Search results for “Toronto International Film Festival”

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Movie Review: “Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux” (Toronto International Film Festival)

I first saw famed Canadian auteur Guy Maddin’s debut feature Tales from the Gimli Hospital at the San Francisco International Film Festival when the film was on the festival circuit in 1988, and I was instantly captivated by its old-fashioned style, gripping visuals, and decidedly offbeat sense of humor. I have been an admirer of Maddin’s work ever since, and this new Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux 4K version supported by Telefilm’s restoration program, with some additional material incorporated, took me back to that initial viewing experience, doing so with marvelous visual and audio clarity. It is impossible to place Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux neatly into one or two genres, as the film incorporates several, but suffice it to say that elements of horror, thriller, dark comedy, absurdist comedy, and other genres abound. Looking for all the world like a lost black-and-white early talking film unearthed, Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux, shot on 16mm, uses light

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Joseph Perry

Sep 19, 2022

The F*cking Fantastic, Action-Packed Film 'SISU' Is Out Today!

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesNewsThriller

Movie Reviews: “Sisu” and “Baby Ruby” (Toronto International Film Festival)

Sisu I’m not big on war films and I’m rather picky about action movies, so when I tell you that Finnish war/action film Sisu provided one of the most fun times I have had watching a genre film this year, that statement should not be taken lightly. Light on dialogue but chock full of practically non-stop excitement and sporting more practical gore and make-up effects than many horror movies, Sisu is a cinematic rollercoaster ride from writer/director Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports [2010]; Big Game [2014]) that will have audiences cheering out loud. In 1944 northern Denmark’s Lapland Plains, Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) is a prospector who discovers gold, only to be confronted by a band of Nazi soldiers as he walks with his dog to turn the gold into cash. Seeing the gold as their way of escaping punishment by death when the war ends, the Nazis, led by their commander (Aksel Hennie) aim to get their hands on the

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Joseph Perry

Sep 10, 2022

Film FestivalsForeignReviews

Movie Review (Toronto International Film Festival): Saloum

Director Jean Luc Herbulot’s Senegal/Congo coproduction Saloum is an insane mind-blower. This genre mash-up is as fun as it is suspenseful and poignant. Bangui’s Hyenas is a trio of mercenaries — Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah) and Minuit (Mentor Ba) — on a mission to bring a cartel drug lord to Dakar, Senegal, with a load of gold on hand. When their plane encounters a problem, they are forced to land on the Saloum Delta. The four men seek shelter at a lodging camp run by a man named Omar (Bruno Henry), who Chaka claims to know, though Omar doesn’t recognize him. Minuit senses that Chaka is keeping a dangerous secret from the rest of the trio, and a mute woman guest named Awa (Evelyne Ily Juhen) complicates matters when she threatens to expose the men, who are going under aliases, to local police captain Souleymane (Ndiaga Mbow) unless they let her escape with them. Herbulot, who cowrote the

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Joseph Perry

Sep 17, 2021

Film FestivalsForeignReviews

Movie Reviews (Toronto International Film Festival): You Are Not My Mother and A Banquet

Beginning with one of the most harrowing scenes in recent memory, writer/director Kate Dolan’s Halloween-set Irish horror outing You Are Not My Mother serves up traditional European folklore in a modern urban setting. The result is one of the most thrilling, eerie cinematic experiences of this year. High-school student Char (Hazel Doupe) reluctantly accepts a ride to school from her seemingly depressed mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken), who almost drives the car straight into a horse. Angela disappears later that day but returns in a few days; however, she now seems to be in lighter moods, more active, and more engaged regarding spending time with Char. At first the bullied teen seems cautiously optimistic about her mother’s new behavior, but soon Angela begins displaying increasingly disturbing bearings. Char’s grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie), who makes talismans for protection, warns Char about a supernatural presence behind Angela, but Char wants none of that because she has heard schoolmates and neighbors mock her family

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Joseph Perry

Sep 14, 2021

Film FestivalsForeignReviews

Movie Reviews (Toronto International Film Festival): Kicking Blood and Mlungu Wam (Good Madam)

Director Blaine Thurier’s Kicking Blood is a stylish vampire film that, like The Addiction (1995) and other entries in the genre, deals with these undead creatures’ thirst for blood as a chemical dependency. Anna (Alana Bale) is one such bloodsucker, and when she invites alcoholic and suddenly homeless Robbie (Luke Bilyk) to her place and tells him “I’m going to suck your blood and get high . . .”, he invites her to do that but after one last request. He then pours a bottle of booze down the sink and proclaims that he will never drink again as long as he lives. Intrigued by his oath, Anna refrains from biting him, and as she goes on to admire his determination to stick to his promise when giving in to his cravings would be so easy, she begins to rethink her lifestyle. Her vampire partners with whom she hunts, Nina (Ella Jonas Farlinger) and Boris (Benjamin Sutherland), are none too

