Dead Lover is the 2025 Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival closing film. The last midnight madness screening of the year is always a bittersweet night/morning. It is also a celebration of the programme and the filmmakers who premiered their films throughout the ten nights. Tonight Dead Lover directed by Grace Glowicki and co written by Grace and Ben Petrie has a new poster ahead of the closing night screening.
The Napa Boys arrived in style at the Royal Alexandria Theatre in downtown Toronto for their world premiere at the Midnight Madness selection at the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. Check out the awesomeness here:
Kenji Tanigaki has set out to "make the ultimate martial arts film." Audiences will find out soon enough as the picture bows at it;s World Premiere Saturday September 6th at the Royal Alexandria Theatre. Kenji was the action choreographer of SPL, Flash Point, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In to name just a few.
In a small Southeast Asian country, skilled martial artist Wang Wei’s daughter Rainy is abducted by a child trafficking ring. Wang Wei sets out on a rampage, confronting both the corrupt police and the criminals. Determined to rescue his kidnapped daughter, he encounters Navin, a journalist tirelessly trying to solve his wife’s recent disappearance. Together, the two unleash their formidable combat skills, fighting their way through determined opponents and dangerous obstacles to unravel crucial clues. Just in time, they successfully rescue Rainy and a group of innocent children, dismantling the notorious human trafficking syndicate and bringing justice to the exploited and vulnerable.
Kenji Tanigaki has this to say about The Furious. "The Furious began with that one simple phrase from producer Bill Kong. I’ve always loved action. I’ve always wanted to try new things, surprise people, and push what’s possible on screen. I’ve carried that spirit through many projects—but this film became something truly special. Working with world-class talents like Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Brian Le, Yayan Ruhian, Joey Iwanaga, Jija Yanin, and our stunt team, every shoot day felt like walking a razor’s edge—pushing the physical limits of what was possible. It was intense, creative, and deeply fulfilling. Through this process, I was reminded of something timeless: In the age of advanced technology, the most powerful action is still the most primal— when bodies collide, run, leap, and crash with raw emotion. In 2025, that feels more honest, more precious, and more alive than ever. This isn’t just a motion picture. It’s an emotion picture—where action and soul collide. Enjoy!"
I for one am very much anticipating this movie! We have an exclusive clip! Check it out!
There is nothing like Toronto in September. The Toronto International Film Festival arrives and brings such a great energy and vibe to Canada's largest metropolitan area.The energy of the city gets amped up even more than any regular day. The cinematic world descends upon the downtown streets. Red carpets are rolled out. Doors of tinted windows are opened. Actors and filmmakers from Argentina to Tokyo and everywhere else step onto the streets. Crowds gather eager for a glimpse, a selfie or a hastily scrawled signature on a blu-ray or a glossy photo or a restaurant receipt. There is nothing like Toronto in September. Except for me, all of the above is true, except there is nothing like a Midnight Madness premiere in Toronto in September.
Curator Peter Kuplowsky tirelessly searches for the ten films of cinematic genre note. The Midnight Madness programme has such a storied history. It is a film festival within a film festival. Many have noted the audiences of TIFF. Those audiences by 11:59 p.m. are still up, amped and ready. Beach balls are hit and smacked around the venue. Peter's selected playlist - curated for each of the ten movies - is playing loud.
As the Royal Alexandria aka The RAT fills up so to does the din of the buzz of the crowd anticipated what genre delights will soon unfold. Will it be an intense, look at the screen through fingers covering your eyes horror film. An action film where the sound of effects of bone-crunching kicks rattles the ear drums of the over thousand people in attendance, will the movie be a gross out funny genre destroying cinematic opus you may only see once?
I will preface the following with this...I am anticipated all of the 2025 Midnight Madness movies. If I had to pick three these are the three I will pick today...tomorrow, well that maybe a different story.
I have been following the movies of Matt Johnson and his motley crew of filmmakers since The Dirties (2013) This extremely talented group crosses genres, tones and film making techniques with ease. I cannot wait to see their latest film.
KARMADONNA
Just look at at just one of the publicity stills which was released to the media. I have been covering film festivals since 2007. I cannot recall such in your face publicity photos. This comes as no surprise as the director of Karmadonna Aleksander Radivojevic also directed a film entitled A Serbian Film by many accounts, mine included one of the most intense films ever made, I was at the international premiere of A Serbian Film at SXSW in 2010. That film still haunts me. Good luck Toronto.
