In our second Dead Air round up of the Toronto After Dark Summer Screenings presentation your host Jeff Konopka is joined once again by Kirk Haviland of Entertainment Maven to discuss two films that have being seeing yays and nays from both the happy campers and the deeply unhappy critics. For those of you not in the know, the Toronto After Dark Film Festival takes place in October and features many horror and genre films from some big name festivals throughout the year and world premiers as well. The summer screening is a chance to give the audience a taste of some festival like features that may be coming out before the date of the festival. This week we have Detention and V/H/S on the docket. Both are movies that know how to inspire nothing less than an engorged tick’s worth of controversy. You either love ‘em or hate ‘em. With most of the selections at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival I think you’ll find the same polarized view at film due to the diversity of the film selections, genres and let’s face it… we blog because we can’t keep our tongues in our mouths so we write to keep our mouths closed.
Both gentlemen adore Detention. It just gets better the more times you watch it. It’s quirky and fun and just plain strange. The director’s previous endeavor Torque may not have met with critical fanfare that would have you chomping at the bit to see Detention, but I can speak from personal viewing experience, this is a film worthy of your Netflix queue and very readily available (that’s why it’s on the summer screening and not in the festival proper). Enjoy the trailer, enjoy the movie, enjoy the sound thrashing of a pile of hipsters who find solemn comfort in a Sting song.
On the other hand V/H/S was a mixed bag to the guys. When it was good it was very very good, but when it was bad… well… it was very un-VHS. While both Jeff and Kirk could not agree on each of the segments in the anthology, found footage effort they did find some very likeable moments that were cheery good fun. Warning: the VHS gimmick is not specifically designed to impress the rampant army of VHS collectors out there. Personally, I loved every segment and have written my thoughts over HERE for the Liberal Dead. Be that as it may, the guys would barely recommend it as a full anthology viewing but would recommend watching certain segments. One thing is for certain the next thing Radio Silence does better live up to the hype their gonna get as the result of their very fun effort in V/H/S.
After the in depth discussion which are actually mostly spoiler free (proceed with caution and check both films out ahead of time On Demand or on Netflix) the highlight of this episode is the preview of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Recently, ten films that will be screening at this event were announced with ten more to follow toward the end of Septemer/beginning of October. The list is varied in genre and style but should prove exciting for festival goers. The festival’s YouTube page HERE which feature trailers for the announced films. Make sure to stop by the Toronto After Dark Film Festival site to get familiar with the event and plan your trek.
As always, find the wonderful world of podcasts as distributed by The Liberal Dead HERE including this episode. Make sure to subscribe and, if you are so inclined, rate and review the darn thing. Find us on FaceBook HERE
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Also, Jeff makes a very special announcement about the upcoming retrospective series to be featured post John Carpenter series. Tune in to find out why all Jeff’s ex’s live in Tejas (to my knowledge he has no ex’s in the southland). Coming up next in the JC retro series, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS… or How John Carpenter Redeemed His Ass after Making Body Bags and Memoirs of the Invisible Man. Remember, remember, remember… we’ll be switching up podcast hosts sooooon. Stay tuned!
-Dr. TERROR
P.S. Everybody ask Jeff why he chose to end this with a bad ass Public Enemy song. All at once.
