Midnight Madness Movies Coming To A Theater Near You!

So the Festival is over, and that means so is Midnight Madness... at least for another year. But many of the films were picked up for distribution, which means you'll still get the chance to see them. Here's a list.

If you want to see Samuel L. Jackson as an ass-kicking US President, you're in luck! Big Game was picked up by Elevation Pictures, a Canadian distribution company, and will be released in the US by RED/Relativity.

The whole world is going full walrus. A24 films picked up Tusk and will release it in the US this fall, while Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions will be handling distribution for the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Italy, Benelux, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Portugal, Spain and Greece.

It Follows was picked up by Icon Film Distribution for the UK and Radius Films for the US. P.S. Make sure no ghosts are lurking in the cinema when you attend a screening.

Screen Gems holds the rights for US distribution of the latest and last installment in Jaume Balaguero's zombie found footage franchise, [REC]4, but no firm release dates have been set. It opens in Spain on October 31.

If you want to enjoy a nice room temperature plate of busghetti worms bushgetti, you'll be able to when What We Do In The Shadows hits US and Canadian theaters and home video, thanks Unison Films, The Orchard, and Video Services Corp.

The Guest opened in US theaters on September 17 through Picturehouse and D Films will release it in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal on September 26, with nationwide expansion the next week. UPDATE: The Guest will be opening in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal on October 10, with further Canadian dates following after.

Midnight Madness 2014 Playlist!

MM Interviewer Rob Mitchell has put together a playlist of all his interviews, the introductions and post-screening question and answer business for all the films that played Midnight Madness this year. Twenty-two videos and just under five hours of content!

Video: IT FOLLOWS Red Carpet Interview With Maika Monroe

It Follows had it's North American premiere at Midnight Madness. The film the second from writer and director David Robert Mitchell (yes, as Robert A. Mitchell, that is weird to type). The film was well received by the midnight crowd. I was able to speak to the the lead actress Maika Monroe who did an amazing job of acting in this film. Unfortunately there are no more screenings of this film if you consider yourself a horror film aficionado you must track down this very unique and visionary take on the genre.

IT FOLLOWS Final Screening!

Can't find your car keys? Then bike or take the subway to the Scotiabank theater! Just don't forget your protection--and best get it blessed--because no one wants an intimate haunting.

Not even ghost isopods want intimate hauntings.

IT FOLLOWS Final Screening: 

Tue., Sept. 9th, 4:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9

Pics From The Premiere of IT FOLLOWS!

It was like being back in Health class last night at the Ryerson, as the Midnight Madness audience learned all about the perils of unprotected sex with David Robert Mitchell's IT FOLLOWS.

We sure wouldn't mind catching a spooky STI from the lovely Maika Monroe!

Director David Robert Mitchell struts the red carpet before the Canadian premiere of IT FOLLOWS!

David Robert Mitchell and Maika Monroe

Look out Colin! Are you sure anyone else can see that guy behind you??

David Robert Mitchell and Maika Monroe take questions from an utterly skeeved-out audience after IT FOLLOWS!

Colin Geddes, David Robert Mitchell, and Maika Monroe send the Ryerson crowd hope happy after IT FOLLOWS!

You'll have one more chance to catch IT FOLLOWS here at TIFF, and it's today! Check out that screening and all the other Midnight Madness selections!

IT FOLLOWS screening times: 

Tue., Sept. 9th, 4:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9

Video: IT FOLLOWS Midnight Madness Post-Screening Q&A With David Robert Mitchell & Maika Monroe

It Follows the second feature film from Director David Robert Mitchell played midnight madness last night. It is a creepy film that will have you covering your eyes afraid for what may be lurking on the other side of the door or what is lurking behind you. It Follows feels very much to me a close approximation of what nightmares would look like if you could film them. Here is the entire post-screening Q&A

IT FOLLOWS screening times:
Tue., Sept. 9th, 4:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9

Social Media is Buzzing About IT FOLLOWS!

Despite the title, IT FOLLOWS is not, in fact, a movie about being stalked on Twitter.  However, Twitter and Instagram were lit up for the Canadian premiere of David Robert Mitchell's sexually transmitted haunting and Jonny Bunning has compiled some of the best comments!

You only have one chance to see IT FOLLOWS at TIFF, so if you missed last night, check out the second screening on Tuesday.  And remember, pay it forward by chatting up Midnight Madness on social media throughout the Festival!

IT FOLLOWS screening times:
Tue., Sept. 9th, 4:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9

IT FOLLOWS Premieres Tonight!

Have you talked to your doctor about the heartbreak of intimate hauntings?

It Follows premieres tonight! And we suggest you best take whatever precautions you think practical or advisable. We're not entirely sure what might protect you, but almost anything is better than the heartbreak of colon ghosts, possessed fetuses and anal and/or vaginal hauntings. Seriously,  no one wants to hear these words.

She's going to need a specialist.

You could wear a sacred symbol or bring a squirt gun full of holy water. Or maybe just "accidentally" spill a circle of protective sea salt around your seat during the screening. And just keep a general eye out for isopods, especially ghost isopods. I don't want to think about what they might do.