THE FURIOUS
I cannot wait to see this movie! Kenji Tanigaki action choreographer SPL, Flash Point and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In helms his own action movie. Get ye to the theater as fast as humanly possible!
I was able to have a great interview with director and writer Kenichi Ugana over zoom. We spoke about The Gesuidouz and the reception the movie had at the world premiere at the Midnight Madness programme at the Toronto International Film Festival. We spoke of our mutual love of punk music and horror films. The challenges of making the movie and how they were overcome. The incredible cast he assembled to realize the movie. Here is our conversation.
The first Saturday is very special during the Toronto International Film Festival. King street is closed for festival street. There are a lot of food trucks, film related vendors, music fills the air. The hot humid late Toronto summer gives way to a brisk evening. The sun sets, the city glows and around The Royal Alexandria the buzz of the audience making their way to midnight movie can be heard. This year the buzz was palpable as Joseph Kahn returned to the Midnight Madness programme with his latest film, Ick. A creature feature, much different then his underground hip hop battle movie, Bodied - which was a huge hit in 2017 at tiff. Joseph assured me that the audience would have a different yet equal amazing film experience. At the red carpet world premiere I was able to talk with actor Zeke Jones who plays Griffin in the movie Ick. Here is our conversation.
Excitement was definitely in the air surrounding The Royal Alexandria theatre as the first Saturday of the Midnight Madness programme at the Toronto International Film Festival was nearing the midnight hour. Anticipation was high as Joseph Kahn's new film Ick was set to have it's World Premiere. Kahn's previous film Bodied also received it's World Premiere at Midnight Madness. That screening was one of the all time great premieres of the programme. Ick is Kahn's take on the creature feature. As he said to me he wanted to make a film that he watched as a kid in the 1980s. I spoke with actor Harrison Cone who plays quarterback Dylan on the red carpet
For a movie to be premiere during the first Friday at the Midnight Madness programme at the Toronto International Film Festival you know it has to be special. John Hsu's Dead Talents Society is a film made with a lot of love and heart. The story itself is infused with a lot of love, heart and found family.
In the world of Dead Talents Society when one has passed away and entered the realm of the newly dead the person has to start scary the living or in 30 days they will cease to exist all together. Gingle Wang plays The Rookie, a teen who has suddenly passed away. She must start to scare people to acquire a hunter's license to stave off complete non-existence. There is only one giant, glaring problem, The Rookie does not posses any talent to scare anyone.
Having failed spectacularly in front of a jury of specters. The Rookie meets Makato (Bo-lin Chen) who is sympathetic to her dilemma. He introduces her to his crew. Most notably, Catherine (Sandrine Pinna) and a hilarious side kick played by Soso Tseng.
Here is my conversation with director/writer John Hsu and actor Gingle Wang:
The excitement was very present the first Saturday of Midnight Madness at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. As present as the mysterious substance that is everywhere in Joseph Kahn's new creature feature, ICK. The ick is around doing not much, until it is doing something...trying to consume everyone in it's path. Leading the stellar cast is Brandon Routh. Brandon plays Hank a guy who had it all, quarterback, the girl Staci (Mena Suvari) and then it's all gone like a Mellencamp song. He starts working at the high school as a janitor and becomes a science teacher. He is still in contact with Staci and her husband Peter (Ted Kim) As the ick begins to threaten the town Brandon leads the town in a heroic charge against the mysterious substance. In person, Brandon is a delight, charming, charismatic and possessing great sense of humor. Here is our conversation.
Joseph Kahn has returned to the Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest film ICK. He premiered Bodied here in 2017 and that screening was one of the all time best premieres I have attended at Midnight Madness. This time around Kahn and his team of collaborators are shifting gears and take us to a small town focused on the high school. A mysterious gross substance has been around for years. Not doing much just....around... It has been dubbed the ick. Then one day it is not static, it has started to move and consume. The town is very much in denial. Conversations mirror those that were centered around a certain corona virus of this decade. It is always great when I am able to talk to Joseph Kahn. He is a filmmaker I can listen talk about the craft for hours. Here is our conversation from the red carpet.
Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle in Coralie Fargeat's The Substance.
Coralie Fargeat emerged on the midnight madness scene when her feature film debut Revenge received its world premiere in the midnight madness programme in 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Revenge was a film of extremely violent violation towards the body. In this case, a mistress Jen (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) was brought along to a remote house on a “guys” hunting weekend. The wealthy predators view Jen as an object to be assaulted and then discarded. Jen survives and then sets out to pursue exactly what the film’s title states. Revenge. Jen changes the balance from victim to virulent vindicator. Fargeat’s debut is a portrait of vivid violence. Fargeat stated in interviews that the film had so much blood that the prop team would often run out of fake blood. Fargeat’s style as a filmmaker was already very much apparent in Revenge. The use of color to contrast. Jen’s fluorescent pink star earrings frame the dirty face of a person who has been to hell. Pink becomes a color of determination and strength. Revenge was also comprised of beautifully photographed shots.
