Dear Readers,

On August 6, 2009, a few of us attended the Toronto Scream Fest. We offered you information about what the night would hold, but since then, we've been hard at work compiling our renditions of the festival and its many short films (as well as one sneak peek of a feature film and a feature documentary).

For lengths sake, we've decided to split up Toronto Scream Fest coverage by section and author. We apologize for the long wait - I was to blame for that as I am, by far, the slowest writer here (not to mention the multi-tasking involved) - but throughout today, we will be offering you our thoughts about this new and exciting festival.

First, we'll begin with Mitchell's article in which he covered some of the earlier films including: "The Mind of Drake", "Snuff", and "Casting Shadows".

We hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!

ErikaSzabo (Creator, Editor-in-Chief)

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Short Film Review: "The Mind of Drake"

Written by: Chris Call

Directed by: Saad Quereshi and Owen Baxter-Derro

Produced by: Owen Baxter-Derro

Runtime: 7 min. 5 sec.

The film’s story is centered on a young man named Brian, who enters the dream of his dear friend Drake, but he learns that his friend might not be completely honourable. While the entire film takes place within a dream sequence, I wished the creators had attempted to establish a more surreal environment instead of the simple hallway that was used for a number of the scenes. While I do understand that because the film takes place within a dream, that the environment could theoretically take place anywhere in the universe from sitting on a bench at King’s Cross, to being on the mountains of Gallifrey, but even with this acceptance I still wished there was a little more done to establish the difference between the real world and the dream.

The film does attempt to question the nature of humanity that we are all innately driven towards violence and performing ill deeds upon one another. While I do feel that this film’s philosophical ideological towards the nature of mankind is a justifiable conclusion, that we are all capable of evil and that it is a constant element of our world, I just wished that the film explored the possibility of resisting this evil, or that it is a consuming force.

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Short Film Review: "Snuff"

Directed by:Jason Armstrong

Runtime: 10 min.

The objective of "Snuff" was to create a Hitchcock-esque short film with a budget of $100 in a single night. The film’s overall goal is quite admirable and I feel that they were able to capture some of Hitchcock’s general style, but I feel that the group was too focused on the idea of their venture then the execution.

My initial expectation for this film was that it would be focused primarily on the characteristics of snuff films, which generally deal with excessive violence and sexuality, but with the un-tasteful distinction of using unwilling participants. When the film progressed through, it became abundantly clear that the film wished to establish itself as more of a mystery and not as a blood and guts horror.

While I did initially enjoy the film’s style, I felt the visuals became a little redundant because it felt as if the entire film took place within a dream sequence. The audience members were taken on a voyeuristic journey by watching from the shadows.

Overall, I feel the film was a very interesting experiment. It possessed a tremendous amount of potential, but due to the fact the film was made in a single day’s worth of shooting, I’m worried that the production did not take advantage of the possibility of creating a larger variety of shots that could captivate the audience more effectively.

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Short Film Review: "Casting Shadows"

Directed by: Veronica Ramshaw

The short film, "Casting Shadows", is a documentary about a group of performers known as the Shadow Cats, a group of people that recreate films live on stage while the film plays behind them. They are notable for their rendition of the movie Repo! The Genetic Opera, a gothic musical set in a dystopic society where its citizens have become addicted to surgery and painkillers.

The documentary begins with the opening credits from Repo, which uses a series of comic inspired panels that details the situation that the society is currently in. But the documentary is not a simple recap of the film’s story, instead it jumps between scenes from the film to footage of the Shadow Cats re-enacting their beloved film. Showing the two performances right after the other produced an amazing contrast, especially because the Shadow Cats would put their own spin on the material, and seeing the twist can be quiet entertaining, almost more then the actual film.

"Casting Shadows" was not only a simple montage to contrast the two different performances, but was there to highlight the creativity that film, music and art can inspire in others. I love how a documentary such as this can be seen as continuing the tradition.

Overall all I absolutely enjoyed the festival and all the films that were shown, especially the main event, Zombie Girl. I would like to thank Mike Klassen, Kyle Parry and Dave During for inviting us to attend the festival, and everyone involved with the festival.  They were incredibly friendly and a pleasure to talk to. I can’t wait to attend the festival next year, and if my experience this year is any indication, next year will be even bigger and better!