News

While the Toronto International Film Festival holds a well-deserved spot as one of the premier movie events in the city, fans of pulpier fare and cult classics never found a place for themselves the the event. In 2006, however, these fans were given an oasis in the desert in the form of The Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Taking place very October, the seventh annual event will take place this year from October 18th to October 26th, effectively leading in to Halloween with 9 days of movies geared towards the cult audience, ranging from horror to science fiction to action to comedy, and everything in between.

The festival screens all of its movies at the historic Bloor Cinema, and this year will be no different. Having already screened four films this summer, those four being the horror comedy Juan of the Dead, the horror anthology V/H/S along with The Pact and Detention,...

You may say that this particular title is too new to have been forgotten already, but ask anyone within earshot if they’ve heard of this dodgy little number and you’ll see why I’ve decided to cover it. If you’ve ever wondered what a Canadian high school might look like if veteran action hero Dolph Lundgren was hired to teach history and physical education to a group of juvenile delinquents, perhaps it’s time you sat your entire graduating class down with a tired copy of director Sidney J. Furie’s ridiculously enjoyable 2003 thriller “Detention”. The picture — a generic chemical compound featuring several elements from “Die Hard”, “Lean on Me”, and, God help us, “Demolition High” — is the epitome of silliness, a 90 minute excursion into over-the-top theatrics, cliched scenarios, and teenage pregnancy. For instance, have you ever asked your grandmother for a cinematic chase sequence involving an...

Many audiences don't realize it, but the movie industry is in serious trouble. Going to the cinema used to be a big event for couples and families. Not long after talking pictures were created, audiences would actually dress up in their Sunday best to go to the movies because they considered it a luxury equal to a trip to a live show. Now its become a cheap date where for a couple of bucks you can treat someone to popcorn, soda and maybe a little food and basically not look at each other for two hours. The biggest problem is that the studios have shifted their focus from quality to technology, always trying to outdo one another with the latest gags rather than produce good stories. We all know this, yet like suckers, when the latest spectacle gets promoted, we end up dazzled and hypnotized like those poor children by the Piped Piper of Hamelin.