Toronto After Dark 2009 - The Full Slate!

Less than one week to go...The Toronto After Dark Film Festival begins it's fourth year on August 14th and the film that will be kicking things off is the blaxploitation action comedy "Black Dynamite". Can you dig it?

Here's the remaining list and trailers for each (again - Safe For Work...not so much):



Black Dynamite
Scott Sanders, USA, Canadian Premiere

Billed as a "throwback" to the 70s blaxploitation films, the trailer seems to indicate that it captures the style of those movies while also having fun with them. As long as it stays within the loving tribute parameters, this could be a blast.




Strigoi
Faye Jackson, UK, World Premiere

"You are a good boy Vlad...Cut out his heart." Romanian villagers have to deal with a rash of vampires. This is a world premiere snag by the festival organizers, so I hope it keeps to the feel of the trailer.




Dead Snow
Tommy Wirkola, Norway, Toronto Premiere

"Ein Zwei Die!" I've heard chatter about this one for awhile, though I'm not sure if that's due simply to the concept (Nazi zombies in the snow) or because the movie is actually good. It should satiate the appetite of the many zombies who will also be in the audience (1/2 price for zombie attendees!).




The Revenant
D. Kerry Prior, USA, International Premiere

The second feature of zombie night at the movies (the half price deal is still on for zombie attired film fans). Looks like someone wondered what would happen if you started with the end concept of "Shaun Of The Dead" - can a human and former-best-friend-now-zombie remain friends?




The Warlords
Peter Chan, Hong Kong, Toronto Premiere

Big scale, period epic with warring tribes and hundreds of fights. Should look great on a big screen and I'm sure Jet Li and cast will provide some exciting stuff, but I have to say I'm kinda tired of blood brothers having to have their ultimate battle with each other. Please don't descend into unintentional homoerotic silliness...




Rough Cut
Jang Hun, Korea, Toronto Premiere

A gangster and movie star do some role reversal's in this Kim Ki-duk produced and written story. Hard to tell too much from the trailer since it isn't subtitled, but I'm wondering how a Ki-duk written story will pan out for a genre audience. I always find something interesting in his films, so my toes are crossed that this meets its potential.




The Dark Hour
Elio Quiroga, Spain, Canadian Premiere

Not sure about this one...Dystopic dark and colourless future? Seen it. If they can build up the suspense and bring something new to the table, maybe we'll have something. Otherwise it could be a snooze.




Must Love Death
Andreas Schaap, Germany, Canadian Premiere

Humour is tough to do right. With so many comedic takes on the genres already in the festival, this looks to be one of the lesser ones - but we've been fooled by trailers before. The Romantic Comedy meets Horror film angle is good, but the "And now...for the ass..." line falls really flat.




The Children
Tom Shankland, UK, Toronto Premiere

Apparently the scariest film of the festival. We saw some evil kids during last year's "Home Movie" and that turned out to be pretty damn good. Let's hope they can turn the trick twice. Again though, the trailer isn't offering too much new...




I said, can you dig it?