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Toronto After Dark Rises from the Ashes With A Full 2025 Edition!

Contributing Writer; Toronto, Canada
Toronto After Dark Rises from the Ashes With A Full 2025 Edition!

After the tragic passing of its founder and most enthusiastic showman, Adam Lopez, from a long (and frankly inspiring) battle with cancer, like a phoenix from the ashes, the Toronto After Dark Film Festival returns in 2025 as a tribute to the fervor and thirst for genre delights in Canada's largest city.

The fan-focused festival showcasing horror, science-fiction, action and a long slate of short films marks its 18th edition, and will open with Johannes Roberts Primate.

Acting as interim festival director and programmer, Midnight Madness maestro Peter Kuplowsky, who selected the short film programmes (and some feature curation) at the festival for over a decade, will be honouring Adam's legacy as the festival roars back to life with fresh new blood, and a few familiar faces.

The 2025 edition further features the Canadian Premiere of SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE, Jalmari Helandar’s furious follow-up to Sisu, his breakout 2022 action epic about a legendary commando-turned-gold prospector stoically portrayed by Jorma Tommila (Rare Exports, Big Game). In the sequel, the ex-soldier ventures into enemy territory to reclaim his family home by any means necessary and bloody bedlam ensues.

The festival’s longstanding affinity for the undead (both vampiric and zombified) will also be represented by another pair of Canadian Premieres: Adam McDonald’s zombie thriller THIS IS NOT A TEST, based on Courtney Summers' popular post-apocalyptic YA novel, and Ed Shimborske’s ON GALLOWS HILL, which offers an inspired glimpse into a clandestine vampire community.
 
Toronto genre fans can also look forward to the Ontario Premieres of Tina Romero’s infectiously campy zombie comedy QUEENS OF THE DEAD, an epic martial arts saga from Gabriele Mainetti (Freaks Vs. The Reich, recipient of the TADFF ‘22 Audience Award) THE FORBIDDEN CITY, as well as REFLECTIONS IN A DEAD DIAMOND, a spellbinding experimental homage to Danger: Diabolik and European espionage films from Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani (Let The Corpses Tan). Also featured are some infectiously joyous celebrations of genre filmmaking courtesy of Sean Cisterna’s SILVER SCREAMERS, a delightful documentary about senior citizens banding together to make a horror film, and Ken’ichi Ugana’s endearing ode to the passion and camaraderie that blooms on a no-budget film set I FELL IN LOVE WITH A Z-GRADE DIRECTOR IN BROOKLYN. And finally there is William Bagley’s rousing supernatural action bonanza HOLD THE FORT, which features nearly the entire pantheon of creatures of the night.
 
Also announced is the festival’s popular short film slate, which pairs Canadian shorts with feature films, and includes dedicated sidebars for both Canadian and International titles. Showcased in this year’s lineup is the Canadian Premiere of THE OCCUPANT OF THE ROOM, the fiction debut of acclaimed writer and documentarian Kier-La Janisse (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror), starring Don McKellar.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TADFF) will screen this Oct 15-19, 2025 at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto. Across five thrilling nights, Toronto audiences will enjoy a fantastic showcase of 10 feature premieres, as well as 30 short films from Canada and around the world.
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Adam LopezForbidden CityOccupant of the RoomPeter KuplowskySisuSisu 2TADFF

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