Today's pretty much like Christmas for your faithful blogger.  See, tonight marks the premieres of the two movies that I'm anticipating more than any other in this year's festival.  The first is Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno, which, while not part of the Madness lineup per se, certainly embodies the weird, off-key sensibility of our favourite late-night programme in spades.  I mean, if you can find me another movie in which a Hollywood icon dresses up as a lobster and simulates sexual activity with anatomically-correct paper mache sea creatures (forgetting for a minute the deleted scenes from He's Just Not That Into You), then please grab me a ticket.

The other movie that's got me sprung is, of course, Daybreakers.  

Now, I'm not the type of dude that jumps in an Antichrist-length line in order to grab a ticket or a copy of the latest Stephanie Meyer-penned vampire rom-com,  but I do love me some fanged freak every now and again.  And for someone like me, this year was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The Year of the Vampire kicked off at Midnight Madness 2008, as a DVD pilot of a little show called True Blood was thrust into our hot little hands as we stood in line for our favourite selections at the Ryerson.  Since then, to say that the HBO series has become a phenomenon would be a colossal understatement. We're two seasons in and audiences everywhere are positively foaming at the mouth for every new episode.  What will become of Sookie? And more importantly, isn't it a little weird to be, er, intimate with a dead person? 

From there, we went to the unlikely setting of Sweden for Let The Right One In,  the remarkably minimal and restrained tale of a young boy who befriends an otherworldy creature that`s capable of unspeakable brutality. Who knew that the country that designed the Ikea bookshelf that snapped clear in half during my last move could produce something of such quality!

Of course, then there was Twilight. Not exactly my cup of tea as I am both male and over 12, but you can`t deny that this tale of shimmering, hunky vampire love (one of the aforementioned hunks even appears in this year`s Midnight Madness selection Loved Ones) has has a profound cultural impact for our fanged friends.  You couldn`t escape these bloodsucking beefcakes even if you tried.  And when you thik about it, that`s pretty much all you want from a vampire.

Which brings us to Daybreakers. A film that transports us into a world where humans are rarer than a two-minute steak, and vampires are running everything from pharmaceutical companies to (presumably) the Slushee machine at your local 7-11. Early reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and the Festival`s the only place you`re gonna catch the carnage until the film drops in January of next year.   

Look for me at the front of the line.

Daybreakers screens TONIGHT at midnight, and on Sunday Sept 13 at 12:30pm at the Scotiabank Theatre.