This is definitely a very small indie festival but the fans really live for these films. It’s a lot like Midnight Madness at TIFF where yelling “brains” or “kill” during a brutal scene is not only acceptable but encouraged. Fun audience participation contests and strange but hilarious shorts (like the twisted one below celebrating five years running) open the night, and the filmmakers all come out to the pub across from the theater after the screening to talk about the movie with fans. It is a much more casual festival for Toronto, and that definitely works to its benifit. It was obvious the Bloor Cinema was filled with loyal TADFF fans.

It closed Friday night with the much talked about film The Human Centipede, which I unfortunately could not stomach (sewing someone’s mouth to someones ass is just not for me) so I decided against attending. But I did get the chance to see a few crazy/strange/interesting films that would otherwise not likely play here:

The Last Lovecraft

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu opened the festival, and I must admit I would have expected a stronger film to open with. As a relatively unknown super low budget indie, it sounded like it was a surprise to the filmmakers that it was chosen to open as well. I am not aware of the work of H.P Lovecraft and had not even heard of the man until this screening, so watching this felt like I was listening in on an inside joke that I just wasn’t part of.

That said, I did enjoy the performances of the cast, and the banter between the characters worked well. I thought while watching it that I would love to see this ensemble make a film based around reality and straight comedy, and leave the goofy fish monsters out of it. They had strong comedic timing and that saved it for me. The scenes with Paul (Barak Hardley) and his grandma were particularly hilarious, and everyone enjoyed the cameo from Freaks and Geeks/Party Down nerd Martin Starr. He attended the screening and I can only assume they dragged him on stage for the Q&A as he just kept repeating “I really shouldn’t be here.”

I can’t say I would recommend this film to everyone, as it is obviously a direct niche based around the work of a sci-fi writer, so if you are like me and not interested in that world of storytelling this might not be for you. But I am looking forward to seeing what these guys will put out next. There is definitely some talent there, and with a broader storyline they could make something on par with any of Judd Apatow’s work.

All About Evil

All About Evil is the kind of campy horror that felt like it was made for me. I love old movies, I love old movie theaters, and I love the concept of this film. Watching All About Evil in an old movie theater only made it that much better.

The title itself is a pun on the classic film All About Eve and the movie title puns didn’t stop there. It tells the story of Deborah (or De-BOR-ha as she later demands to be called) Tennis, who recently lost her father – the only person who truly loved her and believed in her talents. She makes the decision to ensure that the cinema he owned and ran throughout her life stays alive despite her awful mothers wishes to sell it.

The meek 30 something librarian becomes filled with anger as her mother storms into the cinema demanding she sign the papers to sell it, and what happens next is caught on the cinema’s security tapes and accidentally broadcast to the entire audience awaiting the feature presentation. This being a horror cinema, they assume this is a new short series and they love it, and suddenly Deborah feels the high of fame she always craved. On the advice of the boy she has a crush on, she decides to take this accidental slasher film and keep making more, enlisting the help of the creepy old guy who runs the projection booth, a crack addict she watches mug an old lady on the street, and a set of twins who killed their parents and were recently released from juvie.

It is a hilarious portrayal of a warped mind breaking down and the fame monster that ensues. I loved this film and Natasha Lyonne was great as usual in it. She always plays interesting characters and I am so glad this new director got the chance to cast her as she was able to play it over the top in a way that makes you laugh rather than cringe. He mentioned she was on the top of his dream cast list and through some Twitter connection was able to get her to do it. The writing in this film is hilarious and the names of Deborah’s short films are all equally hilarious (The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, MacDeath, The Scarlett Leper).

Joshua Grannell should be very proud of what he created, and it is no doubt obvious he is a fan of the work of John Waters, who he mentioned encouraged him to move to San Francisco. His alter ego, San Francisco drag movie series hostess Peaches Christ actually helped him secure funding, as the massive support from his fan-base in the community helped ease the minds of producers weary of shooting in the most expensive city in America. He is currently on tour with the film, taking it to small theaters around the US in his Peaches getup along with various cast members, in order to give the full experience. He said he will be looking into bringing the tour to Toronto, considering the positive reaction it received at TADFF. Anyone with the chance to catch the tour screenings should most definitely take it. I’m excited to see what he comes up with next, with the bigger budget he will definitely get after pulling this one off so seamlessly.

