Entertainment Maven

Redline Review – Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011

The 6th Annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival, 8 Nights of Horror, Sci-Fi, Action, and Cult Movies runs Oct 20-27, 2011 at the Toronto Underground Cinema. For complete festival info visit www.torontoafterdark.com.

Coming out of Redline I felt like I had potentially seen my ‘best of the fest’ at Toronto After Dark. I watch movies to be entertained, but ultimately I am seeking out those experiences that are unlike any other. The experiences in which I find myself looking around as the credits roll and remember, ‘right, I’m in a movie theatre’. Redline is an engrossing adrenaline rush that refuses to let up for 102 minutes.

Before Redline were a couple of interesting shorts, Paso Doble and Lost for Words. Paso Doble was a beautiful animated feature depicting a showdown between a bull and a dancer with an impossibly long red dress. Lost for Words was about a young boy who has run away from home and is now lost in a strange world, complete with bizarre creatures and single words scattered all over the ground. Both shorts were entertaining, looked great, and were nice changes of pace from the typically darker fare that the Toronto After Dark audience is already very familiar with.

Back to Redline.

The story is simple, intergalactic racing championship Redline is hottest sporting event in the galaxy. Every five years the best drivers from a variety of alien races assemble for one of the fastest and most dangerous races conceivable. There are no rules in Redline, drivers equip their rides with arsenals of weaponry in the hopes of edging out or blowing up their competition. For some reason human driver ‘Sweet JP’ drives a weaponless Trans Am, making his name quite fitting given the maniacal blood lust of the other competitors. Will JP be able to win Redline with such a glaring handicap? Maybe a few extra nitro boosts can level out the playing field.

Before even watching Redline I had a feeling that I was about to witness something special, mainly due to the two men attached to the film, writer Katsuhito Ishii and director Takeshi Koike.

Last month at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) I saw a strange film called Smuggler (Sumagurâ: Omae no mirai o erabe), which turned out to be one of the most difficult reviews I’ve had to write. Director Katsuhito Ishii put some of the strangest characters and imagery onscreen. His talent was undeniable, however, I felt like I was unable to fully appreciate Smuggler, the zaniness was a bit too much.

Much further back in time, about 16 years ago, when North Americans still referred to animation out of Japan as ‘Japanimation’, I was absolutely astounded by two VHS rentals that my high school friends and I stumbled upon, Wicked City and Ninja Scroll. These two films are classics depicting the mature content that anime is capable of, and have opened up the world of animation to countless adults and teenagers. Takeshi Koike was the lead animator on each project.

The collaboration of Katsuhito Ishii and Takeshi Koike on Redline has proved to be a hugely successful and complimentary one. The imagination of Katsuhito Ishii is evident in the bizarre cast of characters, the hilariously neurotic inhabitants of Roboworld (where the Redline race is being held), and the clever exchanges between bumbling Roboworld military officials. On the other hand, Takeshi Koike injects the film with completely over-the-top action, excitement and thrills.

The opening sequence in Redline is from a qualifying race called the Yellowline. The music is hypnotic, the fluidity of the animation is gorgeous, and the growl of the engines is deafening. When JP drops that first nitro capsule, I promise that most viewers will have grins beginning to grow, completely out of their control. I don’t even like cars, let alone racing, but Redline appealed to my inner speed junkie, who got some much needed catharsis.

Redline has easily garnered the Entertainment Maven Seal of Approval, and at that time on Saturday night it was easily my ‘best of the fest’ at Toronto After Dark (it has some competition now, more on that on a later post). I urge anyone with an interest in action or animation to go see this remarkable movie. With the DVD\Blu-ray release around the corner, it may be difficult to find a theatre playing Redline. In this case, make sure that you watch it on the biggest TV you can find, and crank the volume. This one wouldn’t be the same on a 32-inch TV, late at night while everyone is sleeping.

Congratulations to the TAD team for programming their first anime feature, and such a remarkable one at that.

