[REVIEW] CULT FILMMAKERS: 50 Movie Mavericks You Need To Know by Ian Haydn Smith

Ian Haydn Smith's new book Cult Filmmakers: 50 Movie Mavericks You Need To Know is a book well suited to the cinephile world of lists and discussions. Mr. Smith chronicles fifty filmmakers ranging form David Lynch to Ana Lily Amirpour to Abel Ferrara. I don't want to mention too many as part of the fun for me was turning the pages to see and read about the next filmmaker. The directors span over a hundred years of cinema.

"What makes a cult film, or characterizes its filmmaker as a cult figure?" Is the first line of Mr. Smith's introduction and the question is indeed the crux of the book. It is a pertinent question and the book shines as Mr. Smith gives us insights about his thought process to his answers. In this modern cinema era films are sometimes positioned and marketed as "cult" films. As the local movie theater is dominated more and more by giant blockbuster films by a handful of media companies it is also a nice reminder that in every decade filmmakers were and are operating outside of traditional systems. Directors throughout the decades are telling stories that are unique, weird, provocative, compelling, a reaction and a reflection of the generation they were created in and ultimately theirs.

Another aspect of Cult Filmmakers: 50 Movie Mavericks You Need To Know that is really outstanding and elevates the book are the beautiful illustrations by Kristelle Rodeia that accompany every filmmaker page. It's great to see what set piece or prop accompany the filmmaker.

As Ian Hayden Smith writes, "Rather than offering an authoritative guide through the rich history of cult filmmaking, this book aims to be another voice in the conversation about cult cinema." I surmise  this book will indeed begin and renew discussions and disagreements of what is a cult film and what makes one a cult filmmaker and will definitely stir passionate conversations of the filmmakers featured within and those not included. The book will also certainly bring delight as a reader looks back at well known directors, upcoming filmmakers and forgotten auteurs.

You can by Ian's book here. 

HALLOWEEN: Premiere Interviews Jamie Lee Curtis, David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jason Blum, Andi Matichak

               David Gordon Green & Danny McBride speak with Robert Aaron Mitchell

When the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival began who knew that it would be the 11th film in the long running Halloween franchise that would be one of the hottest tickets in town. The new film written by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride has Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her iconic character Laurie Strode. The film was approved by John Carpenter and sees him returning to score this new film with his son Cody Carpenter. I was on the world premiere red carpet here are my interviews from the Midnight Madness at TIFF premiere. There was a special guest prior to the film beginning. Seen the film? Watch the complete Midnight Madness post-screening Q&A to learn more about how the movie was made.

MEET THE PRODUCERS: Interview With Peter Block John Carpenter's The Ward

Midnight Madness Producers Part 1: Peter Block - JOHN CARPENTER'S THE WARD

 

This is the first in an ongoing series, Meeting The Producers Of Midnight Madness 2010.
 
Don't let the big name talent fool you, the ten films that make up this year's Midnight Madness program have all been made outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system. These ten independent features have all faced their own challenges and the standard ones of not enough time and not enough money. I recently had the opportunity to pose questions to the producers of the films so please follow me as we Meet the Producers of Midnight Madness 2010. Let me introduce you to Peter Block.


Mr. Block, formerly was President of acquisitions and co-productions of Lionsgate. In 2008 he formed A Bigger Boat productions in order to produce and distribute genre films and television.


What did you learn from being the President of Acquisitions & Co-Productions at Lionsgate that informed your decision to form your own production company A Bigger Boat in 2008?
 
What I had learned in my time at Lionsgate, and as far back as the early '90s when I found that a company could actually exist on a slate of straight to video horror titles, and sometimes you discovered fantastic new directors, such as Guillermo del Toro, "Cronos" and Peter Jackson "Dead Alive". I also learned that the horror audience was vibrant, dedicated and social. Whether the films were good or bad, was often not nearly as important as whether there was a great death scene, or even a really bad line-reading. The audience showed up again and again and shared their experiences with one another.
 
