THE GUEST: More Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett Collaborations

When was the last time you dusted?

Sometimes patience is its own reward. Eh, on second thought, screw that. The reward for patience at this year's Festival is The Guest, the last-but not the least-of the Midnight Madness movies.

If you've been a Midnight Madness fan for a while, you've likely seen at least one of the collaborations of Adam Wingard (director/writer/actor) and Simon Barrett (writer/actor). But what about those Midnight Madness n00bs who don't think The Guest sounds like a very exciting title for a movie? That's what we are here for. Here's a look at a few of Wingard and Barrett's other collaborations.

NOT an episode of Storage Wars.

A Horrible Way To Die (2010)
Screening at Midnight Madness in 2010, this claustrophobic thriller lives up to its title and then some. Sarah is just trying to make it through her AA meetings when she finds out her serial killer ex-boyfriend has escaped from jail. Like the best horror movies, there's a level of emotional drama in the backstory that makes this film exceptionally unsettling and compelling.

I can have a three-way, with myself!

Autoerotic (2011)
Wingard and Barrett contributed on this movie with Former Unofficial Vanguard Blog Mascot Joe Swanberg! Autoerotic is series of vignettes about the sex lives of several twentysomething couples in Chicago. Swanberg's frank and unflinching eye informs the movie as does a fair amount of humor. Amy Seimetz, who played Sarah in A Horrible Way To Die, also shows up.

What Fun We Were Having

What Fun We Were Having (2011)
Another series of vignettes about sex, this time on various permutations of rape. If that sounds heavy, you're right, but the movie is not exploitive, preferring to examine the insidiousness of rape in our every day lives. And there are genre elements, too. And look, there's A.J. Bowen from A Horrible Way To Die! And Joe Swanberg (again)!

Here's to YOU, Joe Swanberg.

You're Next (2011, released 2013)
This was another Midnight Madness selection that didn't make it to theaters for a couple of years due to a bidding war and the merger between Lionsgate and Summit. It's an incredibly gory, suspenseful, hilarious, and feminist take on the revenge slasher, with Sharni Vinson as a bona fide badass. It also features Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Ti West (The House of the Devil), and scream queen Barbara Crampton.

Even with a robotic eye, that is one ugly bathroom.

V/H/S "Tape 56" and V/H/S 2 "Phase I Clinical Trials" and The ABCs of Death "Q is for Quack"
Wingard and Barrett love their short films! For the first installment of the V/H/S series, they provide the wraparound story about where the infamous tapes come from. "Phase I Clinical Trials" is a sci-fi supernatural yarn about the dangers of robotic eyes and actually stars Wingard. He and Barrett also star in one of the funnier segments of often-sobering The ABCs of Death (which screened at Midnight Madness), poking fun of themselves in a refreshing way.

Wingard and Barrett can do horror, drama, and comedy very well--especially all at the same time--and The Guest takes that blending of genres to another level. Don't miss it at the Festival!

THE GUEST screening times:
Sat., Sept. 13th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 14th, 6:45 PM, SCOTIABANK 3

Red Carpet video of YOU'RE NEXT

There is nothing like the excitement of a world premiere of film by a highly anticipated emerging director. Such was the case at the Ryerson theater Saturday night when Adam Wingard's latest film, You're Next, was about to screen.

I had the opportunity to talk to Adam, writer Simon Barrett and stars Sharni Vinson and the legendary Barbara Crampton looking amazing lovely as usual. Here is Sheleigh and my red carpet video:



You're Next screens two more times:

Monday Sept., 12th AMC 7 6:30pm
Friday, Sept., 16th TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 4:00pm

Intro/Q&A Video for YOU'RE NEXT

Saturday Sept., 10th marked the World Premiere of Adam Wingard's and Simon Barrett's latest collaboration, You're Next. Hot of the heels of their breakout film, A Horrible Way To Die, which screened in TIFF's Vanguard programme, there was a lot of anticipation for this follow-up film.

Ryerson theater had all the energy of a world premiere at midnight on the first Saturday of the festival. It also helped that the masks prominently featured in the film were being handed out to the die hard fans waiting in the lineup and that Banksy-inspired street was popping up all around the theater.


Here is Sheleigh and my video of the Introduction and Q&A of You're Next:



At the time of this posting You're Next screens two more times:

Monday Sept., 12th AMC 7 6:30pm
Friday, Sept., 16th TIFF Bell lightbox 2 4:00pm

Midnight Madness Spotlight on A.J. Bowen

"He is the Kurt Russell of our generation"--A director on A.J. Bowen

Last year I met director Adam Wingard and the lead cast of his film A Horrible Way To Die, which premiered at TIFF 2010. Among the actors I talked to was A.J. Bowen who I had seen the day previous on the silver screen playing serial killer Garrick Turrell. As my camera operator was getting prepared the cast and I all shook hands and I noticed the camaraderie of Wingard, Bowen and fellow actors Amy Seimetz and Joe Swanberg. As I tested out the sound of the microphone with the standard "check, check," I could not help but also laugh into the microphone at Bowen's great sense of humor it was far removed from the character I had seen him playing the day before--a person on the far extreme of the human condition--a vicious killer--and it is at these kind moments when you get to see the real person aside from a character they have played, you see a great actor who takes their craft seriously.

A Horrible Way To Die is a true showcase for Bowen's acting talents. Even though he is a serial killer he loves his ex-girlfriend Sarah (Amy Seimetz) and is on a journey to try and reconnect with her. While it's the genre moments which involve Garrick killing his victims that generate an immediate reaction, it is the scenes and images of Garrick Turrell driving long stretches of the freeway and those quiet moments of introspection that have resonated and stayed with me. Which reminds me of a Micheal Chekhov quote, "An actor must burn inside with an outer ease."

One thing I have noticed with A.J. as an actor is this his characters immediately draw you in with a disarming charm and when his opposite lets their guard down bad things happen, very bad things. There is also this great sense of unease whenever the camera focuses on him, one is never really safe in his presence; yet at the same time he has this vulnerability. Take a look at Lewis Denton, his character in The Signal. Though crazed from the signal, covered in blood, he is a man adrift, looking for his wife he no longer recognizes. As I mentioned before with the character Garrick Turrell in A Horrible Way To Die, here is a man struggling with his need to kill people and his need to receive love from his ex-girlfriend the great love of his life, a man torn. Another great trait of Bowen's acting talent is his ability to say more with his eyes then five pages of dialogue can.


I first took notice of Bowen in the 2007 film The Signal. In a movie that is an ensemble piece he is one of the actors to truly stand out. Directors leading a new wave of American genre films have also taken notice, Bowen has worked with Ti West, Adam Green and is currently shooting with genre darling Danielle Harris in her second film as a director, Among Friends.


This year will mark Bowen's first appearance on the Midnight Madness screen in Wingard's latest, You're Next. This marks the third collaboration of Wingard & Bowen, as well as Amy Seimetz and Joe Swanberg. Here is my interview with them from last year.



A.J. is truly a great actor who helps lift genre films into art. I look forward to seeing his latest performance in You're Next but before forewarned, don't be drawn in with that disarming smile and that twinkle in his eyes.....

YOU'RE NEXT screening times:

Sat., Sept 10th, 11:59pm RYERSON
Mon., Sept. 12th, 6:30pm AMC 7
Fri., Sept. 16th, 4:00pm TIFF Bell Lightbox 2