Darkness Falls.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is finally upon us and I should hopefully start posting reviews this weekend.  For now though, I thought I'd offer up a top five of films I'm most stoked to see over the next nine days.

5. Resolution

This is a genre-bending horror film that I just missed at Fantasia in July. The buzz has been fairly positive since its premiere at Tribeca in April and I'm glad the After Dark crew was able to bring this to Toronto. Its dialogue driven nature and air of mystery have got me really excited and I'm hoping all questions will be answered when it screens next Tuesday.

4. Crave

This is another flick I narrowly missed seeing while I was in Montreal. From all accounts, this was high on the list of people's favourites at Fantasia this year.  It sounds like there is a lot of creativity at play in this thriller from prolific documentarian Charles de Lauzirika, as well as a spirited performance from Josh Lawson. It appears that After Dark intends to continue its emphasis on indies with strong, character-driven narratives, like Absentia, Midnight Son & Some Guy Who Kills People in 2011.

3. Citadel

This Scottish/Irish co-production has been building buzz steadily over the last few months thanks to a big push in Canada from distributor Mongrel Media. Categorized as another entry in a growing movement dubbed “hoodie horror” this one could be the most nail-biting yet. A great look, some menacing antagonists and a score from the fantastic duo tomandandy make this a no-brainer.

2. [REC]3

Finally, after many, many months of waiting I will finally get to see the third installment of the zombie genre's current premiere franchise. While it is true I could've seen this through more clandestine avenues, nothing beats watching these films on the big screen. I have heard how Paco Plaza subverts the format of the series in this one and I can't wait to see where it goes from there.

1. American Mary

After hearing that the Canadian twisted twins The Soska Sisters were teaming up with former Ginger Snap Katherine Isabelle for their next feature, I've been anxious see what this union would produce. All signs have pointed to something truly unique and tonight's the night. As a bonus, it looks like Jen and Sylvia Soska will actually be in attendance this evening! If that's not worth the price of admission, I don't know what is!

To be honest, it was tough to cut it down to five titles, as I'm also really looking forward to After, Grabbers and Cockneys vs. Zombies. But don't take my word for it, check out all the trailers by going here.  And, it's still not too late to get tickets if you're in the Toronto area.  For more info, click here. Hope to see you there!

Sinister.

Before things get crazy with Toronto After Dark this week, I managed to squeeze in a viewing of Sinister.

After true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) and his family move into a new home, he finds a box of home movies in the attic that may shed light on some unsolved murders dating back to the sixties.

Sinister is a functional horror film, but could've been a lot better if its payoff had been as good as its setup. The first frames of this movie, which show silent Super 8 footage of four hooded figures hanging from a tree was rather striking and set the tone well. The movie features about half a dozen of these home movie horrors, and they are by far the most unsettling bits of the movie. I also want to single out composer Christopher Young, as his excellent score definitely heightened the mood. His contribution, with its muted drones and other identifiable noises, really added to the grim happenings onscreen.

I dug the first hour of this movie, but once the home movies were played out, the rest of the scare tactics employed by director Scott Derrickson felt staged and arbitrary. The mystery of the found footage was darkly fascinating, but the rest of Sinister just seemed to be Hawke either stewing in his office or skulking around the house at night, just asking for things to jump out at him from the shadows.

Ethan Hawke as Ellison Oswalt in Sinister.

There were other things about Sinister I found puzzling. Shoving the usual horror trope logistics aside, I really had trouble accepting that Oswalt's wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) would uproot their family to move to a place she apparently had zero knowledge of. Then, there was the ending, which was played out like a big reveal, even though the film was structured – and decidedly marketed – as to render the last few beats fairly obvious from almost the get-go.

Looking through director Derrickson's filmography, I discovered he was responsible for the under appreciated 2005 possession flick The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Though that movie abandoned most of its genre underpinnings halfway though by ostensibly turning into a courtroom drama, I felt that picture carried a lot more weight than this one did.

What? I don't see anything, what am I supp-- GAH!!

Even with these gripes, Sinister is still better than most of the Hollywood fare that's been trotted out in the last few months – though I do feel last month's The Possession had more richly written child characters and better actors portraying them. If we're keeping score at home, I'd have to say that James Wan's Insidious still reigns supreme when it comes to recent fare of this ilk.

DKTM 156

In honour of AMC's The Walking Dead kicking off its third season tonight, please enjoy this all zombie edition of Don't Kill The Messenger.

Living Dread.

There is some fantastic Halloween programming coming up at the Lightbox in a few weeks.  Take a look at this!

As if a triple bill of George A. Romero's original undead trilogy wasn't enough, the man himself will be on hand throughout the week to introduce some his iconic masterpieces. But wait, there's more! There is also a screening of Michael Powell's 1960 flick Peeping Tom on Nov 4th. Yep, it looks like Christmas came early this year.  For ticket info, click here.