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Joseph Perry

Sep 13, 2021

Film FestivalsForeign

Toronto International Film Festival 2021: Our Half-Dozen “Have to See!” Horror Films

Shocks and shudders abound during Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) hybrid event September 9–18, 2021, with in-person cinema screenings in Toronto and digital screenings available to viewers across Canada. Among the incredible international line-up of horror, science fiction, thriller, and other genre-cinema styles are the following six stand-outs, which Horror Fuel highly recommends. My comments follow in italics after descriptions adapted from TIFF’s official program and website. Kicking Blood “Blaine Thurier’s sultry, perma-stoned, ultra-modern spin on the vampire genre evokes cult-horror figures like George A. Romero and Stuart Gordon.” Fusing the grittiness of George Romero’s Martin with the sly theatricality of Stuart Gordon’s early films (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Blaine Thurier’s Kicking Blood reimagines vampire mythology by transplanting it to the bohemian world Thurier has satirized since he began making films. Instead of the usual desiccated, tormented aristocrats with impossibly innocent victims, Thurier’s undead are hipster scavengers and swingers, their victims luckless hangers-on and drunks. Vampire Anna (Alanna Bale) is disappointed

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Joseph Perry

Sep 9, 2021

Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsShort Films

Spoiler Free Reviews: Matapanki, The Thing Inside Her, and Paper Cuts (Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2026)

Matapanki (Chile, 2026) Official synopsis A punk kid gets superpowers from alcohol and tries to reshape society, but a violent error sparks global tensions with him at the center. Review “Punk’s not dead!” goes the battle cry, and writer/director Diego Fuentes follows that spirit with his action comedy/fantasy feature Matapanki. Punk rock fan Ricardo (Ramón Gálvez) accidentally discovers a bottle of the titular fictitious drink and finds that ingesting the beverage gives him superpowers. With nods to Spider-Man, the film takes him on an origin-story journey where he is reluctant to use his powers despite his friends’ encouragement. Naturally, nefarious forces are at work, which Fuentes uses to skewer local and international political figures and movements. He also uses colorful animation and drawing effects to complement Cinematographer Vicente Correa’s impressive black-and-white work. Fueled with punk soul, a driving soundtrack, and all-in performances, Matapanki is a unique slice of genre-cinema fare. The Thing Inside Her (Canada, 2026) Official synopsis After removing

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Joseph Perry

Oct 19, 2026

IndieMoviesNewsShudderStreaming TVTrailers

One Of The Scariest Films Of The Year: ‘When Evil Lurks’ Debuts On Shudder

Hailed as one of the “scariest films of the year,” the supernatural horror When Evil Lurks, now playing in select theaters, makes its Shudder premiere today. “When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse — its very proximity poisoning the local livestock — they attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions inadvertently trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community. Now, they must outrun an encroaching evil as it corrupts and mutilates everyone it is exposed to and enlist the aid of a wizened “cleaner,” who holds the only tools that can stop this supernatural plague.” Argentinian director Demián Rugna’s frightening film made its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. It marks his second feature following his fright-filled film Terrified, which won Best Horror Feature at Fantastic Fest 2017. The

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Kelli Marchman McNeely

Nov 3, 2023

Film FestivalsForeignIndieMoviesReviews

Horror Fuel.com’s Top 10 Film Festival Horror Movies of 2021

This year was an outstanding one for horror films making the film festival rounds, which is where I see most of my movies each year. Thankfully, many films are making it to wider release quicker than in the past — for example, my #1 film of 2021 is already available on VOD, and several of my honorable mentions are on streaming services or on DVD or Blu-ray. Keep the following films in mind because some of them just may be future favorites for you in 2022! 1. The Feast (Wales) Director Lee Haven Jones’ Welsh outing The Feast — a blend of folk, psychological, environmental, and supernatural horror — instantly became my favorite film of the year, regardless of genre, when I saw it as part of SXSW Online 2021 in March. In my Horror Fuel review, I said that The Feast is an “eerie slice of horror cinema that jangles the nerves and does a beautiful job of slowly

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Joseph Perry

Dec 22, 2021

Film Festivals

Brazil’s Fantaspoa Film Festival’s First Half of Its 2021 Lineup Includes Monsters, Murderers, and the Mystical

Brazil’s Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival will repeat the free, online format that worked splendidly for it last year for its 2021 edition. The first batch of its scheduled offerings for this year includes horror films and horror comedies from around the globe. Following is the official press announcement. Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival announced via Deadline that, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, its seventeenth edition will again be held online and completely free of charge. The 2021 edition of the beloved South American genre festival is supported by a special grant from the Brazilian government, which is offered to relevant cultural events amidst the pandemic. The festival will also renew its partnership with Darkflix, Brazil’s immensely popular streaming service aimed at fantastic genre cinema. Fantaspoa’s festival directors are keenly aware of the fact that no live events will take place in the cinemas of Porto Alegre in 2021. Theaters currently remain closed due to a worsening of the virus and

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Joseph Perry

Mar 11, 2021