After Dark Reviews

The Toronto After Dark festival http://torontoafterdark.com/2009/ is a movie festival that features mostly horror films with a touch of sci-fi, fantasy and action. In previous years it ran in October but has now moved to August. Personally I think it suited October better especially when the air-conditing wasn't functioning yesterday evening due to power outages in the area.

I saw 6 films during the festival. I was volunteering so most of my film selections were based on the days that I was scheduled to volunteer which ended up being both good and bad as one of the films I wouldn't have chosen on my own was really great but one I didn't care for so much.

Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl: Japanese with English subtitles
The basic plot of the movie is two schools girls are fighting over a boy who doesn't have any say in which girl he prefers. The movie is a gorey campy comedy. It involves a mad scientist vice-principal, his oversexed school nurse assistant, the wrist cutting champion and a pile of other cartoonish characters. The film is good for it's genre but isn't that great if you're not into silly Japanese pop culture.

3/5

Strigoi: UK/Romanian in English
It's about hick vampires in a small eastern European village. I heard a number of people say that they really liked it. I admit I didn't get it. I think I understood the plot but I didn't understand why people were laughing or why people liked it.

2/5

Must Love Death: German in English
The website describes the movie as a "romantic comedy for the sick & twisted". This was my favourite movie of the ones I got to see. The characters were likeable and I giggled when they died. The way the film ends is how all romantic comedies should end. It was so good I didn't even mind the truly horrifing crappy music it contained.

4.5/5

Rough Cut: Korean with English subtitles
This isn't a horror movie and when I read the plot I thought it sounded lame and never would have chosen to see it on my own. Maybe it was because I had low expectations but it was really good. I'm not going explain the plot as then you'll think it sounds lame too. It's billed as an action film but really should be seen by anyone who enjoys good films.

4/5

The Forbidden Door: Indonesian with English subtitles
The film projector wasn't working so they played the preview DVD. There was a few hic-ups and every 20-30 min the screen would black out or randomly go to another sceen in the film. There were certain aspects of the film that were visually really neat and the acting was great but it felt as if I had seen it all before (and no I'm not talking about when the DVD would skip back scenes). It's worth renting even if it's just to see the Christmas dinner scene.

3/5

Trick 'r Treat: US
I'm sort of surprised this wasn't a major theatrical release as it's not an independant film and it has some well known actors (Anna Paquin). I've even heard they have action figures. It's a glossy comic book style of film interweaving 4 different stories. It's entertaining and would make a good Halloween movie. It doesn't make that great an August movie especially when the air-conditioning isn't working and the theatre smells like unwashed boys. It's set to come out on DVD this October.

4/5