The Apocalypse Will Be Televised.

A week before I will finally get to lay eyes on [REC]3, a teaser trailer for [REC]4: Apocalypse has hit the Web.

Presumably picking up where the second film left off, Apocalypse sees the deadly contagion leaving the confines of the apartment complex and spreading outward.  Let's hope both 3 & 4 build on the nail-biting intensity of the first two installments.

Run For Your Lives.

A few weeks ago, the zombie 5k race event, Run For Your Lives happened in the outskirts of Toronto.  While I was too lazy to run in the event itself, here's some footage (courtesy YouTube user cbass780) of someone who actually did.

It looks like a hell of a lot of fun, though a bit more obstacle-intensive than your standard running race it would appear.

Okay, that's it for today.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go sharpen my samurai sword.

Red Ink.

I finally got a chance to write down some thoughts on the comics I've been reading over the past few months. Here's the lowdown on a trio of collections I picked up here and there.

I've had this book for a while now and have wanted to dig into this series even longer than that. Created by Tim Seeley, it tells the ongoing story of Cassie Hack, a final girl who takes it upon her self to hunt down and destroy evildoers known as “slashers”. Aiding her in quest is a hulking, yet simple giant named Vlad. This book includes Hack's first seven adventures, as well as a few other goodies. I have to admit it took me a while to clock into the tone of Hack/Slash, as I was expecting it to be a lot less campy. It's also a bit of a tease in the nudity department, never really crossing over into hard “R” territory, but I got used to it. Ultimately, I was won over by some really fun and clever story arcs and larger-than-life villains.

Each story brought something to the table, but I think Slice Hard and the Vs. Chucky arcs were my favourite sections. I noticed that Joss Whedon's Cabin In The Woods shared some similarities with Slice Hard – which was originally released in 2006. Although, in Whedon's defence, Cassie Hack, by design, is a lot like Buffy, so I guess that makes them even. I was also pretty chuffed to see Chucky show up, as well. In a universe where all these “slashers” are supposed to exist, it made sense that Cassie would come across one of the “big bads” sooner or later. I also appreciated that the artists were often switched up between stories to give each its own palette.

Though not what I was initially expecting, I grew to like Hack/Slash's quirky nature.

This comic is one that has likely flown under a lot of people's radar, as it features none of the more flamboyant or grandiose qualities that you usually find on comic store shelves. Written by Kevin Church and set in 1970's America, it follows private detective Sam Kimimura as he searches for a missing girl in small-town Oregon. It is a very straight forward noir, yet exceedingly well-written and the characters hold a surprising amount of weight considering the overall curtness of the story. 

In the hands of the right filmmaker, I could see this story being as significant as some of the other great contemporary westerns like Lone Star and No Country For Old Men. Though, there's something about the nature of this story that seems more fitting to the small screen, as it treads the same territory as something like Justified. She Died In Terrebonne is definitely worth checking out, and you can pick it up fairly inexpensively, by going here.

I have to say that the premise of this comic is absolutely delicious. Suppose the undead uprising that occurred George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead was a worldwide phenomenon. As you can imagine, there were a good many dead in Vietnam, so '68 puts you smack dab in the jungle during those first cataclysmic hours. Written by Mark Kidwell, this trade collects the first five issues.

First off, I thought the art was rather striking. After many, many years of reading The Walking Dead, I have to say it was refreshing to see some throat rips and eviscerations in full colour. The back-and-forth nature of the narrative was a bit jarring at first, but as soon as I keyed into who the main characters were, I got used to it.

'68 is at times predictable, but there are also some cool little inflections thrown in every once and a while that I really appreciated, including a zombie sniper, the consequences of a mass grave and a nice little nod to the original film early on. There is also a story that takes place in California, which opened things up a bit more.

Out of the three comics I've talked about here, '68 would be the one I would most likely keep reading – even if it is almost exactly like one I'm already keeping up with. What can I say? I love my undead ghouls.

So, that's what I've been flipping through this year. Hopefully, one or more of these have piqued your interest.

The Carvening.

To all my fellow Canucks, Happy...

The Undeading.

I'm away this weekend, finishing off that project I spoke about last week, but hopefully I'll be able to get some posts in before all the Toronto After Dark madness.  For now, here's a helpful PSA courtesy of Canadian filmmaker Vincenzo Natali.

Skinfections

After screening his Skinfections Trilogy at Fantastic Fest last week, Toronto filmmaker Chris Nash has released them online for all to see. Here they are below. I would strongly suggest you not be eating while watching these. Other than that... Enjoy!

Nash is currently whooping it up in Lalaland right now, but I hope to collaborate with him again someday soon.  To see more of Nash's work, check out his Vimeo page.