Festival Updates

Toronto After Dark Fan Favourites DEAD SNOW, TRICK ‘R TREAT and more now on DVD!

Be sure to check out these awesome films which screened at recent Toronto After Dark Film Festivals, now available on DVD and BLU-RAY at you favourite video outlets! Unless stated, all links below are to each film’s Amazon.ca DVD pages. If you require Blu-Ray, please do a separate search at the site: I SELL THE DEAD (Release Date: Nov 24, available for pre-order now), DEAD SNOW (Released Oct 20), TRICK ‘R TREAT (Released Oct 6), THE CHILDREN (Released Oct 6),  MIRAGEMAN (Released Oct 6), CROOKED STORIES, CROOKED SYMBOLS: The Short Films of Rodrigo Gudino (Released Sept 1) Includes THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF MISTER HOLLOW available directly from Rue Morgue’s Website!

2009 Fest Wraps Up with Record Crowds, Rave Reviews, and a big win for Nazi Zombie film DEAD SNOW!

AUGUST 28: Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009 wrapped up eight thrilling nights of new horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema last week, blazing new cinematic trails and setting new records! A new high of over 9,000 enthusiastic fans attended the festival which ran Aug 14-21 at the legendary Bloor Cinema, over double the size of our event of just three years ago! Highlights of the 4th Annual Festival included jam-packed screenings of Nazi zombie movie DEAD SNOW, the creepy anthology TRICK ‘R TREAT and the cult action flick BLACK DYNAMITE, which won Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively in our Audience Choice Awards.  The festival also hosted its first ever World Premiere, STRIGOI, an offbeat Romanian vampire comedy that was awarded by the fest Gold in the Best Independent Feature Film category. Silver and Bronze honours went to the darkly hilarious undead buddy movie THE REVENANT and the shocking zombie baby flick GRACE respectively. Visit our Festival Awards Page for the complete lowdown on all the awards given out by fans and the festival this year including winners in our Short Film categories.

But it wasn’t just about the movies! Over 20 attending filmmakers came on stage to introduce their films or host lively Q&As with the fans including acclaimed young actor Noah Segan (BRICK, DEADGIRL) and SFX maestro Kerry Pryor (LOST BOYS, THE ABYSS, BUBBA HO-TEP). The fest also enjoyed packed nightly social events, and record rave reviews from fans and critics alike for the films selected this year, and of course plenty of dressed up zombies for our ever-popular Zombie Appreciation Night!
For pictures from the festival check out our Facebook Fan Page here and click on the Photos Tab, while for video clips including exclusive behind the scenes interviews with attending filmmakers visit our Youtube Channel here.

THANK YOU!

We would like to say a big thank you to all our filmmakers, fans, volunteers, supporters and sponsors, especially Anchor Bay Entertainment, SPACE, Rue Morgue, Eye Weekly and Onestop for helping make 2009 such a successful and record-breaking year for Toronto After Dark. Be sure to join us next year for eight more thrilling nights of cinematic mayhem, when the festival turns 5 Years OId! Our dates are already booked, so be sure to mark them down: August 13-20, 2010 (and for those that are checking, that’s the perfectly spooky FRIDAY the 13th we start next year!) If you are a filmmaker stay tuned as our 2010 Call for Film Entries will begin in the New Year. Subscribe to our our newsletter here to get updates. 

Until next year, from all of us at the festival,
See You After Dark!

Toronto After Dark Film Fest 2009 Now Running! Press Raving About Our Film Lineup!

Toronto After Dark Film Festival, 17 New Horror, Sci-Fi, Action and Cult Movies,  is finally here! Join us over eight incredible nights this Aug. 14-21,  at Toronto’s legendary Bloor Cinema for what critics in the city are billing as a must-see film event.  Click on the links to read what they’re saying about our festival and advance reviews of our films at Eye Weekly, Toronto Star, NOW Magazine, Globe & Mail,  Metro News here and here, Toronto Life, and Fangoria to name a few! You can also see Toronto After Dark featured in print in this month’s Rue Morgue magazine.

