Though not yet announced officially on the main TAD site, Twitch is declaring Alone (MP review) as the winner for the 2007 audience choice awards. This is very good news. This little Thai horror flick had me nearly gasping for breath with the scares and then totally enthralled with a great story to boot.

     While predictions of a travesty looming as Troma’s Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (MP review) stood a good chance of taking the honor, I’m pleased to say that that theory can be laid to rest. The crowds in Toronto seem to concur with my personal pick for the best movie at TAD this year: Alone (a possible limited theatrical release may be imminent and a bullshit American remake is already in the works).

     I haven’t been following this too closely (because I can’t go); but AFI constantly sends me emails about their big festival coming up. I have to admit, the lineup is is a lot cooler than the After Dark lineup, but that should be obvious. Anyway, if you’re in the Los Angeles area between November 1st and 11th, you may want to check out the full line-up and schedule and purchase (fairly inexpensive) tickets right online.

For full lineup and schedule, CLICK HERE. Some of the many films (many of them world and/or US premiers) showing throughout the festival include:

Biggies:
LIONS FOR LAMBS
JUNO
THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS
WITH YOUR PERMISSION
THE SAVAGES
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS (2007 Cannes winner)
DEFICIT (my boy, Gael Garcia Bernal’s directorial debut)

see more titles by unwrapping here…
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     Here’s a great zombie short to whet the appetite of any zombie film whores out there (like me). I can never get enough: good, bad, short, long - anything zombie is good. Well, thanks to Twitch, here’s a little Italian Zombie short film that is available through YouTube in three parts. There’s almost no dialogue (I wish I knew Italian and could understand the radio broadcast). I’ve only watched the first part so far; but I like it. Here’s part 1:

     If you can read Italian, here’s the main page over at splattercontainer.com with the streaming video in its three parts as well as a couple of streaming behind the scenes videos and also what appears to be some sort of interview with someone involved with the making of the film (probably the director).

You can see part two and three by reading the rest of this story…

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     Over in the forums one of the regular users just posted a really cool topic. He asks everyone to post their favourite film from each country/continent listed below.

Feel free to tell me how wrong I am and add your list to the comments and the forum.

Specific countries:

UK - Life of Brian

Italy - The Bicycle Thief

France - Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, Le

Germany - Run Lola Run

Netherlands (Holland) - Sorry, I haven’t seen any.

Belgium - Man Bites Dog

Czech Republic - Sorry, I haven’t seen any.

Spain - Pan’s Labyrinth

Sweden - Seventh Seal

Russia - Night Watch (I’ve only seen it and Day Watch)

China - Drunken Master 2

Brazil - Turisatas (Just kidding I don’t think I’ve seen any

Hong Kong - Infernal Affairs

Japan - Seven Samurai

Philippines - Sorry, I haven’t seen any.

Australia - Japanese Story

General regions:

South East Asia - Infernal Affairs

The Balkans (Croatia, Serbia etc) - Kontroll

South America - El Mariachi

Other Europe - The Wind that Shakes the Barley - Ireland

Africa - The Gods Must Be Crazy

Other Asia - Ong Bak - Thailand

Other Scandinavia - I need some help on this one…