Toronto After Dark 2014: First Ten

Toronto's premier genre movie festival has just announced the first ten films that will screen this year. Over 850 movies were submitted and these ten made the cut.

Hellmouth (Canada) World Premiere

I first learned about this movie a year ago at Fan Expo and I've been looking forward to it ever since. Hellmouth is the story of Charlie Baker, a gravekeeper assigned to tend a mysterious cemetery. What begins as a just an ordinary day turns into a fantastic voyage through a Gothic landscape. I love the look of it.

The Babadook (Australia)

Is the Babadook just a figment of young Samuel's imagination, or is it a very real, evil presence in the house? This one's got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it should be all right.

Predestination (Australia)

I'm a little worried I already know what's going to happen. It's a movie about a time traveling cop who's tasked with stopping crimes before they're committed. It's a movie about a time traveling cop by the guys who brought us Undead and Daybreakers both of which I like. And it's based on a story by Heinlein. So there's hope.

Dead Snow 2: Red vs Dead (Norway)

After surviving the first round of Nazi zombies, Martin teams up with an American zombie hunter and a squad of reanimated Russians to battle even more undead Nazis. Hopefully this one doesn't have the same tonal problems as the first installment, but is still just as gory and fun.

Wolves (USA/Canada) North American Premiere

A coming-of-age werewolf action movie. Think Teenwolf meets Gingersnaps meets The Howling. Cayden Richards wakes up to find he's a werewolf. He leaves town to learn more about his new self and ends up caught between two warring werewolf clans. Personally, I'm not one for werewolves or pretty-boys but I trust the TAD programmers.

Open Windows (Spain/USA)

Disregarding the too-obvious comparison to Rear Window, Open Windows looks to be an interesting take on voyeurism in the 21st century. It also looks to be an interesting pastiche of POVs. Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo who made A is for Apocaplypse, one of the best segments in the first ABCs of Death and Timecrimes, which I've never seen but everyone tells me is really good.

Zombeavers (USA)

Did you see that video of the guy getting attacked by a beaver? Well, now imagine that guy was a sexy teen and the beaver was also a zombie.

Suburban Gothic (USA)

Matthew Gray Gubler moves back in with his parents and if that weren't bad enough, his house is haunted by a vengeful ghost. I'm gonna watch the crap outta this movie.

Time Lapse (USA)

Three friends find a machine that prints photos from the future. At first it seems great to get this glimpse into what's to come, but soon the photos reveal dangerous and disturbing images. The movie's already won a few awards on different continents, so hopes are high for this one.

ABCs of Death 2 (everywhere) Canadian Premiere

I was gunning for Sean Tretta to get in on this one, but alas no. Still, we get to see twenty-six more short films brought to us by the letters A through Z and brought to life by people such as Vincenzo Natali, Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado, Steven Kostanski, E.L. Katz, and the Soska twins.