THE MIND'S EYE: Psychic Powers In Cinema

This is what we psychics refer to as an "axe drop."

Filmmaker Joe Begos brought his updated (and superior) version of 1982's Xtro to Midnight Madness in 2013 with Almost Human. Now he's back, along with Almost Human actor Graham Skipper and horror legend Larry Fessenden, with The Mind's Eye:

On a snowy back road in New England, police harass a drifter, only to be thrown through the air by an unseen force. Clearly, they've picked the wrong man to hassle. Taken into custody, the loner is identified as Zack, a man with a curse/??blessing that makes him of particular interest to the seemingly sympathetic Dr. Slovak. Zack finds himself in Slovak's institute alongside others with similar telekinetic abilities, but the doctor's intentions are quickly found to be less helpful and more diabolical.

Telekinesis, or psychic power, has long been a staple of both science fiction and horror, and the crossroads where the two genres often meet. Here are a few other versions of being able to make things happen with THE POWER OF YOUR MIND in cinema.

They're all gonna laugh at you!

Carrie, 1976
Poor Carrie White. She just wanted to go to the prom with The Greatest American Hero and then Danny Zuko and Riff Randell had to dump pig's blood on her and spoil her lovely dress. Things do not end well for anyone in this movie: almost everyone dies and the high school and most of the town explodes in flames after Carrie wreaks mental vengeance on anyone who looks at her sideways. Brian De Palma directed this horror classic adapted from Stephen King's first novel.

Amy Irving is furious! Or perhaps she's just consumed too much Spice.

The Fury, 1978
Another Brian DePalma movie based on a book, The Fury comes from John Farris's novel of the same name. Kirk Douglas is a CIA agent whose psychic son Robin has been kidnapped in order to turn him into a weapon. Amy Irving, who was the Final Girl in Carrie, portrays fellow psychic Gillian who shares a (wait for it) psychic connection with Robin. The Fury has an explosive ending which everyone survives.

Oliver Reed's robe makes a play for Official Mascot.

The Brood, 1979
It's time for the annual Midnight Madness blog reference to David Cronenberg's The Brood! (Vanguard, we didn't forget about you, either.) In this film, Frank Carveth desperately wants custody of Candice, the daughter he shares with ex-wife Nora (a frightening Samantha Eggar). The only problem is that Dr. Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed and his terry cloth bathrobe) are keeping Nora as a kind of prisoner / lab experiment in the Somafree Institute. It's for everyone's good: Nora's unbridled rage has created a brood of malevolent mutant children without bellybuttons.

This is what the kids refer to as "head asplode."

Scanners, 1981
David Cronenberg double dipped into the telekinesis well with Scanners. In this film, fictional weapons and security system ConSec is using psychics - referred to as "scanners" - as weapons (weaponized psychics were really popular in the late 1970s). A rogue scanner named Darryl Revok (Canadian genre staple Michael Ironside) tries to wage his own personal war against ConSec, so the company sends Cameron Vale, another scanner, to do battle.

Witness the psychic abilities of Zack in The Mind's Eye when it screens on Saturday, September 19!

THE MIND'S EYE Screening Times:
Sat, Sept 19, 7:00 PM SCOTIABANK 10

CUB: 5 Creepy Kids in Horror Cinema

From The Village of the Damned to The Children of the Corn, cinema is crammed with creepy kids. Jonas Govaerts's Cub, which receives its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness programme, follows a group of scouts on a camping trip in the woods. One of them, Sam, tries to convince the others that there's a feral child stalking them but naturally, because it's a horror movie and he's a kid, no one believes him.

What is it about terrifying toddlers that gets us so worked up? Is it because children are considered innocents or because they're unformed beings upon which we project our darkest fears?

Here are five movies featuring some of the scariest children in cinematic history.

The Bad Seed (1956)
The original creepy kid movie. It shows us that The Little House On The Prairie's Nellie Olsen wasn't the first evil flaxen haired girl with braids. Rhoda only kills two people in the movie, but we learn that there's another murder in her past. 

The Brood (1979)
You know it's bad when Oliver Reed has to lock these mutant children up in a shed so that they don't kill people. Maybe the worst part about the kids in David Cronenberg's movie is that they wear brightly colored hooded footy pajamas. Or that they don't have navels. Whatever the case, they're terrifying.

The Children (2008)
Something is in the water and it's making the children sick. Unfortunately, their parents don't want to believe it until it's too late and death and dismemberment have already taken place. After all those slashers where teenagers try to tell the authorities that some kind of monster is on the loose, haven't the adults learned anything? Nope.

Citadel (2012)
Influenced by The Brood, the monstrous kids in this movie wear hoodies and look like mutants but unlike The Children, in this case it's an agoraphobic adult who's the whistleblower. Worst of all, the "hoodies" feed on fear, which isn't great if you're prone to panic attacks.

We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)
Poor Tilda Swinton. No one believes that Kevin has serious issues until it's too late. (Do you sense a pattern?) Most of the violence happens offscreen, so it's Kevin's surly behavior and vicious comments that make women everywhere clutch their birth control pills.

Will the scary child in Cub join the legacy of creepy kids in movies? Catch a screening to find out!

CUB screening times:
Wed., Sept. 10th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Thu., Sept. 11th, 8:30 PM, SCOTIABANK 8
Sat., Sept. 13th, 12:30 PM, SCOTIABANK 13

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Evil Brood Children!

At Trailers from Hell, writer Josh Olsen comments on another film warning us all of the dangers of groups of children, especially children in pyjamas, The Brood. It's an excellent film to warm up for the premiere of Come Out And Play tonight!

Like many other David Cronenberg films, The Brood also warns us of the dangers of reproduction. But Mr. Olsen has another take on the film--plus, a story about dining with Cronenberg. A storylet, really.





COME OUT AND PLAY screens:
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Fri., Sept. 14th, 3:15 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10
Sat., Sept. 15th, 6:45 PM SCOTIABANK 11