On Saturday hundreds of zombies walked from Bathurst and Dundas to Yonge & Dundas Square to honour George Romero and what he’s done for the zombie genre. The zombies stumbled in all gore and guts and when George arrived he was warmly and undead-ly welcomed by Colin Geddes and the horde. Romero was presented with a statuette that honoured his contribution to the genre, as well as his decision to reside in Toronto now that he’s become a citizen.

Despite a bit of a wait for our main-man George, it was an awesome tribute to the man who is generally considered the “grandfather” of the zombie genre. He was, as he always is, astonished at the zeal with which people glean to his movies and the movies he inspired.

Directly afterwards they showed the awesome zombie short Deadspiel, the only zombie curling movie to date.

Below are the videos of the ceremony. (Please pardon the shaky cam and angle changes. There were some minor obstacles to getting a good shot. Like zombies.) Also pictures below, including one of the guys from Deadspiel and his (undead?) baby.

Q&A with director of Trick ‘r Treat Michael Dougherty after the jump.

As always many, many spoilers ahead and questions above the video. 10 Movies review of Trick ‘r Treat here.

Question: About merchandise for the film and an added bonus of a contest.

Question: About practical jokes on the set.

Question: A little bit about Sam.

Question: About what’s next for Dougherty and about dating the movie.

Question: What’s the holdup with the release?

Question: Where did the idea for the film come from?

Question: Inspiration for the bus story (very cool answer…).

Excellent Q&A with Strigoi writer/director Faye Jackson and producer Ray Muraru after the jump.

These two are extremely awesome. They were very ingratiating, staying for a number of days of the festival and chatting it up with festival goers and press alike at Pub After Dark. Their adorable nature isn’t just towards fans either. They’re a couple and this film had its world premiere at Toronto After Dark on their 7th wedding anniversary. I wish them nothing but the best with the film.

As always spoilers ahead and questions listed above the videos. 10 Movies review of Strigoi here.

Question: About actors and extras.

Question: Difficulties making a feature.

Question: About the dream sequence.

Question: Have the villagers seen the movie?

Question: About the music.

Question: About the special effects.

Question: What is the future of the film?

Question: Why was it shot in Romania and about all the food in the film.

Q&A with Grace director Paul Solet after the jump.

As always spoilers aplenty and questions are listed above the videos. 10 Movies review of Grace here. Oh, and he says ‘f*ck’ a lot. I mean a lot.

Question: About working with the baby.

Questions: Did he like the Toronto audience and his inspiration for making the film.

Question: About the music.

Question: Will there be a sequel?

The Warlords (Tau ming chong) is a stunning tale about the bonds of friendship, loyalty and morality in China in the 1800s. Majestically beautiful cinematography, a compelling story that never feels formulaic and incredible art direction, The Warlords is a must see film experience, strongly recommended for the big screen.

The movie begins as we see General Pang climb out from under a pile of bodies, all lying dead on the battlefield. The bodies are those of Pang’s entire battalion, leaving him the last man standing. Emotionally and physically broken he is cared for by a beautiful woman who offers him more than just food and starts him on the mend. The following morning Pang is found by Jiang, a young, idealistic man who is distributing food. After Jiang engages Pang in a fight over Pang’s boots, in which Pang easily bests him, Jiang invites him back to his village for some food and shelter. There Pang discovers that the woman who helped bring him back to life is actually the wife of the village’s leader, Zhao. That night the village is attacked by soldiers who take their food and harm their people. Pang declares that if they joined the opposing army – whose ranks are diminished from the battle he had just lost – that they would have money to feed their families, respect for their village and, more importantly, weapons to defend themselves. The three men swear a blood oath to always protect one another and to kill anyone who harms one of their brotherhood.

Eager to redeem himself, Pang launches an offensive on the opposing army and is easily victorious. Pang believes in a moral society in which the poor are not subject to unnecessary cruelty by the occupying forces. He teaches his men that if they all live this way China will be the best nation on Earth. As time goes on Pang’s hunger to fulfill his dream, mixed with significant political meddling, creates a divide between himself and Zhao, with Jiang stuck in the middle.

As mentioned above, The Warlords is a genuinely incredible movie. It tells an epic story in very intimate terms putting a personal face on this time in China’s history. Loosely based on real events (the film is set against the background of the Taipeng Revolution), director Peter Chan, creates a sense of realism with this action, costumes and set decoration that allow the viewer to simply feel immersed in the film, rather than focusing on the details.