Almost seven years to the day Coarlie Fargeat has returned to midnight madness at tiff with her second feature, The Substance. The film won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival. Expectations for Miss. Fargeat’s sophomore film were high. This could be seen in the demand for tickets for the North American premiere. This was the first screening of the movie at tiff, preceding even a Press & Industry screening. A seat in the Royal Alexandria Theatre was running upwards of three hundred dollars. The demand could also and rightfully so be ascribed to Miss Fargeat’s leading actors, Demi Moore, and Margaret Qualley.
The first hint of what lied ahead for the midnight madness audience was the oversized pink headbands inscribed, “Pump It Up” that were given to people arriving at the cinema. Throughout the 1200 people in the audience - that all too familiar buzz of 600 hundred conversations happening at the same time - little pink dots could be made out in the sea of people.
The Substance continues Miss Fargeat’s themes of violence upon the body. Where Revenge was a paroxysm perpetrated by predators, The Substance is self-inflicted bodily harm in a society that craves self harm visited upon others.
The film begins with - what is already one of my favorite opening sequences in a movie. We see the creation of a star on Hollywood Boulevard. From workers installing the star, pouring concrete, and smoothing it out, to the star being placed and polished. People pass by the star and stop to take pictures, pause to look at it, and touch it lovingly. The years go by. Not kindly. Heavy foot traffic has taken its toll. People spill food onto the star. Some try to clean it half-assed. The years continue. Cracks begin to emerge. A perfect visual metaphor for the film.
Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle a television fitness personality. High energy. Once high ratings. Elisabeth overhears the show’s producer Harvey, played with obnoxious fury by Dennis Quaid stating that the show needs a younger lead and Elisabeth needs to be fired. The name of the producer is also not lost on anyone paying attention to monsters in Hollywood.
Clearly and rightfully distraught, Elisabeth drives away from the television studio. Out of nowhere tragedy strikes. It strikes sidelong into Elisabeth’s car when another car crashes into her car. Elisabeth is now sitting in a doctor’s office in one of those barely enough material temporary gowns. The doctor informs her she is fine and can leave. The doctor then leaves. A leering assistant approaches Elisabeth and says there is one last test. She incredulously sits as the assistant trails his hand up her very visible spinal column through the opening of the gown. He states that she is a perfect candidate and hands her a small envelope.
Elisabeth is now in the luxury house that years in the spotlight have afforded her. A giant portrait of a younger Elisabeth is hung on the wall opposite the giant windows overlooking Los Angeles. The painting is ever present reminding an older Elisabeth that she is aging. Alone, depressed, and replaying the conversation. Elisabeth opens the envelope to find a large black USB key with white letters stating The Substance. She inserts the key into the side of her television. The video begins with two eggs being fried in a pan. “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger, more beautiful, more perfect. One, single, injection unlocks your DNA. Starting a new cellular division. That will release another version of yourself. This is The Substance. You are the matrix. Everything comes from you. Everything is you. This is simply a better version of yourself. You just have to share. One week for one. One week for the other. A perfect balance. Seven days each. The one and only thing not to forget. You. Are. One. You cannot escape from yourself.” This is punctuated by a great sound from the movie’s sound design. A creepy near indescribable guttural sound.
The Substance promotion in Toronto. Photo by me and enhanced by me.
Elisabeth goes to a train wreck of a dinner with Harvey watching him consume shrimp with a wildly gross abandon. He informs her she is done. She goes to the studio where he delightfully greets Elisabeth and shoves a banker’s box into her arms.
Now back at home. The painting is still young, Elisabeth is older by another day and calls the number. The voice from the video answers. She informs the voice that she is interested in The Substance. Elisabeth is given an address. She goes to it and retrieves a key card. 503. She then proceeds to an alleyway and enters, quite comically into a stark white room with numerous numbers. She approaches box 503. The box opens to reveal a large box. Once back at home, Elisabeth opens the box to reveal three other boxes. She opens them to reveal needles, bottles, tubes, and instructions for use. She then goes to a large stark white-titled bathroom and inserts the needle filled with a green substance. What follows is a pure midnight movie.
