We're back with part two of our Toronto International Film Fest preview series. Yesterday we walked you through a few of the Galas and Special Presentations. Today we'll take a look at two of the marquee programs: Midnight Madness and Vanguard.
Always packed with quality cinema, last year's programs included World or North American premieres of such now notable titles as R100, Why Don't You Play in Hell, Blue Ruin, and The Sacrament, amongst many others. We can't cover all of the 22 films in these two sections, but here are a few in particular that we're looking forward to.
Big Game
Jalmari Heleander follows up his much loved Christmas midnighter Rare Exports with this film about a backpacking teen who teams up with the President of the USA after Air Force one is shot down in the woods. Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Broadbent, Felicity Huffman, and Ray Stevenson star.
Midnight Madness
Spring
The mucho talented Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead follow up their debut Resolution with this "edgy, romantic drama with a supernatural twist" about a woman on a trip to Italy.
Vanguard
Tusk
Kevin Smith takes to the woods for this genre-y tale that stars Jusitn Long, Michael Parks, Genesis Rodroguez, and Haley Joel Osmet. A24 is distributing.
Midnight Madness
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
Mark Hartley, the man who brought us Machete Maidens Unleashed is back with another filmic docu. This one focuses on the 1980s outfit responsible for The Delta Force, Death Wish II, and Masters of the Universe. Drafthouse has already scooped up the rights.
Midnight Madness
Over Your Dead Body
Miike Takashi's latest is a romantic drama-thriller (ahh, Miike) about stage actors and a ghost story. Let's hope this finds him back from his slightly lagging form of late.
Vanguard
The Editor
Astron-6 takes on the giallo genre in this latest from the directors of Father's Day Matthew Kennedy and Adam Brooks. Conor Sweeney, Udo Kier, and Paz de le Huerta star alongside the pair.
Midnight Madness
Tokyo Tribe
Sono Sion's follow-up to Why Don't You Play in Hell is this colorful adaptation of the Tokyo street gang manga.
Midnight Madness
The Duke of Burgundy
This much anticipated follow-up by Berberian Sound Studio director Peter Strickland is billed as an intense psychological drama about two women.
Vanguard
The World of Kanako
Kamikaze Girls and Confessions director Nakashima Tetsuya is back with this thriller about a former cop investigating the disappearance of his daughter.
Vanguard
It Follows
Maika Monroe (star of Adam Wingard's The Guest -- which is also playing in Midnight) stars in this "artful psychosexual thriller" by Myth of the American Sleepover director David Robert Mitchell. RADiUS-TWC will be distributing this film which premiered at Cannes.
Midnight Madness
Waste Land
Pieter Van Hees's Belgian homicide detective drama points to more good things coming out of the region. Van Hees's past films include Gilles, Left Bank, and Dirty Mind.
Vanguard
Hyena
Tony director Gerard Johnson's second feature is this UK drama about a drug addicted cop in London battling Albanian gangsters.
Vanguard
[Rec ] 4: Apocalypse
After stepping away to direct Sleep Tight while co-director of the first two films Paco Plaza took on part three, Jaume Balaguero returns as solo director for the fourth installment of the Spanish horror franchise.
Midnight Madness