I Spit on Your Grave

I Spit on Your Grave is the unrated remake of the 1978 film of the same name, which I had not seen going into this screening. I knew from the warnings on the Toronto After Dark website that this would be an extremely graphic rape film, which had me hesitating about weather I should watch it or not, but I’m glad I did.

The story centers around a writer who goes off to a desolate cabin in the woods to write her next novel, but on the way stops off at a gas station making the mistake of rejecting the advances of the greasy workers while asking them for directions. The rejection fuels them with a demented rage that leads them to her cabin, and from there these five men rape her in every way possible. The director had the sense not to show all of it, but still shows enough of it that as a female I could definitely not separate myself from this character and the atrocity of what was happening to her.

What made this film valuable to me was of course not the idea of showing something as disgusting as rape on film, but her incredible return to the screen after it all and the intense vengeance she seeks. It is impossible not to root for her and love every vengeful moment of torture she gives back to the rapists. Each kill has a reference back to the specific way they raped her, and as disgusting as it is to watch, you can not help but enjoy them getting what they gave. I couldn’t help but feel that what she does to them should be required punishment for this crime, always.

As a rule I generally dislike gory films like this, but unlike a similarly gory film I absolutely hated –  Antichrist – the female dominance in this film worked because it was a very believable motive. Antichrist was the absolute opposite of I Spit on Your Grave in that it seemed incredibly misogynistic and all the torture was based on something as pointless as ‘she went crazy’. I need more than that. The crazy excuse is not reason enough for me to sit through two hours of insane brutality, and it’s the reason why I generally dislike horror as a genre and stay away from the majority of them. I Spit on Your Grave actually had the substance to sustain the audiences interest in the torture, because we would probably all wish to have the opportunity to do that to someone who had done that to us or someone we love. The plot is (to a degree) believable and that for me is the make or break point for a good torture film.

During the Q&A director Steven R. Munroe was asked if he was scared about Roger Ebert reviewing the film, considering how much he hated the original. He commented that Ebert hated the fact that in the original, the woman seduces the men that raped her before killing them, and how unnecessary and insulting that was to the audience. That does not occur in this film, and he made a specific choice to leave that out as he agreed with Ebert’s take on it, and so would I. It would be hard to wrap my head around a woman being able to even pretend to seduce her rapist with the intent of torture, because even the dumbest males would have to be able to see through it. I am curious to see the original because of this, and it is playing this weekend at Toronto Underground Cinema, so I may have to check it out.

Have you seen any of these films? Are you a Toronto After Dark Fan? What was your favorite movie at the festival?

Okay, so many of you probably think it is vain to care about lashes enough to try and find a product to make them grow, and maybe it is – but if you have barely there lashes even with mascara on and use of a heated lash curler doesn’t help – then you might understand where I’m coming from. It’s safe to say mine were pathetic and lack of them made me feel… manly.

So when I started to hear about new products that can magically grow your lashes I hit google to search it out immediately. Initially I found that super expensive by prescription only product called Latisse and after realizing I could never afford it I also read that it can possibly make your eye color turn brown?!?! I have green eyes and I like that they are green, so no way was I touching that stuff even if I could manage to save up enough to afford it.

Sad that I could not use this magic potion I looked into other options. This is really embarrassing to admit but I even tried lash extensions (which worked out cheaper than Latisse), but they didn’t last long for the price and were just too long and felt hard and unnatural and every time I needed to rub my eyes I worried about them falling out. After a couple weeks they started to fall out more on my right eye (which is the side I sleep on) and at that point I was like okay this looks stupid – so extensions were not for me either. I ended up pulling the left lash extensions out and moved on.

But I didn’t give up. Months later, flipping through a beauty magazine I found reviews of a bunch of products that claim to grow your lashes and MaxoLash received the top score. Fusion Beauty’s StimuLash received second place and I absolutely love LipFusion (yes I have thin lips too, thanks genetics!) so I was going to try that first, but MaxoLash ended up being cheaper so I figured why not? I looked it up and there was no weird claims of changing your eye color or anything scary like that so I found it on ebay for a reasonable (though still not cheap) price and gave it a try. A little over a month later I was so glad I did. For the first time in my life I had noticeable naturally soft long lashes and mascara actually makes them look even better rather than just visible like before. I no longer have to struggle to even curl them like I did when they were so fine and short! There is no turning back. This is a holy grail product and you won’t find me without it.

