I'm generally not one to bandy about the term 'bonanza', but how else would you describe this veritable cornucopia of pictures from the Daybreakers red carpet and Q&A last Friday? If you missed out on the midnight screening on Firday and the second screening last Sunday of the Spierig-and Spierig-penned vampire tale, you're now outta luck! You poor souls will now have to wait until January 2010 to get your blood on...And that's probably the greatest horror of all. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to our intrepid photographer Ian Goring for these shots! 

Today's pretty much like Christmas for your faithful blogger.  See, tonight marks the premieres of the two movies that I'm anticipating more than any other in this year's festival.  The first is Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno, which, while not part of the Madness lineup per se, certainly embodies the weird, off-key sensibility of our favourite late-night programme in spades.  I mean, if you can find me another movie in which a Hollywood icon dresses up as a lobster and simulates sexual activity with anatomically-correct paper mache sea creatures (forgetting for a minute the deleted scenes from He's Just Not That Into You), then please grab me a ticket.

The other movie that's got me sprung is, of course, Daybreakers.  

Now, I'm not the type of dude that jumps in an Antichrist-length line in order to grab a ticket or a copy of the latest Stephanie Meyer-penned vampire rom-com,  but I do love me some fanged freak every now and again.  And for someone like me, this year was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The Year of the Vampire kicked off at Midnight Madness 2008, as a DVD pilot of a little show called True Blood was thrust into our hot little hands as we stood in line for our favourite selections at the Ryerson.  Since then, to say that the HBO series has become a phenomenon would be a colossal understatement. We're two seasons in and audiences everywhere are positively foaming at the mouth for every new episode.  What will become of Sookie? And more importantly, isn't it a little weird to be, er, intimate with a dead person? 

From there, we went to the unlikely setting of Sweden for Let The Right One In,  the remarkably minimal and restrained tale of a young boy who befriends an otherworldy creature that`s capable of unspeakable brutality. Who knew that the country that designed the Ikea bookshelf that snapped clear in half during my last move could produce something of such quality!

Of course, then there was Twilight. Not exactly my cup of tea as I am both male and over 12, but you can`t deny that this tale of shimmering, hunky vampire love (one of the aforementioned hunks even appears in this year`s Midnight Madness selection Loved Ones) has has a profound cultural impact for our fanged friends.  You couldn`t escape these bloodsucking beefcakes even if you tried.  And when you thik about it, that`s pretty much all you want from a vampire.

Which brings us to Daybreakers. A film that transports us into a world where humans are rarer than a two-minute steak, and vampires are running everything from pharmaceutical companies to (presumably) the Slushee machine at your local 7-11. Early reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and the Festival`s the only place you`re gonna catch the carnage until the film drops in January of next year.   

Look for me at the front of the line.

Daybreakers screens TONIGHT at midnight, and on Sunday Sept 13 at 12:30pm at the Scotiabank Theatre. 

You missed Jennifer's Body? Fine... I forgive you. It was a Thursday night, you've got work, yada, yada, yada. You've still got two more chances to see it at TIFF with a madness crowd. C'mon, you know you want to, the non-madness crowds at the multiplexes don't cheer disemboweling anywhere near as loud as us dedicated maniacs!

Anyway tonight is FRIDAY so you have no excuse to miss Daybreakers. And yes, Willem Dafoe will be in attendance. Mr. Dafoe is in no less than four films at TIFF (My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, Daybreakers, L'Affaire Farewell, and Antichrist) this year and had this to say about the Spiereg brothers (directors of Daybreakers & 2003 Madness/Uptown Closer Undead) and what drew him to Daybreakers:

"...my taste at the time was to do something really different. So it was through those dialogues and them talking about what they were trying to do that they seduced me into joining them. And once I sign on, I'm there, and I really enjoyed them a lot. I admire how they work. I haven't seen the movie, but I think it'll be a fun movie." S.T. VanAirsdale -Movieline

C'mon, you know you want to be there... get to the RUSH line now!

Jennifer's Body screens again on Saturday, September 12 at 12:00 pm at the Ryerson and Thursday September 17, at 8:30 pm at the Varsity 8.

