Kick On Brings Real Stunts to Toronto Midnight Madness
Four friends walk into a mobster's son's drug-filled house and have to fight their way out. That is the set-up for Kick On, the Australian action-horror having its world premiere in the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness line-up, according to Variety.
Midnight Madness is Toronto's late-night sidebar for horror, action and cult films. The 2026 edition runs as part of the festival from 10 to 20 September and holds 10 screenings, each starting at 11:59 p.m., according to TIFF.
The film follows four friends trapped inside the house as paranoia, violence and betrayal close in. It is directed by Nick Kozakis and listed by the festival as a 2026 Australian siege thriller, meaning most of the story plays out under siege in one location. It runs 91 minutes and is in English, according to TIFF.
Markella Kavenagh stars as Eden opposite Nikolai Nikolaeff as Ray. Kavenagh is known to wider audiences as Nori, the Harfoot, in Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, according to Variety.
Kozakis told Variety he wanted the film to hit "like John Wick cracked out on meth". He described the target feeling as wired, sweat-soaked, out of control energy. Short version: fast, loud and messy.
To get there, he said he used real stunt performers rather than digital augmentation wherever possible. He cast a childhood friend who became a professional stuntman as the film's doorman. The prosthetics came from designer Larry Van Duynhoven, whose recent credits include Furiosa, Mortal Kombat and Bring Her Back.
One effect needed an exact copy of an actor's head. Van Duynhoven brought a life-size head cast of actor Tyrone Ngatai to set before the crew destroyed it for a head-trauma sequence, according to Variety.
What makes this stand out for a late-night crowd is the method. Real bodies and practical prosthetics carry the contact. Digital touch-ups stay in the background.
Festival listings put Kick On screenings on Mon 14 at 11:59 p.m. at RA and Tue 15 at 9:15 a.m. at Scotia 3, according to TIFF. Sales company Blue Finch boarded the film ahead of Toronto to handle international sales, as reported by Variety.
