News

Filmmakers Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti vowed that their found footage horror movie It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This will never be released online; the only way to see it is at a film festival or other one-off live engagement.

They took an even more unconventional approach to the sequel — by making it exclusively for View-Master!

Titled Bride of Hellmouth, the seven-image novelty toy reel will “premiere” at Unnamed Footage Festival in San Francisco later this month, where It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This will also screen.

“The reel can only have seven pictures, so we had to figure out a way to tell the whole story in just seven one-frame scenes,” Toti tells Bloody Disgusting. “It was an interesting challenge and a fun way to add another chapter to the story.”

Here are your upcoming chances to see It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This:

March 7 & 8 in Cincinnati,...

It started as something of a joke.

While cutting a trailer for their co-directorial effort “It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This,” Nick Toti and Rachel Kempf had a little fun at the end of the clip.

“We were like, ‘Oh, it kind of needs something,'” he says. “So we put the scroll at the end. It just says, ‘The producers of this film regret to inform you that it will not be released online. See it in theaters.'”

In fact, the three-person creative team behind the found footage horror movie “It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This” made an unusual pact before they even shot a frame: They would never make the work available for streaming, digital or physical purchase, only allowing it to play theatrically. Yet what might have seemed like a limitation ended up creating word-of-mouth interest in the microbudget production, which led to sold-out...

For one night, and one night only, found footage fans are getting a special, limited screening of a new horror movie from two Missouri filmmakers. To raise the stakes even higher, once the film leaves theaters, the filmmakers have promised that it will never be released online. The found footage horror film It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This, by co-directors and stars Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti, will screen at select Alamo Drafthouse cinemas only on January 10. The film centers on a pair of filmmakers, Kempf and Toti, who buy a haunted duplex to film their indie horror movie, which never goes according to plan, and quickly become obsessed with the strangers who gather outside, staring in a trance.

The award-winning film has only been seen at film festivals and a few live events, so the one-night screening will be the widest release the self-distributed film will possibly ever get.

Vowed by the filmmakers to never to be released online, It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This will screen at select Alamo Drafthouse cinemas on January 10.

The award-winning found footage horror movie will bring its intensity in 10 cities next week:

Austin, TX at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar Chicago, Il at Alamo Drafthouse Wrigleyville Dallas, TX at Alamo Drafthouse Richardson Denver, Co at Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake Los Angeles, CA at Alamo Drafthouse Dtla New York, NY at Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn Raleigh, Nc at Alamo Drafthouse Raleigh San Antonio, TX at Alamo Drafthouse Park North San Francisco, CA at Alamo Drafthouse New Mission Twin Cities, Mn at Alamo Drafthouse Woodbury

The one-night engagement marks the widest release thus far for the film, which has previously only been available to see at film festivals and one-off live events. Despite the unconventional self-distribution approach, it has grown an audience through word of mouth.

From buzzy world premieres to awards hopefuls making a stop on the way to Oscar gold, the Toronto International Film Festival is one of the biggest film events of the fall. We at FandomWire attended this year’s TIFF, where we saw 43 feature films. While narrowing this crop down to our ten favorites was a difficult task, we eventually narrowed it down to a batch of films we won’t soon forget.

After we share our top 10 films of TIFF with you, we will also share our thoughts on some of the other films we saw at the festival, so be sure to keep reading!

FandomWire’s Top 10 Films of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 10. The Room Next Door Image Courtesy of TIFF.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar has become one of the most beloved auteurs in international cinema with his unique brand of delicious melodramas. His latest film, The Room Next Door,...

Have you ever wanted to be so wrapped up in your partner, it’s as if you could just melt into them? Well, filmmaker Thibault Emin is taking that sentiment to the extreme — with a horrifying twist.

Emin makes his directorial debut with “Else,” a body horror romance feature about a strange epidemic that causes the infected to melt into their surroundings. Emin is a French director and screenwriter, who is expanding his 2007 short film “Else” into a feature that has been more than 15 years in the making. He co-wrote the script with Alice Butaud and Emma Sandona.

“Else” will have its world premiere at TIFF as part of the Midnight Madness program. The film is a sales title and hails from France and Belgium.

The official synopsis reads: “Introverted and uncomfortable in his own skin, Anx (Matthieu Sampeur) does not consider himself an obvious partner for Cass (Édith Proust...

The 2024 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is set to run from Thursday, September 5th through Sunday, September 15th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada – and with the start of the festivities just a month and a half away, TIFF has announced this year’s Midnight Madness lineup! The Midnight Madness program is considered to be “the wild side” of the film festival, as it involves “screenings of the best in action, horror, shock and fantasy cinema.” As reported by Deadline, the 2024 Midnight Madness lineup consists of ten films and “features five world premieres, all of which will screen at Toronto’s historic — and allegedly haunted — Royal Alexandra Theatre.”

