Toronto After Dark Film Fest Post-Mortem: Still Bonkers at Age 17
By Thom Ernst
The Toronto After Dark Film Festival – which wrapped up Sunday - is 17, the same angst-filled age that (in song, anyway) traumatized singer/songwriter Janis Ian.
Festival years, like dog years, are likely measured differently than human years. But judging from the behavioral patterns of the young and evolving, TADFF is on a teen track.
At 17, TADFF embraces a controlled chaos (audience wrangling remains a ‘day-one’ issue) filling theatres with Toronto’s chic freaks and geeks actively breaking their work-week curfews so they can hang out with two or three hundred of their closest friends.
It’s a Wonderful Knife was one of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival features.
They’re a rowdy community fueled by the prospect of seeing something bonkers on screen. These are the ground-level cinephiles whose keen perception of a film’s intent overrides the film’s lack of budget and star power. And movies whose imperfections might otherwise be glaringly obvious on the big screen, turn into audience pleasers, in spite of themselves. There is no bad time to be had at TADFF.
In the 17 years leading to now, TADFF has maintained its rebellious standards, defying logic by playing under-the radar microbudget genre films a home where they can flourish.
Previous commitments prevented a full-festival experience for me this year. But I was grateful to be there the first two nights.
Festival founder and artistic director Adam Lopez welcomed the audience as always. Lopez’s gregarious and warm welcome is part of the experience - more so since Lopez’s stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Now, two years after the diagnosis, Lopez is beating the odds. He stood in front of the filled-to-capacity house at Toronto’s Scotiabank Theatre, as a festival director who is mostly cancer free.
Lopez soaked up the warmth of the crowd. He is the master of ceremonies; a showman standing in centre ring, dressed in a uniquely patterned jacket suitable to the season. His white hair is shorter this year, but remains as much part of his trademark as his jackets.
The opening gala films were some of the best of its kind that I’ve seen.
First, there was Late Night with the Devil (Australia) a top-notch thriller that out-exorcised The Exorcist: Believer—by a lot. The effects are minor, some of the performances are heavy-footed, but the overall result is a glorious talk-show-freak-show. It’s a found-footage film with good lighting, a steady camera and everything properly framed.
Late Night with the Devil is the story of a talk show host who might lose his show if he can’t meet the same numbers enjoyed by Johnny Carson. It’s a period piece, but who knew Johnny Carson was that popular in Australia? His Halloween special is about as mundane as an evening talk show can get, until a guest, a surviving member of a suicide cult, joins the program.
The following film, The Last Exit, was every bit worth the risk of being overly tired at work the next day. The Last Exit is a home invasion film with about a half-dozen twists shaking up the genre. It stars Joely Richardson as a matriarch who puts the safety of her family above all else.
To the festival’s credit, every feature is preceded with a Canadian short. Director Scott Riopelle’s Soul Proprietor took spot number one in front of Late Night with the Devil. Riopelle directs a film that initially plays like a traditionally plotted exorcism film. But Riopelle takes the film down a much darker corridor than anticipated. Soul Proprietor was an unexpected treat given Riopelle’s lengthy (and no doubt sincerely felt) introduction. He praised Lopez and the festival to a point where it edged dangerously close to sycophantic.
“Just make sure your introduction isn’t longer than your film,” joked Lopez, who then allowed Riopelle his moment without interruption.
A trio of names (Tomas Morrison, Marko Pandza, Jason Kerr) are credited with the short, Mystery Box, a complete beginning, middle and end horror that would satisfy the likes of Rod Serling, Alfred Hitchcock, Ray Bradbury and anyone who lent their name to a half-hour televised series.
As difficult as this is to admit, I was the single Smart Phone offender in a packed theatre. During the screening of Rec Volton, by directors Jack Lesarge and Michael Williams, one of the theatre officials approached me to turn off my phone. My lame excuse is that I thought we were still in commercial mode, despite the audience’s favourable reaction to whatever was happening on screen. I assumed it was a preview of a film yet to come.
What I did see of this sci-fi short was enough to know that I would love to see it again, properly and without the distraction of texting.
(Thank goodness, I wasn’t wearing my Original-Cin t-shirt).
Rec Volton played before a Scandinavian, family-friendly science fiction called Sweden UFO. Suitably humiliated for my Rec Volton/cellphone fiasco, I was all eyes and ears. Easy enough, as Sweden UFO is a delightful film about a young girl convinced her father was kidnapped by aliens.
Bad timing got the best of me, as I missed out on seeing Toronto director Jeremy LaLonde’s screening of Daniel’s Gotta Die (which is due for theatrical release in December). Daniel’s Gotta Die played earlier in the year at Cinefest in Sudbury. I arrived at that festival a day after LaLonde’s film. Daniel’s Gotta Die looks to be a comedic spin on murder, and mayhem, involving an unwelcome inheritor of a family’s wealth.
It was no less disappointing is to miss director Erik Bloomquist’s Founders Day (a title I inevitably read as Flounder’s Day, leading me to imagine a fandom horror twist on Finding Nemo). The Founder (the film’s murderous villain) is a hopeful contender as horror’s next major icon.
Also missed: It’s a Wonderful Knife (described as a bloody take on It’s a Wonderful Life) and Lovely, Dark and Deep from first-time writer-director Teresa Sutherland.
I await next year when the Toronto After Dark Film Festival turns 18 and Adam Lopez celebrates 3 years in remission.
And I promise to keep my phone turned off.