TAD 2018

Hey all. The thirteenth edition of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival wrapped up last Friday. Though I wasn't able to attend as much as previous years, it was a strong line-up that seemed to be well received by the October faithful.

Not only were they able to bring some great films from Fantasia to the Big Smoke, including Tigers Are Not Afraid (one of my faves from last year that you can read about here), The Dark and Mega Time Squad, but they also brought in some real crowd pleasers making the rounds, like The Ranger and Anna & The Apocalypse.

Today though, I'd just like to highlight three titles I was impressed with during the fest.

This sci-fi western from Chris Caldwell & Zeek Earl was some really great stuff. I appreciated that Prospect's universe was literally built from scratch and was surprised by how much of it struck me as fresh and original. Buoyed by terrific performances by Sophie Thatcher and Prince Oberyn himself Pablo Pascal, I was completely immersed in this world.

The easiest way to describe Overlord is Band of Brothers crossed with the Resident Evil video games. JJ Abrams threw a lot of money at this movie and it showed from the opening seconds. This was also a movie that moved, as there's not an ounce of fat on this picture. Like Prospect, it also had some recognizable faces in Wyatt Russell (channeling a bit of his father as MacReady at points), Pilou Asbæk & Jovan Adepo. For those who think zombies have been done to death, I think Julius Avery may have given it another stay of execution.

Infamously known as the first movie to be conceived from a Twitter conversation between two writers, You Might Be The Killer was a really fun time. Seeing Fran Kranz again reminded me of Cabin In The Woods and just how much fun it is for horror fans to get together and gleefully deconstruct the genre we all love. There's also gore, some entertaining physical comedy, as well as the always delightful Alyson Hannigan. 

Drop by tomorrow for my first of two posts on TAD's selection of short films.