PUTRID PREVIEW: WORLDWIDE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL’S “FREAKY” PROGRAMME

The Worldwide Short Film Festival is currently underway in Toronto, and horror fans will want to hit The Bloor Cinema tonight just before midnight for the “Creepy” portion of the festival’s two-night Midnight Mania programme. (The “Freaky” section, which is bizarre but not really horror, plays tomorrow night at the Royal Ontario Museum.)

SINFUL CINEMA: “RUE MORGUE” PRESENTS “AMER”

Tonight (March 17) \”Rue Morgue Magazine\” presents its monthly Cinemacabre movie night at Toronto’s Bloor Cinema. Tonight’s feature is Amer, the debut feature from co-directors Helene Catte and Bruno Forzani, is a surreal and bizarre take on the Italian giallo, featuring generous helpings of artsy sex & violence. This will be the film’s Toronto debut.

SINFUL CINEMA: “TWO EVIL EYES” IN TORONTO

Tonight’s Rue Morgue-sponsored movie at Toronto’s Bloor Cinema is 1990′s Two Evil Eyes, the collaboration between Dario Argento and George A. Romero.  Having never actually seen it (we’ve only ever read the reviews) it will be interesting to see what two masters of horror came up with. Screening is at 9:30.

Oh, and the ad promises “special guests.” Romero lives in Toronto so we’re wondering if maybe…

FILM SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL TONIGHT: JOHN CARPENTERS’ GHOSTS OF MARS (2001)

Despite his busy schedule. former Rue Morgue writer and current Fangoria editor Chris Alexander continues to put on his Film School Confidential events at Toronto’s Bloor Cinema. Twice a month, Alexander screens a cult film, often one otherwise critically reviled or underappreciated by both critics and audiences. John Carpenter’s 2001 effort Ghosts of Mars certainly falls into both those categories. Described by Alexander as a “berserk amalgam of 3:10 TO YUMA, RIO BRAVO, Carpenter’s own ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, DAWN OF THE DEAD and PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES,” GOM will get a long overdue critical reappraisal tonight, June 23rd, at The Bloor.

CINEMACABRE AT THE BLOOR IN TORONTO: [REC] 2

Toronto residents are in for a treat tomorrow night when Rue Morgue Magazine screens [Rec] 2, that rare sequel which is actually better than the original. Check out the original DLB review here: http://darklordbunnykins.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/final-tiff-review-rec-2/.

Unconvinced? Watch the trailer:

FILM SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL’S NEXT INSTALLMENT: KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK

Chris Alexander’s
Film School Confidential!

presents the legendary 1978 schlocker

 KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK
 
 
On Wednesday, November 25th, 9:30pm, all the stops are pulled out as FILM SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL! unleashes a film that Gene Simmons himself has claimed is on par with – or worse than – Ed Wood’s PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE: the one, the only KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK.

 

Produced by cartoon kingpins Hanna-Barbera in 1978, this utterly inept and bizarre one of a kind pulp fantasy features the legendary shock rockers KISS (who at the time were at the peak of their popularity) battling a mad scientist (THE OMEGA MAN’s Anthony Zerbe) at an amusement park while rocking out with some of their signature tunes. Terrible special effects, worse acting, ridiculous action sequences and some vintage concert footage combine in this unbelievable motion picture that was actually directed by genre film producer and director Gordon Hessler (ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THE OBLONG BOX).

 

 

About Chris Alexander’s FILM SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL:
 
Twice a month, every month, Toronto’s legendary Bloor Cinema plays host to a fun filled, educational and totally irreverent master class in cinema history, featuring many oddball motion pictures that rarely ever make the list of any higher education film syllabus.
 
Your instructor is Chris Alexander, the “Friday Film Guy” on radio station AM 640 Toronto’s The John Oakley Show, writer for Metro Canada, Canadian correspondent for legendary horror magazine Fangoria and film history teacher at the Toronto Media & Film College.
 
New screenings will be added each month. Special guests TBA.
 
Each screening features an in-depth, entertaining, informative and often humorous lecture from Alexander as well as post-film wrap up and discussion in the Bloor Cinema lounge.
 
Each screening costs $8 with your Bloor Cinema membership and $10 for non-members, with no commitment to attend any other screenings than the ones you wish to attend.
 
And best of all there are NO tests AND you can chew gum!
 
For more information go to www.bloorcinema.com and www.chris-alexander.ca

INTERVIEW: FANGORIA WRITER/BLOGGER CHRIS ALEXANDER ON FILM SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

Chris Alexander is a musician, Fangoria blogger, radio personality, teacher and, above all else, a film freak. To that end he’s hosting twice-monthly movie night’s at Toronto’s Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West) where he will screen forgotten gems of cinematic sin, prefacing them with an informal discussion of the movie’s history, complete with thematic dissertation and amazing anecdotes.

The series kicked off last night with a screening of 1972′s underrated Horror Express, the 17th collaboration between genre legends Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and will continue Nov. 25 with the disastrous 1978 TV movie Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park.

The DLB spoke to Chris last night about the inspiration for Film School Confidential, why he chose to kickstart it with Horror Express, and academia’s reaction to horror films:

Chris Alexander’s Film School Confidential

 

Film critic and radio personality Chris Alexander (Fangoria, AM 640 Toronto, Metro) presents a new screening and lecture series…

It’s film school with a “B-Movie” twist.

 

Twice a month, every month, Toronto’s legendary Bloor Cinema plays host to a fun filled, educational and totally irreverent master class in cinema history, featuring many oddball motion pictures that rarely ever make the list of any higher education film syllabus.

 

Your instructor is Chris Alexander, the “Friday Film Guy” on radio station AM 640 Toronto’s The John Oakley Show, writer for Metro Canada, Canadian correspondent for legendary horror magazine Fangoria and film history teacher at the Toronto Media & Film College.

 

The series kicks off on Monday, November 9th with Eugenio Martino’s obscure 1972 Spanish/British cross-genre cult classic HORROR EXPRESS. Horror film icons Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing star as scientists running afoul of a murderous missing link on the Trans Siberian Express at the turn of the century. Telly Savalas also stars as a crazed Cossack as do a cavalcade of shambling zombies in this unhinged, expertly crafted bit of mayhem that plays like a Hammer Horror film fused with Agatha Christie’s MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.

 

Then, on Wednesday, November 25th, all the stops are pulled out as Alexander unleashes a film that Gene Simmons himself has claimed is on par with – or worse than – Ed Wood’s PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE: the one, the only KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK. Produced by cartoon kingpins Hanna-Barbera in 1978, this utterly inept and bizarre one of a kind pulp fantasy features the legendary shock rockers KISS (who at the time were at the peak of their popularity) battling a mad scientist (THE OMEGA MAN’s Anthony Zerbe) at an amusement park while rocking out with some of their signature tunes. Terrible special effects, worse acting, ridiculous action sequences and some vintage concert footage combine in this unbelievable motion picture that was actually directed by genre film producer and director Gordon Hessler (ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, THE OBLONG BOX).

 

New screenings will be added each month. Special guests TBA.

 

Each screening features an in-depth, entertaining, informative and often humorous lecture from Alexander as well as post-film wrap up and discussion in the Bloor Cinema lounge.

 

Each screening costs $8 with your Bloor Cinema membership and $10 for non-members, with no commitment to attend any other screenings than the ones you wish to attend.

 

And best of all there are NO tests AND you can chew gum!

 

For more information go to www.bloorcinema.com and www.chris-alexander.ca