Critics Have Much Love for JOHN DIES AT THE END

John Dies at the End played a few festivals earlier this year in unfinished form. Director Don Coscarelli is bringing his finished cut to Toronto as the closing film of Midnight Madness. Here is a sampling of the praise the film has already received:

"And I mean a cult film in the truest sense of the term. John Dies At The End will be a movie that you use to gauge new friends. Do they like JDATE (the romantic sounding acronym of the title)? If not, they may not be your kind of person. It's a movie that will inspire catchphrases and references. It's a movie that will inspire, in the select few, a real devotion." --Devin Faraci at Badass Digest (full review)

"Directed by Don Coscarelli, who you may know as the director as Bubba Ho-Tep and the Phantasm series, John Dies at the End is somewhere between a schlocky, B Movie full of camp (in the best way possible!) and a buddy cop movie. This is all through the lens of some sort of Hunter S. Thompson Gonzo style reporting. It's over the top in every way. Big jokes, big gags, big set pieces, big monsters and bigger than life characters cram their way into every crevice of the 90 minute screen time as if the world was about to end and this was their last chance." --Alex Koehne at Twitch (full review)

"[The opening] involves axe handles, zombies, mutant leeches, axe heads, hardware store trips and answering a dead man as to whether or not the axe in question is the same that killed him. Confused? If you are, then you don't want to stick around. If you're too overjoyed that the spiritual successor to Sam Raimi has appeared, you're in luck." --John Lichman at Indiewire (full review)

"Luckily, he's an inventive filmmaker who has made a career of stretching his budgets as far as he can, and the film is filled with crazy, wild imagery that will delight genre fans.  It's fun and it's gross and it's silly and it's playful… and it does indeed get that feeling, that out of control liquid reality feeling of hallucinogens, just right." --Drew McWeeny at Hitfix (full review)

JOHN DIES AT THE END
Sat., Sept. 15th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16th, 6:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7

Conspiracy Theories: ROOM 237 & THE SHINING

A few years ago... I had a bit of spark.  I was sitting in my basement apartment, looking over a Kubrick DVD box-set I had just acquired, and declared it to be lightening in a bottle.  How could one guy, this Kubrick, be such a goddamn filmmaking genius?  With several cups of coffee, I made a decision, that well, in reality, hasn’t had much impact... Until now!  Maybe.  It’s up to you to decide.

I watched The Shining in glorious digitally re-mastered DVD and manically DISSECTED it shot-by-shot, over the course of a single day.  I jotted it all down on my laptop’s note pad program.  I’m going to venture to guess it took me about 4-5 hours.  It’s all a smeary caffeinated blur to me now!  I’d “scribble” down shots as the movie went by, and then pause the film to catch up for the more complicated sequences.  Now I can’t say that my notes are perfect, or even technically sound -- but as an indie filmmaker, I definitely know the broad strokes.  Most of the time, it’d be the camera work I’d be looking at.  The framing, move type, focus, etc.  Sometimes I’d concentrate on the acting.  Other times, something in the edit would pop out at me.  There was just so much going on.  And there still is, every time you play it.

In the end, I had a several paged document, that I don’t think I’ve ever gone back to read.  I sent it to two friends, who didn’t respond to the email (I forgive you). 

Did I learn something?  I sure hope so.  Did I bottle the genius of Kubrick?  Baby, I didn’t even cap a spit of spark.  But man, how clever I felt!  I was on the verge of a new discovery!  This was going to change things!  Had anyone ever done this?  I didn’t know, but I sure felt special. 

Well, that bubble burst some 4 years later, when a few days ago, I loaded up this year’s Vanguard line up online, and inched through it, a movie at a time; my eyebrows see-sawing in amazement.  Click, click, click... Berberian Sound Studio... hmmmm.... click-click-click - Room 237?

The image hit me first... a VCR with a video tape of The Shining protruding from it!  What the heck... So I read the blurb, and learn that filmmaker Rodney Ascher has created a feature length subjective documentary exploring the possible hidden meanings and secret code in The Shining!  Whaaat, secret code?!  Do you know what that means?  Ascher and his team have in all likelihood, spent years examining that lightening in a bottle.  They’ve had whole teams of minds analyzing the very same question.  Months upon months of effort, money, blood, sweat and tears, looking to drop a finger on it. I hadn’t been that ambitious with my tinkering with The Shining.  But then, maybe that’s why I’m still (mostly) sane!  

