REEL CANADA Blog

It's that time of year to break out the scary movies and why not add some Canadian horror films into the mix?! Canada has been producing horror films since the 60s that have both shaped and challenged the horror genre. Here are 13 of REEL CANADA's favourite Canadian horror films to add to your Halloween movie marathons.

GINGER SNAPS

The Fitzgerald sisters Ginger and Brigitte, fascinated by the macabre, have sworn an oath: "Out by sixteen, or dead in the scene, but together forever". Outsiders at school, their only friends being each other, they live in a querulous world of their own. When they set out to take revenge on a girl who sleighted them, Ginger is attacked by a wild animal: The Beast of Bailey Downs. Later that night, as Ginger's wounds miraculously heal, it is clear she is changing. Ginger wants to believe it is nothing more than the onset of puberty; but her sister Brigitte knows better...

PONTYPOOL

A psychological thriller from Bruce McDonald, in which a deadly virus infects a small Ontario town.

TREEVENGE

A comedy horror short film from Hobo With A Shotgun director Jason Eisener and starring Jonathan Torrens. Christmas trees ripped out of their forest plan revenge against people enjoying the holidays.

SCANNERS

From director David Cronenberg is the 1981 cult hit Scanners, about a scientist sends a man with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE

A decades old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day, turns out to be true to legend when a group defies the killer's order and people start turning up dead.

THE GATE

Three young children accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from a hole in a suburban backyard. What follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth.

FIDO

Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido. But when Fido eats the next-door neighbor, Mom and Dad hit the roof, and Timmy has to go to the ends of the earth to keep Fido a part of the family. A zombie comedy directed by Andrew Currie.

CUBE

A science fiction psychological horror film about 7 complete strangers of widely varying personality characteristics who are involuntarily placed in an endless kafkaesque maze containing deadly traps.

Saints-Martyrs Des-Damnés

An eerie and playful supernatural thriller about a tabloid reporter Flavien and his photographer buddy Armand who are dispatched to a rural Quebec village to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances. Almost immediately things begin to go awry, as Armand vanishes on their first night in town.

PIN

A doctor has a lifelike, anatomically-correct medical dummy, with muscles and organs visible through its clear skin, named Pin (after Pinocchio). Via ventriloquism, Pin explains bodily functions in a way kids can relate to. When the over-strict doctor and his wife are killed in a car crash, his son (Leon) transfers his alter-ego into Pin, whom he always believed was alive. He starts using Pin as an excuse to over-protect his sister (Ursula) from admirers and deflect unwanted intrusions, even to the extent of committing murder.

JACK BROOKS, MONSTER SLAYER

As a child Jack Brooks witnessed the brutal murder of his family. Now a young man he struggles with a pestering girlfriend, therapy sessions that resolve nothing, and night classes that barely hold his interest. After unleashing an ancient curse, Jack's Professor undergoes a transformation into something not-quite- human, and Jack is forced to confront some old demons... along with a few new ones.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Virginia is proud that she belongs to a clique. The best students at a private school. But before her 18th birthday, a grueling set of murders take place and her friends are the ones who are falling prey. Could it be her? She suffers from blackouts due to a freak accident one year earlier. We soon learn the truth behind her accident and what is going on...

PROM NIGHT

A masked killer stalks four teens responsible for the accidental death of a child six years earlier at their high school's senior prom.

Today marks our first-time event at Garden City Collegiate with a screening of Peter Raymont & Michele Hozer's documentary WEST WIND: THE VISION OF TOM THOMSON. With the assistance of REEL CANADA's Manitoba Coordinator & Facilitator, Terri Cherniack and Garden City Collegiate teacher, Catherine Flynn, 150 students will experience the visually stunning and thoughtful documentary followed by a Q&A with Peter Raymont and Nancy Lang via Skype. 

About the film:

Tom Thomson is one of Canada's most beloved painters. Described as our "greatest colourist" and "our Van Gogh", Thomson's vibrant interpretations of the nothern landscape are iconic representations of the Canadian soul.

On July 8, 1917, just as he was reaching ascendancy in his craft, Tom Thomson paddled across Canoe Lake and disappeared. His body was found floating in the lake 8 days later. The cause of his death remains a mystery. WEST WIND: THE VISION OF TOM THOMSON unravels many of the mysteries of this brilliant, beloved artist. 

Actor Vinay Virmani with students at The Woodlands Secondary School

What a wild ride at The Woodlands Secondary School the morning of October 3^rd. Over 400 students were in a frenzy inside the Woodlands Cafetorium. Before the film even began there was a serious buzz in the room. The crowd of mainly grade nines students was highly energized, vocal and very supportive even during the introductions.

The screening was a massive success. The sight of Canadian comedian Russell Peters on-screen, ignited the crowd with loud cheers. Every tender moment between the two leads Vinay Virmani and Camilla Belle received an “awwww” while everybody check an goal scored by the Speedy Singh’s garnered loud cheers and even standing ovations! When Toronto native Drake appeared on the screen the place went bananas.

