Your Favourite MIDNIGHT MADNESS Moments!

Maniacs gathering for the Madness!

The Line of Madness!

Can you believe that we're just slightly over a week after the whirlwind of the Toronto International Film Festival and, of course, Midnight Madness 2012.  If you're anything like me, you've been getting way too much sleep (over 3 hours? Whaaaaa?), catching up on Homeland, and not watching three or more movies a day, which has given me time to reflect back on those crazy ten days and my favourite moments from TIFF.

Our fantastic Midnight Madness audience has been doing the same thing on Twitter and Facebook, and we wanted to share some of those with you! (additional photos by Ian Goring)

Turns out that Godwin's Law applies at the Ryerson 

Who was that, I wonder?

Oh.

Remember, if you've got any favourite moments and memories to add, tweet them to us using the #mmadnesstiff hashtag or post them up in the Midnight Madness Facebook group! 

By the way, if you want to keep the Midnight Madness party going for a little longer, don't forget to check out Programmer Colin Geddes' exhibit at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche this year! If this piece doesn't satisfy your cravings for zombie kills, nothing will!

Pics From the Premiere of LORDS OF SALEM!

It was Metal Night at the Ryerson last night as a bunch of face-tattooed, pierced, gothic psychos descended on the theatre for Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem.  Ian Goring was there to capture all the action as witches finally returned to the witching hour!

Rob Zombie ponders the meaning of life with his lovely wife,
and star of Lords of Salem, Sheri Moon Zombie

Even the owl on his shirt looks mean.

The well-groomed Jeff Daniel Phillips

FUCK YEAH SATAN!

Pretty sure these folks got lost on the way to a gala screening of Argo

THE LORDS OF SALEM screening times:
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

Rob Zombie Interview On The Making of THE LORDS OF SALEM

THE LORDS OF SALEM marks Rob Zombie's first time at the Midnight Madness programme at the Toronto International Film Festival. I don't think Mr. Zombie is given enough credit of how good a filmmaker he is. THE LORDS OF SALEM shows a filmmaker who definitely growing as a storyteller. I have always believed Zombie is a consummate visual stylist. Lords reaffirms this for me -- a film in which Zombie sits the camera down and sets up well composed shots influenced by Kubrick. His casting choices are always inspired and pay respect to the history of the horror genre. I recently had the opportunity to ask Mr. Zombie some questions.

Being born in Haverhill not far from Salem Massachusetts have the witch trails always a point of fascination? What was it about the witch trials that sparked your imagination and set in motion the writing of The Lords of Salem?

Growing up in Massachusetts I always thought the state had a cool spooky vibe and the reality of the witch trials certainly fed that vibe. The inspiration for the movie was an accident really. One day I just happened to buy a book on the witch trials in the gift shop of a hotel I was staying at. That book got me thinking about it and that was the beginning of the project.

You shot the film, then went on tour and then returned to edit the film as well as produce your next album. How did that gap between production and post help you approach what you shot as opposed to jumping right into an editing suite? What were some of the benefits of the challenge of balancing both projects?

In some ways it drove me crazy because I really just wanted to keep working on the film until it was done, but in other ways getting away from it helped me to solve problems that you can't solve sometimes just because you get too close and can't get any distance from the project. All in all this method worked out great.

The cast you and Monika Mikkelsen have assembled is a who's who of genre films. How do you approach casting? Do you write with certain actors in mind or seek out actors through more traditional methods, like auditions?

All of the above. For some roles I have a specific person in mind and for others I do typical auditions. Whatever it takes to find the right person for the role. One example of an audition that blew me away was Judy Geeson's read for the role of Lacy.

Watching your films and videos over the years I believe you are a consummate visual stylist. How did you approach the look of this film with cinematographer Brandon Trost?

We basically just talked about it over and over and over then decided on a course of action. I was always a big fan of handheld camera work, but suddenly it started to look like TV to me since so many TV shows use that style. So I wanted to do the exact opposite. Very steady camera work with all the camera moves being motivated by the action on screen. No shakey camera just for the fuck of it.

                   Rob Zombie interviewed at the world premiere by Robert A. Mitchell


How has your approach to directing evolved from House of Thousand Corpses to The Lords of Salem?

Well, with each film you hopefully develop a better set of skills that you can apply to the next film. If you watch those two films back to back I don't think you would never think the same person made both films. Lords is a far more sophisticated production.

I have been reading that The Lords of Salem is your darkest film to date. Is there anything you can tell the audience of the experience that awaits them upon watching The Lords of Salem?

Be patient and pay attention. It is not what you think it is

THE LORDS OF SALEM
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

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Rob & Sheri Moon Zombie On Making THE LORDS OF SALEM (Video)

Last night the Ryerson cinema, home to the Midnight Madness programme, was rocking. Rob Zombie was in attendence for the world premiere of his latest film THE LORDS OF SALEM. Robert A. Mitchell was there and here is what he brought back...


THE LORDS OF SALEM
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

THE LORDS OF SALEM Intro/Q&A World Premiere Video

THE LORDS OF SALEM rocked midnight madness last night! Here is Robert A. Mitchell's video of Colin Geddes' introduction of the film and the post-screening Q&A with Rob Zombie, Sherri Moon Zombie, actor Jeff Daniel Phillips and cinematographer Brandon Trost.


THE LORDS OF SALEM
Wed., Sept. 12th, 5:00 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

Day Three with Kari's Scaries

Another caffeine- and carnage-fueled day has come and gone. Yesterday we caught Room 237, which convinced me (at least for a few minutes) that everything that ever happened is part of a weird conspiracy that probably involves Nazis and dick jokes, and DePalma's latest split-screen sleaze-a-thon, Passion. As usual, though, the highlight of the day wasn't even part of the day at all—it was the Midnight Madness premiere of JT Petty's Hellbenders. 

Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes and Hellbenders writer/director JT Petty. I don't remember
what they were saying, but it looks like it was beautiful, man--just beautiful.

Dan Fogler demonstrates proper hellbending technique.

Who's cooler than Clancy Brown? Not me, that's for damn sure.

Next up: tonight's premiere of Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem, with the man himself in attendance. I'm expecting it to be a quiet, low-key event.

HELLBENDERS 3D screening times:
Tues., Sept. 11, 7 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Sat., Sept. 15, 9:15 PM, SCOTIABANK 2

LORDS OF SALEM screening times:
Mon., Sept. 10, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 5 PM, CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 6

THE LORDS OF SALEM Premieres Tonight!

After a slew of horror films to his name -- House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, and the Halloween reboots -- director/musician Rob Zombie finally makes his first appearance at Midnight Madness with The Lords of Salem tonight at The Ryerson!

After radio DJ Heidi Hawthorne plays a mysterious record by a band named The Lords, she inadvertently awakens the spirit of a 300-year-old coven of witches who are out for revenge.

With a giant cast of cult cinema stars in a movie about rock 'n' roll, witches, Satan, the occult, and dudes in corpse paint carrying swords, what's not to like? Tonight promises to be the grimmest, creepiest, most atmospheric Midnight Madness yet.

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

Rob Zombie Discusses Upcoming Broad Street Bullies Film

Rob Zombie, director of Midnight Madness flick The Lords of Salem, discusses his next film project in an interview with ESPN. It'll be based on the true story of the "Broad Street Bullies", the nickname for the aggressive and frightening Philadelphia Flyers line-up of the early 70s.

Says Zombie, on the film: "It will be the true story. It will be gory. ... It will be a period piece, ... Philadelphia was a terrible place in those days. It was also the time of Watergate and the gas shortage and Patty Hearst. It was social upheaval at the time."

Zombie's Broad Street Bullies film is in its earliest phases of research, so to quench your thirst for hockey violence, here's the trailer for Slap Shot:

THE LORDS OF SALEM:
Mon.,  Sept. 10, 11:59:  Ryerson Theatre
Wed., Sept. 12, 5PM: Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 6

The Curious Casting of LORDS OF SALEM

Director Rob Zombie is unabashedly in the category of filmmakers that double as hardcore movie geeks. This is a man, after all, who named his band after a Bela Lugosi flick, and who's stuffed his films with references--often obscure and odd--that span all eras of horror. His casting is no different, as his films read like a who's who of the past four decades of horror, exploitation, and sci-fi. Since mapping out the names and resumes all of his movies' casts requires numerous charts, graphs, and Venn diagrams that I have neither the space nor the mental fortitude for, let's instead take a quick, dirty look at his latest, the Midnight Madness selection The Lords of Salem.

A surprise to anyone is the return of Zombie's wife Sherri Moon Zombie in the role of radio DJ Heidi Hawthorne, as she's appeared in each of her husband's films. Another Zombie regular--and an always welcome addition-- is Sid Haig, who's appeared everything but Halloween 2, and is best known today as the deliciously sadistic clown-- and Marx Brothers' reference--Captain Spaulding. Haig's early career's still remembered for Spider Baby.

Another returning semi-regular is Clint Howard, who's recognized by most for popping up in his brother Ron Howard's films. Howard's appeared in Zombie's Halloween remake and as a voice actor in the oft-forgotten, quite twisted, and infinitely silly animated flick The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, but he's been in literally a billion (give or take a few) other movie and TV shows. A spot that's close to my own heart is his titular role in 1995's supremely odd, schlocky Ice Cream Man.

Udo Kier makes his second appearance in a Zombie production (if we're counting the fake trailer for Werewolf Women of the SS in the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse), and has a long career dating back to the '60s. My personal favorites are Paul Morrissey's beautifully tasteless X-rated features Blood for Dracula (aka Andy Warhol's Dracula) and Flesh for Frankenstein (aka Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, of course). The latter originally showed up in theaters in 3D, and featured the greatest of all 3D effects, Kier's liver dangling over the audience on the end of a spear. Below is the trailer for the former.

Lords of Salem also supplies us with the first appearance of the wonderful Barbara Crampton in a Zombie film. Crampton's best known today for her early, regular work with Stuart Gordon, especially one very specific--and very brave--act committed with a severed head in Re-Animator. Since we're far too classy to show you that, check out this trailer to Gordon's From Beyond, with Crampton in full-on scream queen mode, plus a fellow Salem cast member, Ken Foree.

And with that, we're not even scratching the surface. Eagle-eyed movie nerds will recognize the likes of Maria Conchita Alonso (The Running Man, Predator 2), Meg Foster (They Live), Tim Burton's one-time wife Lisa Marie, and Dee Wallace (E.T., Cujo). There's even throwbacks to '70s TV, like The Brady Bunch's Christopher Knight, and Raj from What's Happening himself, Ernest Thomas. Did I miss someone? Maybe you've got a favorite Rob Zombie cast member or in-reference? Let us know down below in the comments.


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

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

LORDS OF SALEM Still Image Gallery

Rob Zombie is an extremely detailed film director and a consummate visual stylist. His use of color in film is very audacious. The world he creates is completely affecting and enthralling. LORDS OF SALEM marks Zombie's return to an original horror story. The stills that have been released thus far show a glimpse into a world created by a masterful storyteller.

 

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