TIFF 2012: Meat monsters, lewd Catholic priests and more in this year’s Midnight Madness programme

At midnight during TIFF, Ryerson Theatre is the space where all of the darkest, most twisted films get shown. This year, Nicolás López’s feature Aftershock premieres, about six tourists trying to survive an earthquake in Chile; and Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem will be screened, a film about a 300-year-old coven of witches that returns to Salem (how awesome does that sound?). TIFF promises “horror comedies, mock-doc eco-apocalypse thrillers, trans-dimensional bugs, lewd Catholic priests, meat monsters and dog-napping psychopaths,” so there are going to be many opportunities to scare a date into burying their face into your shoulder.

The ABCs of Death (U.S.)
Directors: Kaare Andrews, Angela Bettis, Bruno Forzani and 23 others.
Starring: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Iván González, Kyra Zagorsky

Aftershock (U.S. and Chile)
Director: Nicolás López
Starring: Eli Roth, Selena Gomez

The Bay (U.S.)
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Kristen Connolly, Jane McNeill, Michael Beasley

Come Out and Play (Mexico)
Director: Makinov
Starring: Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vinessa Shaw, Daniel Gimenez Cacho

Dredd (U.S., U.K. and India)
Director: Pete Travis
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey

Hellbenders (U.S.)
Director: J.T. Petty
Starring: Clancy Brown, Clifton Collins Jr., Robyn Rikoon, Andre Royo

John Dies at the End (U.S.)
Director: Don Coscarelli
Starring: Clancy Brown, Paul Giamatti

The Lords of Salem (U.S., U.K. and Canada)
Director: Rob Zombie
Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Clint Howard, Sid Haig

No One Lives (U.S.)
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring: Luke Evans, Adelaide Clemens, Derek Magyar, Lee Tergesen, America Olivo

Seven Psychopaths (U.S. and U.K.)
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits