TIFF 2012 announces Midnight Madness programming

Pam Fossen No comments

This year’s Midnight Madness programming for the Toronto International Film Festival has just been announced, and there’s ten frightening, creepy, thrilling or just plain dark premieres up for your viewing pleasure. Like always, I want to see pretty much every film in the line up, but there are a few stand outs. Some highlights this year include:

The ABCs of Death – A rather ambitious film which includes the work of 26 horror directors. That means 26 gruesome ways to die – each one more inventive than the last. I always love anthology films because if there’s something that doesn’t turn your crank, just wait a minute or so, and something cool will be in the next segment.

John Dies at the End (dir. Don Coscarelli) – This one’s a mind-bender about a brand new drug that lets you cross time and dimensions. What you see isn’t necessarily what’s there. Creepy and dark, this comedic horror was adapted from David Wong’s novel and stars Paul Giamatti.

Seven Psychopaths (dir. Martin McDonagh) – A dark comedy thriller, written and directed by the same man who brought us In Bruges. Colin Farrell is a Hollywood screenwriter whose friends mistakenly get him into trouble with the criminal underworld. It boasts one of the most interesting casts I’ve seen in a long time; Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits and Abbie Cornish.

Hellbenders (dir. JT Petty) – Anything with the descriptor “an R-rated 3D exorcism comedy” deserves our attention. It’s all demonic possessions and hard-living, tough-talking priests fighting evil in Petty’s latest horror. And this one’s in 3D. It stars Clancy Brown and Clifton Collins Jr.

Others in the programme include Rob Zombie’s new one, The Lords of Salem, Pete Travis’ rework of Dredd, No One Lives from Ryuhei Kitamura, NicolÃ¡s LÃ³pez’s Aftershock, Mexican thriller Come Out and Play, and the premiere of Barry Levinson’s harrowing film, The Bay.

Midnight Madness is part of the programming at TIFF 2012, which runs from September 6 to 16. For all the details on the festival or to purchase tickets, please visit tiff.net.

Image from The ABCs of Death

Pam Fossen

Obsessed with watching movies as far back as she can remember, Pam loves film enough to have two university degrees in the subject. When not focused on a movie screen, she can usually be found reading, cooking, touring vineyards, or planning where to spend her vacation time.