At around 75$ it is definitely something you might have to save for, but it is worth saving for. One tube will last you a long time. I’m two months in on my first tube and it is still practically full, no kidding. And I noticed results after about two weeks.

Worth noting, I also tried their MaxoLip product as it came with it free so I figured why not, and I was pretty disappointed. Not nearly as good as LipFusion and the watery serum texture means you can’t even use it as a gloss like you can with the Fusion products. I didn’t notice much of a difference after using it for a couple weeks, while with Fusion I notice it immediately after putting it on.

All in all MaxoLash quickly became one of my few can’t live without products, and if you want longer lashes without any scary risks this is the stuff to get.

I was introduced to the work of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (also known as Will Oldham, Palace Brothers, Palace Music and so on) around the year this album was released, and the majority of music he has produced did not stick with me nearly as much as Superwolf has. Guitarist Matt Sweeney somehow managed to take Oldham’s music from average weirdo indie singer songwriter to perfection.

Superwolf plays like a classic film, going through every dramatic emotion possible in the span of 41 minutes. The opening track “My Home is the Sea” includes the most beautiful guitar work heard on any Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy album to date. Lyrically there are still the signature strange lyrics Oldham is known for “and I love my tummy/it’s round and firm and funny/that’s what I am” (?) but they are book-ended by some of his strongest lyrics and by far the most beautiful melodies his collaborations have ever produced. It also features what is probably my favorite BPB song lyrically – “Blood Embrace” which sounds  exactly as deceptive and dark as being cheated on feels. In this song they sample from a scene from the revenge film Rolling Thunder (1977) which was written by one of the best screenwriters out there – Paul Schrader -when he was in his prime.

The only sub-par track on this album is “I Gave You” which begins with some of his worst lyrics (“I gave you a child/and you didn’t want it/that’s the most that I have to give”) along with rather forgettable music. It is a throwaway track that should have been cut. Ending with “Death in the Sea” would have been a much stronger way of wrapping up the overall theme.

Records that work as full stories are rare, as in most cases the songs stand alone and removed from the whole which is part of why the album format is no longer appreciated. Oldham and Sweeney managed to create a true to form album with Superwolf, and if you only own one Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy record, this is the one to have (although I See A Darkness definitely gives it a run for its money).

Best Tracks: My Home Is The Sea and Blood Embrace

Broken Social Scene‘s Toronto Island Concert is coming up in exactly a week and I am super excited for it – if you are thinking about going tickets are still available so don’t miss out. Pavement, Band of Horses, Beach House, Timber Timbre and my favorite local band The Beauties are also playing and it’s looking like it is gonna be a gorgeous day on the island so it is well worth the 60$. In honor of their mad skills listen to this song (and watch the awesome video) from their self titled 2005 album:

• Recording industry wants $1 billion from limewire.
• As someone who has received many parking tickets despite rarely having access to a car, this made me very happy: Toronto parking ticket cancellation guide released.
• Hmm… Michael Jackson fans granted access to his grave.
• The Wire fans in NYC - play paintball with the cast!
• An answer to the question we’ve all asked at least once: Does Michael Cera play the same character over and over?
• 20 essential music books… some more essential than others.
• Thom Yorke is interviewed for a new high school text book and suggests the mainstream music industry is about to collapse. Can’t say I disagree.
• Why don’t rock stars trash hotel rooms anymore?
• RIP Dennis: Seventeen reasons why Dennis Hopper was cool.
• Weezer gets even more embarrassing.
• The Vaselines are releasing another album?!!
• This is funny – Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning trash talks Olympic gold medalist.
• Will Max Weinberg be Conan’s drummer on the new show? Looking unlikely, but I hope he is.
• Speaking of Conan: Did you hear about Conan recording a live show for vinyl release at Jack White’s studio? So awesome.

Have any links to share? Post em and I’ll add them in.