Horror Films From The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival You Need To Watch
The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival is underway. While this is one of the festivals where a lot of awards season contenders start getting buzz as we head into the fall and winter months, it's also a place where hidden horror gems can sneak up on you as we head into Halloween. Like many film festivals, TIFF has its own genre programming block called Midnight Madness where horror, thrillers, and the wilder side of filmmaking can be experienced. This year, a handful of titles have been getting some decent buzz, ranging from "Stranger Things" star Finn Wolfhard making his directorial debut with the slasher comedy "Hell of a Summer" to "Dream Scenario" putting Nicolas Cage into everyone's dreams and plenty in between.
Let's take a closer look at some of the horror titles drumming up noise at TIFF 2023.
Hell of a Summer
Director: Finn Wolfhard & Billy Bryk
Writer: Finn Wolfhard & Billy Bryk
Cast: Fred Hechinger, Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk, Abby Quinn, Pardis Saremi, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai,Rosebud Baker,Adam Pally, Krista Nazaire, Matthew Finlan, Julia Lalonde, Daniel Gravelle, Julia Doyle, Susan Coyne
What It's About: A masked killer terrorizes the counsellors of a summer camp in this sardonic slasher-comedy, the feature directorial debut from actors Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk. (From TIFF)
What Critics Are Saying: "Hell of a Summer" finds an ensemble of camp counselors trying to survive a slasher who is killing them one-by-one the weekend before camp officially begins. Deadline Hollywood's review from Valerie Complex says the film offers a "delightful mix that strikes the right balance of '80s horror nostalgia and fresh, modern creativity. While it occasionally stumbles in its visual execution, the clever narrative and sharp societal insights ensure it's a movie worth watching."
However, Bloody Disgusting thought the film's comedy outshined the horror. In their review, Meagan Navarro writes, "The slasher component falls to the wayside as the filmmakers spend time capturing the irreverent and often dumb aspects of youth. It's an endless barrage of gags, quips, and punchlines that establish the dynamics between each stock, one-note character." The review adds, "But Wolfhard and Bryk's focus on the humor over the slasher means it's less effective at the satire. The good news is that their focus on youth culture commentary lands, and it's clear the cast and crew had a blast making the film."
When Can You See It: "Hell of a Summer" doesn't yet have an official release date.
Boy Kills World
Director: Moritz Mohr
Writer: Tyler Burton Smith, Arend Remmers
Cast: Bill Skarsgård, Jessica Rothe, Yayan Ruhian, Andrew Koji, Isaiah Mustafa, Famke Janssen, Brett Gelman, Sharlto Copley
What It's About: Bill Skarsgård (credited only as Boy) commits bloody martial-arts mayhem as a deaf warrior trained by a mysterious shaman (The Raid's Yayan Ruhian) to topple a far-flung dystopia in Moritz Mohr's loony debut feature. (From TIFF)
What Critics Are Saying: Produced by Sam Raimi, it should come as no surprise that the official festival program guide for "Boy Kills World" advises audiences to "steel yourself for the gnarly deployment of a cheese grater across multiple faces and appendages." Though this isn't exactly a horror film, it certainly delivers on plenty of blood and gore, with Bloody Disgusting's Meagan Nevarro praising it as "a propulsive body-decimating actioner with impressive sequences choreographed by Dawid Szatarski and energetic, swooping camera work to capture the mayhem gleefully." The review goes on to describe the film as "a video game in movie form, with Boy moving his way up to the Final Boss through inventive set pieces and fights that offer no shortage of bone-crunching madness and a ton of arterial spray."
Brian Tallerico at RogertEbert.com isn't quite as high on the movie but still has some praise to dish out, writing, "The artistic order of the day here is mayhem, but that's harder to pull off in an entertaining fashion than it may look. Mohr displays with his debut a strong sense of pacing (after that slack opening) and knows how to get the most out of his cast, playing Copley's wide-eyed insanity off Gellman's dry sense of humor and Rothe's genuine likability. What first seems like a mistake in making Skarsgård mute becomes a gift because there's so much chaos around him. He becomes the center on which everything else spins, spraying blood everywhere."
When Can You See It: "Boy Kills World" doesn't have an official release date yet.
