2018 TIFF Midnight Madness Scares Up ‘Climax,’ World Premieres of ‘Halloween,’ ‘The Predator’

Erik Anderson August 9, 2018

Jamie Leigh Curtis returns to ‘Halloween’ (courtesy: TIFF)

Midnight Madness has just announced its explosive lineup of films for the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival.

Screening to an audience of die-hard film fans every evening at 11:59pm, this year’s programme features 10 quintessential genre movies that are guaranteed to either terrorize or mesmerize.

“This year’s Midnight Madness slate promises another idiosyncratic confluence of established and emerging genre filmmakers,” said Peter Kuplowsky, Midnight Madness Programmer. “To complement some of the
buzziest provocations on the festival circuit, I have sought to curate an eccentric array of World Premieres that demonstrate the dexterity of genre cinema as a canvas for both sublime satisfaction and stunning subversion.”

That includes the section’s two much-anticipated sequels, The Predator and Halloween, each of which boldly and brilliantly builds upon its mythic iconography to thrilling and surprising effect.”

Kuplowsky continues to put his fearless stamp on the program, starting with the opening film: the World Premiere of Shane Black’s The Predator, the director’s reinvention of the iconic film series. The lineup will also feature the highly anticipated World Premiere of Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The programme closes with the North American Premiere of Diamantino, Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s bizarre, genre-bending film that fascinated audiences at Cannes earlier this year. Midnight Madness will also present the North American Premiere of the electrifying Gaspar Noé’s Climax.

The films in this year’s lineup will feature strong performances by actors such as legendary Italian star Monica Bellucci, who plays the queen of a demonic underworld in the World Premiere of Nekrotronic, directed by Kiah Roache-Turner. Other films include Peter Strickland’s highly anticipated In Fabric, which follows the life of a cursed dress, and the Canadian Premiere of Assassination Nation, directed by Sam Levinson.

Additional World Premieres from this year’s selection will include Emma Tammi’s The Wind; The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, directed by Henry Dunham; and Vasan Bala’s The Man Who Feels No Pain, the first Indian film ever selected for the Midnight Madness program.

The 43rd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2018.

Here is the full Midnight Madness lineup:

Assassination Nation Sam Levinson | USA
International Premiere

Climax Gaspar Noé | France
North American Premiere

Midnight Madness Closing Film

Diamantino Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt | Portugal/France/Brazil
North American Premiere

Halloween David Gordon Green | USA
World Premiere

In Fabric Peter Strickland | UK
World Premiere

The Man Who Feels No Pain Vasan Bala | India
World Premiere

Nekrotronic Kiah Roache-Turner | Australia
World Premiere

Midnight Madness Opening Film

The Predator Shane Black | USA
World Premiere

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Henry Dunham | USA
World Premiere

The Wind Emma Tammi | USA
World Premiere

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.