In addition to the usual reviews and comments you would find on a horror movie blog, this is also a document of the wonderfully vast horror movie section of the video store I worked at in my youth.

Friday, October 31, 2014

Halloween Playlists!

What's Halloween without a spooky soundtrack! So, here's a collection of ghoulish playlists for your fiendish enjoyment.




And for those looking to be driven insane, here's a ten-hour looping of the Silver Shamrock jingle!

Monster In The Room.

Happy Halloween everyone! To get into the spirit of things I am posting the bumper I made for this year's Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Enjoy!



It was based on the two-sentence horror story by Juan J Ruiz. Shortly after shooting it, I discovered that two other filmmakers had already adapted it. Oh well... Compare and contrast!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Bedtime Nightmares.


The Toronto After Dark Film Festival closed out its strongest year yet with a sell-out – tickets went so fast, they actually had to add a second show at midnight – screening of Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook.


A single mother (Essie Davis) battles to protect her autistic son (Noah Wiseman) after a monster from one of his storybooks begins to manifest itself in their lives.

Since its premiere at Sundance, The Babadook has been positioning itself as the horror film to see this year. And with good reason, as it's a fine film with subject matter that stretches beyond the usual confines of your typical monster-under-the-bed flick. Whereas themes that are attempted in lesser films like 2013's Mama, The Babadook found ways to follow through on them. It is also layered with such a way as to leave several things up to interpretation.

Noah Wiseman & Essie Davis in The Babadook.

The Babadook is a humanistic story, so it is no surprise that the two leads are exceptional. Essie Davis is phenomenal as Amelia, the mother at the end of her rope. I haven't seen a maternal character look so exhausted since Tilda Swinton in 2011's We Need To Talk About Kevin. Her son Samuel is a handful and young talent Noah Wiseman has no trouble expressing that, with more a few scenes where I was surprised she just didn't leave him on a doorstep somewhere.

Aside from the meat of the picture, The Babadook is a veritable feast in every other regard, as well. It employed an escalating sense of dread, rather than overt scares, which kept the piece far more sustainable. The visual style and colour palette of the film are top notch, and whoever created that Babadook storybook for the film needs to win some kind of award.

Nightmare fuel.

I also have to mention the sound design because it had a personality of its own. The strange and unsettling drone that would resonate when the Babadook was near that really put me on edge. This is a wonderfully dark film that director Jennifer Kent should be extremely proud of and I can't wait to see where she goes from here.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Why Not!


Last Thursday saw the Canadian premiere of the horror documentary Why Horror? at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.


Life-long horror fan Tal Zimerman spans the globe to find out why the genre is so popular and why we love to be scared.

Having known Tal for several years now, it was really great to see the project he’d been working on, for what seems like forever, finally have its day in the sun. This was the second project I’d contributed to that had a premiere this year – Astron 6’s The Editor being the other – so I’m over the moon having had a small part in its existence.

There are a ton of horror heavyweights interviewed here, including John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Eli Roth and Don Coscarelli, but the doc’s real strength is its variety of subjects. Why Horror? speaks to genre actors, artists, writers and even sociologists and professors about the root of the attraction to horror.

Tal Zimerman with the great John Carpenter.

Why Horror? was more than just a “talking heads” documentary though, broken up by countless film clips, an animated two-minute history of horror films narrated by Elijah Wood, as well as several illustrations by several talented artists, including Larry Adlon & Trevor Henderson. There was even a section where Tal gets his brains picked by some doctors to see if there's anything physiological about his love of horror. This thread led to my favourite part of the doc where Tal enlists his mother as part of an experiment to see how horror and non-horror fans react to frightening stimuli.

Why Horror’s global aspect is another strong point, as Tal and his crew, directors Nicolas Kleiman & Rob Lindsay, travelled to locales such as Mexico, Japan and England to see how the subject of horror differed from culture to culture.

