Willow Creek Straying off California’s “Bigfoot Scenic Byway,” Jim (Bryce Johnson)—an avowed Sasquatch believer—and Kelly (Alexie Gilmore)—his less-than-convinced girlfriend—take in the surreal sights of Willow Creek. The tiny community is a stone’s throw from where the infamous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot footage was shot in the 1960`s. After lunching on “Bigfoot burgers,” admiring comical murals and listening […]
Big Bad Wolves It’s easy to see why Quentin Tarantino would be so quick to anoint the Israeli thriller Big Bad Wolves as his favourite film of the year, because with 75% of the film’s non-stop dialogue made up of oh-so-witty tangential asides or alpha male posturing it fits in quite nicely with the worst […]
The Last Days on Mars On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member on Tantalus Base believes he’s made an astounding discovery – fossilized evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claim all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an […]
The Machine Two computer programmers fall in love creating the first ever piece of self-aware artificial intelligence, designed to help humanity. But things go wrong when the MoD (the U.K. equivalent of the CIA who have been funding their research), decide to alter their breakthrough and teach it to become a robotic weapon. The Machine […]
Cheap Thrills Dark, twisted, and emotionally disturbed in ways almost too delightful and clever to spoil, the coal black comedy Cheap Thrills certainly lives up to its name and then some thanks to clever writing and solid performances. Struggling writer and married father Craig (Pat Healy) has just lost his oil changing gig and finds […]
Odd Thomas In what almost felt like the launch of a new TV series, Odd Thomas works as a quirky supernatural crime procedural that’s somewhat of a departure for director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy). In a small California desert town, a short-order cook named Odd (Anton Yelchin) has the unique ability to see the work […]
Found A shy and bullied 12 year old, Marty (Shane Brown), find his refuge in horror films to escape the pain of his day to day life. Unfortunately for him, his life turns into a real life horror story when he discovers that his older brother Steve (Ethan Philbeck) is keeping severed heads in his […]
We Are What We Are Recently widowed father Frank Parker (Bill Sage) and his two teenage daughters try to keep their time-honored family tradition a secret from their increasingly suspicious small town neighbours in the wake of a torrential downpour. But as the evidence starts building, daughters Iris (Ambyr Childers) and Rose (Julia Garner) are […]
Septic Man A rare example of a slow-burning gross out flick, Septic Man might spend a bit too much time wallowing somewhat dully in the predicament of its main character instead of the literal pile of shit he finds himself in. Thankfully, there are still some elements that float above the sometimes messy narrative. From […]
Motivational Growth Much of the best cinema can be called “weird.” The stuff that pushes boundaries of what the audience either expects or has the stomach for. But “weird” can be a crutch, and the bizarre can be confused for thoughtful absurdity. Motivational Growth falls into this latter camp. It’s a dark comedy, which morphs […]
The Battery One of the sparsest and most realistic feeling zombie films ever crafted, writer-director-star Jeremy Gardner’s American indie film The Battery puts a touching and poignantly gracious face on the standards of the perilous horror sub-genre. A pair of minor league baseballers from Pittsfield, Masschusetts are making their ways across the backroads, smaller suburbs, […]
Eega An unequivocal delight from start to finish, the absolutely bonkers Indian film Eega is unlike anything you’ve ever seen or likely to see ever again. It’s almost unfathomable that anyone could have even come up with this concept to begin with, but it’s incredibly heartening that someone took a chance on such a unique, […]
Stalled While clearly referring that the films main protagonist spends most of his time trapped in a washroom stall trying not to get eaten by zombies, it also explains the tone of the movie from the outset perfectly. Incredibly laboured, staggeringly unfunny, ludicrously implausible, and with the film’s few speaking roles given to inherently terribly […]
Here it is! Your guide to this year's eight annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival, bringing Toronto some of the best genre filmmaking from around the world to the Scotabank Theatre this October 17th-25th. Check back daily for new film reviews and updates!
Big Ass Spider! More in step with the loving work of Joe Dante and early Ivan Reitman than the “look at how crappy of a movie we can make” irony of something like Sharknado, Mike Mendez’s aptly named Big Ass Spider! is a welcome surprise. It’s a lovingly cheeseball, genuinely funny man vs. beast creature […]