DeadHeads Review – Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011

Play Dead was the short that preceded DeadHeads and was the first film I have seen to tackle the zombie\pet adventure genre. Directors Andres & Diego Meza-Valdes introduce us to a familiar story, zombies are quickly taking over the city, however the heroes of the film are a group of dogs. The dogs band together into a team that is bizarrely reminiscent of Homeward Bound. The furry group avoids danger at every turn in an attempt to make it to the Dog Bar, the only safe-haven left in the city. Will they reach doggie paradise or does a terrifying reality await them? Funny and cute, Play Dead is certainly entertaining.

Last night at Toronto After Dark, the zombies were out in hordes. Some zombies were clearly bite victims, some the result of evil experiments, and others were nothing short of maimed cadavers that were inexplicably still capable of locomotion. If you are confused or worried, don’t be, these weren’t real undead, rather participants of the Toronto Zombie Walk and recipients of Toronto After Dark’s undead friendly ticket price breaks (only on zombie appreciation night). I think I even saw zombie Colonel Sanders with a severed hand in a cardboard bucket normally reserved for his delicious chicken. Most of the crowd was in attendance for a zombie double bill, the comedic DeadHeads followed by the WWII action themed War of the Dead.

Zombie movies are in serious danger of becoming overdone. I’m sure there are vehement fans on both sides of the debate, some who would argue that they have been played out for a few years now, and others who would argue that zombies are the backbone of the horror genre and will never become tiring. In my opinion, filmmakers need to be very careful to put an interesting spin on current zombie movies, unoriginality and mediocrity will most likely not result in a winner at the box office or on the DVD\Blu-Ray market. Fortunately, the Pierce brothers have breathed some new life into the the zombie genre with a buddy, road-trip comedy, from the perspective of the zombies. Say what?

DeadHeads is about two newly acquainted members of the undead, Mike (Michael McKiddy) and Brent (Ross Kidder), who for some reason are not as stiff and mindless as the other zombies that have recently appeared in their hometown. Brent seems accustomed to the undead gig and tries to break the reluctant Mike in. The new friends are completely safe from their brain hungry cohorts, but the living prove to be quite dangerous. Over time Mike’s hazy memories come back to him piece by piece and the friends set out on a road trip to find Mike’s past girlfriend, his only reason to go on living, if you can call it that.

DeadHeads is a very entertaining adventure\comedy. The Pierce brothers have done a remarkable job emulating the charm of a Joe Dante film, like Gremlins or The Burbs (one of my personal under-appreciated favourites), while still managing to create something that feels original. Michael McKiddy does a great job as a main character that the audience will truly feel for, however, Ross Kidder really steals the show as a quick-witted and cooler version of Shaggy (Scooby-Doo). A particular gag in the woods, when nature calls for Kidder, was an absolute riot.

The laughs may not come a mile-a-minute, and many of them are not of the side-splitting variety, but they are appropriate for a comforting and feel-good movie like DeadHeads. Horror comedies are one of the toughest genres to pull off, but the Pierce brothers have done it. Check this one out if you are in the mood for the less serious and lighter side of the undead world.

Exit Humanity Review – Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011

Exit Humanity was preceded by the short film Prick, by director Colin Berry, who was also a special effects adviser on Exit Humanity. Prick is about a serial killer who could go completely undetected in our society. A scary thought, but not the main reason why Prick is such a successful short. In addition to directing, Berry also does the special effects work, and it is nothing short of amazing. A particular scene in a hallway had me shaking my head in disbelief as to how Berry had achieved the otherworldly visuals. Prick does not feel like a short, much more like a preview for something bigger. Keep an eye on Berry, big things are in the future for this filmmaker.

Throughout the last few months of viewing a balanced diet of both mainstream and independent film, I have learned that the gap in the quality of these two types of cinema has been rapidly narrowing. Improved technology, less expensive equipment, and younger, better educated and experienced filmmakers has led to independent cinema becoming much more accessible to mainstream audiences. Exit Humanity is one such film that feels too professional and polished to possibly be an independent film, but it is.

The story takes place during the American Civil War and follows a soldier named Edward Young. We join Young in the midst of an intense battle that quickly becomes a different sort of horror for the soldier, as he is attacked by a member of the undead. After this encounter, we quickly learn that the undead have taken over the countryside and few humans remain. Young has been forced to kill his wife after she became infected, and his young boy has gone missing. Edward Young sets out on a journey to find his son, and to find an exit to this grotesque caricature of what humanity has become.