I don’t have much idea of where Room 237 is going to take these ideas, and I doubt they’ll be anywhere similar to my mundane shot by shot break down -- but what I invite you to do, is to post your own theories and extrapolations of The Shining -- and let’s see if we don’t have some overlapping wavelengths!  Some new ideas!  Let’s break out the tin foil hats, and compare theories!  I know there are some geniuses out there!

And... if any of you doubt at all what I’m saying about my own Shining breakdown (it’s absolutely real!), post your emails (or spam-safe spoof emails), request a copy, and I will send it to you - or perhaps if enough of you request it, I’ll get the green light to post it here! 

Don't miss the meticulously mad deconstructions of The Shining lurking in the eminent screenings of Room 237!

ROOM 237 Screening times:

Thurs., Sept 13., BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA, 6:00PM

Sat., Sept 15., CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2, 5:45PM

Sun., Sept 16., TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 3, 12:00PM

Aquatic Horror: A Brief, Particular History

Barry Levinson's The Bay and its army of invisible parasites is just the latest entrant in cinema's long, storied history of aquatic horror flicks. It's bad enough that fish do all kinds of debauched, disgusting things in the water to begin with, but then filmmakers have to go along and throw all other types of vicious nasties in there, too.

The tagline to Jaws was "Don't go in the water," and director Steven Spielberg and company meant it. But sometimes we find far scarier things under the sea then you're normal, everyday man-eating shark--like, for instance, genetically enhanced, super-intelligent sharks. That's case in Deep Blue Sea, a movie most best known for its out-of-nowhere Samuel L. Jackson death scene. But mutant sharks aren't this film's only horrors--you've also got a pretty silly, truly confounding (I've spent way too much of my life trying to figure out what "My hat is like a shark's fin" means) LL Cool J theme song to deal with, too.

The ocean is a truly vast, unknown world yet to be fully explored. One day, what kinds of things might we discover below the surface? If War-Gods of the Deep is to be believed (and I trust fully that it is), Vincent Price in a frilly neckerchief--complete with an "army of half-men, half-monster gill-men"-- isn't out of the question.

Really, if aquatic horror teaches us anything, it's that women are never safe in the water. Or really anywhere near a beach. Just look at Roger Corman's Humanoids from the Deep, as a race of intelligent sea-beasts invade our world for the sole--and quite rude, if you ask me--purpose of mating with human women as a means of advancing their species.

Truly, no one, and no beach is safe--not even Party Beach! Need proof? Check out The Horror of Party Beach, wher "an invasion of ghoulish atomic beasts who live off human blood" terrorizes fun-loving teens and cycle gangs alike.

And when Mother Nature isn't running amok, humanity's here to cause their own problems, like inventing "the most devistating device the mind of man has ever created," and then filling it with super-men with super weapons in Aragon.

THE BAY

Wed., Sept. 12th, 11:59 PM RYERSON

Thurs., Sept. 13th, 2:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

Producer, Travis Stevens' Top 3 Midnight Madness Picks

This is the first in a series of posts where I asked some peeps what 3 Midnight Madness films they're most excited for this year.

First up is A Horrible Way to Die and The Aggression Scale producer, Travis Stevens' picks.

#1 - The Lords of Salem

 Who cares if an artist missteps every now and then as long as they're heading in an interesting direction? House of 1,000 Corpses is a bit juvenile--designed and executed like an elementary school halloween fundraiser for the children of an outlaw biker gang, but it was made with relish. The Halloween 1+2 reboot sacrificed what made the character iconic in order to make him "new" but who cares? At least he had the balls to actually "kill the cat" so to speak.

But the real reason to look forward to The Lords of Salem is because it appears that he's created another new world for us to explore. And the last time he did that we got a dusty masterpiece. The Devil's Rejects was an assembly of gore and exploitation as complex and as beautiful as a Faberge Egg...smashed against the skull of an unsuspecting audience.

He's going to push the sexuality. He's going to push the WTFness. And I could care less if he stumbles.

#2 - The Bay

Why, at the age 70, did Barry Levinson of Good Morning, Vietnam and Rain Man fame, decide to dip his toes in the dangerous waters of the high concept / low budget horror world? Was it crass commercialism? The desire to explore a looser approach to filmmaking, free of some of the restraints that big budgets and movie stars can shackle you with? Did he lose a bet?

Beyond the basic stomach turning appeal of a parasitic outbreak rampaging through the mouths and guts of a small coastal town, I just want to see what the hell Levinson does with the concept. Let's hope the end result is focused, funny and terrifying...and that Levinson tells the audience "why" during the Q&A.

