Hello all. It's TIFF time again, the 50th edition in fact, but of course you know the highlight of this eleven day event is the Midnight Madness programme. 2025 will be my 26th year attending this legendary event and I thought I'd reflect on my top twenty Midnight Madness screenings. I suppose it could've been 26, but I wanted to keep it exclusive, you bet The Pang Brothers' The Eye was just bubbling under here. Also, a disclaimer. This list only includes films I actually saw at midnight. It Follows would have been high up on this list, but for some reason I caught an afternoon screening of that one. Now let's go back in time, shall we?
This is a film that has almost completely disappeared into obscurity, but I remember my friend & I being so unsettled by that last sequence, as well as when the actor who played Eric stepped on stage with the director, the crowd collectively breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't real.
My very first Midnight Madness screening. It was stowed away in one of the Uptown's smaller theatres and though perhaps not as brain-melting as Wild Zero (that played also that year) I recall having my mind blown, by just how deep the subtext went in some of my favourite childhood flicks.
While nowadays people mostly remember titles from the sequel, back in the day this was a horror phenomenon, partly because of the open call competition for the letter "T" (that I participated in and was eventually won by animator Lee Hardcastle). My highlight was meeting director Yoshihiro Nushimura at a cocktail party and using my one Japanese phrase, “Douzo yoroshiku.”
This was a terrific screening with a great cast and when Flanagan really began to hit his stride, employing techniques he would use later in projects, such as The Haunting of Hill House.
Sure there is Tony Jaa and Ong Bak and those movies are great, but for me this movie was a revelation. I instantly fell for JeeJa Yanin, and her swift fighting style. Though I was gutted she was unable to attend the fest because of schedule conflicts, that screening was electric.
This movie is a fantastically gritty crime film that should be sought out, however funnily enough my memories of this screening are of the following Q&A, where a woman got booed for asking Patrick Stewart for a hug and the eeriness of seeing Anton Yelchin, less than a year before his tragic death.
Without a doubt, the craziest Midnight screening I have ever attended. Red carpets at the Ryerson were known for being lively, like the herd of sheep at Black Sheep, and Borat arriving in an ox-cart being pulled by peasant women, but the number of paparazzi at Jennifer's Body (for stars Megan Fox and Adam Brody) outnumbered the people there to see the film. When they swarmed the front during the intro, you actually couldn't see the stage from your seat.
A wonderful little coming-of-age genre film. You always hear about “paramedics were called!” stories slapped into ads for a movie and wonder if it is true. Well, for this one it was, as it was actually a friend sitting a few seats over that had to be helped out of there during this screening.
It was a toss up between this and 2004 film Calvaire, and while I think Fabrice du Welz's effort is the better film, there is something to be said for the impact this movie had on horror. For better or worse, though Saw (also a MM flick and not on this list) may have started the torture porn era, Hostel solidified it. Also, like Raw, this also had a “paramedics were called” moment when someone took a header down the escalator on their woozy way out of the Varsity.
Though I recall the reaction to be a little mixed after the screening, I adore this movie. The filmmakers really hyped the shit out of this movie, giving out animal masks to attendees in line, and spraypainting murals all over town. Sharni Vinson as Erin still remains one of the most bad-ass Final Girls in slasher history.
Say what you will about his franchise, the promise of vampires versus werewolves, sorry Death Dealers vs Lycans, was a strong one. But, let's be honest, my takeaway is that it was the night I saw Kate Beckinsale in person. It is not hyperbole to say there was a beam of light was following her around. Stunning.
I was front row at the newly screened (as in they'd just put one in) Midnight venue the Royal Alex Theater to see Mia Goth in all her glory. I still maintain this is the best entry in the trilogy and it is all because of her committed performance. I will say though, I'll never forget how the roof blew off the place when they played that secret teaser for MaXXXine.
The last film to ever screen at the legenday Uptown Theater (R.I.P.) and what a blast it was. The Spierigs' kept Peter Jackson's splatstick legacy of that corner of the world going with this wonderful zombie romp. I recall that every b-list celebrity that was in town for the fest being at that screening.
This was THE Midnight film to see that year. I mean, Bruce Campbell as an aging Elvis fighting a soul-sucking mummy in an old folks' home. If that doesn't have classic written all over it, what does? And of course, there was the joy of watching Campbell ham it up with the crowd after.
Speaking of 2002, this was the sleeper of the year. Eli Roth got the crowd going with his enthusiasm and everyone was really into the sometimes gross, sometimes absurd tone. I remember this took a full year to reach theatres and I was pumping it up all the way.
Now, for the dark shit at the tail end of the New French Extremity movement, a trend that MM was all over. Programmer Colin Geddes had warned me of the subject matter, but even I wasn't prepared for just how much ugliness would unfold onscreen. I'll always remember when the movie ended, my friend asking me the time and pull out my phone and my hand was completely numb because I'd been unconsciously flexing my elbow into the seat rest for the last half-hour of the movie.
You want to talk about movies blowing the roof off the place. I had been getting tidbits about the shoot from a producer I knew through mutual friends so I was super stoked, but I could not have imagined how bone-crunchingly awesome this movie would be. The stable of talented martial artists in that film was unrivalled at that time.
A veritable gut-punch of a movie and a legendary screening at the Ryerson Theater. It had previously been established that the French were fucked up and gave zero shits, but this was a sinewy tour-de-force that left everyone floored. I had a friend who was expecting his first child and was visibly offended by the last few minutes. Mission accomplished!
Sitting in the front row of the Uptown Theater to watch this, it knocked my eyeballs back into my head. The sound design cut through me like nothing I'd ever experienced and the constant barrage of nightmare inducing set pieces was almost overwhelming. Ringu will always be considered the king of J-horror, but Ju-on is right there too.
1. HIGH TENSION - 2003 - Dir: Alex Aja
Here it is! The benchmark of New French Extremity and the jewel of the banner MM year that was 2003. That year has never been matched in my opinion. I met one of my oldest Toronto friends in line to see this movie, and the screening was absolutely unforgettable. The opening where Marie is stumbling through the forest (a visual that has been recreated so many times since) while the score by François Eudes screeched into my eardrums was just, wow. There was also something about how the blood flows in this movie, gore guru Gio de Rossi really showed up for this one. Say what you will about the logic averse plot twist, this movie is mean, lean and a bloody machine.
Well, that's it. A brief (?) history of my Midnight Madness playlist. Now, I've got to go get in line.
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