A key component of programming at the Toronto International Film Festival is the Midnight Madness section. The section was created for the 1988 festival and plays the best genre films specifically highlighting horror and science fiction. Previous winners of the People’s Choice Midnight Madness award include the likes of The Substance, Titane and What We Do in the Shadows with plenty other iconic films that have played. In 2025 Dakota and Jeff saw almost every film that played in the Midnight Madness bracket and over three parts you can read capsule reviews of them.
Normal
Final Rating: 2/5
Normal stars Bob Odenkirk as Ulysses, a down-on-his-luck policeman brought in to serve as the temporary sheriff of a small town in Minnesota. While Normal, Minnesota initially seems… well, normal, Ulysses soon gets the feeling that something is off about this town. The police station has the most well-stocked armoury he’s ever seen; the flower shop has a police scanner constantly running; the local bar is decorated with dozens, if not hundreds, of guns. And of course, no one wants to engage with him beyond smalltalk.
As Ulysses states early on: “every town has its quirks.” Normal, Minnesota’s quirk is that the whole town is a single, overindulgent action set. When the town’s secrets are finally revealed, the movie quickly goes from a hokey small-town mystery reminiscent of the first act of Hot Fuzz to a massive shootout reminiscent of the second act of Hot Fuzz. And while that’s fun in concept, the execution is severely lacking.
Normal is directed by Ben Wheatley, who proved his action chops in 2016’s Free Fire, a no-holds-barred, high-energy, single-location shootout that’s a clear highlight of A24’s early output. Perhaps more pertinent though is the writer of Normal, Derek Kolstad, most well-known for John Wick. He would follow up John Wick with two sequels, Nobody and its sequel, and now Normal. Not to put too fine a point on it: Normal is the sixth time Kolstad has written this movie.
At a screenplay level, the film is essentially dead on arrival, offering nothing new or interesting to the genre. As a comedy, it starts off entertaining enough, milking that small-town Midwest charm for all it’s worth before fizzling out before the end of the first act.
Odenkirk is wasted here. The material isn’t good enough for him to shine in what should be a comedic slam-dunk. He also can’t coast on the novelty of “Bob Odenkirk in an action movie? Really?” after his various dramatic turns and the success of Nobody.
The action in Normal is pretty boring. The myriad shootouts are forgettable. The various setpieces, despite hosting an obscene number of weapons, basically just become cover for Ulysses trading fire with the residents of a town that suddenly becomes hostile. It doesn’t have to be a bad sign if the drama in an action film is the best part, but if the drama isn’t even that good, it’s certainly a cause for concern.
Normal feels like an old-school direct-to-DVD movie. Fun enough to put on before bed, has a few people you probably recognize, but more than anything else, forgettable.
– Jeff Bulmer
Dust Bunny
Final Rating: 4/5
In Dust Bunny, 10-year-old Aurora (Sophie Sloan) is tormented by the monster under her bed, powerless to stop it from eating the people closest to her. After the monster eats her foster parents, Aurora employs the services of her hitman neighbour (Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the creature once and for all.
Dust Bunny is a phenomenal feature debut from experienced showrunner Bryan Fuller. The cinematography and effects are gorgeous, the action is kinetic, the score rocks. Mikkelsen and Sloan turn in great performances, and have fantastic chemistry. Ultimately, Dust Bunny is a bit more style than substance, but only because it’s one of the most stylish debuts in recent memory.
Dust Bunny splits cleanly into two acts. The first, in which Aurora stalks her neighbour while attempting to work up the courage to hire him, is jaw-dropping. Fuller trades dialogue for rhythmic action, building up the hitman as a mythical figure. From Aurora’s perspective, already cool fights become impossible showdowns where a man strikes down a dragon before disappearing into the night. The hitman is simultaneously approachable, and larger-than-life. Aurora herself, inspired by what she sees, develops into something of a woman of action. In the film’s best sequence, Aurora gets the money to hire her neighbour by running away with a collection basket during a jaunty church choir gospel performance.
Dust Bunny’s first half feels musical. Fuller’s mastery of visual panache over dialogue, and his focus on the childlike wonder of it all effectively transports the audience into Aurora’s point of view. After Aurora and the hitman join forces for the second half, much of the allure of the film’s opening falls away. Mikkelsen and Sloan talk significantly more, especially with the introduction of Sigourney Weaver, playing the hitman’s boss. The action becomes more grounded than fantastical, and the perspective shifts somewhat from Aurora to the hitman.
If the first half of Dust Bunny imagines a fantastical world where the monster under your bed is one of many, the latter half attempts to do the same while reframing “monsters” around a more realistic explanation. The hitman posits early on that “someone wants [Aurora] dead.” The question is whether that “someone” is another assassin, or, as Aurora insists, a creature going bump in the night.
– Jeff Bulmer
Fuck My Son!
Final Rating: 1/5
Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Johnny Ryan, Fuck My Son! is a low-budget gross-out comedy that hides a surprising amount of charm behind lame jokes and egregious use of generative AI.
In Fuck My Son, an old woman named Vermina (Robert Longstreet) kidnaps a young woman (Tipper Newton) and her daughter, holding them hostage until the woman has sex with her mutant son.
There isn’t much variety to the jokes in Fuck My Son!. Vermina and her son are disgusting inside and out, the stakes are a looming threat of rape, and it’s funny to say “Fuck My Son.” Those are basically the only punchlines, and Fuck My Son! milks them for every drop and then keeps going. It’s tasteless, not half as edgy as it thinks it is, and runs out of steam very quickly. At the world premiere screening, the director joked during the Q&A that there’s a “Kynzie Version” – named for the child actress playing Newton’s daughter – which is family-friendly and only about 5 minutes long.
That’s probably the better version of this film.
Fuck My Son! features incredible makeup and prosthetic work courtesy of Oscar-winner Robert Kurtzman – whose previous credits include From Dusk Till Dawn, The Chronicles of Narnia, and several entries of nearly every major horror franchise. Longstreet is nothing if not memorable as Vermina, and the reveal of the titular son is shocking to say the least. For all its flaws, Fuck My Son! isn’t irredeemable.
But those flaws are major. In addition to the issues with the screenplay, director Todd Rohal makes the baffling decision to supplement the impressive practical effects with a torrent of generative AI. Much of the AI usage is for B-roll, but a small group of characters – the young girl’s imaginary friends, the Meaty Mates – are rendered in stunningly sloppy 3D. It’s disappointing, and while there’s an argument to be made that AI can be cheaper than hiring an effects team, Fuck My Son! would be both cheaper and better if everything Rohal made using the technology was simply cut from the final product.
Rohal plans to begin a limited touring release in October, and with the right crowd, Fuck My Son! can be at least a fun time in the theatre. With the wrong crowd, the audience will more likely see it for what it is: a gutless parade of childish jokes that drew in and wasted talented creatives.
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