Genre: Horror
Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés (Saint Martyrs of the Damned)
The town’s inhabitants are a strange group — a mayor who rules with an iron fist, the creepy twins running the motel, the woman who serenades cows, a masked mechanic, and many others. But Flavien can’t get anyone to help him, as they’re all suspicious and even downright aggressive toward him. With an arresting visual style and quirky sense of humour, the film pushes the boundaries of the conventional thriller, tackling questions about identity, responsibility and mortality in a refreshing way.
Director
Robin Aubert
Aubert is a filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. He has starred in many critical and box office hits, such as De père en flic (Father and Guns), Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre (My Internship in Canada), and Mon cirque à moi (My Very Own Circus). He has directed numerous films, including Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés (Saint Martyrs of the Damned), À l'origine d'un cri (Crying Out), and Les Affamés (Ravenous), which won Best Canadian Feature at TIFF and ten Prix Iris.
Writer
Robin Aubert
Cast
François Chénier, Isabelle Blais, Sylvie Boucher
Producers
Luc Vandal, Roger Frappier
Genres
Drama, Horror
Interest
Family Relationships
Original Language
French
Videodrome is one of David Cronenberg’s most original and provocative works, and is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential and mind-bending sci-fi/horror films of the 1980s. “Long live the new flesh” goes this movie’s most famous quote — and long live crazy Canadian body horror!
Director
David Cronenberg
A Companion of the Order of Canada, Cronenberg is a legendary filmmaker and pioneer of the body horror genre. His directing credits include iconic films such as Scanners, Dead Ringers, Videodrome, and Crash, for which he won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed eXistenZ, Crimes of the Future, The Shrouds, and others. He has won over 80 awards, including the Golden Coach at Cannes, and lifetime achievement awards from TIFF and the DGC.
Writer
David Cronenberg
Cast
James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Les Carlson, Peter Dvorsky
Producer
Claude Héroux
Genres
Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Interest
Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Psycho Goreman
Two children accidentally resurrect an evil alien overlord, who they name Psycho Goreman (or PG for short). While a magical amulet allows the kids to control him into doing their bidding, PG still wants to destroy the universe - and soon their activities draw the attention of a Planetary Alliance that sends an elite assassin named Pandora to stop PG from carrying out his evil will. In this battle of good vs. evil, it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top.
From Steven Kostanski, the creator of the cult-hit Manborg, Psycho Goreman is a fantastical ride that is as bizarre as it is hilarious.
Director
Steven Kostanski
Writer
Steven Kostanski
Cast
Nita-Josée Hanna, Owen Myre, Matthew Ninaber
Producers
Stuart F. Andrews, Shannon Hanmer, Steven Kostanski
Genres
Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Interest
Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Visually captivating, sly and clever, Fido follows the Robinson family, who have been hesitant to get a zombie of their own even though everyone on the block has one. All that changes when Mom (Moss) buys Fido (Connolly), and the loveable brute becomes young Timmy’s best friend. Fido is a funny, satirical and refreshing movie with an all-star cast and a standout performance by Billy Connolly as Fido.
“Currie’s zombie comedy is in a class by itself.”
— Lori Fireman, NOW Magazine
Director
Andrew Currie
Currie is a filmmaker, writer and producer whose directing credits include the shorts Persistence of Memory and Night of the Living, and the features Mile Zero, Barricade, and The Steps. He also wrote and directed the features Fido and The Invisibles and directed TV movies such as Twisteeria and Sleep Murder. He produced the feature The Delicate Art of Parking, and executive produced the features Lawrence & Holloman and Indian Road Trip, and the shorts G8 and Cloud Striker.
Writers
Robert Chomiak, Andrew Currie, Dennis Heaton
Cast
Carrie-Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Dylan Baker, Henry Czerny
Producers
Blake Corbet, Mary Anne Waterhouse
Genres
Comedy, Horror
Interests
Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
The Guest
Director
Nick Rodgers (Anishinaabe)
Writer
Nick Rodgers (Anishinaabe)
Cast
Philippe Mathon
Genres
Animation, Comedy, Horror
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker
Original Language
English
Scanners
Scanners are social outcasts, the by-product of a failed experimental drug given to their mothers during pregnancy, and possess the unusual ability to read and control minds.
Security firm ConSec wants to harness these telekinetics and turn them into a powerful new weapon; however, Revok (Ironside) is hellbent on destroying ConSec and taking over the world. The only man who may be able to stop him is the stoic but equally powerful Vale (Lack).
Chaos reigns as the duo face off in a series of dramatic duels featuring some of cinema’s most jaw-dropping practical effects.
Busting heads and box-office numbers when it opened in 1981, Scanners demonstrates Cronenberg’s talent for accessible, fun and truly awesome science fiction.
Director
David Cronenberg
Writer
David Cronenberg
Cast
Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Michael Ironside, Patrick McGoohan
Producers
Pierre David, Claude Héroux, Victor Solnicki
Genres
Action/Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Interests
Classics, Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Crash
After hitting Dr. Helen Remington (Hunter)’s vehicle in a critical car accident, film producer James Ballard (Spader), a man in an open marriage, and Remington, whose husband died in the crash, begin an unlikely affair that seems to take place exclusively in and around automobiles. While he is recovering, Ballard meets Vaughan (Koteas), a man who leads a bizarre subculture of people who fetishize car crashes, car safety tests, and traffic accidents in general. As Vaughan’s unusual cult meetings intersect with their lives, Ballard finds deeper meaning not just in his marriage, but in mankind’s increasingly intertwined and disturbing relationship to technology.
Director
David Cronenberg
A Companion of the Order of Canada, Cronenberg is a legendary filmmaker and pioneer of the body horror genre. His directing credits include iconic films such as Scanners, Dead Ringers, Videodrome, and Crash, for which he won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed eXistenZ, Crimes of the Future, The Shrouds, and others. He has won over 80 awards, including the Golden Coach at Cannes, and lifetime achievement awards from TIFF and the DGC.
Writer
David Cronenberg
Cast
James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Unger
Producers
David Cronenberg, Robert Lantos, Jeremy Thomas
Genres
Drama, Horror, Romance, Thriller
Interest
Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Splice
Elsa (Sarah Polley) and Clive (Adrien Brody) are married scientists who defy legal and ethical boundaries by splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism.
Director
Vincenzo Natali
Writers
Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant, Doug Taylor
Cast
Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chanéac
Producer
Steven Hoban
Genres
Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Original Languages
English, French
Violation
A woman on the brink of divorce is suddenly betrayed by her sister and brother-in-law, setting her on the warpath towards a violent revenge.
Directors
Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer
Writers
Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer
Cast
Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe
Producers
Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer
Genre
Horror
Interests
Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
English
Top of the Food Chain
The residents of a secluded Canadian town are being mysteriously and gruesomely devoured. Starring Campbell Scott.
Director
John Paizs
Since filming the widely-praised Crime Wave in his native Winnipeg, Paizs has directed Top of the Food Chain and Marker, and has worked on such TV series as Kids in the Hall, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes and John Woo’s Once a Thief. He is currently writing and illustrating a graphic novel and working as the director in residence at the Canadian Film Centre.
Writers
Philip Bedard, Larry Lalonde
Cast
Lorry Ayers, Robert Bockstael, Campbell Scott
Producers
Suzanne Berger, Jana Edelbaum
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English