#3 - The ABCs of Death

Taking an approach to anthology films that would have made Caligula proud, this orgy of gore is likely to cause the only death by excess recorded in the history of a cinema. But what a way to go! Gangbanged to death by some of the most inventive minds working in genre film today. I'll take it.

Bonus Non-MM Picks

 #4 - Passion

The hope is that Passion is to De Palma what Black Book was to Verhoeven.  Once last crack of the master's whip.  An indulgence of the man's personal fetishes, blossoming forth from the pavement of a really commercial script.  The fear is that it plays closer to Argento's Dracula 3D.  

#5 - The Hunt 
Thomas Vinterberg and Mads Mikkelsen.  A collaboration that appears just as delicate, cold and beautiful as an icicle hanging from your roof in winter.  I want to watch it shatter. 

Travis Stevens is the founder of Snowfort Pictures; a boutique production company specializing in the development, financing, production and sale of commercial genre films. Since founding the company in 2010 he's produced Adam Wingard's A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE, Steven C Miller's THE AGGRESSION SCALE, The Butcher Brothers THE THOMPSONS, Frank Pavich's JODOROWSKY'S DUNE, Mike Mendez's MEGA SPIDER, Ravi Dhar's AMERICAN MUSCLE and Trent Haaga and E.L. Katz's upcoming CHEAP THRILLS.

None of which his wife shows any interest in seeing.

Screening Times:
THE LORDS OF SALEM
World Premiere: Mon., Sept. 10th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

THE BAY
World Premiere: Wed., Sept. 12th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 2:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

THE ABCs OF DEATH
World Premiere: Fri., Sept. 14th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 15th, 3:15 PM SCOTIABANK 9
Sun., Sept. 16th, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK 9

PASSION
Tues., Sept. 11th, 8:00 PM WINTER GARDEN THEATRE
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 8:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1
Fri., Sept. 14th, 9:30 AM SCOTIABANK 3

THE HUNT
Mon., Sept. 10th, 9:15 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 1
Wed., Sept. 12th, 3:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2

Alternate Poster for SOLOMON KANE!

A wicked alternate poster for Solomon Kane, which brought a supernatural action splendor to Midnight Madness 2009.

(image via Monster Island Resort Podcast)

The Creators of LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM Get STAGE FRIGHT!

If you attended a film festival in the past two years or so (including this one), you may have seen The Legend of Beaver Dam, the twisted lovechild of writer/director/songwriter Jerome Sable and his collaborator Eli Batalion.  This crazy little musical blew the roof off the Ryerson when it premiered here at the Festival ahead of the raucous FUBAR 2 back in 2010.

Well, Sable and Batalion are back and are at the helm of their very first feature - Stage Fright - which is set to start shooting right here in Ontario on Sept 6, according to Deadline (by way of Twitch).  Described as a "story of a snobby musical theater camp terrorized by a blood-thirsty masked killer who despises musical theater' (I'm thinking Glee taken to its logical, ultraviolent end), this project is drawing major talent, including the likes of Minnie Driver and Meatloaf.  

If Legend of Beaver Dam blew you away back in 2010, you'll definitely want to check out Stage Fright!

NO ONE LIVES + THE RAID = FAST 6!

How do you make the already explosive Fast and Furious franchise any bigger or better? Easy, cast a couple of Midnight Madness stars as villains! Check out the pic below of Joe Taslim from 2011 Midnight Madness Audience Award Winner The Raid & Luke Evans of No One Lives hanging out on the set of Fast 6. Follow @Joe_Taslim and @TheRealLukeevans on twitter for more set pics and join hundreds of your closest friends at The Ryerson at midnight to see how Luke fares in No One Lives!

NO ONE LIVES Screening Times:
Sat., Sept 8th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Mon., Sept 10th, 9:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Fri., Sept 14th, 4:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

DREDD 3D: Read Comics In Public Day!

Happy Read Comics In Public Day, a day dedicated to reading comics in places where people can see you. Why not double up and promote comics literacy while catch up on Judge Dredd's judicial activism in the dystopian Mega-City One.

(via forbiddenplanet.co.uk)

Dredd first appeared in the often edgy and satirical UK comics anthology, 2000AD in 1977 (issue #2!) and then in Judge Dredd Magazine. Colin Smith describes Dredd better than I ever could:

Dredd is merely concerned that "all are treated equally under the law", and the state which passes and administers the laws he obeys is an uncaring and nakedly fascist one. It's not right and wrong he serves at all, but rather the rules of the tyranny he serves, and he's no more than people's champion than he is the people's ballet dancer.

