When his sister dies unexpectedly, a man leaves the priesthood to care for his young niece. Sounds like the basis for a family film, but though Princess is (mostly) animated and prominently features a pre-teen girl, it is definitely not for children. Instead, director Anders Morgenthaler presents a bleak and brutally violent vision of redemption, loss and pornography run rampant. At least, that's what it sounds like from all the reviews I've read. Princess debuted at Cannes last year before playing in the Midnight Madness section at Toronto; in November Monica noted that Tartan Films USA had announced a May 2007 release date, which obviously has come and gone. Here's hoping the release has only been delayed; Jette reported that Princess has been programmed for Fantastic Fest in September, so maybe it'll come out in the fall.

In the meantime, Morgenthaler has not been standing idle. His next film, Echo, is a drama about a police officer (Kim Bodnia of Pusher fame) who kidnaps his son after he loses custody. Things go bad when a nightmare brings back bad memories and threaten to drive the cop insane. Sounds like potentially another "child in peril" scenario. Echo has been scheduled for an early July release in Denmark, which means it might get some festival play in the US later this year. Morgenthaler has also just started production on another animated feature, The Apple and the Worm, but this one sounds like it will be suitable for the entire family. To quote the ever-helpful Danish Film Institute: "Torben is a shiny young apple with a dream: making it to the bright lights of the supermarket fruit section. But his dream is shattered one sunny morning when a worm pokes her head out of his perfect skin. Silvia is her name, and she is really very nice." Expect The Apple and the Worm in the fall of 2008.

Welcome to the fourth and final chapter of Scott's Toronto Genre Fest. (I swear I saw some "grown-up" movies while I was in Canada; All the King's Men is a snoozer, Catch a Fire is fine stuff, and Little Children is pretty excellent.) But my main goal was to catch all ten of the Midnight Madness selections, plus a few extra genre nuggets that I had my eyes on. (Unfortunately I did miss one of the MM flicks: Nacho Cerda's The Abandoned.) So to round out the reporting, I bring you: Master del Toro's latest masterpiece, a slow-moving but creepifying arctic chiller, and a Dutch piece of animation that deals with pornography and little girls. Yes, really.

Princess -- From Dutch director Anders Morgenthaler comes this (mostly) animated tale of lost innocence, brutal vengeance ... and a sentient stuffed animal creature. It's about a former priest who comes to collect his niece when the girl's porn-star mother is killed, and it quickly branches off into an action-comedy/social commentary that, let's face it, might not play real well in the States. Despite its prickly subject matter, the animation is quite excellent and there's a few canny twists along the way. Certainly not for all tastes, but I dug it well enough.