Movies
Film Festival Follies: Toronto International Film Festival – Day 3
If you guys want a great read you should be keeping up with Simon Barrett’s ongoing “Festival Follies”, his recap of our epic weeklong adventure at the Toronto International Film Festivals. While I brought you reviews of the most anticipated horror films, Simon is tackling not only horror, but also all of the other films we saw at the fest. Beyond the break you can read “Film Festival Follies: Toronto International Film Festival – Day 3”, which cover the insane Symbol, this year’s Gran Turino, Harry Brown and the “Midnight Madness” award winning The Loved Ones.
Film Festival Follies: Toronto International Film Festival – Day 3
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Symbol, Harry Brown and The Loved Ones
I decided to go see the 10:30 a.m. screening of Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Symbol (aka Shinboru) instead of the 9:30 a.m. screening of The Invention of Lying for one reason: It was an hour later, which meant one more hour I could sleep after staying up for Survival of the Dead. I never did see The Invention of Lying, but since it opens in the U.S. shortly and Symbol proved to be completely amazing, this was probably the best decision I made during my time at the festival.
I had mixed feelings about Hitoshi Matsumoto’s previous film Dai-Nipponjin, which was released by Magnolia in the U.S. under the not-so-catchy title Big Man Japan. For everything it did that was awesome, it would do something that was simply inexplicable. And at nearly two hours, it simply wore out my patience. However, it was clearly the work of a unique and inspired filmmaker, and as I enjoyed Matsumoto’s acting in the film as well, I made a mental note to check out whatever he did next.
Symbol exceeded my expectations on every possible level. Nearly an experimental feature, it is both funnier and vastly more complex than Dai-Nipponjin, which was essentially a one-joke concept. Symbol is an awe-inspiring work of art that had me grinning for its entire running time. Plus, it was only 93 minutes. When you’re at a film festival, these things matter.
Essentially, Symbol tells two intertwined stories. The first involves an unnamed man (Hitoshi Matsumoto) who wakes up in a white room with no doors or windows, and begins to interact with the mysterious room. The second is that of a wrestler, Escargot Man, about to face two intimidating opponents in a small Mexican town.
It’s pointless to write any more about Symbol. Even if I had the words to describe it, I wouldn’t want to spoil anything. Just see it as soon as you get the chance.
I’d heard Harry Brown described as a “British Gran Torino” and that’s basically accurate, except Michael Caine’s Harry Brown isn’t an awesomely racist jerk like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, he’s a basically nice guy. And also, Harry Brown doesn’t have a pacifistic epiphany, he just goes around killing the shit out of people.
Opening with jolting, handheld footage of a gang initiation ritual, Harry Brown is a vicious little sucker punch of a film, and that’s a sincere compliment. Michael Caine, who has always been a great actor but somehow seems to get better every year, plays a retired ex-Marine living in a council slum who has little human contact following the death of his wife. When a friend is victimized, however, Caine takes to the streets to exact vengeance.
The problem I have with most recent revenge films is that the filmmakers seem to feel the need to apologize for any entertainment the film might provide. Thus, you get films like The Brave One and the vastly superior Death Sentence, which feature one-dimensional, evil villains, yet still try to be nuanced meditations on the futility of violence. Meanwhile, Park Chan-Wook nearly rendered the entire genre irrelevant with two perfect films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, each of which deconstructed the concept of a revenge film in an entirely innovative manner.
What I appreciated about Harry Brown is that it doesn’t try to be self-righteous or even original like those films. It’s just a satisfying, old school vigilante movie. The bad guys are bad, the good guy wants to kill them, and you, the viewer, want him to succeed. Simple. Meanwhile, the writing, direction, acting and cinematography are all top-notch. I didn’t hear much praise for Harry Brown at the fest, but I dug it.
I’d been planning to catch the much-discussed French film A Prophet that evening, but movie started at 6 p.m., and Midnight Madness curator Colin Geddes was having a festival party at a west side bar from 5 to 8. The choice was obvious. “Screw you, A Prophet!” I cried, and once again went party-hopping with Mr. Disgusting, eating our dinners off of serving trays.
