TIFF 2014: Masters, Midnight Madness and Vanguard Unveiled :: Gone With The Movies :: The Latest Movie News, Reviews and Articles

One of our favourite things about the Toronto International Film Festival is the diversity.

TIFF announced a relatively large chunk of its line-up last Tuesday which featured some early award-season frontrunners and a slew of high-profile talent. Now, a week later, TIFF heads in a completely different direction with its Masters, Midnight Madness, and Vanguard programmes. This announcement is for all the die-hard horror fanboys and edge-of-your-seat thrill seekers out there! That said, we haven’t forgotten the art-house hunters and idol chasers.

As always, I’ve provided synopses and trailers/images for the flicks that caught my attention. You can check out the full list of films announced today by clicking the corresponding programme title: Masters, Midnight Madness, Vanguard. If you’re interested in seeing our TIFF post from last week, simply click here! Finally, for the full list of films screening at this year’s festivities, click here!

The remainder of TIFF’s 2014 lineup will be released in the coming weeks and will feature films from such programmes as Discovery, Mavericks, and Wavelengths…to name a few. There is still a ton of films to be revealed and I’ll be posting accordingly so keep it locked here at Gone With The Movies.

VANGUARD:

Over Your Dead Body:
Takashi Miike, Japan

A theatre troupe rehearsing a classic play of murder, betrayal and phantasmagorical vengeance find life bloodily imitating art backstage, in this wild cinematic detour from madly prolific Japanese auteur Takashi Miike (13 Assassins).

MASTERS:

The Face of an Angel:
Michael Winterbottom, United Kingdom

Kate Beckinsale and Daniel Brühl (Rush, Inglourious Basterds) star in this fictionalized version of the notorious Amanda Knox murder case from ever-adventurous director Michael Winterbottom (The Trip, 24 Hour Party People, The Trip to Italy).

The Masters

Adieu Au Langage 3D (Goodbye to Language 3D:)
Jean-Luc Godard, France

Winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the new film by Jean-Luc Godard is a visually sumptuous and richly complex meditation on history and eternity, being and nothingness, desire and death.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS:

[REC] 4: Apocalypse:
Juame Balaguero, Spain

Confined to a high-security quarantine facility in the bowels of an ocean liner, a ragtag group of survivors fights for their lives against infected zombie hordes, in the long-awaited climax to the spectacularly popular Spanish horror franchise.

Big Game:
Jalmari Helander, Finland/Germany/United Kingdom

Trapped in the wilderness after Air Force One is forced down by a terrorist attacked, the President of the United States (Samuel L. Jackson) must rely on the survival skills of a 13-year-old woodsman, in this thriller co-starring Ray Stevenson, Jim Broadbent and Felicity Huffman.

Big Game

The Guest:
Adam Wingard, USA

Writer-director duo Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next) serve up a slick, eighties-style action thriller with this story of a mysterious and devastatingly charming visitor (Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens) who arrives at the home of a bereaved family claiming to be the best friend of their dead son.

Tusk:
Kevin Smith, USA

Kevin Smith brings his comedic chops to a disturbing new milieu in this Canuck-baiting chiller about a popular podcast host who descends into straight-up madness when he heads north of the 49th parallel.