Midnight Madness will open with the North American premiere of Revenge director Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Revenge was also part of a TIFF Midnight Madness lineup, so this is a bit of a homecoming for Fargeat.

The Toronto International Film Festival announced today the TIFF 2024 selections for the highly regarded Midnight Madness program, which will open with the North American Premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s anticipated horror thriller The Substance, starring Demi Moore.

From the press release: “One of the most beloved programmes of the Festival, this year’s Midnight Madness highlights the wild and the eerie, from body horror to time travel, supernatural comedy to martial arts action, eccentric thrillers to provocative satire, and found footage to horror-themed punk rock. Surrounded by like-minded fans late at night, Midnight Madness filmgoers face the unknown in the company of strangers. A number of TIFF and Midnight Madness alumni are returning this year, including Joseph Kahn (TIFF 2017 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award winner), Timo Tjahjanto (who last attended in 2016), and Fargeat (whose debut feature premiered at TIFF in 2017).”

Here’s the TIFF 2024 Midnight Madness lineup:

Dead Mail

Joe DeBoer,...

Brace yourself, Canada, “The Substance” is coming.

The explosive body horror film starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, directed by French heatseeker Coralie Fargeat, has been set to open the Midnight Madness section at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

“Substance” follows Elizabeth Sparkle (Moore), an Oscar winner who commits the high crime of aging in Hollywood. Relegated to a morning fitness show, Sparkle’s world closes in on her when opportunities dry up — until a mysterious stranger offers her the titular substance, a chance at a more perfect version of herself. Sparing any spoilers, Qualley comes into play as the idealized version of Moore. The pair learns that coexisting ain’t easy in Fargeat’s violent fantasia.

Also on the lineup, veteran music video and film director Joseph Kahn will show “Ick,” a tribute to ‘80s creature features starring former TV Superman Brandon Routh and “American Beauty” actor Mena Suvari.

The North American premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance starring Demi Moore will open Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Midnight Madness section.

Fargeat’s debut feature Revenge premiered at TIFF in 2017 and she returns with her body horror that became one of the most talked-about films in Cannes.

World premieres include Andrew DeYoung’s comedy Friendship from Fifth Season and BoulderLight Pictures starring Kata Mara and Paul Rudd; and sci-fi Ick with Mena Suvari and Brandon Routh directed by Joseph Kahn, whose battle rap drama Bodied won TIFF Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award in 2017.

The roster includes Kenichi Ugana’s The Gesuidouz,...

“The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, will be the opening night film in the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness section, TIFF organizers announced Thursday.

The Mubi film will make its North American premiere at TIFF after having its world premiere in the main competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The extremely graphic and gory film, in which Moore’s character undergoes a treatment that creates a younger and “more perfect” version of herself, won the Best Screenplay prize from the Cannes jury and stirred up awards talk for Moore’s unhinged performance.

“The Substance” is one of 10 films in the Midnight Madness section, which in the past has showcased films including “Pearl,” “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” “Titane,” “Assassination Nation” and the 2017 reboot of “Halloween.”

Other films in the section include two past Midnight Madness directors, Joseph Kahn...

The Toronto Film Festival’s cult sidebar will screen 10 features as part of this year’s schedule and open with the North American premiere of French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat’s buzzy Cannes breakout The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.

The Midnight Madness programme features five world premieres all of which will screen at Toronto’s historic — and allegedly haunted — Royal Alexandra Theatre. Fargeat is a TIFF Midnight Madness alumnus. Her first feature Revenge debuted at the festival in 2017. Also returning to the festival this year is Joseph Kahn with Ick. Written by Sam Laskey, Dan Koontz, and Kahn, the film’s synopsis reads: Science teacher Hank’s life changes when he reconnects with his first love and suspects a new student is his daughter, all while facing an alien threat in their town. Kahn won TIFF’s People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award in 2017 with Bodied.

Indonesian filmmaker...

The Substance, a feminist horror pic where Demi Moore plays an aging Hollywood star who embraces a secret cloning procedure to save her career will open the Midnight Madness sidebar at the Toronto Film Festival with a North American premiere, organizers said Thursday.

The Cannes award winner from director Coralie Fargeat also stars Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, and will hit theaters on Sept. 20.

The Midnight Madness section, which launched the career of Eli Roth with Cabin Fever and saw Sacha Baron Cohen arrive in a cart pulled by donkeys to screen Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, booked in all 10 genre movies with chills and thrills for this year’s 2024 lineup.

The program that has film buyers and Hollywood execs staying up after midnight plans world premieres for Thibault Emin’s fantasy pic Else, which stars Matthieu Sampeur and Edith Proust and imagines...

After taking over Cannes 2024, Coralie Fargeat is returning to TIFF seven years after her directorial debut “Revenge” premiered at the 2017 festival.

