Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2010: I Spit On Your Grave

While it's certainly flawed, there is absolutely something of value in I Spit On Your Grave. So much so, in fact, that the original - to say nothing of the awful sequels - is hardly worth watching in comparison, and honestly is rendered completely obsolete with Monroe's adaptation. For those looking for Hostel-esque kills and gore, there's certainly lots here, and for those looking for a kick-ass female going to town on the most ignorant bunch of jackasses to grace the screen at After Dark 2010 - well, you're covered there too.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2010: Black Death

I’ve got to admit, I thought I was in for something completely different when I walked into Christopher Smith’s Black Death. I was originally pumped for this film because I’m a huge fan of his other horror effort, Severance, which is one of the best blends of horror and comedy I’ve seen. Black Death, however, is as dark as the title suggests. There are short moments of levity but by and...

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2010: The Last Exorcism

First things first – whoever put together the trailer for the Eli Roth-produced exorcism tale, The Last Exorcism needs to get their head straight. Whether painting the film as a scare-a-minute Exorcist retread was the work of a promo team or was the result of an overzealous studio, let me assure you – THEY’RE DOING IT WRONG. The Last Exorcism is a very different kind of exorcism tale than the...

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2010: High School

In what’s surely to be one of the most out-of-left-field movies in a festival that resides squarely in the left field, High School brings together a bizarre, very eclectic cast and a screenplay that should be framed on your dealer’s wall.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2010: The Last Lovecraft, Relic of Cthuhlu

The Last Lovecraft is a tough movie to review - on one hand, it seems to have been shot on a budget of about $75 (with $74 reserved for visual effects). Director Henry Saine has devised a tale that will positively infuriate fans of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, transforming Lovecraft’s mythical octopoid alien god Cthuhlu into a badly-rendered tentacle-laden blob (that is, when you finally do see it). On the other hand, the film is quite enjoyable to watch and is, at least, somewhat self-aware. Saine chooses to direct the humour at the characters, rather than the Cthuhlu mythos or Lovecraft himself, and this works at least half the time.