Hello Fellow Midnight Madness devotees!

My name is Robert Mitchell and I wanted to tell you a bit about myself.

 My first memory of horror cinema came at the age of five when my older cousins thought it would be amusing to show me Freidkin's The Exorcist. Suffice to say I was troubled by nightmares for weeks after. It was not until my late teens that I revisited the horror genre with A Nightmare On Elm Street in a film class in high school. I then began to slowly devour everything I could watch and began to gather an appreciation for this much misunderstoood genre. That being said it has been my expreience that Midnight Madness is often thought of as a bunch of horror films at the witching hour. That may be what brings someone into the programme but there are so many other great genres on display every year. Where else can you see a western/horror hybrid like The Burrowers or a film that begins like a yakuza film and becomes something far different such as Miike's Gozu or a Korean take on an alien film, Save The Green Planet.

I am also quite busy during the year capturing events of cinematic importance in my beloved city of Toronto for Rue Morgue Magazine and the Toronto After Dark film festival. I have had the opportunity to interview many directors, actors and producers who are working in the film industry. Most noteably, Larry Fessenden, Paul Solet, Angus Scrimm. You can see these and much more at http://www.youtube.com/user/Sheleigh .

You can find me on twitter and follow my unique perspective on the all the fun and madness of the 2009 Midnight Madness programme at http://twitter.com/RobertAMitchell .

And I just want to thank you all in advance for reading my blog entries. This year marks my seventh Midnight Madness and my second as an official blogger/videographer.

Take care, Robert A. Mitchell.