Sleep
Director: Jason Yu
Writer: Jason Yu
Cast: Jung Yu-mi, Lee Sun-kyun
What It's About: Expectant parents navigate a nightmare scenario when a spouse develops a sleep disorder that may belie a disturbing split personality in writer-director Jason Yu's intense horror feature debut. (From TIFF)
What Critics Are Saying: We could all use a little extra "Sleep," am I right, folks? But seriously! Writing over at RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico boldly proclaims "Sleep" to be "One of the best horror films of the year," adding that the film "starts out like a comedy, shifts to marital drama, and then becomes something else altogether, all while barely leaving a single apartment."
Kate Erbland at IndieWire says the flick is "funny, scary, and delightfully cutting," and writes, "'Sleep' is fun enough the first time out, but a second watch will likely reveal even more natty twists and smart scripting, nothing to snooze at here." And now this movie, which wasn't on my radar at all, jumps to the top of my must-see list. Thanks, "Sleep"!
When Can You See It: "Sleep" does not yet have an official release date.
The Zone of Interest
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Writer: Jonathan Glazer
Cast: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel
What It's About: Jonathan Glazer won the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes for this horror about Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife, who quite literally live amongst the ashes of their actions. (From TIFF)
What Critics Are Saying: Jonathan Glazer's first feature since "Under the Skin" already played at Cannes where it generated tons of praise (you can read our review right here). At TIFF, the praise continues. At RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico calls the film "a drama that takes place during World War II but feels incredibly urgent in what it's saying about existing alongside evil and how if we allow everyday life to drown out those who are suffering, we are bound to repeat the horrors of history," and adds that "It's a challenging drama that creeps into your soul."
Ross Bonaime at Collider writes, "In the way that Under the Skin dissected the science fiction story, Glazer tears apart what we know a Holocaust story to be, showing us that pure evil isn't necessarily always big and imposing, but rather, can be fairly banal and every day—an even more important message for today's evils."
Everything about this movie sounds like it's sure to be a masterpiece, just like "Under the Skin."
When Can You See It: December 8, 2023.
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Writer: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Cast: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Raghav Juyal
What It's About: In Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's relentless martial arts thriller, a passenger train bound for New Delhi becomes a bloody battleground of brutal close-quarters combat as a pair of commandos square off against a 40-strong army of invading bandits. (From TIFF)
What Critics Are Saying: Though this is another title that isn't really a straight-up horror movie, the bloody action feels like it ventures into relentless slasher territory. /Film's own Rafael Motamayor is at TIFF, and he wrote a reaction on Twitter, saying, "'Kill' lives up to its title and then some. This is a relentless, gnarly, thrilling, exhilarating action movie in a single location with the potential to becoming the next 'John Wick.'"
Nate Richard at Collider also got caught up in the brutal action, writing in his review, "If you think that the latest 'Equalizer' and 'John Wick' films will be the most violent action flicks you'll see all year, think again. Every single action sequence feels like an adrenaline shot of martial arts, knife fights, and body parts being dismembered. Heads are being bashed until they no longer even look human, and skulls are lit on fire like the goons are the human versions of Ghost Rider. At times it feels like a fever dream, but in the best way possible. It's the kind of bonkers action flick that is best seen with as big of a crowd as possible."
That's two "John Wick" comparisons, so we'll try to keep your hype in check, but this one sounds like it will be a bloody treat.
When Can You See It: "Kill" does not yet have an official release date.
Dream Scenario
Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Writer: Kristoffer Borgli
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Dylan Baker
What It's About: This satirical swipe at celebrity and groupthink from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli and co-producer Ari Aster stars Nicolas Cage as an inconspicuous academic who is thrust into the limelight after he starts inexplicably appearing in people's dreams. (From TIFF)
What Critics Are Saying: While "Dream Scenario" isn't a straight-out horror movie, its premise, which seems to be a play on "A Nightmare on Elm Street," but with Freddy Krueger being Nicolas Cage, seems too good to pass up. And the buzz out of TIFF is very strong! David Fear at Rolling Stone says, "Part horror movie and part sideways swipe at cancel culture and social pariahdom, Dream Scenario is the sort of high-concept, surreal comedy that Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and Charlie Kaufman used to do on the regular — think Eternal Nicshine of the Spotless Cage."
Peter Debruge at Variety adds that the film ranks as one of Cage's best, and writes, "Is this a fantasy? A fable? A new kind of horror movie? Actually, "Dream Scenario" is all of the above and then some..." And David Ehrlich at IndieWire says the film is a "hilariously surreal comedy."
I'm a Cage-head, so this was already on my radar, but the reactions out of TIFF have made me want to see it all the more.
When Can You See It: November 10, 2023.