The terror and thrill of Midnight Madness
Day eight. Party exhaustion has set in. Celebrity sightings dwindle. The manic smiles of public-relations wranglers are beginning to droop.
But when the clock strikes 12, one party is still going strong: Midnight Madness — TIFF’s showcase of the wicked, horrifying and sometimes flat-out deranged — that continues to attract packed theatres of filmgoers eager for a late-night thrill.
Cardboard masks of the film’s bark-faced killer were handed out as the crowd piled in Wednesday at 11:30 p.m. for the world premiere of Cub, by first-time Belgian director Jonas Govaerts.
The Flemish-language film follows 12-year-old Cub Scout Sam, an orphan with a troubled past, as he travels into the woods for a camping trip with a troupe of fellow scouts. Just one kink: the woods are boobytrapped with creative killing machines and home to a wild boy with a hankering for blood.
Behind the shock and gore, the film offers a creative and sometimes laugh-out-loud spin on the hunter-versus-hunted trope, while commenting on bullying, friendship and the allure of evil.
The atmosphere at Midnight Madness could be likened to a screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show or 2003 cult classic The Room— participation is mandatory. The audience clapped in unison during pre-movie L’Oreal Paris commercial, with one man bellowing “Because you’re worth it!” at the finish. During Dolby Digital’s “All around you” promo, another attendee screamed “It’s an ambush!” A young filmmaker from Nashville, Tenn., sitting beside me explained that this is the norm. A first time TIFFer, he stumbled onto the horror programming on day one and only missed one midnight screening since. The most disturbing, by his estimation, was Kevin Smith’s Tusk, which apparently involves a lunatic who hacks up bodies to make human-flesh walruses. “I still can’t get scenes from it out of my head,” he said with a quiver. Spirits remained high during the film as the boys and their counsellors were picked off one-by-one by fallen trees, killer bees and a rogue Humvee. For those who don’t like scary movies, the terror is almost neutralized by bursts of wit from the audience. When lone female camper Jasmijn approaches a tent where she hears an odd meowing, one viewer shouted “Don’t do it!”
It’s nice to know that, as the hype and Hollywood glamour of TIFF wanes, there’s still a place to find a one-of-a-kind party — if you dare. The Scoop: What they paid: $24 for a ticket. What they got: Adrenaline high, gore and souvenir masks. Quote of the night: “In Belgium we have beer, we have chocolates and we have child killers.” (Director Jonas Govaerts before the screening.)