Q&A with Vinay Virmani at The Woodlands School

The Q&A following the screening was amazing. A line up of over fifteen students assembled to ask Vinay jovial questions like what it was like to kiss Camilla Belle to more serious questions like his writing process and what it took to get BREAKAWAY on the screen.  Many of the young students from Woodlands simply just wanted a hug from Vinay.

Woodlands student dance off

The Q&A completed with around 20 students taking the stage for a brief dance off, followed by a sing-a-long of Canadian Carly Rae Jepsen’s summer hit Call Me Maybe. It was something…special.

Vinay Virmani signing autographs for The Woodlands School students

The kids really loved Vinay. It took the REEL CANADA team over fifteen minutes to drag him away but Vinay was extremely gracious and accommodating by signing dozens of posters and REEL CANADA catalogues for the students.  
 

To kick off REEL CANADA’S 8^th season on such a high note was really special. The students, the teachers, the guests and the staff of REEL CANADA had a great time at The Woodlands School and we’re looking forward to returning next year. A special shout out to Woodlands Librarian Stephanie Alexander for being such a delight to work with and putting on a great event. 

This year REEL CANADA has added seven new feature films to our catalogue.

REEL CANADA's Kat Gligorijevic reflects on her time at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and why TIFF is important to Canada. 

This year's Toronto International Film Festival was a pretty busy, action-packed time for the REEL CANADA team. We each had our own paths to follow through the fest, and we all saw very different things, but the consensus really has been that it was a great year, especially for Canadian films.

TIFF is certainly the biggest film festival in Canada, but it's also one of the largest, most prestigious and most important festivals in the entire world. It's a big deal to premiere a film here, and it's an annual chance for us to see some of the best cinematic works produced all over the world. For me, the best thing about TIFF is the fact that it's a truly public festival. While there's lots of programming at the Festival for members of the film industry, members of the public can buy tickets to anything playing there. You can't say the same about Cannes, Sundance, or many of the other big festivals around the world. Here, it's all about the film fans, and they come out in full force. It's a real pleasure to watch films with an audience of people who are really into it, who laugh, cry and react with enthusiasm to what's happening on screen. It reminds me of why seeing films in a theatre is so much better than watching them in my living room.

For REEL CANADA, TIFF is a chance to catch up with the cream of the crop of Canadian films as well as enjoying some international cinema. Our process for selecting films for our catalogue is extensive, and involves testing contenders with high school teachers and students, to ensure films are not only appropriate but also really fun for the audience. We find those contenders by attending TIFF, as well as some other local film festivals, and occasionally accepting submissions directly from filmmakers. TIFF, however, is the big one. We not only get to see some of the best Canadian features, docs and shorts made over the past year, we also get to see them with big, enthusiastic crowds, and we get to hear the filmmakers speak at Q&As and industry panels. It's an amazing opportunity to get to know the local industry and feel its pulse. We spot trends and get to know emerging talents all by being careful observers at TIFF - not just watching the films, but everything else that goes on at the Festival as well.

My own TIFF path this year included a lot of smaller Canadian films by first time directors and emerging talents. I loved I DECLARE WAR, by Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson, an amazingly clever film about a group of pre-teens playing a game of war in the woods (a game which they take very, very seriously). I also loved PICTURE DAY, a pretty audacious coming of age comedy/drama about a young girl with a bad reputation who's got to repeat her senior year of high school, and gets some very unlikely help from a geeky freshman she used to babysit. Writer-director Kate Melville really nails the good and bad sides of what it's like to be a teenage girl. I didn't see as many docs as I wanted to this year, but I thought REVOLUTION (the new doc by SHARKWATER director Rob Stewart) was very inspiring, and really hammered home the urgency of getting involved in the environmental movement. Or, as Rob Stewart called it, the "human" movement, because our own survival depends on the survival of the forest, oceans, and ecosystems around us.

Of course, the rest of the REEL CANADA team also had some grand adventures during TIFF. Our Senior Production Coordinator, Mark Meeks, also saw and loved I DECLARE WAR, and was impressed by ANTIVIRAL (a film that probably won't be appropriate for REEL CANADA, but is definitely on my personal "to see" list). Our Administrative Director Deanna Wong saw Sudz Sutherland's latest film, HOME AGAIN and has been singing its praises in the office. Our Artistic Director Sharon Corder (she's in charge of programming our catalogue and festivals, so she's got to see a lot of films!) saw and really enjoyed ALL THAT YOU POSSESS, INESCAPABLE and Deepa Mehta's MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN. Several members of the team highly recommended Sarah Polley's STORIES WE TELL, which I'm still kicking myself for missing. In a couple of days, we're having a team lunch together so that we can talk more about the films we loved, both Canadian and international. I can't wait to expand my "to see" list even further.