Happy Birthday, Werner Herzog!

A belated happy birthday to one of Midnight Madness' favorite filmmakers, Werner Herzog! (And we hope you enjoyed Hitoshi Matsumoto's Symbol back in 2009).

Celebrate with this clip of Werner Herzog discussing penguins, madness and heading towards certain death. 

Perhaps celebrate isn't the right word...  How about Klaus Kinski singing and dancing?

Happy Birthday, Dario Argento!

Argento prepares to cut his cake.

Today's Dario Argento's Birthday! Argento is an innovator in horror and a master of the Italian giallo genre.

He's also an alumnus of the Toronto International Film Festival, having shown Mother of Tears (2007), The Stendhal Syndrome (1996),  Trauma (1993);  Two Evil Eyes (1990), co-directed with George Romero; Opera (1989) all at Midnight Madness. In fact, after Takashi Miike, Argento's the director who's shown the most films at Midnight Madness.




His most famous films include Suspiria; The Bird With The Crystal Plumage; and Deep Red. More recently he's had two episodes of Masters of Horror, ("Jenifer" and "Pelts"); Giallo starring Adrien Brody, and his newest film is Dracula 3D with Rutger Hauer as the Count.

Happy Birthday, Maestro!

And you can celebrate by watching two movies that are definitely influenced by Argento's legacy.

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO Screening Times:
Mon., Sept. 10th, 6:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Tue., Sept. 11th, 2:45 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 3

LORDS OF SALEM
Mon., Sept. 10, 11:59pm: RYERSON
Wed., Sept. 12, 5pm: CINEPLEX YONGE AND DUNDAS 6

Happy Belated Birthday, Jack "King" Kirby!

via Newsarama

This week marks the 95th anniversary of Jack Kirby's birth. Working as an artist, writer, editor and even in film, animation and television from the 1930s through the 1990s, Kirby's impact and influence are inestimable.  He created or co-created countless characters, including Captain America, The X-Men The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, The Silver Surfer and Galactus, and possibly my favorite, Victor von Doom, as well as his cosmic Fourth World--heroes like Big Barda, Mister Miracle/Scott Free, Orion and villains like the master of Apokolips, Darkseid.

via materioptikon

Make sure to check out David Brothers' tribute to Jack Kirby and how Kirby switched the focus of heroic stories from good vs. evil to "freedom vs. slavery."

Kirby redefined good not as a moral issue, but one of freedom. The freedom to love, laugh, share, create, and more. There's the potential for harm, and many of the New Gods struggle with that potential, but just having that potential is vital. It needs to be there. Being able to choose to do wrong is greater than being forced to do good. Free will is everything. The Life Equation is everything beautiful, warts and all.

And feast your everlovin' eyes on The Kirby Museum's amazing gallery of Kirby's art as well as their YouTube Channel, which includes this 1982 Entertainment Tonight interview with Kirby.  Warning: Liberal use of sound zany effects.