Midnight Madness

TIFF [2000]

Now in its twelfth year, TIFF's "Midnight Madness" has been your humble narrator's favorite after dark club. It was during the witching hours at the Bloor repertory cinema that I discovered Peter Jackson, Michel Soavi, adult anime, and met Dario Argento for the first of many times. After relocating to the larger Uptown 1 a few years ago, the programme seemed to have lost much of its edge, perhaps symptomatic of a "weirder" mainstream? For whatever reason, Midnight Madness 2000 was a lacklustre showcase, with programmer Colin Geddes content to merely raid the Asian Film Market for titles. Granted, some of the most exciting fantasy and action movies are coming out of the Pacific Rim, but I don't buy Geddes' excuse that the American genre scene was marred by nothing more than, quote, "Blair Witch" ripoffs, hence the proliferation of Eastern crime fare. No one's expecting him to devote ten nights to the best of Charles Band, but why use George Romero's photo to promote the documentary "American Nightmare", but not program his unreleased film, "Bruiser" (Romero even OFFERED to bring it to Canada!)? Or the promising UK thriller "Urban Ghost Story"? Not that series was a complete washout:

ROBERT L'S PICKS

BEST:

The American Nightmare [Read the review]
Featuring: John Carpenter, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, Tobe Hooper, George Romero
Directed by Adam Simon

RUNNER UP:

Tell Me Something [Read the review]
Cast: Hang Sukgyu, Shim Eunha, Chang Hangsun
Directed by: Chang Youn-hyun

THE WORST:

The Weight of Water [Read the review]
Cast: Sean Penn, Elizabeth Hurley, Catherine McCormack, Sarah Polley, Josh Lucas
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

[Award Winners ]

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Features:Intro 25th AnniversaryPreludesSpecial Presentations World Cinema Perspective Canada Gala Presentations Midnight Madness Award Winners