THE ASSENT *** 2019 USA Dir: Pearry Teo. 90 mins Joel (Robert Kazinsky) is a father struggling to care for his son Mason (Caden Dragomer) since the death of his wife. Struggling to put food on the table because of his low-paying job and mental illness, he relies on his…
Browsing: Toronto After Dark Film Festival
PARADISE HILLS *** Spain 2019 Dir: Alice Waddington. 95 mins A hauntingly beautiful fairy tale set in a near-futuristic world, PARADISE HILLS tells the story of Uma (Emma Roberts), sent to an idyllic school meant to reform young women and run by The Duchess (Milla Jovovich). She meets a group…
CONTRACTS *** 2019 Canada Dir: Alex Chung. 75 mins What an insane ride. This is one of those films that’s difficult to critique—because the script borders on baffling and it’s poorly acted, but the fight scenes are choreographed better than some big-budget projects. The plot? A couple of assassins find…
THE ODD FAMILY: ZOMBIE ON SALE **** 2019 S. Korea Dir: Lee Min-jae. 112 mins A pharmaceutical company’s experiments go haywire and a zombie virus spreads through South Korea. One of the undead shambles his way into the lives of the Park family—and although brother Min-Gul (Nam-gil Kim) initially wants…
EXTRA ORDINARY *** Ireland / Belgium 2019 Dir: Mike Ahern, Enda Loughman. 94 mins The first of several appealing gags in the wittily titled EXTRA ORDINARY sees the over-used “Based on a true story” tag (often present for supernaturally infused horror) wiped away by a departing bin lorry. Corny celebrity…