To find out more about the awesome films screening each day and watch trailers visit the festival schedule or to browse films by genre visit the film lineup page. Please note: our Festival All-Access Passes and advance tickets to TRICK ‘R TREAT have now sold out. But please remember for all screenings this year, including TRICK ‘R TREAT, we hold back a good supply of same-day-only tickets, so from one hour or more before each show you can buy tickets starting from $12/$10 exclusively at the door of the Bloor Cinema. To buy in advance or to find out how early you can get tickets at the door each day, visit our box office page here. 

Finally, don’t forget to join other festival-goers and filmmakers at our fun nightly parties and pub social nights, which you can get more details of here. See you after dark at the movies! 

Final Lineup of Films Announced! Includes Nazi Zombies in DEAD SNOW and Sundance hit BLACK DYNAMITE!

Toronto After Dark Film Festival is thrilled to officially announce its final lineup of new horror, sci-fi, action and cult films that will have their Toronto Theatrical Premieres at the festival this August 14-21. The final nine features revealed include a number of exciting coups for the festival including the Canadian Premiere of the Sundance Film Festival hit blaxplotiation action comedy BLACK DYNAMITE, and the World Premiere of a major festival discovery, STRIGOI a wildly eccentric new vampire movie from Romania!

Zombie fans are in for a special treat at Toronto After Dark this year with back-to-back screenings booked of two huge undead crowd-pleasers:  it’s Nazi Zombies vs Skiers in the splatterific Sundance hit DEAD SNOW, followed by the hysterical undead buddy comedy THE REVENANT which just recently won the Audience Choice Award at the Cinevegas Film Festival. Best news for zombies this year? Zombie Appreciation Night! Come dressed as the undead, and get into these two awesome movies for half-price!

Asian action cinema lovers will be blown away by Jet Li in his award-winning performance in THE WARLORDS an epic film from China, packed with stunning set-piece battles. ROUGH CUT on the other hand is very much of modern times: a Korean smash hit action film about filmmakers and gangsters trading places! Meanwhile, sci-fi fans should be sure to check out THE DARK HOUR, a cinematic gem from Spain about a group of survivors fighting to survive in a vicious post-apocalyptic world. 

Those seeking the ultimate cult movie experience this year owe it to themselves to check out MUST LOVE DEATH, a bizarrely entertaining one-of-a-kind fusion of romantic comedy and torture horror! But if it’s scares you’re after, there is nothing more scary this year than THE CHILDREN a British shocker about a group of kids turning terrifyingly evil one snowy Christmas. And let’s not forget we have some outstanding new short films from around the world screening at Toronto After Dark, plus a crop of kick-ass new shorts from Canadians, which will be the opening acts for the features!

The complete Toronto After Dark 2009 festival schedule, including all 17 feature films and collections of shorts, is now online. Fans can also take a closer look at all the films grouped by theme and watch trailers and see stills on the complete lineup page, and find out how to buy tickets at the box office page. We hope to see you after dark for 8 Nights of Cinematic Mayhem this August 14-21, 2009 at the legendary Bloor Cinema!

Toronto After Dark 2009 First Films Announced! TRICK ‘R TREAT, GRACE, VAMPIRE GIRL and More!

In its first wave of film titles revealed for 2009, Toronto After Dark Film Festival is proud to announce a selection of eight outstanding new horror, sci-fi, action and cult feature films that will have their Toronto Theatrical Premieres at the festival this August 14-21.  The initial lineup includes a number of critically acclaimed films from around the world including the much-anticipated Halloween-set creepfest TRICK ‘R TREAT starring TRUE BLOOD’S Anna Paquin, and GRACE, the shocking zombie baby movie that had audience members fainting during its rollout at Sundance!  Fans who prefer genre films of a more fantastic nature have a special treat in store with the North American Premiere of the new British thriller FRANKLYN that merges present day London with a futuristic steampunk world, and stars heartthrobs Ryan Phillippe and Eva Green (CASINO ROYALE).