Exit Humanity was made by Foresight Features, the same crew that gave us Monster Brawl. This time, writer\directer John Geddes is at the helm, with a star studded cast. The people at Foresight once again look to be incredibly well connected, as Dee Wallace, Bill Moseley, Stephen McHattie, and Brian Cox all appear in Exit Humanity. Also of note is the debut of Mark Gibson in the role of Edward Young. Gibson delivers a fine performance as a man who is on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. Although, there are a few too many times when Gibson freaks out to such a degree that Nicholas Cage will most likely be taking notes, but all things considered, even this part of the performance is probably quite realistic given Young’s circumstances. Gibson has done an excellent job of channeling the weight of loss and helplessness that Young must feel, while at the same time maintaining that shred of hope. Adam Seybold is another actor to keep an eye on. His excellent performance as Isaac gives the oppressive atmosphere of Exit Humanity an injection of humour that is sorely needed.

The filmmaking itself is very professional. The cinematography and setting are beautiful. As Geddes noted during the Q&A, the cast and crew went out of their way to ensure that they filmed certain scenes at the crack of dawn and others at sunset, to get the look of the film just right. Also, beautiful animation is used throughout the film due to budget constraints, however, it proves to be an interesting and effective narrative device.

Unfortunately, Exit Humanity has a few writing issues that hold it back from being as good as it should have been. For starters, it really feels like a drama and not a horror film, which is not a problem in itself, except that it will make the viewer wonder if the zombies are really central to the story. A different sort of infectious disease could easily have taken the place of the undead. Sure, zombies may have been used because it seemed like a cool idea, however, cool ideas have their place, typically in much less serious films. The plot of a drama needs to be more intricately woven to be effective. In addition, Exit Humanity seemed to drag on for a bit too long. At two hours, I am not sure that there is enough content in the story to keep an audience entertained throughout.

In closing, I don’t think that Exit Humanity is as ground breaking as another review has stated, although I do see many positives. This does not feel like the work of a relatively new film maker. Geddes gets many things right, but is held back my some pacing and conceptual issues. I have no doubt that Exit Humanity will find an audience. If you enjoy being immersed in bleak unforgiving worlds, where survival is a daily concern, then check out Exit Humanity. In the meantime, I will wait for Geddes to turn out a winner in the future. I am convinced that he will.

Father’s Day Review – Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011

Back for my second night at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival to see Exit Humanity and Father’s Day. The turnout was once again very strong and consisted of salivating fans ready for lurching zombies and some serious father violence. The short before Father’s Day was My Main Squeeze from director Chris Nash. Nash also has compiled six lessons learned from Toronto After Dark, which are shorts scattered before features throughout the festival. I really wish I had seen more of Nash’s work to prepare me for My Main Squeeze. The film is about a young girl enamoured with popping bubble wrap, and the social problems that are inherent with such an obsession. My Main Squeeze contains some of the most grotesque and upsetting (although it is not at all malicious, which is refreshing) on-screen imagery I have ever seen. Chris Nash you are truly a sicko, and I bet reading that statement would make you smile.

On to Father’s Day.

One night, the members of Astron-6, a collective filmmaking group out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, were sitting around wondering how to make the best use their considerable talents.

‘What should we do next?’ said one of them.

‘Let’s ruin Father’s Day for everyone,’ said another.

At this point, a normal person, with their finger on the pulse of morality, would have asked ‘WHY would we do that’, but the guys at Astron-6 simply asked each other ‘HOW could we do that’. Well, it turns out you ruin Father’s Day for everyone by making a movie about a father raping serial killer, add in some of the most disgusting displays of gore, and choose the same title (save the location of that stubborn apostrophe) as a lighthearted comedy starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, which down the road, should royally mess up the night of some careless holiday movie watchers with terrible taste.

