Miike And Argento Complete The Madness

The first eight titles for the 2007 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness program were announced a little while back - you'll find them all here - with the promise that the final two slots would be announced soon. And soon, evidently, is today. The final two films?

Sukiyaki Western Django by Takashi Miike, and
The Third Mother by Dario Argento

Continue on for the festival write ups for both.

THE MOTHER OF TEARS Dario Argento, Italy/USA
Italian horror fans rejoice! The maestro of cinematic murder, Dario Argento, is back with the long-awaited conclusion of his The Three Mothers trilogy (SUSPIRIA and INFERNO were the first two films) with THE MOTHER OF TEARS. Archaeology student Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento, the director's daughter) opens an ancient urn that releases the demonic forces of a powerful witch. Havoc explodes in the streets of Rome as waves of suicide and violent crime herald the dark priestess' rebirth. The Age of Witches is at hand, but Sarah is the only one who can save the world from descending into a hellstorm of supernatural chaos. Also starring Udo Kier and Daria Nicolodi.

SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO Takashi Miike, Japan
Tighten your saddlebags, load your revolvers and pack your chopsticks for cult cinema bad boy Takashi Miike's audacious wagon ride mash-up into the wild, wild east. A familiar spaghetti western premise that involves a mysterious stranger arriving into the middle of two clans feuding over hidden loot gets sliced and diced into new Americana-Kabuki-baroque fare: Buddhist temples sit alongside saloons, samurai swords hang from gun belts and sake flows with blood. Blue-eyed samurai Quentin Tarantino makes his first Japanese film appearance in Miike's first English language film. Starring Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato, Yusuke Iseya, Yoshino Kimura, and Masanobu Ando.