The Madness Is Coming. TIFF 2006 Midnight Madness Lineup Announced!
In a break with tradition - and a foolish tradition it was, announcing the Madness titles after the supposedly "final" press conference - the Toronto International Film Festival has announced their 2006 Midnight Madness lineup early this year. What do we get? Korean monsters! Violent Danish anti-porn animation! A Kazakh reporter! Killer sheep! The debut feature from the notorious Nacho Cerda! And oh, so much more ... here's the full list:
BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
BLACK SHEEP
ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE
TRAPPED ASHES
THE ABANDONED
THE HOST
SEVERANCE
PRINCESS
S&MAN
SHEITAN
In a fairly surprising move there's no fu this year, but that lineup is mighty hard to argue with. Read on for the full press release.
PREPARE FOR INSOMNIA WITH THE RETURN OF MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Toronto - A crop of 10 shocking, rocking films for the witching hour screens as part of Midnight Madness at the 31st Toronto International Film Festival, running September 7 to 16, 2006. Now in its 19th year, this popular late-night programme showcases the best in off-kilter genre flicks including sci -fi, horror, outlandish comedy and outrageous documentaries. Stay up past your bedtime and experience new works by electrifying and adventurous filmmakers dealing in the sublimely strange. The new Midnight Madness Pass includes one ticket to each Midnight Madness screening (excluding repeat screenings). Available to all Festivalgoers, this new pass is also offered at a discounted rate for students with a valid student ID card. Passes and Coupon Books are now on sale. For more information call 416-968-FILM or click, bell.ca/filmfest.
BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
Larry Charles, USA
World Premiere
Jagshemash! Sacha Baron Cohen, the star and creator of HBO's "Da Ali G Show", brings his Kazakhstani journalist character Borat Sagdiyev to the big screen for the first time. Leaving his native Kazakhstan behind, the energetic and naïve Borat travels to America to make a documentary contrasting life between these two countries. As he zigzags across the nation, his backwards behavior generates strong reactions from the ignorant individuals around him, exposing prejudices and hypocrisies in American culture. In some cases, Borat's interview subjects embrace his outrageous views on race and sex by agreeing with him, while others attempt to offer a patriotic lesson in Western values. Wa-wa-wee-wa!
BLACK SHEEP Jonathan King, New Zealand World Premiere
When a reckless genetic engineering experiment goes horribly wrong, a flock of innocent sheep accidentally transforms into a pack of blood-thirsty killers. Writer and director Jonathan King twists our perception of these gentle creatures, delivering a nasty romp through the pastures of New Zealand that is as comical and campy as it is terrifying. Created by renowned special effects house Weta Workshop (THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, KING KONG), these grisly beasts are sure to keep you from counting sheep for weeks to come.
ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE Jonathan Levine, USA World Premiere
The unattainable Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) is the most sought-after girl in school. Reclusive and anti-social by choice, Mandy is forced to entertain irritating adolescent advances while attending a weekend excursion with her classmates. But just when she thinks that these pathetic come-ons will be the worst of it, Mandy discovers she is horrifyingly mistaken. As her peers begin getting killed off one by one, it becomes clear that a secret admirer is harbouring some seriously terrifying ulterior motives.
TRAPPED ASHES Cunningham/Dante/Gaeta/Hellman/Russell, USA/Japan/Canada World Premiere
Taking cues from old anthology fright flicks like THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, TRAPPED ASHES brings together five directors for a delirious and creepy collection of tales. After seven strangers accept an invitation to visit a Hollywood studio lot, they find themselves trapped inside a house built as a set for a notorious horror film. In order to escape, they must share their most petrifying personal stories to unlock the exit. Using this narrative thread the five imaginative directors - Joe Dante (GREMLINS), Ken Russell (TOMMY), Sean Cunningham (FRIDAY THE 13TH), Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP), and John Gaeta (v isual effects supervisor for THE MATRIX series) - present stories which are shocking, seductive and surreal.
THE ABANDONED Nacho Cerdá, Spain World Premiere
Adopted and brought to America following her birth mother's mysterious death, Marie returns to her homeland of Russia to visit the isolated mountain farm that she has inherited, only to discover that no one dare show her the way to this "damned" locale. After convincing one man to take her there, he strangely disappears upon their arrival. Forced to explore the mysterious, dilapidated location alone, Marie soon stumbles upon Boris, a man who claims to have been lured to the property under similar conditions. As the two become stranded in the vast compound, they come face to face with ghosts of their past, including dead replicas of themselves, in this chilling tale of unearthed family history.
THE HOST Bong Joon-ho, South Korea North American Premiere
Zealously injected with passionate heroics and sci-fi thrills and chills, this ambitious creature-feature sees a slimy, scaly, gruesome fiend emerge from the depths of Seoul's Han River. Unleashing its fury in a blood bath that turns the mighty waters red, this creature's vicious rampage must be put to an end, and one determined family may be just the clan to do it. Much like the film's extras, fleeing in terror from the gangly and grotesque beast, Koreans are flocking to the cinemas by the thousands in hopes of snagging tickets to this Kong-sized monster movie before it opens. Delectably terrifying, THE HOST ensures that Seoul's real-life city dwellers will never look at the Han River the same way again.
SEVERANCE Christopher Smith, UK North American Premiere
Working nine to five can be a real killer. To help combat work-related stress and facilitate inter-office bonding, international arms company Palisade Defence rewards its European sales division with a corporate team-building retreat. Just as the co-workers grow accustomed to their less than luxurious accommodations, they discover that their weekend getaway has been infiltrated by a deadly enemy. There are no severance packages in sight in this kill-or-be-killed suspense-comedy. The director of the 2004 Midnight Madness shocker CREEP returns with a film tagged as "The Office" meets DELIVERANCE.
PRINCESS Anders Morgenthaler, Denmark North American Premiere
Bound to be controversial, the breathtaking animated feature PRINCESS follows the violent journey of August, a former missionary turned vigilante, set on avenging the death of his porn star sister, Christina. After Christina - more commonly known by her porn moniker, "The Princess" - dies of a drug overdose, August returns home to collect her five-year-old daughter Mia. In a desperate attempt to clear both Christina's name and Mia's increasingly confused perception of her mother, August wages a bloody war on those still trying to turn a profit from Princess' living legacy. A fascinating work dead set on exploiting the very business of exploitation - pornography.
S&MAN JT Petty, USA International Premiere
What keeps us coming back over and over to relish in gruesome acts on the big screen? Director JT Petty poses this question in S&MAN, a film about the voyeuristic pleasures attached to the horror genre. Exploring our desire to simultaneously suffer through and take pleasure in these brutal stories, Petty encounters one controversial filmmaker in particular who may take his devotion to the genre a bit too far. Delving into issues of subjectivity and voyeurism through astonishing interviews with experts and extreme independent horror filmmakers, this non-fiction film offers a thought-provoking investigation into the practice of sadistic spectatorship.
SHEITAN Kim Chapiron, France ; Canadian Premiere
After being thrown out of a Parisian nightclub on Christmas Eve, a boisterous gang of friends arrive at a country house for a weekend of adulterated debauchery. Greeted by the freakish caretaker Joseph (devilishly portrayed by French superstar Vincent Cassel), the group spends its first night indulging in conversation around such light and fluffy topics as sex, incest, and Satan. While Joseph's diabolical nature grows more and more unsettling, the young guests are too busy flirting to realize the sinister undertakings closing in around them. The first feature from Kim Chapiron, member of the cutting-edge film collective Kourtrajmé, SHEITAN will easily pamper fans of bloody, dark humour, and masochistic trepidation.
