The fall is awesome. New TV shows, Halloween, horror movies, and the fantastic genre film festival, Toronto After Dark. The festival gets underway tomorrow, Oct. 18, and unleashes nine nights of mayhem on the city. Once again I’ll be in attendance, reviewing every film, searching for gaming inspiration and extracting the gooey rpg goodness from the centre of each one.
If you’re in the GTA this week, Toronto After Dark is definitely worth checking out. One of the things I love about this festival is the crowd. Seriously, if you’re planning on seeing any of the films in this year’s lineup later on, don’t wait. Sitting in front of your TV or computer screen can’t compare to the experience of a theatre packed with energetic fellow genre geeks (when it comes to film festivals, we Torontonians are very quick to shed our up-tight and reserved image). Here are the films I’m most psyched for:
American Mary (Oct. 18)
“A medical school dropout enters the seedy world of extreme body modification”.
I love to be creeped out by body-horror films (I’m not sure what that says about me), and the trailer for this entry into the category shows a lot of promise.
Lloyd the Conqueror (Oct. 21)
“Three college students try to bring down the reigning champion of the local Live Action Roleplaying tournament”.
A comedy about rpgs? I’m there (even if I don’t LARP personally). That Brian Posehn is involved gives me hope that it will be more of a case of laughing with us, than laughing at us.
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (Oct. 21)
“An amnesiac soldier must stop a legion of renegade UNISOLs bent on revolution”.
I totally missed the last universal soldier movie, so I’m eager to catch up with Van Damme and Lundgren in a nice, straight actioner (Expendables 2 was a little too liberal with the ham for my taste).
Sushi Girl (Oct. 24)
“A gang of violent criminals reunite over dinner to settle old scores”.
A simple enough premise ready to be filled with stylish gun violence, slick dialogue and over the top characters played by a who’s who of genre favorites including Mark Hamill, Tony Todd, Michael Biehn, Sonny Chiba and Danny Trejo. Hell yes.
Wrong (Oct. 25)
“A man tries to track down his missing dog”.
I am a huge fan of Quentin Dupieux’s last film, Rubber. It was a crazy, absurdist fantasy that can best be described as a Dadaist horror comedy. Based on the trailer for Wrong, it looks to follow suit (though maybe a Dadaist thriller comedy instead?). I’ve cleared out the clutter and my mind is ready to be blown.
Tags: Pop Culture