(left to right) Moderator Dave Alexander, star Tal Zimerman & co-directors Nicolas Kleinman & Rob Lindsay.

Why Horror? has a lot to offer, a feat in itself considering docs on the subject are not exactly sparse. However, its approach keeps it fun and makes it accessible to non-fans of the genre, which is much more rare.

The Phantom Returns!


The new pseudo-sequel of The Town That Dreaded Sundown had its Canadian premiere last week at Toronto After Dark.


Sixty-five years after the gruesome events in Texarkana, another masked killer is on the loose. With the local authorities being about as useful this time around, the survivor of the first attack, high school senior Jami (Addison Timlin), takes it upon herself to do some investigating of her own.

To echo what TAD programmer Peter Kuplowsky said in his intro, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon “really shot the shit out of this film!” I mean this movie is gorgeous and looks ten times better than it has any right to be. From the very first shot, which features a long, swooping movement through a drive-in theatre as it weaves through all the cars and various attendees, to the boldly stark kill sequences, Gomez-Rejon shows he is taking this material seriously.

The Phantom claims another victim in The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

And that is what immediately struck me about this new Town That Dreaded Sundown. The narrative was decidedly meta, wherein the murders of 1946 and the subsequent 1976 film had occurred, however it was played completely straight. The brilliantly conceived murder scenes were cold and clinical, so that, much like David Fincher’s Zodiac, we took no joy from them. This kept the project from feeling like a half-assed Scream sequel as a result.

The cast was stacked with genre veterans that included the likes of Veronica Cartwright, Gary Cole and Ed Lauter, for which this must have been one of his last roles before his passing last year. Addison Timlin was solid as the embattled heroine and was just as strong and likable here, as she was in 2013’s fantasy actioner Odd Thomas.

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.

While it is true that the ending was a bit of a letdown – an unfortunate side effect of studio interference I hear – it by no means soured the overall strength of the piece. There is an air of substance to Town that is rarely present in projects bearing the mark of the “re-whateverthefuck.” Gomez, cutting his teeth on many episodes of the television show American Horror Story, has now graduated to telling competent horror features. He’s a bright young talent that I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from soon.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Red Vs Dead


As is customary for Toronto After Dark, Saturday is zombie appreciation night, which this year featured Zombeavers (which you can read my thoughts on here) and the highly-anticipated follow up to Tommy Wirkola’s 2009 flick Dead Snow, Red Vs Dead.


Martin (Vegar Hoel), having survived the events of the first film, wakes up in the hospital to find that not only is he on the hook for his friend’s deaths, but has also had his severed arm replaced with that of Herzog’s (Ørjan Gamst). And the undead Nazi colonel wants it back!

Red Vs. Dead was tons of fun. I really enjoyed the first one, but this sequel is bigger and better in almost every way. As Wirkola has demonstrated on a few occasions now, he is very adept at mining fresh ideas out of tried and true minutia. There is some pretty clever stuff in here and I appreciated how much more he opened up this universe. While the first one was basically people holed up in a cabin, Red Vs Dead expands to include the entire Norwegian countryside, leading up to an impressive final battle featuring zombified German & Russian forces facing off against each other.

All hell breaks loose in Dead Snow 2: Red Vs Dead.

Seeing Martin Starr show up as the leader of a group called The Zombie Squad was a nice addition. He even kicks some ass toward the end of the film! I was also surprised to learn this summer that Zombie Squad is an actual thing, with chapters all over the world. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked, considering how bonkers popular zombies are now.


As with the first movie, the make-up was top notch, and while perhaps not quite as bloody as its predecessor, there are still no shortage of gruesome, over-the-top deaths. And fron its several festival screenings, a sing-along portion has now evolved with karaoke favourite Total Eclipse of the Heart being belted out by audiences during the final scene of the movie.

Much like Sam Raimi, Red Vs Dead is Wirkola returning to his roots, after a less-than-ideal experience with the studio system. Well, consider his passion rekindled, as this movie is a spirited sequel full of bloody comedic energy.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Second Semester.