The insane stunt-work on show in the crowd-pleasing new French diamond heist movie BLACK will delight action-lovers, while those who prefer their thrills Asian, bloody and bizarre need look no further than the twisted Japanese romantic horror comedy VAMPIRE GIRL VS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL from the makers of last year’s festival hit, TOKYO GORE POLICE.  The festival’s first Brazilian feature EMBODIMENT OF EVIL signals a bloody return to form of legendary Latin horror icon, Coffin Joe. Meanwhile our first Indonesian film, THE FORBIDDEN DOOR is a dark and twisted thriller from an up and coming master of the genre. Finally, SOMEONE’S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR will have cult film fans delirious with its psychedelic spin on the classic serial killer genre.

For a closer look at all eight titles announced today, scroll down this page here. The complete and final lineup of films which will include 9 more feature films plus a collection of amazing shorts, and single ticket box office will go live here closer to the festival date. In the meantime fans planning to see a number of films at the fest, can pre-order our best-selling All-Access Festival Pass which saves over $100 on buying single tickets at the actual event. Find out why it sells out every year and order your own while you still can here.

Toronto After Dark’s 2009 Call for Submissions Ends with a Record Over 700 Film Entries!

Our 2009 call for entries has now ended and we would like to thank the hundreds of filmmakers from around the world who chose to submit their works for programming consideration by our festival.  We received another record amount of entries this year, a staggering over 700 films! If you are waiting to see your status update change on the withoutabox submission system, please be patient as due to the record volume, it is taking additional time to update all records. Rest assured our little worker droids in the programming department will be spending the next few weeks reviewing every single one of our entries before we make our final selection for screening at this year’s 4th Annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival. All filmmakers will be notified of our selection decision by UPDATED: end of day, July 31. 

COMING THIS AUGUST 14-21: Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009!

If you want to be the first to see some amazing new horror, sci-fi, action and cult movies from around the world, we invite you to join us for 8 nights of cinematic mayhem at the 4th Annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival!  KEY DATES: This year we run the first time in Summer at the Bloor Cinema this AUG 14-21. Our popular FESTIVAL PASSES which sell out every year, will be going on sale extra early at our festival website next month, JUN 4. Our FIRST WAVE of film announcements will go live JUL 8. Our COMPLETE LINEUP, schedule and single tickets will be available JUL 29 (NEW DATE). Be sure to put our dates in your schedule, as this year’s festival promises to be our biggest and best ever!

2008 Festival Wraps Up with Record Attendance, Delighted Filmmakers and Rave Reviews!

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2008 wrapped up eight thrilling nights of new horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema last week, setting new records. Over 8,500 enthusiastic fans attended the festival which ran Oct 17-24, a huge 30% jump on the previous year, and double the size of the event that started just two years ago! Highlights of the 3rd Annual Festival included sell-out screenings of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, TOKYO GORE POLICE and I SELL THE DEAD a record over 30 attending filmmakers on stage to introduce their films including Larry Fessenden (LAST WINTER) and Angus Scrimm (PHANTASM), packed nightly social events, rave reviews for the films programmed, and of course the ever-popular Zombie Walk!  Countless film sites, big and small, covered our 2008 fest, but one local Toronto blog, had easily the most comprehensive fan coverage, with reviews, photos and video clips from every single screening of the fest. To relive our 2008 event, through the eyes of a fan, check out the links on this page at the awesome MOVIE MOXIE blog!  Until next year, from all of us at the festival,
See You After Dark!

2008 Award Winners Announced, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN the Big Winner!

Toronto After Dark is thrilled to announce the Award Winners of its recently wrapped 2008 Festival. Over 3,500 votes were cast for the Audience Award for Best Feature Film and the Gold (1st Place) winner is Swedish vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, with Silver (2nd Place) going to cult sci-fi horror musical REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, and Bronze (3rd Place) awarded by fans to Thai supernatural anthology movie 4BIA (PHOBIA). 

Awards were also handed out for Best Independent Feature Film, where the big winner was the grave-robber comedy I SELL THE DEAD, and in the short film categories, where winners included the hysterical Christmas tree exploitation film TREEVENGE.  For the complete run-down of awards and winners, click here.