Horror goes mainstream at Toronto Film Festival

Toronto

EACH night around 11 pm at the Toronto International Film Festival, after the Oscar-bait wannabes and acclaimed documentaries have called it a day, 1,200 filmgoers line up outside the Ryerson Theater for the likes of Yakuza Apocalypse and No One Lives. These aficionados may shy from the elaborate costumes and other geek-chic signifiers of Fantastic Fest or the various Comic-Cons.

But they know their horror, their gongfu and all the other disreputable genres that draw the Toronto festival's liveliest audiences - certainly the only ones that bring inflatable beach balls to the screenings.