TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (Mexico) Toronto Premiere Opening Gala Film Director - Issa Lopez (author's edit) ...Director Issa Lopez perfectly balances the the harsh reality and fantastic nightmares of the street children of Mexico. Part PAN’S LABYRINTH, part CITY OF GOD, this creepy Guillermo del Toro-esque fairytale is about a young girl whose supernatural intuition leads her to form an alliance with a gang of orphaned boys. A critically acclaimed winner of over 20 film festival awards makes for an unmissable Opening Gala of this year’s Toronto After Dark!
LUZ (Germany) Special Presentation Director - Tilman Singer When a young cab driver drags herself into the brightly-lit entrance of a run-down police station, she’s unaware that a demonic entity has followed her in. One of the most buzzed horror films of the year since its debut at the Berlin Film Fest, LUZ, is a slice of hypnotic retro-horror, that defies easy categorization. Full of dark disturbing dream-like scenes, LUZ is an unmissable, one-of-a-kind, hallucinogenic-horror experience that will melt your mind!
SATAN’S SLAVES (Indonesia) Special Presentation Director - Joko Anwar One of the scariest films of the year, Indonesian maestro Joko Anwar’s (MODUS ANOMALI) latest horror sensation has become a massive box office hit in Asia! In this supernatural haunting tale, a family is terrorized by demonic forces including the spirit of their recently deceased mother.
ANNA & THE APOCALYPSE (UK) Toronto Premiere Director - John McPhail SHAUN OF THE DEAD meets FOOTLOOSE in this crowd-pleasing British high school zombie slaying musical! In the sleepy town of Little Haven, just before Christmas, Anna and her high school friends awake to find themselves facing a zombie apocalypse! In a desperate race to save their loved ones, they’ll have to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead horde.
PROSPECT (USA) Toronto Premiere Director - Chris Caldwell & Zeek Earl In this award-winning SXSW hit sci-fi western thriller, a teenage girl (newcomer Sophie Thatcher) and her father (Jay Duplass) embark on a hazardous space mission to a remote moon in search of valuable gemstones. To get to the extraterrestrial plunder they will have to survive a hostile alien environment and the local outlaws (including GAME OF THRONES’ Pedro Pascal) who are out for their blood.
PREY (Holland) Toronto Premiere Director - Dick Maas “JAWS meets paws” in this horror action crowdpleaser from Dick Maas (AMSTERDAMNED, SAINT). A zoo veterinarian in gets caught up in a grisly adventure when she finds herself leading a city-wide hunt for a ferocious lion that’s on the loose and brutally killing people. Packed full of dark humour and dismembered body mayhem, PREY is a bloody audience delight!
NIGHTMARE CINEMA (USA) Toronto Premiere Director - Alejandro Brugues, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Ryuhei Kitamura & David Slade From the acclaimed directors behind fan favourites, GREMLINS, JUAN OF THE DEAD, VERSUS, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, the MASTERS OF HORROR series and more, comes this terrifying anthology film. Five strangers converge at a haunted movie theater owned by a mysterious projectionist (Mickey Rourke). Once inside, the audience members witness a series of screenings that shows them their deepest fears and darkest secrets over five chilling tales!
THE RANGER (USA) Toronto Premiere Director - Jenn Wexler Jenn Wexler’s SXSW film fest hit is a good old fashioned crowd-pleasing throwback to 80s slasher movies, with the added bonus of a kick-ass punk soundtrack! A bunch of teen punks head off for some mayhem in the woods. It’s not long before they come up against the local authority - an unhinged park ranger with a serious axe to grind - and they’re in a bloody fight for their lives!
THE INHABITANT (Mexico / Chile) North American Premiere Director - Guillermo Amoedo In this terrifying Latin American riff on THE EXORCIST, an ordinary home robbery turns into a supernatural nightmare. Three desperate sisters break into a rich family house to plunder it for cash. Everything seems to be going to plan until they discover a disturbed young girl, tied up by her parents in the basement. It’s not long before the forces of hell are unleashed!
MEGA TIME SQUAD (New Zealand) Toronto Premiere Director - Tim van Dammen In this sci-fi comedy hit from New Zealand, a small-town criminal tries to use an ancient time travel device to defeat a brutal local crime boss. It’s soon clear that time travel has unintended consequences and can create as many problems as its solves! Don’t miss an absolute crowd-pleaser from some of the same people who previously worked on the festival hit, DEATHGASM!