By 2008, I had spent the better part of a decade at Lionsgate, and had been able to chart its course into the genre world from the arthouse circuit; I can still recall the great conversation when we were able to convince Chairman Jon Feltheimer that (a) "House Of 1000 Corpses" really was an arthouse movie (perhaps one for an outhouse crowd), and (b) that he should never watch it. So began a great trajectory beginning with "Cabin Fever", right here at TIFF, which allowed us to not only play in the genre sandbox, but to dig deep for hidden gems that other studios wouldn't touch, like "Devil's Rejects", "Hard Candy" and "The Descent". After spending time finding and producing commercial (Saw, Crank, Open Water) and critical (Crash, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Fido) successes for the company, I had a chance to fully delve into the indie producing world, while at the same time further exploring some of my genre sensibilities. There were stories I was still interested in telling, and directors (like genre-fave Adam Green, new-comers like Mark Tonderai and the legendary John Carpenter) that I wanted to work with. Plus, in A Bigger Boat, I already had a great company name picked out and, with the help of my pal Tim Williams, a fun animated logo...
 
The Ward was made outside of the studio system, what were some of the unique challenges this presented?
 
The Ward was made outside of the studio system for a variety of reasons. Firstly, we (my partners at Echo Lake Productions, and I) wanted to entice John Carpenter to direct the movie, and we knew John was partial to his independence (we found out later that that sentiment extended to "from producers" as well!). Secondly, the industry was changing. Studios were less interested in lower budgeted genre fare, in favor of tent-pole releases with name stars to drive ticket sales, and with it corporate earnings and stock prices. Along those same lines, most studios are more interested in keeping cost commitments as low as possible, preferring to explore co-production ventures, off-balance sheet financing, and pursuing post-production acquisitions over pre-production financial commitments.
 
So, while no studio came aboard before we made The Ward, it did open up some possibilities elsewhere. Many foreign territories have distributors with output deals with different Hollywood studios, and their offerings reflect largely what the studio feeds them. So your film doesn't always end up with the right distributor overseas, but rather the one with whom the studio has a pre-existing relationship. We got to approach each territory separately, and our foreign sales partner --- Glen Basner's FilmNation --- did a masterful job setting us up with enough pre-sales overseas --- to distributors excited at the prospect of a new John Carpenter film --- that we were able to finance the movie, albeit with less than John or we hoped. And so began the search for where to shoot, a decision complicated by the ever-changing exchange rate of the U.S. Dollar. So initial explorations of Toronto and Winnipeg eventually gave way to a terrific team in Spokane Washington, which had an unknown production team but a great tax rebate program. But in then end, it all comes down to not the elements you don't have, but the quality of the ones you do, and we have a great story, a camera-friendly and talented cast, and a director who knows a thing or two about the art of the scare. I'd say we're doing ok.


I recently spoke with David Cronenberg and he said that in today's climate your past track record does not matter anymore. Each film has to be tackled as though it was your first project. You yourself have an impressive track record, how are you finding the business of raising money for a project?

I think David's right in some regards, but let's not forget: he's David Cronenberg, and he's done some of his most outstanding work lately with "Eastern Promises" and "History Of Violence". So I could disagree and say his body of work makes him ever-relevant, and at the same time his recent work is so strong that anyone would love to have the opportunity to be involved with a new project. But overall he's correct and it's as much a function of the "what have you done for me lately?" mentality as it is a matter that studio needs (and studio personnel) are ever-changing, coupled with the collapsing of industry windows and revenue streams.


Moreover, movie years are like dog years: by the time your movie gets made, released and finds it's way to a studio (non)profit statement, another 600 films have come and gone through theaters, to say nothing of those that bypass theatrical altogether. By the time you want to make a follow-up to your movie, the first one has been released and critiqued, amortized and analyzed, and most likely already replicated enough times so that's it's either deemed a classic or already forgotten. And all of that is further enhanced by the fact that everyone's always looking for a reason to say "no"; rarely does anyone get fired for not green-lighting a project, but the corollary isn't always true. So you've got to make sure your successes are recent enough to stay relevant in an ever-changing marketplace, and you've got to have a package that demands a "yes" when both economics and job preservation dictate otherwise. In other words, I'm no longer the guy responsible for "Saw" or "Open Water" or "The Descent"; I'm just the guy who this year made "Frozen" and The Ward and released "The Disappearance Of Alice Creed". And I'm hoping I can still get the director of "Scanners" on the phone.


