GregMO ROberts

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is now in its less-than-75-day countdown. And to use a Jennifer Love Hewitt film title, we Can’t Hardly Wait! Killer Reviews has been in attendance at the TADFF for 5 years running and it has easily become one of our most anticipated festival events of the calendar year.

Killer Reviews reflected back on the nights, guests, films and moments of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and have come up with our list of the Top 5 most memorable moments of the event. Our list starts here:

5. My First Time with Let The Right One In - 2007
Everybody remembers their ‘first’. And our first introduction to the TADFF came in 2007 with the opening night gala presentation of Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In. The film had already shown in its homeland of Sweden and was generating a lot of buzz prior to its screening in Toronto. It was a hot and muggy day in Toronto, but we were amazed at the amount of rabid fans that lined the block outside the theatre awaiting entry into the screening room. The programmers for the TADFF could not have picked a better film to launch the 2007 campaign. The movie was met with audience and critical praise and we knew right away that we had found the festival that spoke exclusively to its genre fans. We found our home.

4. Opening Night Madness of Monster Brawl – 2011
Another opening night gala. Monster Brawl saw a change of venue for the Festival as we moved from the Bloor Cinema (which was under renovations) to the Underground Cinema on Spadina. Open arrival, we were given a nice token representing the festival ‘s entries - a diaper which detailed the films that would be screening that year and the amount of diapers that an audience member may require during screening. Brilliant. Monster Brawl was not a perfect movie, but it was a perfect audience movie. And the audience on this night ate it up like rabid hyenas. Never have I had that much fun with a full house at a movie sitting. Never.

3. Eli Roth Joins Us For The Last Exorcism – 2010
By 2010, The Toronto After Dark Film Festival didn’t need any one person or one film to prove that it was a premiere event. But having Eli Roth show up for the screening of The Last Exorcism didn’t hurt either. Eli is considered ‘Horror Royalty’ by most genre fans and the realization that he would take time out of his schedule to come to Toronto to represent and introduce The Last Exorcism (a film he produced) was just icing on what was already a delicious Devil’s Food Cake. Filmmakers, actors and stars have attended screenings before and after The Last Exorcism, but having Eli join us for the film was like having Steven Spielberg introduce The Goonies. Kudos to the organizers for getting Eli to rally-cap the troops.

2. Man Requires Medical Help/Wife Walks Out During I Spit on Your Grave – 2010
The screening of Stephen R. Monroe’s reboot of the classic I Spit on Your Grave was a memorable one. Less than half way through the film’s opening reels there was a call for medical attention for someone in the balcony. A man had reportedly fainted. The man would be okay, but the scare and the distraction coupled with the violence and torture on screen left us with an indelible memory. During that same screening, my wife left her seat as the film proved to be more than the poor girl could handle. Me? I did like any real man would – I stayed. Sure, I wondered as to where ‘the better half’ may have gotten off to, but I was too engrossed in the revenge that Jennifer Hills was taking on her attackers that I put my marriage to the test and stayed my ground. Upon the conclusion of the screening, I left the theatre to see my wife sitting happily in the lobby – talking to the man who needed medical attention. Both were doing just fine.

1. Heat, Power Outages and More Heat during Trick ‘R Treat – 2009
My experience at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival screening of Trick ‘R Treat in 2009 will never be forgotten. Toronto was ravaged by a storm that day and power outages were occurring throughout the city. It was hot. Damn hot. Hotter than Georgia asphalt! And when we got into the theatre, we were informed that there would be no air conditioning. The storm had taken care of that. The film was late commencing, but was eventually shown in its entirety. We sweltered and basted (I am of the conclusion that the Bloor Cinema closed for renovations in 2011 just to hose out all the DNA that was left behind by the sweating patrons) the night away and the exceptional screening choice of Trick R Treat more than made up for the uncomfortable sauna feeling we were experiencing.

It was hard to pick just 5 singular moments from the half decade we have been attending. We have made some friends while in line and have been engaged in some incredible conversation while awaiting a screening. And with less than 75 days to go until the 2012 edition, we expect to add a few more memories before long.