Daybreakers premieres on Friday, September 11 at 11:59 pm at the Ryerson and encores on Sunday September 1, at 12:30 pm at the Scotiabank Theatre 2.

Yet another set of Midnight Madness picks, courtesy of Brad Miska of Bloody Disgusting:

 

Another year, another 10 incredible genre film selections, Midnight Madness is the pinnacle of my year. Forget any other film festival, the Toronto International Film Festival is so jammed-packed that even the MM line-up overflows into the full festival. One of most exciting parts of our coverage is that every year Colin asks me to tell him my 3 most anticipated films and why, which leaves me staring blankly at the full line-up for about an hour trying to make up my mind. While each and every film has a special something about it, there were three films this year that stood out from the pack and are a MUST for ol’ Bloody Disgusting.  More...

FEARnet has an interview up with Daybreakers directors (and twin brothers), Peter and Michael Spierig, who previously brought Undead to Midnight Madness in 2002. They talk about vampire movies, their fears and how Daybreakers isn't influenced by I am Legend, the book or the movie at all.

"[T]he fact that we're doing a vampire movie is daunting, because there's so many of them out there. How do you do something that's different? And how do you make it more than just another b-movie, which the genre is? That's the big dilemma. We worked to try and do something different, which hopefully it is."

 Daybreakers screens at TIFF on:  Friday September 11, 11:59pm - RYERSON / Sunday September 13, 12:30pm SCOTIABANKTHEATER 2.

Daybreakers, the Spierig Brothers' new film, imagines a vampire dystopia with bloodsucking captains of industry. Science fiction writer Peter Watts has a similar vision, albeit reversed with a pharmaceutical company engineering vampires for their untapped market potential. What could go wrong?

"Peter Watts narrates his brilliant slideshow that explains vampires from an evolutionary perspective, and then explains how humans can profit by harnessing their predators. Watts brings his experience as a scientist and his talent as a science-fiction writer to bear in creating this biting satire." (via  Jim Munroe at the Cultural Gutter).

 

Daybreakers screens at TIFF on: Friday September 11, 11:59 - RYERSON / Sunday September 13, 11:59 - SCOTIABANK THEATRE 2. 

More Madness Picks -- this time from Rue Morgue Magazine's Managing Editor Dave Alexander. He programs Rue Morgue's monthly Cinemacabre screenings at the Bloor Cinema and also runs MSN's Blogtastic Voyage, where he just ripped Halloween II a new one.

"I guess I just can’t get enough of the undead, because this year’s Midnight Madness line-up has me excited about zombies and vampires:

George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead

You aren’t much of a horror fan if you aren’t excited about the idea of a new George A. Romero zombie movie, and, following the Toronto-shot Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead (another MM premiere, of course), Survival drops the first-person camera conceit of Diary but remains set in the same world. Sounds good to me.

As a huge fan of dusters (J.T. Petty’s horror-western hybrid The Burrowers was one of my favourite MM movies), I’m particularly intrigued by this one because Romero has described as being basically “a western.” Horses, gut-munching, headshots and cowboy hats – giddy-up!

[REC 2]

Even when his films don’t completely work for me (I’m thinking of Darkness and Fragile), there are still fantastic moments in Jaume Balagueró’s movies – usually ones where terrifying things are creeping around in the dark.

When he teamed up with Paco Plaza to make [REC] everything seemed to fall into place and the result was a tight little zombie movie with loads of tension and claustrophobic scares. I’m up for round two of that, especially with a midnight crowd.

(And, if you want to see some of the best stuff that both of these guys have done, I recommend 6 Films to Keep You Awake, which is sort of the Spanish version of Masters of Horror – each of them has a fun horror film in the series.)

Daybreakers

Australia’s Sperig Twins made a name for themselves with 2003’s Undead, a zombie movie with big ideas and a polished look that was much bigger than their budget would suggest. Now they’ve got a more dough, more experience and stars such as Ethan Hawke, Willem DaFoe and Sam Neill, so it’s time to what they can do after six year of working on the project.

Plot-wise, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi vampire movie about humans as endangered species in a society where bloodsuckers run the show has loads of possibility. And the twins aren’t afraid to get gory, so at the very least I expect to see some gratuitous bloodshed and exploding vamps."