Miss Fargeat is a student of the horror genre. There are numerous references throughout the movie, Both intentional and perceived by me. Much like another French extreme film that opened the 2023 Midnight Madness programme, Titane. Both films are direct descendants of the early work of David Cronenberg. I also saw Odes to Re-Animator, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Society, and Tarantino. Even with all of these nods to other films and filmmakers, Although the DNA of The Substance is influenced by other horror cinema, the majority of The Substance’s adenine and thymine are wholly a unique stylized look at the themes of aging, identity, and self-harm.
Moore and Qualley are incredible playing off one another. If lesser known actors had been cast in these roles what would follow in all likelihood under the vision and direction of Miss Fargeat would be still an insane midnight move. With Moore and Qualley, The Substance is poised for major mainstream audience appeal. The Toronto International Film Festival has been a proverbial launching ground for Academy Award buzz. Perchance Oscar (tm) will recognize the work of two actors very much steeped in a horror film? I think so. Demi Moore has said in interviews that the first time she read the script, “...this could either be amazing or it can be a fucking disaster.” I can attest that The Substance is fucking amazing.
Iko Uwais interviewed by Robert Mitchell at the 2011 The Raid World Premiere
As a way of introducing myself, and also to take a little time to do a
some reminiscing, I wanted to talk about my first Midnight Madness
screening.
It was a Saturday, the second day of the 2003 film festival and the
second year I was attending. I was set to watch two films that day. The
first was Takeshi Kitano's latest film Zatoichi at the Elgin theater theater at the base of Yonge street followed by a screening of Alien
with Sir Ridley Scott in attendance. That is already an amazing day of
cinema. Little did I know what the night would bring. Suffice to say Zatoichi
was amazing and I wasn't the only one who must've thought that because
several days later the film would win the audience award.
Leaving the theater and stepping into the bright early September daylight I slowly wandered up Yonge street bopping in and out of stores looking at DVDs. My mind wandering, thinking of the amazing sword sequences I had just watched.
By five o'clock I found myself standing in what was supposed to be my
second and last line up for a film that day. Perhaps because of kismet,
the unifying field or just one of those things, the woman who stood
directly in front of me had stood directly behind me hours earlier
while I waited for Zatoichi.
We began to talk about many different films and she asked me if I
would be going to Midnight Madness that night. I replied that I had
heard of Midnight Madness but that I had never gone. She then informed me
that there was a film playing that night entitled, Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior.
Since my teenage years encompassed skateboarding, eating pizza and
watching kung fu films every Saturday, I was always up for a good
martial arts film, but, alas, I did not have a ticket. The woman informed me
she was a volunteer and that she would use one of her vouchers and procure
me a ticket. True to her words she came back from the box office with a
ticket for Ong-Bak and what would become my first Midnight Madness film.
Oh yeah, the Alien reissue was amazing and, not only was Sir
Ridley Scott in attendance, but Yaphet Kotto sat in the audience with us
and watched the film ... but I digress.
Cut to INT.: The Uptown Theater Saturday night around 11PM.
With the usual energy that comes with a warm Saturday night, this
particular night had the added excitement of a world premiere. The crowd
had changed, they were younger and much more enthusiastic. Although it
was a long day and I was fighting exhaustion, one could not not get caught up
in the moment and feed off the energy that you were surrounded with.
We were finally seated in the amazing theater that was the Uptown 1 (see above photo (R.I.P))
and a man came onto the stage and introduced himself as "Colin Geddes,
the Midnight Madness programmer" to a huge amount of applause and
cheering. He then went on to relate a tale of seeing Ong-Bak at the buyers market at the Cannes film festival and that Luc Besson, the director of La Femme Nikita, had already bought the film.
Colin Geddes then introduced the director of the film, Prachya Pinkaew, who
had almost not made the screening due to being held up by customs and
had to resort to taking a cab from the airport to the theater to make
the screening on time. In fact, he had had no time to stop off at the hotel
to unpack his luggage. When Prachya stepped out and onto the
stage you would never have known that a mere hour or so before he had
been on a plane coming from the other side of the world.
With the introductions finished the house lights dimmed and the
curtains were slowly drawn and little did we know what we were about to
see. You could look in a thesaurus and no amount of adjectives could
ever do Ong-Bak justice. The film was completely and utterly
amazing. When the final credits rolled and lights came back on, sitting
in that theater - which was now in the wee hours of Sunday morning -
you knew you had just witnessed the emergence of a new talent unleashed
upon the world. The star of the film Tony Jaa without a doubt would become the next big action star.
As Colin and Prachya came back onto the stage the crowd
rose in a standing ovation and if you had ever been in the Uptown 1
you can attest to how many people that was.
After the Q&A I stumbled out of the theater and into the night,
dizzy from the amazing I had just watched. Wandering around the
local neighborhood I popped into a store and bought a chocolate milk,
when the thought crossed my mind to double back to the theater and
see if I could get a picture with the director.
Outside of the box office stood Colin and Prachya with a few other
people. I approached them and asked if I could have a photo. Colin
then snapped a picture at a crazy angle and the moment was captured.
I'm the dork with the red beard standing beside one of the greatest
action directors to emerge in the twenty first century.
I don't speak a word of Thai and I believe Prachya didn't speak much, if any, English. But, when I said to him that Ong-Bak was the best fighting film I had seen since Drunken Master II, a flicker of recognition passed through his eyes. We had bridged the language gap through action films.
When the house lights came back on that Sunday morning I immediately
thought to myself how many times are you going to be in a world
premiere audience and be able to say I was there the night the world
was introduced to the next big thing. In an instant I was hooked and
have been attending Midnight Madness ever since. This will mark my sixth year.
I also would like to thank that volunteer for taking me to my first Midnight Madness screening.
The Midnight Madness program at the Toronto International Film Festival has long been a showcase for the boldest, innovative, scariest, terrifying, look through your hands, blood-curdling horror of any given year. When Evil Lurks from writer and director Demián Rugna continues this tradition.
Strange happenings begin to happen in a rural village. Two brothers come across a very disfigured, bloated, infected man in one of the houses. They decide to load him up in a pickup and drive him away from town. Somewhere along the way the body falls out of the truck. "Should we go back and load him up again?" "No, we gone far enough" Or have they?
What sets When Evil Lurks is the brutality and banality of the violence. The violence is unexplainable. People are going mad. They then cause extreme violence to one another as well as the livestock of the village. Under Rugna's direction is shot selection is assured. He does not need to resort to shaky cameras or intense filters. The scenarios of horror and dread speak for themselves.
There are many cliches when it comes to writing about horror films. What is seen cannot be unseen. The images will stay with you a long time after the end credits. Cliche as it is, with this film these sentiments are true. I hope no one gets possessed in your town.
The Midnight Madness program has a long history of going big opening night films. Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan readily comes to mind. The night the projector broke. Then there was Fubar 2: Balls to the Wall where the cast Terry and Dean were rocking on a moving stage driving to the red carpet premiere. The 2023 edition of Midnight Madness also opened with a "bang" with another film by Larry Charles, Dicks: The Musical.
The movie opens informing us, the audience, "The following film was bravely written by two homosexuals, the first time gay men have ever written anything. These same two LGBTQ+ gay guys are also starring in the film, bravely playing heterosexual men. Which is again, brave." Dicks is written by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp based on their book, Fucking Identical Twins: The Musical.
Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live) plays God. The best storyteller of all time. Don't believe him, just check the sales of his book!
Craig (Josh Sharp) and Trevor (Aaron Jackson) are business top salesmen who have found out they are...identical twins?!?!?! What?!?!?! They then scheme a plan to swap places in order to get their divorced parents back together. What follows is why the acronym N.S.F.W. was created Parent Trap.
If you like singing and dancing and dancing and singing then boy oh boy are you in for a cinematic treat! I'll meet you in the street and lament my plight in song with you! If you are not into musicals....
Leonor Will Never Die closed at the 2022 Midnight Madness program at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was a film I did not know anything about which is one of the great aspects of a film festival. You take a seat, the lights dim and go on an unexpected and unknown ride. And what a ride Leonor Will Never Die is. The film is written and directed by Martika Ramirez Escobar.
The title character is Leonor Reyes. She was a successful screen writer. Shelia Francisco brings Leonor to life with great pathos and passion befitting an aging writer. The screenwriter's days are spent slipping in and out of reverie. She has a fondness for action movies and watches them as much as she can. She also forgets to pay the electricity bill.
A freak accident
sends Leonor to the hospital. The doctor explains her
Leonor's condition to Leonor's son Rudie, "Rudie, you see, sometimes, we are awake,
other times, asleep. But sometimes, you can be between both. That is
called conscious sleep or hypnagogia. That's is the state your mother is
now. Right now we don't know how to wake her up, or if she will wake at
all. At least we're sure she's alive." Rudie, "How do we wake her up?"
