It's Official! MIDNIGHT MADNESS 2012!

It's official! Okay, so this news might be old stuff for the Midnight Madness faithful, but this post kicks off the 2012 Festival season for our humble little blog!

Stay tuned for exclusive info on these killer flicks as well as all the other things you want/need to know about TIFF 2012!

Drum roll, please!

CALLING ALL GENRE GEEKS:
WHEN THE WITCHING HOUR STRIKES, MIDNIGHT MADNESS
SHOCKS AND EXCITES

Action-packed thrillers, nerve-wracking chillers and pitch-dark comedies will bewitch audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival®, with a Midnight Madness programme chock full of shocking and rocking cinematic experiences. Nine world premieres stack this slate of international works programmed by Colin Geddes, guaranteed to awe even the most devoted genre fans.

“Audiences clamouring for this highly anticipated lineup can expect wild rides and crazy adventures into the most chimerical and wicked worlds imaginable,” said Geddes, TIFF Programmer. “Expect everything from outrageous horror comedies to mock-doc eco-apocalypse thrillers, featuring trans-dimensional bugs, lewd Catholic priests, meat monsters and dog-napping psychopaths that will animate the Ryerson Theatre when the clock chimes 12.”

The Midnight Madness selection includes films from Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep), Academy Award® winners Martin McDonagh (In Bruges) and Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man), JT Petty (The Burrowers, S&Man) and heavy-metal horror maven Rob Zombie. Onscreen performances feature Clancy Brown, Abbie Cornish, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Selena Gomez, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Eli Roth, Tom Waits, Christopher Walken and Karl Urban.

Midnight Madness Opening Night

Dredd 

Pete Travis, USA/United Kingdom/India

World Premiere

The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland (28 Days Later) and director Pete Travis bring the iconic masked police officer Dredd to life in this futuristic neo-noir action film. Filmed in 3D with stunning slow-motion photography sequences, the film returns the celebrated comic book anti-hero to his dark, violent and visceral roots. Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey.

The ABCs of Death

Kaare Andrews, Angela Bettis, Adrián García Bogliano, Bruno Forzani & Hélène Cattet,
Ernesto Díaz Espinoza, Jason Eisener, Xavier Gens, Jorge Michel Grau, Lee Hardcastle,
Noboru Iguchi, Thomas Cappelen Malling, Anders Morgenthaler, Yoshihiro Nishimura,
Banjong Pisanthanakun, Simon Rumley, Marcel Sarmiento, Jon Schnepp, Srdjan Spasojevic,
Timo Tjahjanto, Andrew Traucki, Nacho Vigalondo, Jake West, Ti West,
Ben Wheatley, Adam Wingard, and Yûdai Yamaguchi

World Premiere

Twenty-six directors... 26 ways to die! The ABCs Of Death is perhaps the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived, featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film. With each director assigned a letter of the alphabet, they were then given free rein in choosing a word to create a story involving a tale of mortality. It’s an alphabetical arsenal of destruction orchestrated by some of the most exciting names in global horror including Ben Wheatley (Kill List), Ti West (House of the Devil), Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), Adam Wingard (You're Next), Xavier Gens (Frontieres), and Nacho Vigalondo (Time Crimes).

Aftershock 

Nicolás López, USA/Chile

World Premiere

In Chile, an American tourist’s vacation goes from good to great when he meets some beautiful women travellers. But when an earthquake ravages the underground nightclub they’re in, a fun night quickly turns to terror. Escaping to the surface is just the beginning as they face nightmarish chaos above ground. Starring Eli Roth and Selena Gomez.

The Bay 

Barry Levinson, USA

World Premiere

A brutal and harrowing film about a deadly parasite, The Bay chronicles the descent of a small Maryland town into absolute terror.

Come Out and Play

Makinov, Mexico

World Premiere

Beth and Francis vacation before the birth of their child. Francis insists on venturing to a more serene island, Beth hesitantly agrees. They set out to a beautiful island, but soon discover it’s mysteriously abandoned, and the only people on the island are children. Beth and Francis are left to uncover the mystery of the disappearances, and a day in paradise quickly turns into a struggle for survival. Cast includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vinessa Shaw and Daniel Gimenez Cacho.

Hellbenders 

JT Petty, USA

World Premiere

Hellbenders, an R-rated 3D exorcism comedy, follows the Order of Hellbound Saints (Brooklyn Parish), a highly secretive and profoundly blasphemous men of God, as they battle demonic forces too terrible to be cast out by traditional Vatican-approved methods. Cast includes Clancy Brown, Clifton Collins Jr., Robyn Rikoon and Andre Royo.

John Dies at the End 

Don Coscarelli, USA

Canadian Premiere

In John Dies at the End, it’s all about the Soy Sauce, a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly, a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John (Rob Mayes) and David (Chase Williamson), a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't. Adapted from David Wong's audacious trans-genre horror novel, John Dies at the End is written and directed by Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-Tep) and also stars Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti.

The Lords of Salem

Rob Zombie, USA/United Kingdom/Canada

World Premiere

Heidi, a radio station DJ, receives a wooden box containing a record. Heidi listens and the bizarre sounds within the grooves immediately trigger flashbacks of Salem's violent past. Is Heidi going mad or are the Lords of Salem returning for revenge on modern day Salem?

No One Lives
Ryuhei Kitamura, USA

World Premiere

From the director of Versus and The Midnight Meat Train, No One Lives is a smart and original horror movie with, at its heart, a killer in the grip of a dark and twisted love affair. A ruthless criminal gang takes a young couple hostage and goes to ground in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. When the captive girl is killed, the tables are unexpectedly turned. The gang finds itself outsmarted by an urbane and seasoned killer determined to ensure that no one lives. Featuring Luke Evans, Adelaide Clemens, Derek Magyar, Lee Tergesen and America Olivo.

Seven Psychopaths 

Martin McDonagh, USA/United Kingdom

World Festival Premiere

Written and Directed by Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh, the comedy Seven Psychopaths follows a struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) kidnap a gangster’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu. Co-starring Abbie Cornish, Tom Waits, Olga Kurylenko and Zeljko Ivanek.

Tickets to screenings for this programme will be available for individual purchase as well as through the Midnight Madness Pack, which includes all 10 screenings for $156, or $100 for students and seniors. Purchase Festival ticket packages online 24 hours a day at tiff.net/festival, by phone Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET at 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433, or visit the box office in person from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The 37th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 6 to 16, 2012.