Australian director Nick Kozakis brought his action-horror film Kick On to the Toronto International Film Festival for its world premiere in the Midnight Madness section on September 14, 2026, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. The film has been making waves for its intense practical stunts and unflinching violence, with Kozakis describing it as “John Wick cracked out on meth” in the film’s press notes.
Kozakis leaned on real stunt performers instead of digital effects wherever possible, a choice that gives the film its raw, sweaty energy. The director’s commitment to practical brutality has become a talking point among festival audiences and critics alike.
What Kick On Is About
Kick On follows four friends whose night of partying spirals out of control. Looking to keep the night going, they end up at a drug den run by Ray, a mobster’s volatile son, in a rundown high-rise in a Melbourne neighborhood. What starts as a simple score quickly turns into a nightmare when a rash decision leads to a killing with far too many witnesses. The group must fight to survive the night in what TIFF calls a “bloody ripper of a siege thriller”.
The Cast Behind the Chaos
Markella Kavenagh, known for playing Nori in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, stars as Eden, a young woman torn between caring for her sick sister and a night out with friends. Opposite her is Nikolai Nikolaeff as Ray, the dangerous son of a mob boss.
The ensemble also includes Ras-Samuel (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), Jacek Koman (Conclave), Nikita Chronis, Thom Green, Eddie Baroo, and Lana Golja.
Real Stunts and Practical Effects
Kozakis said he “really wanted to kind of get in tight, personal with all of our characters,” building a separate “character pass” of close-ups into every storyboarded sequence. Style can always overtake, he noted, but he refused to sacrifice actors’ “reactions and fear” for spectacle.
He cast a childhood friend who became a professional stuntman as the film’s doorman. “I can’t unsee like you need to play this character,” Kozakis said. “It’s just like when he was doing the stunts in the previs, it’s like I didn’t want it to go to anybody else, you know?”
“It’s just so much more fun to be able to play with the practical elements.”
— Nick Kozakis, director of Kick On
Prosthetics came from designer Larry Van Duynhoven, whose recent credits include Furiosa, Mortal Kombat, and Bring Her Back. Kozakis recalled Van Duynhoven bringing an exact head cast of actor Tyrone Ngatai onto set moments before the crew destroyed it for a head-trauma effect.
The Human Story Under the Blood
Underneath the carnage, Kozakis says the script’s pull for him was a single scene: Eden sitting with her younger sister, Gracie, in the hospital, then going out that same night because she doesn’t know what else to do with her fear.
“It’s a very humanized story and nothing’s ever black and white,” Kozakis said. He didn’t want the film’s young ensemble to read as “young dumb kids that are just lambs to the slaughter,” so “we can care to scare”.
The idea of chance runs through the film. Eden’s reckless choices that night, including taking money to help Gracie, all trace back to chance. “This film plays a lot with the idea of chance,” Kozakis said, pointing to smaller decisions across the night, like whether to end things early or take one more stop, as the same instinct playing out again and again.
“You hope that they always are for the right intention, but it just goes so horribly wrong.”
— Nick Kozakis
Festival Reaction and Critical Response
Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF’s Midnight Madness programmer, said even veterans of the section will be surprised by the film’s gory escalation. “There’s a level of ultra-violence and commitment to just visceral gag after gag subjected onto the characters that is going to be a quite breathless experience at midnight”.
A Letterboxd review praised the film as “fun, flashy and full of gore,” adding that it “lived up to the promise of the goriest Midnight Madness film of TIFF ’26”. Another viewer wrote that they had been attending Midnight Madness for years and had “never seen a movie get more reaction or applause,” describing a standing ovation after the screening.
JoBlo‘s review was more measured, calling it “strictly by the numbers” with “moments of inspired carnage” but noting that the tension was “non-existent” compared to similar films like Green Room.
Where to Watch Kick On
Kick On is not yet available on streaming platforms including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, or Google Play in the US or UK. The film’s Australia and New Zealand distribution rights are held by Umbrella Entertainment, while Blue Finch Films handles worldwide sales excluding those territories. A theatrical release in Australia is expected through Village Roadshow.
The film will next screen at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival as the closing night film on October 22, 2026, at Nitehawk Cinema Williamsburg. Individual tickets for that festival go on sale soon, with badges already available.
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Behind the Camera
Phil Klimek wrote the screenplay. Stephanie Troost and Simon Bell produced for Fableist Films, marking the company’s first feature. Johnny Klimek and Gabriel Isaac Mounsey composed the music. Shyam Ediriweera served as cinematographer, and Liam Kelly edited the film.
Kozakis is known for Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism, which won an audience award at the Sitges Film Festival, and for directing the music video for Tones and I‘s “Dance Monkey,” which has over 2 billion YouTube views.
Stay tuned to VvipTimes for more festival coverage and the latest on Kick On as it heads to Brooklyn.
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