Toronto After Dark Film Festival is ready to bring the scares back to Toronto for its 14th year. With over 50 feature films and shorts, the annual fright fest brings horror, action, and sci-fi from around the world to Scotiabank Theatre, with films hailing from Ireland, Spain, South Korea, France and beyond.
There’s plenty to see this year after dark. Here are our picks for five of the fest’s must-see movies.
Toronto After Dark Film Festival Top Five
Extra Ordinary
The Irish comedy played SXSW back in March and will make its Canadian debut as TADFF’s opening night film. Directed by Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, the film tells the story of a frazzled single dad named Martin, who enlists Rose, a part-time mystic/part-time driving instructor to help take a spell off of his teenage daughter. Expect way more laughs than frights with Irish stand-up Maeve Higgins as Rose and Will Forte playing an occultist. If that’s not enough to convince you, the movie currently holds a 100% Fresh rating over on Rotten Tomatoes.
Come To Daddy
Elijah Wood continues to deliver strange and wonderful movies to audiences and Come To Daddy is no exception. The film has already earned raves as it made the festival rounds at Fantasia, Overlook, Tribeca, and Frightfest. TADFF will finally give Toronto audiences a chance to see Wood face off against Stephen McHattie. Wood is Norval Greenwood, an entitled millennial who reconnects with his shady, estranged dad (McHattie) in a bloody and darkly comedic ordeal that’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser. There’s no trailer yet, but with this cast, all you need is this uncomfortable clip with Wood and McHattie to know what you’re in for.
The Assent
The Assent promises to be one of TADFF’s scariest screenings by giving audiences a modern-day take on The Exorcist (We see you, projectile vomit) and – just what every scary movie needs – a terrifying child. In the film, a young, single dad suspects his son may be possessed by the devil. Spoiler alert: he is! Recruiting a controversial exorcist whose last patient died during an exorcism, the two men fight to regain control of the boy before it’s too late. Besides the projectile vomit, there’s plenty of other gross things to see, including devilish blob-like creatures, as the chilling possession begins to assert itself over the boy.
The Wretched
TADFF will wrap things up with The Wretched, a movie that oozes Fright Night vibes. After a mom brings a dead animal carcass home (because why not?), she unleashes an unseen evil force that possesses her and her family. Only the boy next door recognizes something isn’t quite right with his neighbours, and it’s up to him to put an end to the evil…and hopefully win over the girl of his dreams because sometimes you just need the potential for a romantic, happy ending when there are evil deer corpses involved.
Homewrecker
Sounding like a cross between Misery and Greta, Homewrecker promises to bring the laughs as well as the frights. The Canadian horror-comedy sees a young woman held against her will by an eccentric woman who just wants to be her new BFF, which is of course, totally relatable since we all know how hard it is to make friends as an adult, right? Right?? The movie is co-written by its two leads, Alex Esso and Precious Chong and by director Zach Gayne.
The 14th annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs October 17-25, 2019