Dredd's no hero, though he may be regularly be shown acting in a heroic fashion. He's a Blueshirt, and in the end, that's all there is to it.

I highly recommend any of Smith's pieces on Dredd and 2000AD.

(via Fellowship of the Geeks)

Both Dredd and 2000AD have continued into the 21st Century, so pick yourself up a comic or collection, get yourself a beverage and read outside or at a cafe today. Then show up on Midnight Madness' opening night for Dredd 3D.

(via Too Busy Thinking About My Comics)

cover by Lee Garbett via 2000AD Covers Uncovered.

DREDD 3D screening times:

Thurs., Sept. 6, 11:59PM:  RYERSON
Sat., Sept. 8 12"30PM:  CINEPLES ODEON

Midnight Madness at Trailers From Hell: Don Coscarelli's Return!

Director Don Coscarelli talks about his love for Godzilla, King of the Monsters on Trailers From Hell, even noting that it was the first monster movie he ever saw and that it remains one of his favorite movies. That's right, the 1956 American version. You better believe it, baby.



See if you can catch the Honda Ishiro and Ifukube Akira's influences on Coscarelli's new movie, John Dies At The End at this year's Midnight Madness.

JOHN DIES AT THE END
Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59pm:  RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16, 5pm:   CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2

Rob Zombie's Other Other Job

 
Rob Zombie has two very prominent jobs: rock star and horror film director. He's also got one other job you may not know about. Have you ever seen a TV commercial that had that special dark and sinister Rob Zombie vibe? Well, it may have been directed by the man himself. Here's some work by Zombie in his other other job as TV commercial director:

"The Torturer" for Woolite Laundry Detergent:



"Death Note" for Amdro Ant Block starring Clint Howard from The Lords of Salem:



"Dark Room" for Amdro Ant Block starring Daniel Roebuck from The Lords of Salem:



"Ant March" for Amdro:



THE LORDS OF SALEM
Mon., Sept. 10th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

COME OUT AND PLAY Updates an Underseen Classic

Who Can Kill a Child?

Come Out and Play

Interested in some warm-up viewing for Midnight Madness 2012? Dig up the little-known suspense gem Who Can Kill a Child? (aka Island of the Damned). This 1976 Spanish chiller is the inspiration for Come Out and Play. Here's a clip from The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV in which Midnight Madness favorite Eli Roth (in this year's programme as actor and producer of Aftershock) names it as his 2nd favorite film that most people haven't seen:



COME OUT AND PLAY screening times:
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

AFTERSHOCK screening times:
Tues., Sept. 11th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 6:15 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 3
Sun., Sept. 16th, 3:30 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 9

JOHN DIES AT THE END Teaser Trailer!

Check out the teaser for Don Coscarelli's John Dies At the End.

JOHN DIES AT THE END screening times:

Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59PM:  RYERSON  

Sun., Sept. 16, 5PM:  CINEPLEX YONGE AND DUNDAS

Festival Ticket Deals For Anyone Under 25

Did you know that regular tickets for anyone 25 and under are only $15.04 and premium tickets are just $25? Check out this email blast from the festival and start planning your night out now!

How To Order Tickets Online

If you're waiting for your online ticket selection window to begin or just curious about how the whole process works then check out this post by MAMO Podcaster, Substream Contributor, and all around great guy Matt Brown (@tederick).

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Eli Roth Returns!

When last we had left director and producer Eli Roth, he had commented on 15 film trailers for the mighty Trailers From Hell. Eli Roth is returning to Midnight Madness this year as the star of Nicolás López Aftershock and he's returned to Trailers From Hell with a commentary on the trailer for the  controversial, Goodbye, Uncle Tom an exploitation film that's not Blaxploitation of sexploitation, so much as slavesploitation. As it's described at Trailers From Hell:

Those Mondo Cane guys are back with an astoundingly non-P.C. farrago purporting to expose the history of black subjugation in pre-Civil War America. Gorgeously mounted but stunningly exploitative, it was rated X when first released in the States in a considerably reworked version. NSFW.

Follow the link if you're curious to see the original trailer and Roth's commentary. If not, enjoy this thoughtful and worksafe commentary on the trailer for The Birds.





AFTERSHOCK
Tues., Sept. 11th, 11:59pm:  RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13, 6:15pm:  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 3
Sun., Sept. 16, 3:30pm:  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS