TIFF11: Midnight Madness Thoughts

August 3, 2011 by Sean Patrick Kelly

Unlock cinematic adventures from anywhere with 1 year of NordVPN – your passport to seamless streaming and blockbuster bliss! 🎬🍿

Midnight Madness is probably one of my favourite programmes at the Toronto Film Festival, since it caters to my love of genre films. This year's selection was just announced today and it's notable in how 9 out of 10 of the films are world premieres. Like always, the selection is dominated by the horror genre, but the selection also includes Asian films, dark comedies, and even a post-apocalyptic film.

Here are the standouts (you can read the full list here)

The Day – Douglas Aarniokoski, USA

This post-apocalyptic film is probably the most star-driven film at midnight madness this year, with the cast including the likes of Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, LOST), Ashley Bell (Last Exorcism), Shannyn Sossamon (Rules of Attraction), and Shawn Ashmore (X-Men). This one is definitely a possibility for me.

God Bless America – Bobcat Goldthwait, USA

Bobcat Goldthwait (Police Academy) is best known as the comedian with the very high-pitched voice that appeared in many films during the 80s. During the last few years he moved on to directing, with his most notable film being 2009's World's Greatest Dad with Robin Williams. This film fills the “bloody dark comedy” quota, which was taken up last year by the film Super.

Livid – Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, France
I just have to say that the image for the film on the TIFF website looks absolutely terrifying.

Lovely Molly – Eduardo Sanchez, USA
It's been 12 years since Eduardo Sanchez helped make the Blair Witch Project into one of the most successful independent horror films of all time. His new films looks to be another supernatural thriller and it looks like it will be quite chilling.

You're Next – Adam Wingard, USA
This film is about a family that is attacked by a group of assailants wearing animal masks. Plot similarities to The Strangers aside, this is probably the Midnight Madness selection that I am most interested in.