At long last, The ABC's of Death 2 finally had a screening in The Big Smoke as part of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.


Another round of twenty-six directors showcase their alphabetical interpretations of murder, mutilation and mayhem.

Anyway you slice it, this second helping of ABC's is far superior to its predecessor. It really is quite remarkable how much better realized this one is, as even the title sequence had improved. Even I, who enjoyed the first more than most, could see the massive jump in quality here. I wager it was a combination of this current batch of filmmakers being aware of what didn't work in the previous iteration as well as the producers laying down some guidelines to steer the project away from pedestrian potty humour. Whatever it was, they succeeded.

I won't go through every letter, but it should come as no surprise that I thought Steve Kostanski's (“W”) & Chris Nash's (“Z”) were among the best. They are the most talented filmmakers that I have the pleasure of knowing and I hope that their entries open many doors for them. They earned it.

Delphine Roussel in Chris Nash's segment “Z”.

It should also not shock anyone that I adored Robert Morgan's letter “D”, as he serves up another spectacular stop-motion nightmare. I still think my biggest disappointment about this project was missing the chance to possibly meet him when ABC's didn't play Midnight Madness. Oh well, maybe someday...

Robert Morgan's letter “D”

Apart from those, other standouts were E.L. Katz's letter “A” and Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado's letter “F”. The latter may have been a bit heavy handed, but I really appreciate dialogue-driven entries that go somewhere. I responded to that in much the way I did to Marven Kren's “R” segment and my probable favourite, the letter “S” from Juan Martínez Moreno. Even going beyond the well-executed De Palma split-screen of the piece, I fuckin' loved that ending! That's the kind of stuff that makes me go, “damn that's cold!” I was also impressed because nothing I'd seen previously from Moreno gave me any indication he could go balls-out like that.

I found it funny just how loaded this project was in the back end though, as in addition to “S”, “W” & “Z”, the letters “U”, “X” and “Y” were strong, as well.

Steve Kostanski's letter “W”

Overall, I felt there were very few duds. Even Todd Rohal's letter “P” – which seems to be getting universally slammed online – was at least amusing in its absurdity. I have to say I was expecting a little more from Bill Plympton though, if only because his “H” segment seemed like a rehash of a sequence from his 1992 effort, The Tune.

So, there you have it. Having learned from its weaknesses, ABC's of Death 2 has eclipsed its predecessor and hopefully given much needed visibility to the next wave of genre filmmakers.

Bringin' Down The House.


The opener at this year's Toronto After Dark was New Zealand director Gerard Johnstone's festival darling, Housebound.


After being sentenced to house arrest, repeat offender Kylie (Morgana O'Reilly) tries to cope with sharing space with her estranged mother and step-father. After several strange occurrences, Kylie starts to wonder if there maybe some truth to her mother's claims that their house is haunted.

What can I say, Housebound lives up to its massive hype. It's a tremendously fun movie that is as clever as it is entertaining. From the trailer, it looks rather transparent, but there are actually a few turns to the narrative that add to the enjoyment. Being that this is a Kiwi horror-comedy hybrid, the comparisons to Peter Jackson are unavoidable – especially since both his flagship genre piece Braindead and Housebound both share a rooftop climax – but this is more of a compliment than a condemnation. I would also offer that as clear as influence as Jackson was, there were also flavours of celebrated American filmmakers, such as Sam Raimi, Joe Dante and Wes Craven.

Apart from harnessing that wonderful pedigree, there were two other things that really stood out to me, as well. First, the comic timing in this picture was impeccable with several laugh-out-loud moments. Second, was the lead actress, Morgana O'Reilly. She was very good here, adroitly handling the difficult task of playing the ungrateful welp for the first half of the film, yet still remaining likable enough for us to care about what happens to her when the freaky stuff starts happening. Johnstone deliberately wrote the character as “someone who wouldn't scare easily” to reel like-minded audiences in. A good idea and it worked.

