Get spooky this Halloween with Canadian horror films, past, present, and future – many of which are available on the Rendezvous Canada iTunes store. From surprisingly Canadian hits like Robin Aubert’s Les Affamés to the Soska sisters’ upcoming remake of David Cronenberg’s Rabid, Canada may have a reputation for being nice, but we know how to do scary too!
What’s more, the success of our spine-chilling coproductions (like 2010’s Resident Evil: Afterlife, which took in almost $7M at the box office, and 2012’s Resident Evil: Retribution, which took in more than $5M), show that Canada is a great partner for genre film coproduction.
Surprisingly Canadian horror
Let’s revisit 2017’s acclaimed zombie flick Les affamés (Ravenous). Starring Monia Chokri, Marc-André Grondin, Micheline Lanctôt, and Brigitte Poupart, the movie’s many awards included Best Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival; the People’s Choice Award at the Festival du nouveau cinéma; a Canadian Screen Award for make-up; and eight Prix Iris (Best Film, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Brigitte Poupart’s performance). Les affamés also won at the Nocturna Madrid Film Festival and screened at the Sitges Film Festival, Stockholm International Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, and at the International Film Festival of India in Goa.
Also on this frightful list is Patricia Rozema’s Into the Forest (2015) featuring Canadian star Ellen Page alongside Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella, and others. Based on Jean Hagland’s book, it screened in Busan and closed the Sitges Film Festival.
In addition to the aforementioned Resident Evil films, which were both coproductions between Germany, France, USA, Canada, and the UK, rounding out our surprisingly Canadian category is another coproduction, this time with Spain Mama (2013), starring young Canadian actresses Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse, alongside Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, took in almost $3.5M at the box office.
Current and recent Canadian genre films
Don’t miss Leo Scherman’s Trench 11 (2017), which screened at the Toronto After Dark film festival; Peter Ricq’s Leo Award-nominated Dead Shack (2017); and Colin Minihan’s What Keeps You Alive (2018).
Bonus! Catch all the spooky movies mentioned so far on our Rendezvous Canada iTunes store,
Don’t miss Jeremy Lutter’s The Hollow Child (2017), funded by Telefilm’s Talent Fund-supported Talent to Watch Program (formerly Micro-Budget Production Program) and selected for the Portland Film Festival, among others. The Hollow Child was in theatres until October and was just made available on video on demand (VOD).
Coming soon
In a double whammy of homegrown horror, keep an eye out for a remake of David Cronenberg’s Rabid (1977), by Canadian filmmaking twins Jen and Sylvia Soska (the Soska sisters). The feature filmed in Toronto with Canuck actors Laura Vandervoort, Ben Hollingsworth, and others.
All you need to do is binge-watch Canuck horror this Halloween… if you dare!
