It’s a small enough film festival that I get the All-Access pass and see all the films.
This year, Toronto After Dark gets off to a great start with a Special Presentation of Daniel Stamm’s return to the festival’s terrifying new spooky picture PREY FOR THE DEVIL, which is not to be missed (THE LAST EXORCISM). A young nun just starting out in exorcism training finds herself in a horrific struggle for the soul of a young girl who is demon-possessed! The stellar ensemble also features Virginia Madsen (CANDYMAN), Colin Salmon, and emerging talent Jacqueline Byers, who was born in Toronto (RESIDENT EVIL).
Toronto debut. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are the directors.
SOMETHING IN THE DIRT, the newest sci-fi horror mystery puzzlebox from TADFF favorites Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, was a major smash at Sundance (The Endless, Spring, Resolution). Two young neighbors decided to document different paranormal occurrences in their apartment complex on camera. They quickly become involved in something that seems out of this world! Simply go see the movie because no trailer can do it justice!
With his newest action-packed sci-fi horror film THE LAIR, acclaimed Toronto After Dark alum Neil Marshall (THE DESCENT, DOG SOLDIERS) returns to the thrills and chills of underground caverns! A group of allied soldiers discover an abandoned underground Soviet facility in the Afghan mountains. However, something in the lair is stirred by their arrival, and the squad soon finds themselves in a battle for their very lives with adversaries who don’t seem to be human!
On Halloween night, a little gated community in Mexico is overrun by the undead, and it’s up to some of the town’s high school misfits to rescue the day. MEXZOMBIES is a great mashup of ZOMBIELAND, STRANGER THINGS, and THE GOONIES, featuring an adorable group of freaks and geeks coming up with creative killings to take down the undead! Sadly, all we got is a mediocre teaser trailer. Just believe us when we say that you’ll kick yourself in the nuts if you miss this show that is sure to be a smash with the Toronto After Dark audience!
Look no further than DAY ZERO for more heart-pounding zombie action in the style of former TADFF smash TRAIN TO BUSAN! A prisoner with Special Forces experience (MMA fighter Brandon Vera) escapes from custody and decides to battle his way through the crowds to go home when a virus epidemic begins turning everyone in the city into bloodthirsty ghouls. This ground-breaking Filipino post-apocalyptic actioner, which combines zombie combat and bare-fisted martial arts, is an exciting experience not to be missed!
With the Venice Film Festival sensation FREAKS OUT, our audience is in for a sumptuous, high-budget sci-fi fantasy feast. A bunch of circus freaks with superpowers band together to fight the oppressive German army in the occupied Rome during World War II. Unfortunately, we just have a teaser for this utterly astounding box office success. You can get a sense of why you won’t want to miss this multiple audience award winner on the big screen by imagining INGLORIOUS BASTERDS combined with the X-MEN and directed with Guillermo del Toro’s imaginative aesthetic!
EVIL EYE, a horrific new rural witchcraft horror film from Mexico that will have viewers jumping out of their chairs in dread, is the perfect choice if you’re searching for horrors at night. Two desperate parents decide to leave their ill daughter Luna with her grandmother, who lives close to the woods, when hospital treatment fails. Luna quickly comes to the conclusion that evil resides in Granny’s home. You have been forewarned that this movie may be the scariest in our programme this year.