Morgana O'Reilly (right) & Rima Te Wiata look on in Housebound.

This was a joy to watch. It had an element of fun that is missing from a lot of current genre flicks,  proving that scary and funny don't have to be exclusive states of being in horror. Housebound is an extremely accomplished film and considering it's Johnstone's debut, I can't wait to see where he goes from here.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

DKTM 238


While I've been partaking in all the Toronto After Dark festivities, the world have horror has been shambling along. Here's some cool stuff from the last week or so.

Harbingers Of...

On the heels of the release The ABC's of Death 2 comes a little added bonus. Twenty-nine of the filmmakers involved with the project were asked their favourite on-film death scene, for which Drafthouse Films then compiled into this diabolical video montage.



There are some favourites in there to be sure, like Robocop, Alien, Raiders and Jaws, but can you name them all? It looks like forum discussion has still not been able to pin down the Chris Nash pick that finishes off the set.

The Rift Widens.

Last year I saw a really effective creeper called The Banshee Chapter. Well, it appears that this film has now been tapped to become the first film to be released in virtual reality format via the Oculus Rift. Banshee Chapter, being the wonderfully creative found footage film that it is, is the perfect choice for this new technology and is sure to induce many a pants-shitting over the next few months.



So, if you are lucky enough to be one of the few who owns one of these devices, you can download the movie here.

DarkFlix.

Vincenzo Natali's technology-tinged television anthology Darknet is now available on Netflix. Premiering last year on Super Channel, it consisted of six episodes directed by the likes of Natali, Steve Hoban and Rodrigo Gudino. Here below, is one of seven teasers.



I really dug what I've seen of this show, so I'm looking forward to cracking into the rest. No word on if there will be more, but I'll keep my sensors on.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Squad on Blu-ray

Before I get to some of the great titles I saw at this banner year at Toronto After Dark, I have another guest post from Canuxploitation's Paul Corupe. This time, he has the rundown on the new Scream Factory Blu-ray release of the South American horror flick The Squad. Take it away, Paul.

Fall in maggots! Time to enlist in The Squad, a respectable 2011 Colombian horror-thriller that seems to have received most of its marching orders from John Carpenter's The Thing. Though The Squad fails to reach those lofty heights, the film is well-shot and occasionally atmospheric as it weaves some similar paranoia-based siege thrills. Though Scream! Factory usually opts for vintage horror, The Squad still feels akin to many of their other releases—a low-budget paranormal outing set in the middle of a civil war that manages some impressively tense scenes despite difficulty in getting them to pay off properly.


In the film, a crack military squad led by Sanchez (Mauricio Navas) reclaims a base only to find it eerily deserted, with only blood-stained walls, vague warnings written in chalk and a logbook with increasingly curious entries. Hearing muffled noises, one of the soldiers knocks down a thin cement wall and, behind it, discovers a woman tied up, seemingly left for dead. The rest of the unit debates about whether to free her—is she a spy, innocent civilian or something else entirely? One notes that she must have been tied up for a reason, and his insight proves to be prophetic. When they do free her things start to get even stranger, as madness and suspicion threaten to rip the squad apart, sometimes literally.

An interesting, but uneven effort that made the Festival rounds in 2011, The Squad is intended as an allegory to its war-torn country of origin, currently host to the longest-running civil war in history that began all the way back in 1964. The film plays off local fears and paranoia about sudden violence, missing family members and citizens caught in the middle of warring factions in this seemingly unending conflict. The Squad taps into this nerve-wracking situation where a long forgotten land mine can change anyone's life in a split second, and highlights the utter weariness of the shell-shocked soldiers, damaged from their long tour of duty, as they have trouble distinguishing reality from fearful fantasy.