Ghost Isopods could happen at any time

[Please do not bring squirt guns full of holy water or sprinkle a protective circle of salt around yourself in the theater. The smell of burning ghosts and ectoplasm could disturb other patrons. Thanks. ~The Editor]

IT FOLLOWS screening times:
Sun., Sept. 7th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Tue., Sept. 9th, 4:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9

Diary of a TIFF Newbie Day 1 recap: IT FOLLOWS & TOKYO TRIBE

TIFF Newbie Day 1: IT FOLLOWS and TOKYO TRIBE

Hello everyone!

For those who didn’t read my earlier post, my name is Nancy Taylor and I am a TIFF “newbie.” Yesterday was my first day at the festival and in Toronto in general. The internship company that I am with gave me a brief tour of the city, my industry badge, my Midnight Madness ticket package, a large coffee and the screening schedule.

This is the fourth major festival that I have interned for, and I have to say— TIFF has a completely unique and incredible vibe. The people here are friendly, the city is interesting and manageable and the films are, well, exceptional. I managed to squeeze in five films yesterday (Laggies, The Lesson, Kabukicho Love Hotel, It Follows and Tokyo Tribe) two industry events and even a dinner with an old friend. 

(still from: Kabukicho Love Hotel)

Right before I ventured over to the Ryerson to see Tokyo Tribe, my friend Taylor and I saw David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows—which, I’m sure you all know, is also in the Midnight Madness program later in the week. It was my second time seeing the film, and I found it equally thrilling, terrifying, inventive, beautiful and unsettling the second time! I’m sure it will be “third time’s a charm” at the premier on Sunday night.

And then I arrived at the Ryerson and experienced the magic that is Midnight Madness. What is so incredible about MM is that since it is a public event, I met people from all professional backgrounds, from all over the world, that simply share a common passion for genre films. I didn’t know much about Tokyo Tribe before the screening, just that the filmmaker won an award at MM last year.

TOKYO TRIBE MIDNIGHT MADNESS INTRO '14

(Check out one of the stars of the film rapping in English during their intro)

Tokyo Tribe, where to begin. I have no idea how to talk about this film, but I loved every second of it. Right before the screening, the man sitting next to me described it as, “if Baz Luhrmann did an adaptation of West Side Story, set in Japan, with Japanese rap artists narrating the whole time in song.” And it was exactly that, 2 hours of visceral enjoyment and unexpected awesomeness.

I’m excited for the rest of this festival will have in store for me! If anyone out there has any suggestions of films I should see outside MM, or restaurants to try, etc. you can tweet at me @nancyytaylorr.

IT FOLLOWS: Sex + Ghosts + Hauntings

Don't worry; if you have Colon Ghost we'll figure it out together!

 It Follows, screening at the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness programme, is about that awkward moment when you realize your date gave you a sexually transmitted ghost haunting. In The Shining, Jack Torrance made out with that rotted thing in the bathroom only to find out it was actually en evil spirit, and there was that scene in Ghostbusters where the ghost gives Stantz a blowjob, but I'm not sure that there's ever been anything quite like It Follows.

Wait! Come back! I don't know how to love!

That doesn't mean It Follows doesn't draw on a rich legacy of spectrophilia, which, according to Wikipedia is in part, "the phenomenon of sexual encounters between ghosts and humans." You doubt that's a thing? Well, the Travel Channel says otherwise in their discussion of Gilgamesh and the legends of the incubus and succubus (and we always trust the Travel Channel about these sorts of things). Yeah, you know, the incubus and the succubus! Also known as "that movie in Esperanto with William Shatner" and "that TV show with Anna Silk on Showcase."

Lost Girl: Gimme that chi, baby.

According to Haunted America Tours, one is especially vulnerable to sexual hauntings after one has seen a supernatural event. The site advises that there are dangers such as:

- The fear that a ghost my try to possess you at the moment of climax
- Anxiety about a ghost entering your womb or (if you are a man) anus
- Fear of getting pregnant and having the ghost possess your unborn baby
- In men, the fear that they may have brought home a ghost that might haunt their anus, or infect their partner
- Colon ghost
- The feeling that the ghost has followed you home and is watching you!

Listverse has also handily provided a rundown of the "Top Ten Sex Demons" that may pose a problem in our love lives. There's the Popobawa, a "large, bat-like creature with one eye and a very large penis" as well as the Alp, which is similar to an incubus or succubus, but more elf-like.

The one-eyed, horny flying sex demon.

Such helpful information can be found on the Interent! Thank you, Haunted America Tours and Listverse; if only Jay from It Follows had read these articles beforehand. Don't make that same mistake. Keep these guidelines in mind before you watch the movie.

IT FOLLOWS screening times:
Sun., Sept. 7th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Tue., Sept. 9th, 4:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9

IT FOLLOWS First Look: Posters

Cannes Film Festival sensation It Follows will have its North American premiere at Midnight Madness 2014. There are plenty of rave reviews online and a couple of poster designs that appeared at Cannes (see below), but little in the way of material from the film itself. No trailer, no clips, etc. But honestly, it's better that way. All you need to know about this one is it's off-the-charts creepy. Beyond that, the less you know going in, the better. Oh, one other thing. Maybe don't bring a date to this one. Cause no one's getting laid after It Follows infects the Ryerson.

IT FOLLOWS screening times:
Sun., Sept. 7th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Tue., Sept. 9th, 4:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 9