The Doctor responds, "You can't wake up someone who is not asleep." It
is so with this story as well. A theme of the film is lines. The line
between reality and fantasy, life and afterlife, sleep and awake.
The art form of cinema can really deliver on straddling the fictionalized "real world" of the movie and slide effortlessly into a fantasy world the characters of the film drift into. I have always gravitated to films that are movies within movies, mise en aybme. Anguish, Adaptadtion, Videodrome come to mind. This is something seen a lot in horror movies or drama. To see reality and fantasy blend so well in the context of action film was magnificent. Scenes that are exceptionally strong in Leonor Will Never Die are where the reality of the story run into the fantasy action film that Leonor is engaging with. The movie is also a love letter to Filipino action movies from years gone by.
I especially love the scenes of creating the screenplay for the movie within the movie. Ang Pagbabalik Ng Kwago. The Return of Kwago.
Depicting writing in a movie is not an easy feat to pull off. Martika's
imagination and innovation soar as the film revels in the act of
writing A scene where Leonor is simultaneously typing and acting out
what is she writing is a sheer joy.
Step back, this where another fight scene happens.
A
film is created by a great many folks, I want to also acknowledge the
editor Lawrence S. Ang. Pulling together a film that moves within it's
own fantasy and reality takes a keen talent to succeed. The look of the
reality and the action sequences created by cinematographer Carlos
Mauricio are also wonderful.
There is something to be said or in this case, to be written about what the film watcher brings to watching a movie. I watched the film on what is my mother's first birthday after her passing in March. Watching this movie on this day, there was a lot that hit me a lot more as I engaged with the film. Leonor Will Never Die is a film that addresses grief. The movie celebrates the joy and healing in the act of artistic creation. It is also a testament to strong material. Good screenplays never age.Mabuhay ang Sinehan!
After watching Leonor you have to ask yourself why are we not seeing more grandmothers kicking ass in cinema. Ending a story can sometimes prove difficult. Getting a great ending though is uplifting. Leonor Will Never Die, what a great ending to Midnight Madness 2022.
. The screenwriter's days are spent slipping in and out of reverie. She has a fondness for action movies and watches them as much as she can. She also forgets to pay the electricity bill.
A freak accident sends Leonor to the hospital. The doctor explains her
Leonor's condition to Rudie, "Rudie, you see, sometimes, we are awake,
other times, asleep. But sometimes, you can be between both. That is
called conscious sleep or hypnagogia. That's is the state your mother is
now. Right now we don't know how to wake her up, or if she will wake at
all. At least we're sure she's alive." Rudie, "How do we wake her up?"
The Doctor responds, "You can't wake up someone who is not asleep." It
is so with this story as well. A theme of the film is lines. The line between reality and fantasy. Life and afterlife. Sleep and awake.
The art form of cinema can really deliver on straddling the fictionalized "real world" of the movie and slide effortlessly into a fantasy world the characters of the film drift into. I have always gravitated to films that are movies within movies, mise en aybme. Anguish, Adaptadtion, eXistenZ come to mind. Scenes that are exceptionally strong in Leonor Will Never Die are where the reality of the story run into the fantasy action film that Leonor is engaging with. The movie is also a love letter to Filipino action movies from years gone by.
I especially love the scenes of creating the screenplay for the movie within the movie. Ang Pagbabalik Ng Kwago. The Return of Kwago. Depicting writing in a movie is not an easy feat to pull off. Martika's imagination and innovation soar as the film revels in the act of writing A scene where Leonor is simultaneously typing and acting out what is she writing is a sheer joy.
Step back, this where another fight scene happens.
A film is created by a great many folks, I want to also acknowledge the editor Lawrence S. Ang. Pulling together a film that moves within it's own fantasy and reality takes a keen talent to succeed. The look of the reality and the action sequences created by cinematographer Carlos Mauricio are also wonderful.
There is something to be said or in this case, to be written about what the film watcher brings to watching a movie. I watched the film on what is my mother's first birthday after her passing in March. Watching this movie on this day, there was a lot that hit me a lot more as I engaged with the film. Leonor Will Never Die is a film that addresses grief. The movie celebrates the joy and healing in the act of artistic creation. It is also a testament to strong material. Good screenplays never age. Mabuhay ang Sinehan!
Ending a story can sometimes prove difficult. Getting a great ending though is uplifting. Leonor Will Never Die, what a great ending to Midnight Madness 2022.
