featuring death matches between classic creatures: Lady Vampire vs. the Mummy, Werewolf against Swamp Gut, Frankenstein taking on Zombie Man. We get the whole shtick: annoying sportscasters (Dave Foley and Hindle), boasting sessions, character bios. Some of it is funny, some not so much. All of it is well shot, with good low-budget production values.
The Woman (October 27, 7 pm rating: NNNN) isn’t quite as harrowing as The Girl Next Door, the last movie taken from a Jack Ketchum novel, but it packs considerable punch and explores similar territory – the extremes of evil in ordinary people and their spreading effects.
Successful small-town lawyer Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) finds a feral woman (Pollyanna Mcintosh) in the woods, takes her home and chains her under the barn, then enlists his wife, son and daughter to help “civilize” her. But something is wrong with Cleek’s apparently happy family, and the woman’s presence makes things worse.
McIntosh and Bridgers make an explosive combination. She’s top-to-toe tensile strength, with murder in her eyes. He’s calm, confident and over-controlled.
Anthology film The Theatre Bizarre (Sunday, October 23, 7 pm rating: NNNN) includes works by seven filmmakers. The third, fourth and fifth of the six shorts nested in the wraparound story are worth the ticket price alone. Tom Savini’s Wet Dreams runs penis anxiety through the meat-grinder of domestic discontent. Douglas Buck’s The Accident offers a meditation on love through a mother, her daughter and a highway accident, while Karim Hussain’s Vision Stains takes a uniquely nightmarish approach to murder and storytelling.
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