 This Interview first appeared 09/07/10 at the Tiff Midnight Madness Blog

31 DAYS OF HORROR, HALLOWEEN: The Films I've Watched Part One

I decided this year I would join in the fun and watch and write down some thoughts on horror films during the 31 Days of Halloween marathon in this fine month of October. Embarking upon such a venture one realizes how many horror films are worthy of a rewatch or a first time viewing. Here are the first ten films I watched. -- Robert A. Mitchell

MURDER PARTY (2007) Directed By: Jeremy Saulnier

Having recently gotten back from the 2015 Midnight Madness program at the Toronto International film festival which had the North American premiere of Jeremy Saulnier's latest film Green Room I have had a hankering to rewatch his first film Murder Party for quite some time. A friend of mine Jay was recently in Bloomington for the last Diabolique film festival. He has an extensive collection of VHS tapes and maintains a horror blog called The Horror Section that was born out of his working at a video store many years ago. My current local of Southern Indiana has many independent video stores still running. One such is Video To Go in nearby Ellettsville. Long story short, I lost my copy quite some time ago. At our visit at this video store I found a DVD of Murder Party which I bought. Believing in kismet I began my 31 Days of Halloween with this film!

 

MULBERRY STREET (2006) Directed By: Jim Mickle

The second film I viewed was Jim Mickle's first film Mulberry Street. For me this film and Murder Party are linked, they are both films by first time feature film directors that I first watched at the Toronto After Dark film festival. Viewing this film several years later and having the knowledge of the of films Jim has crafted since, Mulberry is still such a strong first film. A film that was very much willed into existence and fighting it's limitations of time and budget. Initially watching Mulberry at After Dark and talking with Jim after the screening I had the forethought Jim was going to continue to be a talented filmmaker that would grow and he very much has.

PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987) Directed By: John Carpenter

John Carpenter is my favorite filmmaker. I revisit his film many times and such is the case with Prince of Darkness. I love the atmospheric, slow burn that is this film. I also love films where people are all in the same environment under siege working together. There is something magical about watching a film where an ensemble cast can really play off of one another. As someone who really began his film watching in the mid-Eighties this era will always have a spot in my heart. As will practical effects of which Prince of Darkness features some great ones!

AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000) Directed By: Mary Harron

This has been on my mental list to rewatch for quite some time. My wife had never seen it. During the first scenes when Patrick (Christian Bale) is talking about his daily routine involving a face mask my wife thought that was a great idea and applied her own face mask. I thought this scene was extremely effective in both the novel and film as it is a way to draw us into the psychopath's mindset. As we remarked while watching the movie it does a really great job capturing the feel and look of an eighties movie. The film as is the Bret Easton Ellis novel is set in the 80s. The era of Reagan economics, large cellphones and larger cocaine habits. It is always strange to spend two hours in a world lead by such an unnerving, evil character. Bale turns in one of his best performances in his cinematic journey, which in no small part is because of director Mary Harron. In the scenes with Patrick and Detective Donald Kimball (Willem Dafoe) Mary asked Bale to portray his character three different ways. Firstly that the Detective knew Patrick killed Paul Allen. Second, The Detective did not know Patrick committed the murder and lastly Detective Kimball was unsure if Patrick Bateman committed the murder.

VANISHING ON 7th STREET (2010) Directed By: Brad Anderson

This rewatch came about from heading over to friend's house on a Sunday night for dinner and to watch a film afterwards. I did not want to take something over that was too steeped in violence and gore so choose this film. Once again a film that is very much atmospheric and involving people under siege from an unseen and unknown entity. Looking at the image I choose it reminds me of another favorite film Miracle Mile,  an Eighties film with people under siege this time from a nuclear war. Vanishing very much divided the Midnight Madness crowd where I first saw the film. For me I like the feel and vibe of Vanishing. A film such as this is predicated on the characters, since you are very much spending a lot of time with them. These are regular people with realized backstories now faced with extraordinary circumstances that I did not mind spending time with.

V/H/S (2012) Directed By: Radio Silence, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard

By this time I really wanted to watch some films I had not seen. V/H/S really made the festival rounds and has long been on my radar however I had not had the opportunity to see it yet. The film is a horror anthology directed by several people. As is the case with such endeavors some of the short films hit the mark and others miss it. The film is very ambitious and tries to shake up the anthology format. At times it feels like an experimental art film which is not a bad thing. However the overall movie felt long this is probably due to the fact that it is a film with a lot of voices involved.