As I have said, Father’s Day features a slew of father rape\murders that has devastated the city. The police, including the short-fused Detective Stegel (Brent Neale), have no idea how to stop the killings. Their only suspect is the wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time troubled teenager Twink (Conor Sweeney). A kind priest, Father John Sullivan (Matthew Kennedy), is pushed away by Twink, despite offers to help the boy. However, Father Sullivan quickly learns that the killings are the doing of the Fuchman (Mackenzie Murdock), a vile fiend with a taste for vintage dads. Father Sullivan does the only sensible thing, he traverses every imaginable terrain in the world to track down the one man who nearly put a stop to the Fuchman in the past, the one-eyed Ahab (Adam Brooks).

Going into Father’s Day and not being a rabid Troma fan, I was not sure if I was going to enjoy myself. I can certainly appreciate gratuitous violence, Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive is one of my favourite movies, however, I also appreciate great narratives and well executed comedy, not always Troma staples. As it turns out, Father’s Day has a completely outlandish storyline, but the violence is accompanied by some excellent comedy. The jokes were ridiculous, but the comedic timing was amazing. Without the comedy, Father’s Day would just be bloodbath that may grow a bit tiring near the end of the runtime, but with the excellent writing, Father’s Day becomes a highly entertaining adventure.

The special effects and creature effects are also a pleasure\displeasure to behold, it really depends on your perspective. The Astron-6 crew purports to make their films for next to nothing. If this is true, I find it shocking what Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie have been able to accomplish in the visual effects\digital effects department. Gunshot wounds, chainsaw attacks, crushed heads, and gluttonous creatures from hell, nothing is impossible with this kind of talent.

Finally, the Astron-6 crew has really shown their savvy. You see, with fame comes increased attention, paparazzi, and inevitably nude pics that can ruin careers. It seems that for this reason, multiple members of the crew decided to bare all in full frontal shots during the film, veritably preempting money hungry paparazzi and gossip magazines. Like I said, savvy.

Now for what everyone has been waiting for, which is better, the Astron-6 film or the Robin Williams and Billy Crystal Comedy? Let’s just say that if the two movies met in a dark alley, the Williams-Crystal one would walk away bow-legged, if it walked out at all. As you can imagine, Father’s Day isn’t for everyone, but for those readers that are willing to risk their sanity and potentially the contents of their stomach, Father’s Day is a dad rapingly good time for the whole family, as long as your family enjoys seeing exploitation filmmaking pushed to the extreme. I’ll be back in a few days after the screening of the second Astron-6 film at Toronto After Dark, Manborg. Get your tickets while you can!

Astron-6 consists of Matthew Kennedy, Conor Sweeney, Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, and Steven Kostanski.

Monster Brawl Review – Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011

Last night was the opening night gala for the Toronto After Dark (TAD) Film Festival at the Toronto Underground Cinema. The crowd was huge and the energy level was high, in fact, the first screening of Monster Brawl sold out so quickly that TAD added an unprecedented second screening, directly following the first. Each feature film throughout the festival has also been paired with a short film, a great way to showcase upcoming talent.

The short before Monster Brawl was the festival circuit hit The Legend of Beaver Dam. I already caught this gem at the Little Terrors monthly horror short film festival at The Projection Booth, but it was just as amazing the second time around. Director Jerome Sable and ridiculously talented musical comedian Sean Cullen have teamed up in this short about a scout leader and his group of campers, as they sit around a bonfire telling ghost stories, specifically the legend of Stumpy Sam. I won’t go into detail and ruin the short, but I will say that Beaver Dam is a groundbreaking film. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself, although it may be a while before it is available online, and make sure the volume is cranked.

As for the feature, we’ve all had discussions about who would win in a fight, Villain A versus Monster B. Check out this Penny Arcade comic strip for a perfect example of what I am talking about. Earlier this year at the Toronto Underground Cinema we even learned from Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger himself, that Freddy vs. Jason happened specifically because fans were having this type of conversation and wanted to see the outcome of this undoubtedly blood splattering match-up on the bigscreen. Monster brawl is the tournament that fans of classic monsters have been waiting for. The combatants are Mummy, Werewolf, Frankenstein (the monster, not the doctor), Cyclops, Witch Bitch, Lady Vampire, Zombie Man, and Swamp Gut. The tournament is not round-robin or elimination format, but rather features two conferences, ‘the creatures’ and ‘the undead’, and a variety of title bouts. Of particular importance are the heavy weight fights in each conference which will see the winners square off for the Monster Brawl championship. As you can imagine, Monster Brawl is a front row ticket to the most notorious fighting event on the planet.