Unfortunately this movie has been caught up in a personal fight between Peter Chan and his business partner over the movie, which broke up the partnership and tied up the international rights to the film until now. While I’m not sure the details of the disagreement, it seems such a shame not to have this film receive a wide theatrical release and the acclaim it genuinely deserves. Jet Li puts in the best performance of his career in a more dramatic role than I’ve seen him before. Holding their own beautifully Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro round out this brotherhood perfectly and soulfully.

I’m not certain what the status of North American distribution is, but this should definitely be seen, even if only on DVD. Try to catch it at your local rep theatre if nothing else as it’s moe than worht your time and is destined to become a classic of Chinese cinema.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.

Embodiment of Evil (Encarnação do Demônio) is a reasonably useless film that doesn’t hold much for the viewer except to disgust. It is is a movie that is almost fetishistic in its execution, providing the best in over the top gore and publicizing that that gore is real, not good special effects. Beyond this, it has little point, even though the filmmakers thought enough of the main character to make it.

The movie starts as Coffin Joe, a mass murderer with really ridiculously long fingernails, is being released from prison for reasons that no one, including the prison warden, can explain. After he is set free he goes home to his dungeon where he is greeted by a new generation of slaves, ready to kill themselves at any moment should their master deem them worthy enough to demand it of them. Coffin Joe begins his journey to find the perfect woman to carry his child anew, after having left piles of bodies in his wake 40 years ago when he was imprisoned for his original crimes. What follows is a bloodbath.

And that’s it folks. There’s literally nothing more to this movie. There were a number of sequences where he is haunted by his past victims, but these sequences seem to have little point since he just does it all over again. There are a number of flashback scenes – to the previous film – which only served to infuriate, since that movie looked like something I would want to actually watch.

In a sense, this movie seems to be the logical progression of the torture-porn movement, except that this would have been the original torture-porn. It postures that only those willing to die at any moment are free and that those willing to torture themselves are the only members of society who truly understand themselves. Sound like ‘Saw’ anyone?

I found this movie to be extremely fetishistic and grotesque, but not to the point of actually disgusting me – even though that was its aim. The director José Mojica Marins trolled S&M clubs for people who were willing to have pieces of their skin torn, burned or cut off, allowing him to boast that the gore in the movie is not actually prosthetic, but real. Again this was meant to disgust but instead had the amusing effect of those medical surgery shows you can’t look away from when you’re channel surfing and happened on it by accident – only bemusing, not disgusting. It would have been interesting if that has been the film’s goal, but it wasn’t and so, it simply failed to achieve even the basics of what it set out to do.

I don’t really have a recommendation here, since I would never recommend anyone see anything this bad. Even more disturbing is that Coffin Joe is played by the director, so basically he makes these movies so he can have an excuse to legally do horrible things to people. Niiice.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.

Black is a phenomenal heist movie set in both Paris and Dakar, intelligently mixing the religions and beliefs of Africa with a very modern story that’s action packed, funny and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Directed by Pierre Laffargue this compelling story will only leave audiences wanting more.

Black is a thief. When we meet him he is on his way to an armored truck robbery that goes terribly wrong. As he is laying low and trying to recover from the horrors of the heist, something else is going on in the city of Dakar, Senegal. A briefcase fill of raw diamonds is being kept in a safety deposit box at the largest bank in Dakar and Black’s cousin is a guard there. Knowing that Black’s skills are exactly what is needed to pull of this heist successfully, his cousin calls him. Jumping at the opportunity to get out of Paris he agrees to do the job. When the job doesn’t go as planned, Black is forced to improvise, leaving a wake of destruction in his path and being pursued by a vicious militia, he is forced to collaborate with a sexy Interpol agent in order to survive.

There isn’t much to be said about Black except that it’s brilliant. It find has the feel of a Bond film with the adventure of a solid heist flick. With great action, epic locations and a very tender look at some of the lore and religion of Senegal, it’s interesting that the films charm comes largely from its lead character. Played expertly by MC Jean Gab’1, Black is an inventive character who is obviously a survivor, but one who manages to survive with style. His partner Pamela, an undercover Interpol agent, is played by Carole Karemera and is the perfect strong woman to act opposite such a charismatic lead. She’s a tough chick without being a cliche tough chick and she’s got more inner strength than anything else – something we can easily see without the need to pepper the dialogue with how much machismo she’s got.

One of the most interesting angles in this script is the writer’s use of animals. Each of the main characters, including the films antagonist, has a spirit or totem animal that is their essential nature. This part of the film could have come off as hokey and cliche, but it is handled in a way that makes it an essential and interesting part of an overall, and modern, plot.

The one thing that bothers me about Black actually has little to do with the actual film. It’s being billed as a Blaxploitation movie, when I don’t believe that to be true. Certainly it has two black leads and a largely black cast. Does that make it Blaxploitation or just a movie with context? Certainly its white people are buffoons. Isn’t that just a choice, rather than Blaxploitation? In an industry where the audience is willing to give you between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to completely sell a movie to them I believe that filmmakers and publicity houses are being forced to choose the simplest way to communicate what the film is in a way that the audience will understand and respond to. It’s a shame because great movies are being pigeon-holed into niches that may not necessarily fit them, but then, if it gets people into the seats, it may not matter.

Black is a film that should definitely get you into seats. It’s fun, action packed and stays with you. You can find Black at the AMC Yonge and Dundas starting August 28th.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.

Franklyn is a beautiful movie about four lives touched by mental illness. One deals with a long forgotten coping mechanism, one with self-destruction and one with the effects of religious fervor in a tale that twists together fantasy and reality, future and past. It is a film that grips the viewer and tells a beautiful story of the power of love, despite some minor issues the viewer might have with the script and production design.

As Franklyn begins we are introduced to Jonathan Preest who, we are told, is going to kill a man tonight. He is searching for a man called only The Individual who has kidnapped a young girl and murdered her as a sacrifice in his religion. We follow him through Meanwhile City, a place where faith is required, even if it’s based on the instructions for a washing machine. When he is given up to the authorities, a group of police-type officers called Clerics, by one of his informants, he is imprisoned for 4 years for his crimes against religion. When The Individual returns to Meanwhile City, Preest is released by his captors to find and stop The Individual once and for all.

As if that is not enough, mixed in with Preest’s story is the story of three people. Emilia is an artist who has lost her way. Her relationship with her mother has deteriorated and she has left her studies at an art school to create grotesque and risky work that threatens to destroy her completely – inside and out. Milo is a young man who has been left at the altar by his fiance and doesn’t know what to do. He remembers a girl from his childhood and how much he cared for her. Milo begins a search for her, believing that it may be his destiny to be with her. Finally is the story of Peter Esser a man who is looking for his son, a war veteran who returned mentally ill and who has left the care of the hospital. Frantically he searches for some sign of his son as he navigates the world of London’s soup kitchens and homeless shelters and discovers something about his son that he didn’t want to know.

Franklyn tells a wonderful story in each of its parts – Milo’s about the innocence of love; Emilia’s about how destructive lies can be; Peter’s about how love sometimes isn’t enough; Preest’s pointing out some significant limitations of the way religion is applied today. Unfortunately, as part of the narrative, Preest’s tale needs to take place in a stempunk-y futuristic world which is so immersive and engrossing that the audience’s attention wants to stay there rather than to fluidly move between all four stories. In fact, the movie about Preest would have been a great one on its own – and wildly successful. It’s a shame that it’s been tossed in, half complete, to a movie about a very relevant and powerful topic.

Despite this small narrative defect the movie is actually quite wonderful. Due to the winding way in which it chooses to tells its story it does require patience on behalf of the viewer, something that few movies require these days, making it stand out above the crowd. Packed with very talented actors like Eva Green and Sam Riley the performances are compelling, which they need to be to keep the audience interested in each story as the film flips through the four stories.

The art direction was also spectacular. Meanwhile City is a creation on the scale of Alex Proyas’ Dark City and equally as engrossing. It’s a shame that this portion of the story feels a little tacked on and unnecessary in the final reveal. Emilia’s art, while deeply disturbing, is compelling and soul-bearing.

I believe that Franklyn is certainly worth seeing and I hope that it will get a theatrical release to be seen by many, but please remember to have patience with it. The advertising focuses strongly on the Preest and steampunk futuristic alternate reality, but that is not the crux of the movie, only the simplest way to sell it to you.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.

The Dark Hour is a confusing film set in a post-nuclear apocalypse world of strange creatures, even stranger rules and very compelling characters that you really want to like, if only you could figure out who they were. It is a film that had good bones and a story it definitely wanted to tell but it’s mired in the hows an whys of its own world, making what could have been a great movie simply a good one.

The story of The Dark Hour starts when we meet our main character, an 8 year-old boy named Jesus who narrates the story by way of filming his surroundings and happenings of the bunker he lives in with 9 other people, almost all of whom are adults. The reasons why they live in the bunker are not known to Jesus and, by default, are not known to the audience. From what we can see it seems that the people left in the bunker are trapped there and, possibly, the last people left in what appears to be a much larger complex. They have a hierarchy similar to that of the military and they go about their days educating the two youngest members of the group, Jesus and a teenaged girl called Ana, making food and preparing for the night when strange monsters called The Invisibles come. The Invisibles comes through the complex at random looking for people to “take” and freezing the entire area. There are a number of other threats to the ground in the complex, however. There is a group of people called The Strangers who are diseased former humans, similar to zombies, who will attack at a moment’s notice and, if they touch you, they will infect you, turning you into one of them. In addition to the supernatural threats there is also the dwindling medical, ammunition and food supplies, forcing the group out of their own area and into other places in the complex to resupply. When one member of the team begins to go a little stir crazy and another member dies, the safety of the group is jeopardized.

This movie’s Spanish title is La Hora Fria, or literally The Cold Hour, which would have been a much more accurate title, but that was not the only inconsistency. There were a lot of characters to focus on such that it was almost impossible to form an attachment to any of them. There was also a little too much to be scared of. There was dwindling supplies. There was a threat within the group from an unstable person. There was The Invisibles. There was the Strangers. There was too much. This movie has excellent bones and did want to be good, but it got too bogged down in the rules it had created for its own world for it to be coherent.

The problems with the script are very unfortunate because the acting, set decoration, special effects and, well, everything else was excellent. The CGI on The Invisibles and the makeup on the Strangers was definitely creepy enough to make the audience uncomfortable. The acting was believable and that at least made you want to care about the characters and what was happening but with 9 (and eventually 10) of them, they were too numerous to make a connection with. The design team did an excellent job of creating an immersive world but I would have preferred to see a slightly varied colour palette since the film is very, very dark and, at times, difficult to discern what’s going on, even in a pitch black theatre.

It was additionally disappointing that the supernatural elements were never explained. The Strangers and Invisibles are explained in some very broad strokes, but not enough to garner the fear of the audience, even if initial contacts with them are a little unsettling. With all the other inconsistencies and limitations of the film, this was the one that was the most unfortunate.

Despite the problem with the film I did actually enjoy it, but I was often confused by problems noted above and it was enough to distract me from the good parts. I recommend this as a good film to see for fans of sci-fi, but it’s not accessible to anyone who isn’t both familiar with the genre and patient. I can certainly understand why it was selected for Toronto After Dark, but I also understand that this is not a perfect film and should be watched with that in mind.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.

When The Man kills Black Dynamite’s only brother he makes it his mission to make him pay. Along the way he discovers that his brother’s murder is only one piece to a larger puzzle that includes smack in orphanages and bring the Black Man to his knees. Add some hoes, kung-fu, smack, jive-talk, boobs, pimp suits, and donuts and chili and what you get is an incredible movie that is both love letter and spoof that is not to be missed. Already a selection at Sundance, as well as at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, this movie is set to take audiences by storm.

Written by Michael Jai White, Byron Minns and Scott Sanders, this movie has done something very special. Unlike the recent comedy offerings from Hollywood, this movie will make you laugh the whole way through, but also force you to think a little. The jokes in Black Dynamite range from the slapstick to the intelligent, forcing the viewer to pause mid-guffaw to realize why they’re laughing so hard, and then laughing harder.  It shows you why it’s funny but with a tender eye, designed to endear you to the original Blaxploitation source material. It is the kind of spoof that makes you want to go find the movies that inspired it, because to make something this good, they would have had to be amazing.

Boasting a very well rounded cast of cameos including Arsenio Hall, Nicole Sullivan and Tommy Davidson, the film feels solid because of its talent, with those cameos bringing some of the films most  memorable moments – and loudest laughs. Biggest credit, of course, goes to Michael Jai White for carrying the movie in a way that was believable and hilarious at the same time. With the conviction of Shaft, playing it just on the edge of a lampoon, he never dips you further than you need to go to get the joke and he never for a moment doesn’t believe that what he’s saying is completely and utterly true. So we believe, and laugh, along with him. It took a great casting director to find a woman to play along side him and they found that in Salli Richardson-Whitefield. Channeling a slightly softer Pam Grier she never winks at the camera, even when genuinely ridiculous things are happening around her.

Director Scott Sanders was in attendance at the screening and he spoke about his film with such ease and confidence that he made it look like making this movie was a breeze, but I strongly suspect this was not the case. Despite the fact that they found locations that needed little if anything done to them the crew of this film most certainly had their work cut out for them. Seamlessly creating a world set in the 70s with everything from the costumes to the set decoration to the colours of the film could have been no easy feat. There was never a moment when I was jarred out of the film by an object that was not period or couldn’t have existed at the time, in fact, just the opposite. I was occasionally distracted by how well this movie was put together. Truly something to marvel at, especially when the rest of the package is just as good, if not better.

I can honestly say that this is the most fun I’ve had in a theatre in a long, long time. This movie isn’t a cult classic, it’s just a classic and I can not recommend it highly enough to pretty much everyone. Black Dynamite opens October 16, 2009 and if you’re not there, you’re most certainly square.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage. Click here for our Q&A footage from after the screening.