Not surprisingly, the film focuses on the soldiers themselves, these war-ravaged young men who are unsure of the nature of the curse that seems to have befallen them. The film trades in stereotypes--gung ho heroes and reluctant fighters—but there are some decent dramatic moments that develop as the squad tries to figure out what happened to the previous unit and whether recent history is repeating itself.


Director Jamie Osorio Marquez makes excellent use of his claustrophobic bunker setting, with pleasantly washed-out colour palettes that give the film a notable visual richness. Though the film manages some genuine frissons as the squad explores the fog-plagued bunker, fearful of enemy ambush, it noticeably has more trouble when Marquez had to sneak in actual scares. He seems unsure of how to lead the audience's eye and where exactly a frightful image should pop up onscreen. A scene of a leg amputation, while somewhat gory, doesn't have as much impact as it should, due to camera placement choices and unsuccessfully trying to get the point across by squishy sound effects instead.

The ambiguity of the terror plaguing the squad is also not handled terribly well--if anything, it's a little too on-the-nose while setting up its red herrings. The film's invented haziness about who the woman is and what she's doing comes off as too calculated and obvious, with many warnings about witches and eerie forces that tip the film’s hand pretty early on.

A film that looks this nice should have an eye-popping transfer, and the film’s new Blu-ray shows off the occasionally gorgeous cinematography of hazy mountain backgrounds. The creepy, active soundtrack also gets a nice boost from a lively DTS track. The presentation is top-notch, as we've come to expect from Scream! Factory. However, the only real extra is a 20-minute "making of" doc that has some interesting behind-the-scenes footage, but was seemingly created as a series of promotional pieces.

While far from a classic, fans of siege horror will surely have a good time with The Squad–especially those partial to more recent horror festival favourites. So move out and pickup this one up, soldier!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

The Monitor Premiere.


Well, THAT happened. It was such a great night! My short film seemed to go over well, being that there were many kind words afterwards, so that’s always reassuring.

Me, with lead actress Tonya Dodds (right) & TAD programmer Shelagh Rowan-Legg. 


It’s been a crazy whirlwind this week – two flicks aday for nine nights will do that to you – but once I get a chance to catch my breath I will get things back on track here.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Surreality.

Here's the listing for The Monitor in honest-to-God print.


I keep thinking in the back of my mind, I'm going to get an email or text saying,“whoops, there's been a terrible mistake.”



Just over twenty-four hours to showtime now. By this time tomorrow I bet my stomach and heart are going to feel like they have switched places.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Darkness Is Nigh!

The ninth edition of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival starts its nine-day run of insane programming tonight.


Apart from the 31st, this festival is the highlight of my October every year. I'm excited to see several of the films in the line-up this year, including tonight's Opening Gala screening of New Zealand's newest horror offering Housebound.


But, as I announced earlier, this year has extra significance because my newest short film is playing TAD this year.


The Monitor will be screening in front of the Elijah Wood thriller Open Windows at 7pm on Mon, October 20th at The Scotiabank Theatre. If you make it, please come over and say hi, either at the theatre or afterwards at Pub After Dark.

With all the madness of the next week or so, posts will be light, but I promise to whip up some, after the dust settles, covering the films I most enjoyed at this year's TAD, as well as my experiences next Monday evening. Until then, have a great weekend!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Well, Hellooo Dolly!

Last Wednesday, The Black Museum (its fourth semester now winding down) held another of their lectures at The Royal, this one an exploration of dolls, and other creepy life-like machinations in horror cinema. 


I was looking forward to this not only because of the subject matter, but also because the guest speaker Andrea Butler's previous lecture on horror movie poster art still remains one of my favourites.

Butler began by relating a personal connection to that evening's lecture, in that she grew up in contact with a substantial doll collection by way of her mother. Strangely, as a child, nothing was amiss. It was only when she grew into her teens, that this collection, looming on hallway shelves that were built for just that purpose, started to become ominous. Why had this only become an issue when she had reached a certain age? Dolls provide children with joy the world over, yet for some adults, they give the absolute opposite response. I mean, look no further than this confounding ad from the sixties...