After that was the midnight show of The Loved Ones, a film I had already seen but was interested in catching again with the midnight crowd on 35mm, as I had originally viewed a DVD screener of the film under less than ideal circumstances. The Loved Ones is a terrific Australian thriller about two friends, one of whom has the best prom night possible, and his friend who, kidnapped and tortured by a girl he rejected, has the worst. It is funny, violent, original, and, unlike most films in the torture thriller vein, continually finds a way to escalate the proceedings until the film’s climax. It is also beautifully shot, with great performances, and has a cool garage score featuring artists like Andre Williams. The midnight audience loved it (it ended up winning the audience award for the midnight series, deservedly, in my opinion) and it was a great time. I’m sure it will be acquired for a U.S. release soon, and I recommend it to horror fans without reservation.
In retrospect, this was my favorite day at the festival. I saw three great movies and didn’t even exhaust or embarrass myself in the process.
It never got that good again.
Ratings:
Symbol – 9/10
Harry Brown – 9/10
The Loved Ones – 8/10
This also might a good time to point out that, along with The Loved Ones, I saw some other films that played at TIFF prior to the festival that I haven’t mentioned. For example, people kept asking me what I thought of Antichrist (meh), which I actually had the opportunity to see a few weeks before Toronto. So, since I’m getting into this whole “judging my betters” thing, here’s a ratings breakdown for the other four TIFF movies I skipped at the fest because I’d seen them already:
Antichrist – 6/10
The Bad Lieutenant – Port of Call: New Orleans – 10/10 (you heard me)
Ong Bak 2 – 8/10
The Road (work print) – 6/10 (could be higher now since I’ve heard they’ve made it shorter and the version I saw was long as fuck)
(Full disclosure: Horror screenwriter Evan “E.L.” Katz is a friend of the author and it therefore appears unlikely that the Harry Brown screening anecdote actually occurred. E.L. Katz does not actually look or behave as described. Except when he does. Which is often.)
This week’s new releases offer everything from giant monsters to Spielberg aliens to ass-kicking martial artists and even an ash-eating medical student. Do we have your interest?
Here’s all the new genre movies that released on Friday, June 12, 2026!
These aren’t all HORROR movies, but we want you to be aware of them all the same…
Norwegian creature feature Kraken is now available on Digital.
The film was also unleashed in select theaters. Check your local listings.
In the monster movie Kraken, “unnatural behavior in wild salmon, followed by inexplicable deaths in Norway’s deepest fjord, points to the mythical Kraken. The ancient, multi-armed monster has awakened, ready to crush everything that moves or makes a sound.”
Pål Øie (The Tunnel) directs Samuel Goldwyn Films’ Kraken from a script by Vilde Eide, Kjersti Jelen Rasmussen, and Natasha Arthur. Sara Khorami, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Øyvind Brandtzæg, Jenny Evensen, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Jon Erik Myre, Hans Morten Hansen, Steinar Klouman Hallert, and Filip Bargee Ramberg star.
An all girls trip into the desert for escapism fun instead implodes in violence in the revenge thriller Find Your Friends, now streaming only on Shudder.
In the film, “Amber and her four best friends flee Los Angeles for a girls’ trip in Joshua Tree, only to find themselves unwelcome in a desert town simmering with quiet hostility. As isolation sets in and encounters with aggressive locals grow more threatening, festering resentments within the group begin to surface.
“What begins as fun and reckless escape spirals into a violent struggle for control and survival, as past wounds and present dangers collide in a night that turns their trip into a nightmare.”
Bella Thorne (The Babysitter), Chloe Cherry (“Euphoria”), Helena Howard (I Saw the TV Glow), Sophia Ali (Uncharted), Zion Moreno (“Gossip Girl”), and Chris Bauer (“True Blood”) star in the feature debut by writer/director Izabel Pakzad.
Steven Spielberg is more sure today than he was when he made Close Encounters and ET that aliens are very real, and with Disclosure Day, he aims to make you a believer too.
Okay so it’s not a horror movie, but the sci-fi blockbuster is now playing in theaters.
The vague synopsis for Disclosure Day reads: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to Disclosure Day.”
The film stars SAG winner and Oscar® nominee Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown), Oscar® winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Kingsman franchise), Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters, The Perfect Couple) and two-time Oscar® nominee Colman Domingo (Sing Sing, Rustin).
