Skip to Content

I know what you’re going to do this summer: The Toronto After Dark Film Festival Summer Screenings

For fans of all films macabre, The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is the venue for you. But for those that can’t wait until October for nine nights of horror, sci-fi, action and cult movies running from the 18th to the 26th, the good people behind TADFF have answered your counter intuitive prayers. For two nights only, and on biweekly Wednesdays, Toronto After Dark will be bringing four fantastic films fresh off the festival circuit and onto the silver screens at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (located at 506 Bloor Street West on Bathurst). Fraught will thrills, chills and plenty of kills, The Toronto After Dark Film Festival Summer Screenings is compulsory viewing material for devout students and fans of dark filmmaking.

Screenings include:

Wednesday June 27th 2012

Juan of the Dead 7:00 PM

Cuba’s first feature film to showcase the undead, Juan of the Dead may just be an instant zombie flick classic. An official selection at Fantastic Fest, TIFF, Sitges, Los Angeles and 5 other film festivals, it looks like this film has the potential to do what few horror flicks have; please the audience and the critics.

Synopsis: Juan is 40 years old, spending most of those years in Cuba doing absolutely nothing. However, when strange things start to happen (such as people turning violent and attacking each other), Juan realizes that this is a zombie epidemic – and a great time for profit and opportunism. With an army of his friends and family, Juan and his crew set out on a mission to help people get rid of the zombies and infected around them… at a reasonable price, of course.

The Pact 9:45 PM

An official selection at the Sundance Film Festival, The Pact will be making its Canadian premiere at The Toronto After Dark Film Festival Summer Screenings. The film has been heralded as “a modern day take on the classic haunted house story” and one of the scariest film in a long while.

Synopsis: After her mother’s funeral, Annie, as a favour to her sister, re-visits her childhood home. Once there, Annie quickly ascertains the forewarn nature of the situation when inanimate objects start to move by themselves, her sister is nowhere to be found, and her sinking suspicion that she’s not alone. With the help of a psychic and a cop, Annie delves deeper into her situation, uncovering dark family secrets and unsolved crimes.

Wednesday July 11th 2012

Detention 7:00 PM

A frenetic smorgasbord of eclectic cult hits, Detention is a sci-fi horror comedy set within the confines of a high school, led by Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games. An instant hit at the SXSW Film Festival, Detention is a deliriously stylish film that looks to throw everything and the kitchen sink at you.

Synopsis: Riley Jones, a 17-year old high school persona non grata, has to go to detention, where she must survive a mysterious killer and save the world. All in time for prom.

V/H/S 9:45 PM

The combined byproduct of six genre filmmakers, including Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Adam Wingard, Dave Bruckner, Joe Swanberg, and a quartet collectively known as Radio Silence, V/H/S adds a unique take on the found footage horror genre, and was an official selection at Sundance, SXSW, Edinburgh, and the Seattle Film Festival.

Synopsis: A group of petty criminals are hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage. Forced to go to a rundown house in the middle of nowhere, they group find, in the living room, an ominous stack of VHS tapes. As they sift through the stack to find the right one, they are unceremoniously treated to an onslaught of horrifying videos, each more unusual than the last.

For more info and tickets, please visit the website for Toronto After Dark

– Justin Li