Toronto After Dark: Wrap Up

It's sad times when the Toronto After Dark Film Festival has come and gone for another year but to prolong the current before they turn to memory it just a little bit let's look at some of the highlights this year.

Best Film: Strigoi

Best Zombie Film: Tie: Dead Snow / Død snø and Grace
Don't make me choose between Nazi zombies and zombies babies...

Best Action: Rough Cut / Yeong-hwa-neun yeong-hwa-da

Best Thriller: The Forbidden Door / Pintu terlarang

Best Comedy: Black Dynamite

Scariest Film: The Children

Best Q&A's: Strigoi and Someone's Knocking at the Door

Most Entertaining & Enthusiastic Introduction: Bad Roomate

Best Shorts: 0 (Zero), Danse Macabre, Hirsute, Next Floor, Practical Guide for the Imaginary Friend (Abridged), When It Will Be Silent and Zombie Zombie

Funnest screenings: Black Dynamite - Opening Night energy, a full house and a hilarious film!

Fullest Screenings: Black Dynamite, Dead Snow / Død snø, Grace and Trick 'r Treat

Icky-ist Imagery: Embodiment of Evil / Encarnação do Demônio

Best Double Bill: Although it was a midday smash up, I'd go with Franklyn & Black

Happy Surprize: Must Love Death was much funnier than I expected

Still Has Me Thinking: The Forbidden Door / Pintu terlarang

Wish I hadn't missed: Nada - I got to all the screenings and a fair amount of the pub nights and parties.

Best Experience: Being at the World Premiere of Strigoi and meeting the filmmakers the next night at the pub.

Bizarre one-of: The tornado on Day 7.

Themes: Evil kids, pregnancy/birth, the undead, skewed realities and although not a theme, almost every film had someone puke in it.

Sharing is good! Shorts films that are available online:
Bat Milk (1m 45s)
Black Dog's Progress, The (3 min 15s)
Git Gob (1m 35s)
Heart of Karl (18m 52s)
Hirsute (13m 40s)
The Killer Bra (20m 38s)
X-Mess Detrius (1m 37s)
Zombie Zombie (6m 26s)

Sharing is good! Fellow TAD'ers
One of the fantastic things about the festival is getting to hang out with friends and meet new people every year. Want to know what they are thinking? Check out there respective sites for festival coverage, film reviews, interviews, vids, vlogs and more: 10 Movies to See Before You Die, Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind, The Film Reel, The Horror Section, Pop Journalism, Renerd, RowThree, Toronto Film Scene, Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow, Toronto Screen Shots, Twitch Film and You Bring a Horse For Me? Productions.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009 ran from August 14-21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.