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: [REC]4 Apocalypse Post-Screening Q&A With Jaume Balagueró & Manuela Velasco

[REC]4 Apocalypse world premiered last night to the very energetic, genre loving midnight madness crowd. Director Jaume Balagueró appeared for his second time on the midnight stage [REC]2 it was great to see superstar Manuela Velasco who has appeared in all four films in the horror franchise. Here is the complete world premiere post-screening Q&A.

Social Media Goes All 'Feral Zombie Monkey' For [REC]4: Apocalypse!

The final installment of the [REC] series had everyone on social media buzzing and screeching! Jonny Bunning has collected some of your best comments here!

Pics from the Premiere of [REC]4: Apocalypse!

It was no ordinary sea voyage as Jaume Balaguero brought the final installment of the [REC] series to Midnight Madness! Photographer Ian Goring was there to capture all the action as the Ryerson audience was treated to feral monkeys, creepy zombies, and a larvae thing that looked suspiciously like an isopod!

The very serious [REC]4 director Jaume Balaguero

The not-so-serious Colin Geddes and Jaume Balaguero

Jaume Balaguero is interviewed by Midnight Madness Blogger Robert Mitchell on the red carpet

The charming and slightly tipsy Manuela Velasco!

Bawwwww!

Not pictured: The possessed howler monkey about to strike

Manuela Velasco was thrilled to attend Midnight Madness for the first time!

mmmmmmmmmm.....

...mmmmmmmWAH! And we're out!

Sadly, there are no remaining screenings of [REC]4 this year at TIFF, but hopefully you'll have a chance to catch it in theatres or VOD soon!

Video: [REC]4 APOCALYPSE Red Carpet Interviews With Director Jaume Balagueró & Star Manuela Velasco

[REC]4: Apocalypse had it's world premiere last night at midnight madness. Robert A. Mitchell spoke with director Jaume Balagueró and superstar Manuela Velasco on the red carpet last night. I'm not entirely sure but it looked like the red carpet might have been red from the amount of copious blood from this fourth and final(?) installment of the much loved horror franchise.




[REC]4: APOCALYPSE screening times:
Wed., Sept. 10th, 10:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 8

[REC]4 APOCALYPSE: 4 More Spanish Horror Films

This is the worst trust exercise ever.

With the world premiere of [REC]4: Apocalypse at this year's Midnight Madness, what better time than now to take a look through some of the other Spanish horror films that you should see, if you haven't already.

Totally not creepy at all.

The Orphanage (2007)
Laura plans on reopening the orphanage where she was raised as a home for disabled children and brings her husband Carlos and adopted son Simón to the facility. Soon, Simón insists that he has a new friend named Tomás, but no one else can see him. (Creepy alert!) Simón disappears and weird/awful stuff goes down, all of which is related to Laura's past. Spoiler alert: This movie does not have a happy ending.

You remind me of the babe...

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Right after the Spanish Civil War, during the early years of Franco's rule, Ofelia travels with her pregnant mother to meet her new stepfather, Captain Vidal, who turns out to be a sadistic jerk. Her mother soon becomes ill and Ofelia feels even lonelier until she encounters a fairy and a faun, who tell her she must complete three tasks to obtain immortality. It's kind of like the David Bowie movie Labyrinth except it's scary and heartbreaking, there are no musical numbers, and it doesn't have a happy ending, either.

Definitely not from the Ministry of Silly Walks.

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)
George and Edna meet when she hits his bike with her car. He convinces her to give him a ride to his destination, but she insists on visiting her sister first. That's when a slow-moving, sallow, red-eyed man attacks her and disappears, only to reappear and kill her sister's fiancé. I think you can see where this is headed. This Italian/Spanish co-production boasts some of the best practical zombie effects of the time as well as one of the most rage-inducing characters of all time, The Inspector, who blames everything on Satanists.

Bagginssssss!

The Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)
The first in a franchise based around the malevolent, undead Knights Templar, this movie clearly influenced Peter Jackson's depiction of the Ringwraiths in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Vacationing couple Betty and Roger run into Betty's friend Virginia in Portugal and Roger's flirtatiousness leads to jealousy and hints of past lesbian affairs at boarding school. Trying to escape the awkward situation, poor Virginia unwittingly awakens the Templars, who are ravenous after years of unsatisfied bloodlust.

Watch the latest in a long line of amazing Spanish horror films when [REC]4: Apocalypse screens at the Festival! And you should also go see Shrew's Nest, another great Spanish horror film, before its last screening on Sunday, September 14.

[REC]4: APOCALYPSE screening times:
Tue., Sept. 9th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 10th, 10:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 8

SHREW'S NEST Final Screening:
Sun., Sept. 14th, 6:30 PM, TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 2

Record the Apocalypse! [REC] 4 premieres tonight!!!

It's been 7 years since Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza scared the pants of people around the world with the first installment of the [REC] series. Arguably the height of the found footage genre.

Then they returned with [REC]2, which was an Aliens-esque sequel, upping the action, only without sacrificing the scares.

Then came [REC]3: Genesis, a wedding comedy that took a lot of people by surprise, but was a great chance for audiences to catch their breath before the conclusion of the series, which premieres tonight at Midnight Madness. [REC]4: APOCALYPSE!!!

[REC]4: APOCALYPSE screening times:
Tue., Sept. 9th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 10th, 10:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 8

[REC] 4 APOCALYPSE: [REC] The Story So Far

Worried about seeing [REC] 4 Apocalypse because you're behind on the [REC] series? Here's a quick recap.

SPOILER ALERT: detailed plot details from the first three [REC] films follow.

[REC] is shot found footage style wherein a Reporter Angela Vidal accompanies firefighters on a call to free a woman trapped in her apartment. Once inside, they discover a complex overrun by humans infected with a 28 Days Later type rage virus. Authorities quarantine the complex leaving the survivors to fend for themselves.

While trying to escape Angela discovers that a priest had kidnapped a possessed child (Tristana Medeiros) and was keeping her in the complex as a test subject to create a biological cure for demonic possession. The cure ended up mutating into the "possession virus." Tristana escaped and infected the complex. The last thing we see is Angela disappearing into the darkness seemingly into Tristana's clutches.

[REC] 2 is also shot found footage style and  starts after [REC] with a SWAT team and Dr. Owen, a Vatican Priest, coming in to control the mayhem. The team finds an unharmed Angela and uses Owen's skills as a priest allow him to communicate with an infected victim who leads them to Tristana, who is unable to come out into any form of light. The team hunts down and kills Tristana. A handful of survivors, including Angela, remain. Angela turns on the survivors, kills them all, and radios SWAT command that the situation is contained and she is the sole survivor. The last thing we see is the final scene in [REC]. But this time, we see Tristana forcing some kind of demonic entity from her body into Angela's. Though Tristana was trapped in the dark, Angela has no such problem, and the virus is now free to leave the complex through Angela.

[REC] 3 Genesis starts out as found footage but switches to standard cinematography early on. Apart from being set in the same time frame as the first two films with similar rage virus like zombies, none of the key characters from the first two films are involved. It's basically what happens when Zombies attack a wedding: lot's of inventive zombie kills and a pretty killer soundtrack.

[REC] 4 Apocalypse brings the story back to Angela. What happens? Find out at Midnight Madness!

[REC]4 APOCALYPSE screening times:
Tue., Sept. 9th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 10th, 10:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 8

[REC] 4 APOCALYPSE Poster and Trailer

Though it's only been 2 years since [REC] 3 Genesis, it wasn't a direct sequel to the story of plucky reporter Angela Vidal. [REC] 4 Apocalypse picks up the story after the end of 2009's [REC] 2. The poster above shows the promise of some intensely violent zombie carnage while the trailer below delivers on the claustrophobic intensity for which the series is best know.



Come witness the Apocalypse with at Midnight Madness!

[REC]4 APOCALYPSE screening times:
Tue., Sept. 9th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 10th, 10:00 PM, SCOTIABANK 8