Fargeat’s buzzy feminist sci-fi drama “The Substance” will make its North-American debut at TIFF 2024, opening the Midnight Madness section of the festival. “The Substance,” which IndieWire’s David Ehrlich deemed an “instant classic,” stars Demi Moore as a former A-list actress past her prime who undergoes a new drug therapy to be temporarily transformed into a younger version of herself, played by Margaret Qualley.

Fargeat writes and directs the film, which was acquired by Mubi and won the Cannes prize of Best Screenplay. Moore later told IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio that the film “felt risky” to join.

“It was one [where] you don’t know if it’s going to all come together or work,” Moore said. “It’s what you hope. […] If we step back from it being about an actor,...

“This is going to be a messy story, and you probably won’t believe it. But it’s messy because it’s true, and the truth is always messy.”

Thus begins It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This, a unique found footage effort that filmmakers Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti have vowed to never release on physical media or streaming; the only way to see it is at a film festival or other one-off live engagement. This bold strategy makes any screening inherently special for the attendees while ensuring their undivided attention.

Blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, Kempf and Toti star as themselves alongside longtime friend Christian (credited only by his first name). Not only are personal details from their lives — from interpersonal dynamics to deep-seeded grievances — incorporated into the plot, but the movie also utilizes footage from nearly 20 years of their friendship.

The film documents Rachel...

From venue changes and the pandemic to political backlash and the threat of litigation, Salem Horror Fest founder and director Kay Lynch has never been one to back down. The festival’s seventh annual event, which kicked off last night at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum, was further proof of her resilience.

After its original headliner, Hocus Pocus star Kathy Najimy, canceled with less than 48 hours notice, the festival’s entire opening night ceremony was restructured. On lieu of the original $50 ticket charge, the program was made free (with the option to make a donation), costing the festival an untold amount of money.

But the show must go on — and it did so in spectacular fashion with horror icon Linnea Quigley sitting down for a live interview, while the Hocus Pocus screening was replaced by The People’s Joker, previously scheduled to be the festival’s closing film.

Kay Lynch

Following...

A Night of Horror International Film Festival, announces its first programming wave for 2024 today. Long known as Australia’s premier genre film event, the festival now takes place in the United States. This year, the festival’s 16th edition – and first in the US – screens from March 1-3, at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Says festival director Dean Bertram:

To move a fest I co-founded in Sydney, Australia, back in 2006, to America feels surreal. A Night of Horror has long taken pride in being recognized for its excellence in showcasing the best and bloodiest new horror films from around the globe. And this year’s program is already shaping up to be one of my favorite line-ups yet. In the first wave alone are some of the most original, terrifying, and at times hilarious genre offerings that you’ll see this year: A bloody buffet of zombies,...

The Walking Dead Universe RPG: "Free League Publishing today announced the official The Walking Dead Universe RPG on Kickstarter. The game invites you to explore the unforgiving, post-apocalyptic world of the dead, where you must learn to survive. Together.

The crowdfunding campaign for the highly anticipated tabletop roleplaying game has already reached its initial funding goal. It is now running through a long list of stretch goals, such as Atlanta area map, Bonus Archetype: The Criminal, custom dice, a threat meter, adventure maps, pre-generated characters based on the TV series and a solo mode, with more on the way.

Find out more at The Walking Dead Universe RPG Kickstarter-page!

We have seen many stories take place in The Walking Dead Universe - now, the time has come to see yours. No matter what impossible choices and daunting challenges you may encounter, the hardest choice will always be the same: Who are you going to be?...

New Press DieDieBooks Launches to Publish Killer Books on Horror Movies: "Created by and for horror fans, each book will focus on a different horror movie, with its initial run featuring Poltergeist, Threads, The Wolfman, Sleepaway Camp, and The Love Witch.

Today marks the official launch of the indie press DieDieBooks, which is currently raising funds on Kickstarter to publish a series of stylish, collectible books that bring different fans’ perspectives to their favorite horror movies.

The first books include a deep dive on the Hooper vs. Spielberg debate surrounding Poltergeist written by author Jacob Trussell, a primer on the nuclear apocalypse film Threads written by nuclear scholar and activist Bob Mielke, a queer perspective on the controversial slasher Sleepaway Camp by Bj and Harmony Colangelo, a portrait of Lon Chaney Jr.’s mental anguish during his performance in The Wolfman by Philip J Reed, and a love letter to...

(If you didn’t read the previous Digital Gods entry on Michael Salerno’s Kiddiepunk Cartoons, you should probably read it now or watch the series before reading Nick Toti’s interview with series creator Michael Salerno the second half of which is below. The first half is here.) HtN: How long did Kiddiepunk Cartoons take to complete? Ms: All […]...