Based on a story by Spielberg, the screenplay is by David Koepp, whose previous work with Spielberg includes the scripts for Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Combined, those films earned more than $3 billion worldwide. Koepp also wrote the script for Jurassic World Rebirth.
Steven Spielberg is of course no stranger to extraterrestrial encounters, directing two of the greatest alien movies of all time: Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and E.T. in 1982. It’s an arena he returned to in 2005, directing an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.
Here in 2026, Steven Spielberg sees hope in the existence of aliens. He notes in the final trailer for Disclosure Day, “How will disclosure change us? I believe for the better.”
Another movie that’s not a horror movie but worth mentioning here is the violent martial arts revenge thriller The Furious, which is now playing in theaters from Lionsgate.
Xie Miao (The New Legend of Shaolin) and Joe Taslim (Mortal Kombat) star.
After his daughter is kidnapped by a criminal network and he receives no help from the corrupt police, Wang Wei sets out on a rampage to find her himself.
His only ally is Navin, a relentless journalist whose wife has mysteriously disappeared. Fueled by a furious vengeance, the unlikely duo ruthlessly fights against the kidnappers.
Kenji Tanigaki (Enter the Fat Dragon) directs from a script by Mak Tin Shu (Kung Fu Jungle), Lei Zhilong, Shum Kwan Sin (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In), and Frank Hui.
A disturbing weight loss craze involving human ashes opens up a haunting world of hurt for a young woman in Saccharine, which is now available on Digital outlets at home.
From writer/director Natalie Erika James (Relic, Apartment 7A), the Australian supernatural body horror film follows lovelorn medical student Hana, who becomes terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.
Midori Francis (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Danielle Macdonald (Patti Cake$), and Madeleine Madden (“The Wheel of Time”) star in Natalie Erika James’ latest nightmare.
From directors Arturo Ambriz and Roy Ambriz, I Am Frankelda is billed as the first ever full length stop motion movie from Mexico, and it’s now streaming on Netflix.
The history-making stop-motion film is a dark fantasy set in a world of monsters.
Here’s the synopsis: “In 19th-century Mexico, Frankelda is a gifted writer whose dark tales are ignored and dismissed. Forced to suppress her voice, she refuses to give up, even as many try to silence her. But when she is thrust into her subconscious, the very monsters she created come to life.
“Guided by Herneval, a tormented prince trapped between dreams and nightmares, she must restore balance between fiction and reality before both realms collapse. Meanwhile, the sinister writer Procustes and his conspirators plot to seize control. As Frankelda and Herneval grow closer, their bond becomes both a strength and a curse.
“To rewrite their fate, she must confront a love that defies existence and reclaim her power as a storyteller—before dark forces consume her imagination and reveal horrors beyond her creation.”
The directors said in a joint statement, “As brothers, we grew up inventing worlds together, drawing, playing, imagining. Over time we understood that fictional characters were not only companions but guides. Sometimes they felt closer than the people around us. They provided us courage, wisdom, and solace. We believe fiction is not an escape from reality but a way of understanding it. A way of converting truth into palatable chunks. I Am Frankelda comes from a lifelong love of storytelling.”
Mireya Mendoza, Arturo Mercado Jr., and Luis Leonardo Suarez lead the voice cast.
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Mexico’s first stop-motion animated feature is a macabre beauty.” Meagan also notes in her review, “I Am Frankelda is a gothic fantasy feature whose boundless creativity is matched by its ambition.”
The lines of reality and delusion blur in Time of Death, now available on Digital.
Michael Kelly (“The Penguin,” Dawn of the Dead 2004) stars with Kevin Pollak (End of Days), Mena Suvari (Vampires of the Velvet Lounge), and Dennis Haysbert (Send Help).
In the horror-thriller, “When a prisoner vanishes without a trace, Detective Frank Morley (Michael Kelly) is sent to a decaying prison on the verge of shutdown. What begins as a routine investigation quickly spirals into a dangerous search for answers.”
Will Wernick (Escape Room 2017, Follow Me) directs from a script by Jason Rosen. They also produce alongside Kelly Delson, Jeff Delson, and Kyle David Crosby.
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