Bring on the Madness! First Eight TIFF '07 Midnight Madness Titles Announced!

Bring on the insanity boys and girls! The first eight titles for the Midnight Madness program at this year's Toronto International Film Festival have just been announced and there's a whole lot to love. Here they are:

George Romero's Diary of the Dead
Hitoshi Matsumoto's Dai Nipponjin (my review here)
Adam Mason's The Devil's Chair
Wilson Yip's Flash Point
Xavier Gens' Frontieres
Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo's A L'Interieur
Stuart Gordon's Stuck
Fumihiko Sori's Vexille (my review here)

Yes, I know what the final two titles are, no I'm not allowed to tell you yet, yes you will be very happy. Unless, of course, you won't be able to attend, in which case your life sucks.

Also announced today were the complete Wavelengths short film programs and the Sprockets Family Zone which notably includes Spanish animation Nocturna and Danish sci-fi film The Substitute (Vikaren) which have both received significant coverage here.

Visit the official festival website here.

Continue on for the official Madness press release.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS UNLEASHES EIGHT TITLES

Toronto - The Toronto International Film Festival announces eight daring films to screen as part of Midnight Madness. The 20th edition of this heart-stopping, late-night blow out features a range of audacious, bone-chilling and eerie genre flicks that thrust a thick blade into the banal. Grab front row thrills from terror-fiends George A. Romero and Stuart Gordon, watch giant Japanese supercharacters throw it all down and Hong Kong gangsters crack heads, but try not to let the ghoulish neo-Nazi freaks keep you up at night in fear. New this year, get plugged into the latest news and scoops with the brand new Midnight Madness Blog. Now live as part of tiff07.ca, this mad blog offers a forum for TIFF programmers, Midnight Madness filmmakers and fans to discuss the films that will screen as part of this year's Festival. Dates and screening times for Midnight Madness can be found now at tiff07.ca. Ticket Passes and Packages now on sale. The Midnight Madness Package is $156.51, and available to students and seniors for $100 (prices do not include GST, Building Fund Fee and service charges). The 32nd Toronto International Film Festival runs September 6 - 15, 2007. For more information, please visit tiff07.ca or call 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS TITLES

GEORGE A. ROMERO'S DIARY OF THE DEAD George A. Romero, USA
In his first independently produced zombie film in over two decades, George A. Romero returns to ground zero in the history of the living dead. When a group of film students making a horror movie in the woods discover that the dead have begun to revive, they turn their cameras on the real-life horrors that suddenly confront them, creating a first person diary of their bloody encounters and the disintegration of everything they hold dear. Told with Romero's pitch-black humor and an unflinching eye on our post-Katrina world, GEORGE A. ROMERO'S DIARY OF THE DEAD marks the noted filmmaker's return to his roots. Starring Michelle Morgan, Josh Close, Shawn Roberts, Scott Wentworth, Amy Lalonde and Joe Dinicol.

DAINIPPONJIN Hitoshi Matsumoto, Japan
Middle-aged slacker Daisato (played by director Hitoshi Matsumoto, one of Japan's famous comedians) seems an unlikely subject for a documentary crew following his banal daily routine; that is, until he transforms into a giant superhero with tight purple briefs, tattoos and a crazy hairdo to battle outlandish villains and revolting monsters. But with the superhero's falling TV ratings, noise complaints from citizens, blame for destruction of public property and family problems, he has become the scapegoat of New Japan. A wickedly deadpan spin on Japanese pop-culture and traditions, DAINIPPONJIN is an outrageous comedy destined for cult status. Also starring Riki Takeuchi, UA, Ryunosuke Kamiki and Itsuji Itao.

THE DEVIL'S CHAIR Adam Mason, UK
Director Adam Mason's sharp supernatural rollercoaster follows Nick West (Andrew Howard), who has spent years in incarceration for the alleged brutal murder of his girlfriend. Released into the care of a noted psychologist and his students, hell-bent on exposing the truth behind the killing, they return together to the scene of the crime, an abandoned asylum, where a blood-drenched secret is revealed. With the team in mortal danger, the criminally insane Nick is their only hope for survival. Also starring Elize du Toit, Matt Berry, David Gant and Louise Griffiths.

FLASH POINT Wilson Yip, Hong Kong/China
After the success of SPL in Midnight Madness in 2005, director Wilson Yip and actor and fight choreographer Donnie Yen (IRON MONKEY and HERO) hit back with another two-fisted cinematic powder keg. Hot-headed cop Jun (Yen) is after a gang of drugdealing brothers. His undercover colleague, Wilson (Louis Koo), infiltrates the gang but has his cover blown, which lands one of the brothers in jail. The other members vow to wipe out Wilson, the only witness, and set off a series of high-octane chases and bonecracking fisticuffs. Also starring Collin Chou, Lui Leung-wai and Fan Bing-bing and Xing Yu.

FRONTIÈRES Xavier Gens, France
The debut feature of Xavier Gens (HITMAN) is a bloody head butt into the stiff face of French cinema. Paris' projects burn where protesters riot against a newly elected extreme right-wing party. Among the chaos, a gang of youths flee with stolen money towards the Luxembourg border. They reconvene at an inn and encounter their hosts, a motley clan of neo-Nazi fanatics only too keen to invite them into their twisted Gothic household. Starring Karina Testa, Samuel le Bihan, Estelle Lefébure, Aurélien Wiik and David Saracino.

À L'INTÉRIEUR Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, France
Four months after the tragic accident that claimed her husband's life, a pregnant widow, Sarah (Alysson Paradis, sister of Vanessa Paradis), receives an unexpected knock on her door on Christmas Eve. A stranger (Béatrice Dalle) asks to use her phone, which raises Sarah's suspicions and she immediately calls the police. They find no trace of the woman. Locking her door after the police leave her home, Sarah unwittingly traps herself in a terrifying, jealous maternal struggle for the life of her baby in this nail-bitting French thriller.

STUCK Stuart Gordon, Canada/USA
Brandi (Mena Suvari) hits Tom (Stephen Rea) with her car on her way home from a night of partying. With Tom still alive but lodged through her windshield, she promises to go a hospital but then decides to leave Tom to die in her garage as she realizes that her future is inextricably tied to her victim. Realizing this plan, Tom knows escape is his only chance for survival. Based on a true incident, director Stuart Gordon (THE RE-ANIMATOR) has made an urban chiller with a jagged edge of black humour.

VEXILLE Fumihiko Sori, Japan
Dive into the ground-breaking, animated futuristic odyssey of VEXILLE, surface in Tokyo Bay and discover a country sealed off from the rest of humanity. In 2077, Japan has isolated itself from the rest of the world, opposing a United Nations treaty restricting areas of advanced research in biotechnology. Vexille, a female commander in charge of a U.S. Special Forces unit that polices treaty violations, is sent to infiltrate Japan. The revelation of the country's new reality shakes her when she witnesses the destruction of both land and citizenry by a Japanese mega-corporation and monstrous, android worms. Starring the voices of Meisa Kuroki, Shosuke Tanihara, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Takahiro Sakurai and Romi Pak.