Editor

The 30th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 8-17.

Filmgoers are guaranteed to be shocked, rocked, and electrified by Midnight Madness at the 30th Toronto International Film Festival. The Festival's popular, iconoclastic midnight programme is guaranteed to keep audiences wide awake. Now in its 18th year, Midnight Madness showcases the best in sci-fi, horror, and outrageous documentaries, gleefully highlighting the devilishly weird and wonderful. The titles below join the previously announced Canadian film METAL: A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY from Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen, and Jessica Joy Wise.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS TITLES

BANGKOK LOCO Pornchai Hongrattanaporn, Thailand, 98' International Premiere

Garage bands, bell bottom pants, kung fu, and a hero on the run from the law! When Bay awakens from his trance-like drum practice, he finds his drumsticks replaced by meat cleavers and the mutilated body of his landlady is laid before him. Hunted by sleazy inspector Black Ears, Bay must clear his name while trying to attain the tenth level of the sacred Drums of the Gods and win the heart of the girl he loves. This outrageous and colourful comedy from Thailand rocks to an exotic and off-the-wall beat.


BANLIEUE 13 Pierre Morel, France, 85' Canadian Premiere

In Paris in the year 2010, criminals rule in a suburb surrounded by a high wall, off limits to police enforcement. Kingpin Taha rules all that's inside, but makes the mistake of kidnapping the sister of imprisoned local hero Leito. With nothing to lose, Leito teams up with an undercover cop to take Taha down. In doing so, they must run, leap, and fight through a concrete jungle to diffuse a prototype bomb in the possession of the ruthless gang leader. An exhilarating stunt thriller from producer Luc Besson's action team.


THE DISTRICT! Áron Gauder, Hungary, 87' North American Premiere

Hailed as the Eastern European "South Park," this stunning and outrageous animated feature follows the schemes of a group of kids in a notoriously rough ghetto, who are out to settle the bitter rivalries between their families. Against a hip-hop beat, they dodge corrupt cops, Russian spies posing as hookers, and even George Bush, Osama bin Laden, and the Pope in an effort to make peace through the pursuit of oil, sex, and money.


EVIL ALIENS Jake West, UK, 90' Canadian Premiere

Look to the skies and hold on to your heads cause these aliens are looking for a gory encounter of the terrifying kind. A valentine to ALIENS, PHANTASM, BRAINDEAD, and THE EVIL DEAD, West's EVIL ALIENS is filled with mutilations, anal probing, decapitations, and an assortment of weapons ranging from cricket bats to chainsaws to rotary tillers and even a combine harvester. West combines shock and slapstick and pushes it to a monstrous extreme.


THE GREAT YOKAI WAR Takashi Miike, Japan, 124' North American Premiere

Run and hide because the Yokai, the ghosts and goblins of Japanese folklore, are descending on Tokyo to wreck mayhem and havoc under the leadership of a diabolical priest. Only 10-year-old Tadashi can save the world, leading a motley crew of rebel goblins and wielding a powerful sword against an army of supernatural mechanical monstrosities. A spooky and surreal flight of fantasy from bad boy director and Midnight Madness favourite Takashi Miike (ICHI THE KILLER, GOZU, AUDITION).


HOSTEL Eli Roth, USA, 95' World Premiere - Work in Progress

Horror geek turned director Eli Roth (CABIN FEVER) returns to the Festival with the nail-biting tale of three backpackers who check into a hostel that promises to offer all the sexy excitement they could ask for. After a night of sex, drugs, and debauchery, one of the backpackers goes missing – leaving his two traveling companions to unearth the horrific truth about his disappearance and the bloody nature of the hostel.


ISOLATION Billy O'Brien, UK/Ireland, 95' World Premiere

Reduced to desperate means to make ends meet, farmer Dan Reilly allows a local biotech lab to conduct tests on his livestock. After complications during the delivery of a pregnant cow, it becomes apparent that the offspring is not normal. Together, Reilly, a vet, a scientist, and two runaways are drawn into a terrifying series of events over the course of 24 hours. Straight up horror scares that creep under your skin in this stark and terrifying shocker.


SARAH SILVERMAN: JESUS IS MAGIC Liam Lynch, USA, 72' International Premiere

Fresh from the summer hit THE ARISTOCRATS, controversial comedian Sarah Silverman riffs on everything from Nazis to dead grandmothers in this film based on her outrageous one-woman show, "Jesus is Magic."


SPL Wilson Yip, Hong Kong/China, 97' World Premiere

Cops and hoodlums duke it out in a bitter campaign to ruin the empire of a Hong Kong crime boss. Martial arts cinema icons Sammo Hung (ASHES OF TIME, THE MEDALLION) and Donnie Yen (HERO, SEVEN SWORDS), along with promising newcomer Jing Wu, in a dark, noir-like thriller that delivers bone-cracking action and excitement.