TAD Film Fest Review: Refuge

By Less Lee Moore

If you’ve seen The Road or Season Four of The Walking Dead, you’ve seen more artfully realized versions of the film Refuge. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s the truth.

Andrew Robertson’s film peeks into the lives of some of the survivors of a bacterial plague that has wiped out much of humanity. Unfortunately, we find this out in a post-credits montage that is reminiscent of 28 Days Later or The Bay but not as clever. In fact, we’ve all seen so many zombie/post-apocalypse movies at this point it would have been more compelling to just show that kind of footage without explaining what actually happened. It would have given the movie a much-needed bit of creepy mystery.

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TAD Film Fest Review: Why Horror?

By Less Lee Moore

Why Horror? is for every person who’s been mocked for loving everything encompassed within horror film fandom. Horror writer and hardcore fan Tal Zimerman is the subject of this documentary from Nicholas Kleiman and Rob Lindsay that explores why people are drawn to one of the more maligned, misunderstood genres in popular culture.

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TAD Film Fest Review: The ABCs Of Death 2

By Less Lee Moore

K is for Knell, by Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper

The ABCs of Death was a worthy, if not always satisfying, exercise in horror anthologies (review). In some ways, it’s more ambitious than the V/H/S series; trying to fit in 26 films by 26 directors is a challenge, especially when the only common theme is death. While I quite liked the first installment, I think The ABCs of Death 2 is in many ways a better film.

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TAD Film Fest Review: Time Lapse

By Siân Melton

Real talk: time travel hurts my brain. Sometimes I sit and wonder about the logistics of it all. If I travel back in time, is there still a Present Me or did Present Me vanish? If the latter, what happens in present time without me there? And how can I, instead of Chuck Berry, end up responsible for the discovery of rock and roll music? I think that’s why I hesitate before seeing a time travel movie. Sometimes I can enjoy the story and time-travely-ness (very official) and not get too distracted by it and other times I’m all, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA.

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TAD Film Fest Review: Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

By Siân Melton

There’s no better signifier of a great movie than being more than willing to see it twice. That was the case with my love affair with Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. Sigh. Seriously, I have so much love for this movie. I saw it at Sundance and was so blown away by well, everything: the story, the cinematography, the music (the music!!), and of course Kumiko herself, played by the ravishing Rinko Kikuchi. There’s also a bunny, but I’ll get into that later.

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TAD Film Fest Review: Open Windows

By Less Lee Moore

Even though I’ve never seen Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes, I’d heard enough good things about it to interest me in Open Windows. The premise was intriguing on its own: the story of an actress, a murderous stalker, and an unwitting voyeur all told through computer screens. The cast was also a draw: Elijah Wood and Sasha Grey. Unfortunately, Open Windows is a huge disappointment.

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TAD Film Fest Review: Housebound

By Less Lee Moore

If, like me, your knowledge of New Zealand cinema is limited to Peter Jackson and Taika Waititi, then Housebound will both delight and surprise you. I went into Housebound with zero knowledge of the plot, but you should know that it’s essentially a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a red herring. Just when you think you’ve figured out what kind of movie it’s going to be, it turns into something else. Rather than being confusing, it makes the movie that much more fun to watch.

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TAD Film Fest Review: Suburban Gothic

By Less Lee Moore

Even though it’s a movie that still feels fresh and influential, Beetlejuice came out almost a quarter of a century ago. It’s no secret that many of Tim Burton’s biggest fans feel like he hasn’t done anything in the last 20 years to rival it. Those people need to see Suburban Gothic immediately.

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TADFF 2013 Movie Review: The Battery

By Less Lee Moore

What would happen if the only other person remaining after the apocalypse was your annoying co-worker who always had his headphones on? What if the only other person smelled terrible? It may sound comical, but these are the hard questions you have to ask yourself when watching The Battery. Despite taking place after an apocalypse (of the Z-word variety), there are definitely funny moments, but on the whole, The Battery is a brutal movie. Things get fucked up and people die.

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Toronto After Dark 2012: Wrap-Up & Award Winners

By Less Lee Moore

Toronto After Dark 2012 is over and the award winners have been announced. You can read the full list of winners on the Toronto After Dark website, but I’d like to call special attention to the films I saw and reviewed.

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