TagToronto International Film Festival
7 stories
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeign
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
Continue reading →
NetflixTrailers
On September 8, 2017, The Ritual made its world premiere at the Midnight section of the Toronto Film Festival. After drawing a lot of attention from buyers Netflix snatched up the film with a deal a price tag of $4.75 million. David Bruckner directed the film which was written by BAFTA-nominated screenwriter Joe Barton (Humans, iBoy), based on Adam Nevill’s novel by the same name, the film centers on four old friends from college who set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness after the death of their best friend. When a wrong turn leads them into the wilderness, part of a Norse Legend, they are stalked by something evil. Rafe Spall (The BFG), Robert James-Collier (Downtown Abbey), Arsher Ali (Four Lions), and Sam Troughton (The Hollow Crown) star as the friends, according to THR. The Imaginarium and eOne produced and financed the film. Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish developed the project and produced alongside Richard Holmes. Will Tennant and Phil Robertson
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News
It’s been a while since we’ve given an update on the giant monster movie, Colossal, from writer/director Nacho Vigalondo (Extraterrestrial, V/H/S Viral) . The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced its full lineup of the genre films to be shown this year and the mega monster movie Colossal is one of them. Anne Hathaway stars alongside Dan Stevens, Jason Sudeikis, Tim Blake Nelson, Rukiya Bernard, and Austin Stowell ,in the film that is already being compared to Godzilla. The film follows a woman who moves back to her hometown after losing her job and boyfriend in New York, only to discover that she is somehow connected to a giant creature that has materialized over Seoul and is raining destruction on the city. To prevent further loss, she must uncover the mystery behind her psychic link with the monster. Colossal’s release date has not been announced, but IMDb does have it listed as 2016. We should see the promotional artwork
Continue reading →
NewsReviews
The horror anthology ‘Southbound’ has five interlocking tales that follows the fates of a group of travelers who are faced with their worst fears and darkest secrets over one long night on a desolate stretch of desert highway, with all roads leading to a town that is Hell on earth. The film was written and it’s segments directed by Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath and the group Radio Silence. The cast includes Kate Beahan, Matt Bettinelli-Olphin, Susan Burke, Zoe Cooper, Karla Droege, Gerals Downey, Larry Fessenden, Dana Gould, Nathalie Love and others. ‘Southbound’ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival a few days ago. No release date has been announced.
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More from Toronto International Film Festival
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignReviews
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
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeign
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
Continue reading →
NetflixTrailers
On September 8, 2017, The Ritual made its world premiere at the Midnight section of the Toronto Film Festival. After drawing a lot of attention from buyers Netflix snatched up the film with a deal a price tag of $4.75 million. David Bruckner directed the film which was written by BAFTA-nominated screenwriter Joe Barton (Humans, iBoy), based on Adam Nevill’s novel by the same name, the film centers on four old friends from college who set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness after the death of their best friend. When a wrong turn leads them into the wilderness, part of a Norse Legend, they are stalked by something evil. Rafe Spall (The BFG), Robert James-Collier (Downtown Abbey), Arsher Ali (Four Lions), and Sam Troughton (The Hollow Crown) star as the friends, according to THR. The Imaginarium and eOne produced and financed the film. Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish developed the project and produced alongside Richard Holmes. Will Tennant and Phil Robertson
Continue reading →
News
It’s been a while since we’ve given an update on the giant monster movie, Colossal, from writer/director Nacho Vigalondo (Extraterrestrial, V/H/S Viral) . The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced its full lineup of the genre films to be shown this year and the mega monster movie Colossal is one of them. Anne Hathaway stars alongside Dan Stevens, Jason Sudeikis, Tim Blake Nelson, Rukiya Bernard, and Austin Stowell ,in the film that is already being compared to Godzilla. The film follows a woman who moves back to her hometown after losing her job and boyfriend in New York, only to discover that she is somehow connected to a giant creature that has materialized over Seoul and is raining destruction on the city. To prevent further loss, she must uncover the mystery behind her psychic link with the monster. Colossal’s release date has not been announced, but IMDb does have it listed as 2016. We should see the promotional artwork
Continue reading →
NewsReviews
The horror anthology ‘Southbound’ has five interlocking tales that follows the fates of a group of travelers who are faced with their worst fears and darkest secrets over one long night on a desolate stretch of desert highway, with all roads leading to a town that is Hell on earth. The film was written and it’s segments directed by Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath and the group Radio Silence. The cast includes Kate Beahan, Matt Bettinelli-Olphin, Susan Burke, Zoe Cooper, Karla Droege, Gerals Downey, Larry Fessenden, Dana Gould, Nathalie Love and others. ‘Southbound’ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival a few days ago. No release date has been announced.
Continue reading →