This irrational unease was what Butler sought to explore that evening. Rather than simply do a historical chronology of cinematic dolls, puppets and mannequins, she thought it much more interesting to analyze how these fears have been represented on film.


She began with a possible origin, which dealt with man's fear of becoming an automaton brought on by The Industrial Revolution and the increase of menial & repetitive labour. I can certainly see how one could fear the loss of individuality and sense of one's self during this time. Butler offered up a clip of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times to illustrate this point.

Hoping to identify what exactly makes dolls and the like so unsettling, Butler brought up Masahiro Mori's theory of  “The Unncanny Valley”.

Right click to enlarge.

Based on an earlier essay by Sigmund Freud, Mori was a robotics professor that surmised that one's reaction to a robot was in direct relation to how closely it resembled our likeness. As Butler explained;

“The more human a robot acts or looks, the more endearing it is to us, but when the likeness is too strong, it somehow illicits a negative reaction... and if the robots moves or speaks, that only increases the feeling of the uncanny.”

With that out of the way, Butler broke down how these subjects are represented in cinema into three categories.

The first category involved inanimate objects as props for the antagonist, being used either to symbolize some past trauma of the killer, or as lures or traps for their victims. Butler cited such examples as these iconic sequences from Dario Argento's Deep Red and James Wan's Saw



as well as lesser known fare, such as 1983's Curtains and the underseen 2012 flick Cassadaga.


The second representation in film is related to mental illness, where a character will interact or speak through - or sometimes become - an inanimate object in order to enact a fantasy or repress reality. Some of the examples brought up in this category were “The Ventriloquist's Dummy” segment of the 1945 anthology film Dead of Night, Richard Attenborough's brilliant thriller Magic, as well as the weirdly sexual Pin from 1988, and Lucky McKee's May.



The third, and most pervasive category belongs to the supernatural, where dolls have been possessed or cursed by some mischievous or evil entity. There were obviously no shortage of titles to crib from here, but Butler chose a nice mix of the mainstream and obscure, which included Umberto Lenzi's Ghosthouse, Stuart Gordon's Dolls and the Zuni Fetish sequence from the 1975 Karen Black vehicle Trilogy of Terror.



There could also be no discussion without the inclusion of the denizens of the Puppet Master films and good ol' Chucky from Child's Play.



Bringing things up to date was Annabelle, the ultimate creepy doll introduced in James Wan's 2013 scare flick The Conjuring, and now, most recently, in her self-titled prequel.



Butler brought the talk to a close by saying that the common thread of these categories preys on our fear of becoming a doll, losing control of our body, or being manipulated by some outside force.

So, my conclusions?

Yep, dolls are creepy as fuck.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

DKTM 237


Hello all. Well, we're knee deep in every horrorphile's favourite month and everything seems to be moving along nicely. I can see from my various social media feeds that several October horror movie marathons are in full swing and it warms my heart.

I myself am in the calm before the storm (i.e Toronto After Dark) here, so I'm enjoying this little Thanksgiving breather before things get crazy for here on in. So, for now, here are some terror tidbits to chew on.

Sexy Witchcraft.

Here is a cool little effects-heavy short I found on Vimeo called Goat Witch. It is from the guys who brought you last year's The Demon's Rook, that made some noise on the festival circuit last year. This short features a lot of things I hold dear, such as gore, dark rituals... oh, and blood-soaked, full frontal nudity. Enjoy!



Arrow A Go-Go.

Most cinephiles have heard of Arrow Video by now. Based out of the UK, they have killing it with their horror Blu-ray releases over the past few years. Unfortunately, due to being across the pond, their wonderful wares are region locked (as well as all that pesky overseas shipping) which continues to pose a problem to a large percentage of North American consumers. Well, Arrow now has their sights on expanding, but they need your help.



