By Leo Barraclough
Countdown to TIFF | Joseph Kahn
International Features Editor
Joseph Kahn's sci-fi/horror satire "Ick" makes its world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival's Midnight Madness slot on Saturday. He previously directed "Bodied," which premiered at the festival in 2017 and won the People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness. Kahn talks to Variety about his love of creature features, taking comedy-horrors seriously and his respect for Steven Spielberg's scary movies.
Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky summarizes the plot this way: "In the small American town of Eastbrook, nearly two decades after a sticky, vine-like growth — colloquially known as 'the Ick' — began nestling in every nook and cranny, a bewildered population has discovered that their lives are seemingly untouched by the creeping anomaly. The exceptions to this unwitting conformity are Hank Wallace, a former high school football star turned unhappy science teacher, and his quick-witted student Grace, both of whom view the Ick with a wary eye that is soon violently confirmed. Outbursts of bloody chaos and blasé posturing ensue, slyly mocking how a society can acclimate to living in a perpetual state of emergency."
