Toronto After Dark 2008

Since get­ting back from Reykjavik, I have been insanely busy and this year’s Toronto After Dark film fest­ival has sort of snuck up on me. One of the most well-organized small fests I’ve attended, this annual show­case for “horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema” is now in its third year. And des­pite my con­tinuing over­scheduling, I’m des­per­ately hoping to find some time to catch a few screen­ings. The fest runs from October 17–24 (yes, it starts tomorrow!), and all screen­ings take place at the Bloor Cinema (Bloor and Bathurst). Here are a few films that caught my eye (ew, that sounds so much gorier when talking about a fest­ival like this one):

• Let the Right One In — 12-year-old Swedish vam­pires? Sounds fas­cin­ating. This is the Opening Night Gala, but unfor­tu­nately I have a prior com­mit­ment. This one is get­ting such good buzz, though, that I think it will get a wider release. Check out the higher defin­i­tion trailer over at Apple’s site.
• Repo! The Genetic Opera — The trailer for this hooked me for its sheer auda­cious­ness and over-the-top art dir­ec­tion. A rock opera about organ trans­plant repos­ses­sion in the “not-too-distant future.” This screening will be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, according to Shannon, it’s also sold out already. Check out the higher defin­i­tion trailer over at Apple’s site.
• MirageMan — A Chilean super­hero movie? Enough said!
• Tokyo Gore Police — I missed this at the New York Asian Film Festival back in the summer, and am hoping to catch it here. Though I’m not nor­mally a fan of gore or splatter movies, this just seemed so crazy that it might be worth seeing.

Of course, my plans and my schedule rarely get along, so I’ll just have to cross my fin­gers that I can get to at least some of these. If you’re in Toronto and plan­ning to go to After Dark, what are you excited about seeing?

Tagged as: horror, scifi