One-hundred-thousand smackers is a lofty goal to be sure, but it looks like they are already a third of the way there, so the demand is obviously there. Plus, fifteen bones is a pretty good price for an Arrow tee, wouldn't you say? For more info on the campaign, click here.

Well? Are You???

Though it was a bit before my time (I was weened on Twilight Zone reruns, Tales both from the Crypt and Darkside, and also the lesser known series, Darkroom) the show Are You Afraid Of The Dark? was pretty substantial nightmare fuel for kiddies of the nineties. Recently, Reddit user R2Teep2 was kind enough to not only discover that every episode is available on YouTube, but also cull all the links together in a handy episode guide. Click on the image below to dive in.


Whether reliving childhood memories or discovering them anew, these should keep you busy throughout the Halloween season.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Trailer Tuesdays: Pin

Since tomorrow's Black Museum lecture is all about creepy dolls, marionettes and automatons in film, I figured I'd offer up one of Canada's best examples of such, the 1988 thriller Pin, starring David Hewlett & Terry O'Quinn.



I recently re-watched this and the subject matter is still pretty unsettling, as not only is Hewlett's character all kinds of askew, but his father (played by O'Quinn) corners the market on questionable parenting decisions. A dangerous mix, indeed.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

DKTM 236


Hello all. Since it is now October - the busiest month for all things horror - my weekends are pretty much rammed with stuff. Therefore, this post is coming to you from the past! Here's what I've got for you this week.

Stay Living.

Here's a cool little advert that pops up in my Facebook recently. UK filmmaker Matt Devine recently posted the third in a series of zombie films for Boost Mobile. Here it is below.



To check out the first two parts, click here, and here.

Lucille Would Approve.

A few days ago, the site Nuke The Fridge let fly with a juicy casting rumour about the small screen juggernaut The Walking Dead. Apparently, Kevin Durand has been approached the play the infamous Negan


Those familiar with the comic know that Negan's shoes are tough ones to fill, but I think Durand would be an excellent choice. His size & demeanor fit right in with the character, and furthermore, Durand is killing it right now on The Strain.

Aside from that, the entrance of Negan is really going to shine a light on how far the show can really go on AMC. Considering, they shied away from letting Rick say what he really should've said in the concluding moments of last season's finale, how are they going to deal with someone as “colourful” as Negan??? Case in point;


It should be interesting to say the least. Regardless, I hope the rumours are true, and Negan's arc begins sooner, rather than later.

More King.

Last week, I posted a trailer for the upcoming adaptation of the King novella Big Driver, but there is another King adaptation releasing this weekend. The movie version of the story A Good Marriage, which coincidentally also appeared in the King collection Full Dark, No Stars, stars Anthony Lapaglia, Joan Allen and Kristen Connolly. Here is the trailer below.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Big News!

Actually, it's kind of huge. My latest short film, The Monitor will be premiering at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival later this month!


I am beside myself with excitement right now. I attended the first edition of TAD as an audience member, and now, nine years later, I'll be going as a “filmmaker”. It's crazy. But a good crazy.

There is a great crop of shorts playing this year, including two of my recent favourites from DIFF, Strange Thing & Dead Hearts, as well as a few I've been waiting to see, like Everything and Everything and Everything, He Took His Skin Off For Me and Foxed.


I don't know exactly when The Monitor will screen at the fest, but you can be sure I will let you all know when it does. If you happen to be in town, please come on by. Lastly, check out this new 2014 sizzle reel from TAD programmer Justin McConnell.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Nine More Nightmares.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival just revealed the remaining nine titles of their 2014 line-up, and boy, are there some doozies! In fact, including the ten already announced - which includes the likes of The Babadook, ABC's of Death 2 and Open Windows - this looks like the strongest slate in years. Take a look!

Click on posters for more info.









Toronto After Dark runs October 16th to 24th at the Scotiabank Theatre. For ticket info, click here.