Eastern Promises is a London-based noir that concerns the Russian mob and stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, and Vincent Cassel (a personal favorite).

Possibly unique among high-profile film fests, Toronto has long been known as a venue that welcomes the horror genre’s filmmakers and fans. This year George Romero, Dario Argento, and Stuart Gordon had new movies screened at the event.  Indeed, the “Midnight Madness” fest-within-a-fest has spent two decades spotlighting horror and action flicks at the otherwise button-downed affair.

Also appearing at TIFF this year was Max Von Sydow, who presented a special screening of the late Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring (1960)—horror fans may know the story in its non-period U.S.
version, The Last House on the Left (1972).  Von Sydow and Bergman of course made some of the most intelligently disturbing films in film history, ranging in genre from character studies (Shame, 1968, also a war movie) to borderline fantasy (The Magician, 1958) and outright horror (Hour of the Wolf, 1968).

As for the Cronenberg film, I’m looking forward to it.  This, despite the fact that I seem to be the only one who was underwhelmed by A History of Violence (2005).  For me, its brilliantly shot and (literally) take-no-prisoners opening was followed by a fairly pedestrian drama that even had a few silly and melodramatic/hammy moments.

(Source: Variety)