Pearl was the surprise movie that was announced after X premiered at the South by Southwest Festival. Not only was the film announced as an origin story to Pearl who appears in X, it was already completed. As the story goes X was filmed in New Zealand at the height of the pandemic and Covid restrictions. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired set, house, barn and a guesthouse was already built. Having an already built full-on set was the origin for this origin story. In a two week hotel quarantine stay West came up with the story and script for Pearl. Once again A24 came onboard to make the film.
The film begins as a camera passes through a barn. The barn doors open revealing an idyllic farm pastoral. The music composed by Tyler Bates and Tim Williams is full of wonder and splendor. We see Pearl in her room surrounded by dolls. She is made up, her lips a rich hue of red. She stands. She is Judy Garland. As we learned in X Pearl was/is a dancer. The lights dim in her mind's eye, a spotlight hits her and reflects off of the mirror she stand before. The door opens and the illusion is shattered. It is back to life on the farm. However dreams do not fade, a pitchfork makes a great dancing partner. The cows are a rapt audience.
Pearl maybe look like an innocent farm girl. This is also the Pearl from X. A goose wanders into the barn. The goose is carried out of the barn impaled on Pearl's pitchfork. She carries the goose out to the dock overlooking the lake where Pearl will first spy on Maxine many decades later.
On a side note on the interesting dynamics of film festivals. I watched All Quiet on the Western Front and later Pearl. Both on the same day. Both films take place in 1918. Both films are horrific in their own right. It is an extremely interesting condition of seeing so many films in quick succession. There are emotions, notions and observations that carry over int different pieces you are writing about films on any given festival day.
Along with World War One, another major event was occurring. A pandemic, the Spanish flu. In an exceptional parallel to our times. To escape the hum drum of farm life, an over bearing German mama and her ill Father, Pearl goes to the movie picture house wearing a mask. The other patrons are all masked as well. A news reel shows graphic scenes from WWI. Palace Follies begins to play. Pearl is enraptured by the singing and dancing and the morphine she is sipping on. Pearl meets the projectionist who in turn hands her a little piece of cinema. Then it's back to the corn fields.
Both Pearl and X are definitely part of which is now a trilogy with the announcement of MaXXXine rounding out the last film of the trilogy. Both films stand on their own but there is much more to be gleaned from Pearl having seen X prior. It is compelling from a film making stand point to see two vastly different cinematic styles applied to the same set. There is a great scene with Pearl and the projectionist who shows her a film "nobody has seen yet" that leads in the late 1970s in X.
As the horror in Pearl slowly builds - a Ti West trademark - it pays as much homage to Tobe Hooper as X did with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre so too does Pearl pay homage to Hopper's second film Eaten Alive. Does this mean the third Mia Goth/Ti West film will be an ode to Lifeforce? Only time will tell. Or perhaps being the third film it will be Salem's Lot.
The horror is also the dread of family dynamics. Pearl lost in isolation and reverie. A husband at war who has not been heard from in months. An overbearing Mother who is trying to shelter her. A sick Father. Dreams that will not subside of somewhere faraway on stage in front of an adoring audience. It is a potential suitor turning cold.
Ti West has become much more a stylist in these films, which I dig a lot. He has also grown on me as filmmaker with these last two movies. A lot has been said about Mia Goth and all the positive accolades are very warranted. Mia goes from oh shucks to full on Psycho in the flip of a switch. These films are Pearl and Maxine's world of which Mia brings to grainy 16mm and Technicolor life. West and Goth have become each other's muses.
Mia Goth delivers one of the all time great soliloquies delivered on film. All the world's a stage and all the men and women in Pearl's way are merely victims.
There was a lot of anticipation for Sick, the new film by screenwriter Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Do Last Summer) playing the Midnight Madness program. Kevin has been a leading figure shaping the horror genre. The screenplay was also written by Katelyn Crabb. Horror is one of the tenets of the program with wold premieres such as Hostel, Saw and showcasing the French New Extremity wave in the early part of the century. Add to the the anticipation Sick being directed by John Hyams. John's take on the Universal Soldier franchise, especially with Day of Reckoning is absolutely fantastic. A film that drew from numerous film inspirations one of which is Gaspar Noe. I was personally was very much looking forward to Sick, a horror, action hybrid set during the early part of the pandemic.
The film opens with the following facts. April 3, 2020 273, 880 COVID-19 cases reported and rising. 42 states have issued stay at home orders. Nearly 97% of the country is quarantined. Reading this takes one right back to the dread and fear of the unknown. An airborne virus was unleashed on the world and no one really knew what was going to happen. The film opens on empty selves in a grocery store. As someone who was working in a grocery store during the pandemic reaching America these images immediately take right back to all the overwhelming emotions of the time, which as of this writing seems both a long time ago and just yesterday.
A surgical masked customer asks a clerk "Hey do you have any toilet paper in the back?" "What you see is what we got." The customer name is Tyler and he starts getting text messages from some unknown person who wants to party. A woman coughs. Everyone stares at her. Tyler gets a text message saying "Nice Ass" and a picture of him standing in the checkout line. He looks back, everyone is a suspect and anyone could be carrying the virus. The phone rings, he answers, silence. "Fuck you and your stalker bullshit." Instant Scream vibes.
Tyler gets home and wipes down his groceries with wipes. Ah, the early days of the pandemic. The news is playing, Tyler shuts off the tv and a figure clad all in black brandishing a knife appears. This first scene of brutality is exactly what I would expect from John Hyams and his team. Intense, visceral, right in your face action and brutal. Sirens sound outside. Help arriving? More likely someone with Covid being rushed to the hospital.
We then meet Parker (Gideon Adion) and Miri (Bethlehem Million) They are heading to a lake house to ride out the pandemic. We know this and who ever is following Parker on Instagram now knows this. The house is a substantial giant wood (cabin) mansion. The place is pretty sick. "I know how to 2020" Parker. Ding. Ding. They begin to receive text messages from some unknown person. Creepily specific text messages. Blocked. Problem solved.
Nothing like a good drinking game watching pandemic news and taking a shot every time Fauci is mentioned! The doorbell rings. Then banging on the door. Parker arms herself with a knife and heads outside. Mimi masks up. That is what is great in the movie how our collective fears of the global pandemic play into the fear of a serial killer. The ringer of the doorbell is an unexpected "friend" shows up at the lake house. DJ Cole (Dylan Sprayberry)
Like any good serial killer film your protagonists should get high, really high, however in our Covid times one must practice safe social distance single use joint smoking and a good Lysol spray down as you throw down dancing.
I love mise en scene in movies. I believe it is not written or talked enough in interviews with filmmakers. The mise en scene in relation to the intruder and the other characters is great. The use of the phone in the film is also so effective. What's the first thing anyone of us do upon waking these days? Reach for your phone. Oh the horror of not having it charging beside you upon waking. The suspense is highly effective. Which brings me to the classic "what the fuck are these characters doing". Once the film ratchets up the violence there is a lot of WTF with the character decisions. The filmmakers have to be fucking with us, the audience, right? Oh yeah there are.
The movie brings the scream vibes, big time. Not so much in the pop cultural referential way but in the way our protagonists and killer move throughout the movie. The film is a tight, tight sojourn through a night from hell in a pandemic lock down. All in all, it's pretty sick.
On a quiet Sunday a week after the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival ended I was able to sit down over zoom with director and writer of Dug Dug, Ritwik Pareek. We had a great in depth interview about the making of the movie.
At the genesis of SALOUM, there is the meeting of my partner in crime Jean-Luc Herbulot. We both had a visceral need to create works in Africa, filled with heroes and monsters. It was what we craved as kids to see coming from African film, so we created it ourselves. During a trip to the Saloum region of Senegal in 2018, we wrote the short story “The Twilight of the Hyenas” an African western... a horror film... a fantastic epic... an ode to the imaginary world in which we would like to stay and a furious artistic deliverance rather than a desire to fill an empty box.
The movie was filmed in nature, mostly in the mystical and wild region of Saloum, Senegal where my journalist father had filmed wrestling matches more than forty years ago and where my mother still lives; on an island without cars, far away from all levels of city life.
SALOUM is the first feature film from LACME STUDIOS, co-constructed with the actors and technicians, day-after-day for five straight weeks - the epic adventure of a group living outside the comfort of their respective homes, much like the hero-mercenaries of the film itself. The absence of a network, the random supply of water, the regular silting up of vehicles... blood was shed along with tears. SALOUM is the result of the talents we gathered who were kind enough to follow us on this adventure.
The production of SALOUM was a natural shifting of gears, the result of adrenaline rushes, soul encounters, inevitable pains, loves, the divine and fears of emptiness ... a birth of a bloody new-born already adored by its parents.
"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe ..." Eric Thomas recounts in his motivational speech, explaining how an old man kept his student's head under water, thus demonstrating the true meaning of the word "motivation.” This best explains why I believed in this film, why I expected it and why I didn’t hesitate to take the risk.
It’s important for me to release African artistic madness, so universal and yet so rare on international screens.