The screening started off with the director, Jesse T. Cook, presenting the Monster Brawl title belt to festival director Adam Lopez for his support during the past three years. However, the applause was quickly cut short when Rj Skinner, the actor who played Werewolf, grabbed the microphone and expressed his distaste that Adam was receiving the belt. This was followed by Jimmy Hart and Robert Maillet running down the aisles to confront Skinner. Needless to say, the belt was safely returned to Adam. What a great way to precede the screening and get the audience pumped up!

Monster Brawl is not a movie, really it’s not. Cook has combined elements from classic Universal monster films, the last three decades of WWF and WWE, UFC, and Mortal Kombat, the result is not a movie, but a Pay-Per-View Event. I went into Monster Brawl expecting a narrative of sorts, but it felt like I had just ordered a big fight with my remote control. The commentators, Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall) and Art Hindle (The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Brood and Paradise Falls), break down the format of the event and the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents. Frankenstein is a chokehold specialist, Cyclops is an expert blacksmith, Zombie Man is a headcheese aficionado, and Mummy has a vulnerable skeletal core and chronic arthritis. Was I the only one that thought it was hilarious when Witch Bitch was described as having an abysmal record in small town squabbles?

Inserted between the fights are short origin stories\short films about the monsters taking part in the tournament. Considering that the premise of Monster Brawl is kind of cheesy, I was blown away by some of these shorts. Many of the settings are beautiful, and the cinematography is excellent. Clever narrative devices are also used during the shorts, like the very funny ‘nature show’ format used to introduce Swamp Gut.

The talent that Cook has managed to assemble for Monster Brawl absolutely astounds me. Is this a perfect example of the power of social networking, or is Cook one of the most popular guys on the planet? Lance Henriksen narrates, Jimmy ‘the mouth from the south’ Hart hypes up the fights with his megaphone in hand, Robert Maillet (the man who gave Robert Downey Jr. such a hard time in Sherlock Holmes) plays Frankenstein, Herb Dean from UFC shows up to referee the Monster Brawl, and finally Kevin Nash backs Zombie Man as the despicable Colonel Crookshank. I’m out of breath.

Finally, the reason why Cook made Monster Brawl, the fighting. The venue is in a secret graveyard somewhere in Canada. The extremely detailed and creepy set was created by Jason Brown, who also plays Cyclops and Swamp Gut. For the most part the fights are very entertaining. The balance of power between the combatants shifts during the fights, so even if your favourite monster loses the fight, you will at least get to see them do some damage. In addition to narrating, Lance Henriksen also provides hilarious ‘Mortal Kombat’ comments during the fights, such as ‘magnificent’ or ‘Cyclops wins’ (Does he? You’ll have to watch to find out!). Foley and Hindle are good as the commentators, although their descriptive comments sometimes seem to precede the actual action, not their fault, but it takes away some of the excitement from the fights. Also, some of the comedic moments in Monster Brawl completely miss the mark, and there are a few too many times when inexplicably nothing is actually happening on screen (ie. the monsters are just standing around). With some minor editing this problem could be solved, although it would shorten the 90 minute run-time. Lastly, I cannot commend the special effects crew enough. The gruesome effects by the Brothers Gore were fantastic, and the costumes incredible.

In the end, Monster Brawl is the ultimate gift to fans of classic monster movies. It was a real risk to try an emulate a UFC event with WWE and Mortal Kombat content. It seems that the risk has paid off, however, with one caveat. The enjoyment the audience experiences will be almost completely determined by how much energy they are willing to put into Monster Brawl. I would not recommend watching it by yourself or as a couple, but rather with a group of rowdy friends, some beer, and some snacks. During the TAD screening the crowd was initially somewhat hesitant to cheer and boo for the monsters. Maybe we had the opening night jitters. However, as Monster Brawl continued, we seemed to get more comfortable with our role and had a great time.

With the perfect audience Monster Brawl could be epic!