Day Two with Kari's Scaries

I'm fairly certain time works differently during TIFF. Yesterday was only my second full day at the festival (thanks to the Kari's Scaries bursary), but I've managed to pack in a whack of screenings, sightseeing and, since the reason I'm here is a little something called Midnight Madness, some truly deranged carnage. I don't ever want to leave.

Yesterday started with a screening of Dredd 3D, after which we hoofed it across town to catch Hotel Transylvania at the beautiful Princess of Wales Theatre. Afterwards, we met up with some of the hardest-working folks in the horror biz: assorted components of the Rue Crew, who are punch-drunk and sleep-deprived after finishing Rue Morgue's massive Halloween issue (on stands October 1!). My colleagues at RM are some of my favorite people in the world, so it was an absolute pleasure to meet up with Editor-in-Chief Dave Alexander and contributors Liisa Ladouceur and Marie-Eve Larin. 

When you see why this guy needed to rinse off, you'll fall madly in love with No One Lives. Trust me.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Ryerson for the Midnight Madness screening of No One Lives, the insanely gory new flick from Midnight Meat Train director Ryuhei Kitamura. There was a long wait in line, but luckily Toronto Batman was there to make sure things didn't get out of hand. Shit got profound. Case in point—the following exchange between Toronto Batman and a Midnight Madness attendee:

Toronto Batman: "What movie is showing tonight?"

Moviegoer: "No One Lives."

Toronto Batman: "No One Lives? My parents died."

Well played, Toronto Batman. Well played.

The night ended with Knoxville Horror Film Fest director William Mahaffey and me riding around Toronto with Dave and Don Coscarelli, who's in town with his new film John Dies at the End. Don is an incredibly friendly guy, and, incidentally, had some very nice things to say about No One Lives. 

So the bar is high for tonight's Midnight Madness premiere of JT Petty's Hellbenders 3D. Maybe JT will buy me a cupcake.

NO ONE LIVES screening times:

Mon., Sept. 10, 9:45 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10

Fri., Sept. 14, 4:45 PM,  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS  6

JOHN DIES AT THE END screening times:

Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59 PM, RYERSON 

Sun., Sept. 16, 5:00 PM,  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS  2

HELLBENDERS 3D screening times:

Sun., Sept. 9th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Tue., Sept. 11th, 7:00 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Sat., Sept. 15th, 9:15 PM, SCOTIABANK 2