STARRY EYES (2014) Directed By: Kevin Kolsch & Dennis Widmyer

Another film that has been on my radar for quite some time that I was finally able to sit down and watch. For a movie that is very much rooted in the present era with smartphones, Instagram etc the film felt timeless. Alex Essoe the lead actress turns in a phenomenal performance, one that should really become a breakout role. The film is slow burn punctuated with very intense moments. There are many moments in this film that will not be easily forgotten. A very strong film that although it is far too early to say such a thing, I feel will be destined to be a horror classic.

 CHRISTINE (1983) Directed By: John Carpenter

Once again a visit by a film by Mr. Carpenter. I think when one thinks on John Carpenter's filmography Christine is a film that is not always at the top of ones mind. However every time you sit down with the film you instantly recognize how fun the movie is right from the title sequence of the car on the assembly line with George Thorogood and The Destroyers song Bad To The Bone playing. Keith Gordon has phenomenal turn as his character transforms from nerdy guy into someone much more self assured but far more darker and dangerous. Speaking of transformations, the scenes involving the destruction and rebirth of Christine are absolutely amazing, they don't just hold up but look like they were created yesterday and very much makes one long for practical effects and stop-motion.

 DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) Is there any other? Directed By: George A. Romero

This was another film my wife had not seen and warranted a revisit from myself. Once again, upon reflection and writing about these films here is another group of people under siege and working together, however not from unseen circumstances but the walking dead. A film crafted by the master of the modern zombie Mr. Romero. It is interesting to watch this film in this era with the huge success of The Walking Dead franchise. Dawn was very much a subversive work commenting on consumerism, racism, the failure and breakdown of society.  Much has been said and written on this film. I will say this Dawn of the Dead is very much worthy of the term classic. A film which showed the horror genre can be much more than just scares, blood and gore although it has that a plenty!

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968) Directed By: Freddie Francis

How can one not watch a Hammer Film or twenty during a 31 Days of Halloween marathon? Watching a Hammer Film instantly takes me back to a random Saturday afternoon of my youth. These movies are very much a sensory experience and a wonderful visit with effects from cinema's past. Great lighting and painting on the very film print. The film is very much part of cinematic history as being the first film that received a rating from the MPAA.

Into The Mouth of Madness

I am pleased to announce that I will be returning to the Midnight Madness program of The Toronto International. I'll be back on the red carpet talking to many creative and talented folks who worked hard to bring their films to life. This will be my eleventh year attending the festival and sixth year as a Midnight Madness blogger and I felt it would be cool to put together some of my favorite moments over the years at TIFF.

One of my favorite red carpets was in 2010 for the World Premiere of John Carpenter's The Ward. The great director was unable to attend but in talking to the cast the resulting video became a tribute to one of the great genre film makers.



One of my all time cherished memories of Midnight Madness was in 2009 writing an inscription for an award presented to George A. Romero celebrating his recent Canadian citizenship and subsequently meeting him after the ceremony.

The inscription on the C.N. Tower being clutched by a zombie hand reads as such, "In recognition of the Canadian citzenship of George A. Romero, his status as a Torontonian and his efforts to bridge the understanding between the living and undead through the cinematic arts September 12, 2009." It still amazes me that words I wrote reside in the home of Mr. Romero.

Here is the video we shot of the ceremony in Yonge and Dundas square in downtown Toronto.


One of the things that make the Midnight Madness programme so special is watching the emergence of amazing talent emerge upon the world stage. There have been many, the amazing screening of Ong-Bak in 2003 immediatley comes to mind. As I have said before not many can lay claim to seeing the first screen appereance of Bruce Lee but myself and my fellow film goers sitting in the long gone but not forgotten UpTown cinema at Yonge and Bloor saw the emergence of Tony Jaa. Last year Midnight Madness attendees witnessed the makers of one of the best action films in a decade arrive on the scene of world cinema. Not many knew the names of Gareth Evans, Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim but I am sure many people will know who these very talented folks are ten years from now. Here is my video from the 2011 World Premiere of The Raid.



The 2012 edition of the Midnight Madness program at The Toronto International Film Festival is about to heat up. Here is a link to the ten films that will be rocking the Ryerson theater in September. LINK. There will be many more stories, great memories and cinematic thrills.

Here is a link to the home of the old Midnight Blog with my posts. LINK.

Here is the link to the current Midnight Madness at TIFF Blog which will be heating up for the 2012 program. LINK