Thursday, October 27, 2011 and it's the end of the festival. This night brings about two of the most anticipated films playing at the 2011 Toronto After Dark Film Festival. The controversial film from Cannes (you've all seen the videos online) The Woman from Lucky McKee and the closing gala The Innkeepers from Ti West which had nothing more than a gorgeous poster to sell the film as the trailer didn't get released until after the festival ended.
The Woman
The following is a letter from Ti West, the Director of The House of the Devil and the upcoming film The Innkeepers which screened at this years Toronto After Dark Film Festival. We have re-printed it from the Glass Eye Pix website in its entirety for ease of reading.
SHOPLIFTERS OF THE MEDIA-WORLD UNIT
Dear Internet,
As Wednesday roles around I'm confronted with two films which don't show well from their trailers. The first one, The Corridor, might be ok but the late night film VS looks like a lost cause. But being the trooper that I am, chin held high, I head in for another two films at the 2011 Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
The Corridor
The Corridor was yet another Canadian film being shown at the festival. This film hailed from the east coast having been created in the wonderful province of Nova-Scotia.
Manborg marks the second film from the lads over at Astron-6 to find itself in the Toronto After Dark Film Festival lineup. Having been a fan of their work for a few years now, and going by the trailer, I knew exactly what I was in for... or did I?
I was very much looking forward to The Divide as I'm a sucker for post apocalypse films so my hopes going in to this film were quite high. This often leads to a big let down but in this case, it was the complete opposite. The Divide was clearly the best film of the festival and is not only something I want to add to my collection but something I may go to see again once it hits theatres.
Monday night looked like it was going to be a good one. The first film was being advertised as the scariest film of the festival and the second film looked like it could be a good man vs man vs nature in the same vain as Deliverance.
Absentia
I've always been a fan of anthology movies. I don't know what it is but I even find enjoyment in the bad ones.
The Theatre Bizarre
This anthology film comprises 6 separate shorts strung together via a framing segment. Unlike many anthology films these days, these segments don't really have a common theme or story and aren't joined together by anything short of the framing segment. Borrowing heavily on the Theatre Grand Guignol, this film deals with themes of sex, death, evil and the bizarre.
Just in! The Toronto After Dark Film Festival announced the Award Winners of its 2011 festival. Over 3,000 votes were cast by festival-goers this year to determine the winners. This year had a lot of good films to chose from.
Love was one of the films I was most looking forward to at Toronto After Dark. The festival doesn't get too many pure science fiction films and judging from the trailer, Love not only fit that bill but looked fantastic.
From what I can tell, Love seems to have started out as a music video(s) for Angels and Airwaves. It eventually progressed to the full feature film presented here at Toronto After Dark. Director William Eubank actually constructed the entire International Space Station set in his parent's backyard.
Going into Some Guy Who Kills People it seemed like nobody knew much about the film and going by the trailer, nobody was expecting much either. This can often work in favour of a film if the film is done well enough. When expectations are low even a mediocre or bad film can seem pretty good. But every once and awhile, a film far surpasses expectations. This film didn't just kill it's own characters, it also had the audience dying with laughter. Don't get fooled by the trailer... you'll only end up a fool yourself.