The Brood

Director David Cronenberg
Year 1979
Run Time 92min
Genre Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.

Director

David Cronenberg

Writer

David Cronenberg

Cast

Art Hindle, Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar

Producers

Victor Solnicki, Claude Héroux, Pierre David

Genres

Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Original Language

English

N’xaxaitkw

Director Asia Youngman (Cree-Métis)
Year 2022
Run Time 16min
Genre Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
An Indigenous teen gets pressured into a trip to a lake that’s supposedly the home of the legendary Ogopogo, which proves to be more than a myth.

Director

Asia Youngman (Cree-Métis)

Genres

Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

Elijah and the Rock Creature

Director Jen Walden
Year 2018
Run Time 88min
Genre Sci-Fi/Fantasy
When separated from his mother on a family camping trip, a young boy meets a fantastical creature who helps him. Set in the stunning landscapes of Canada’s north, this lighthearted film explores themes of friendship and family, as Elijah and his unlikely new friend both try to find their way home. 

Director

Jen Walden

Writer

Jen Walden

Cast

Ben Naugler, Thompson Duff, Allie Dunbar

Producer

Jeremy Emerson

Genre

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interest

Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Pontypool

Director Bruce McDonald
Year 2008
Run Time 93min
Genre Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Grant Mazzy (McHattie) is a big-city shock radio DJ who has lost his job and moves to the small Ontario town of Pontypool, where he frustrates his new station manager, Sydney (Houle).

Nothing ever happens in Pontypool, so when Mazzy arrives at the station to start his show one wintry morning, he and his team are surprised by strange reports from town.

The station’s tiny crew find themselves holed up in their church basement studio, trying to piece together what’s happening outside as disturbing details pour in. Callers are making very little sense, and it seems like the English language itself is infected with a strange virus.

“McDonald knows it’s the things you don’t see, but only imagine, that best chill the blood.”
— Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Director

Bruce McDonald

McDonald directed the cult hits Highway 61, Roadkill, Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments, starring Elliot Page, Pontypool, and the award-winning series Twitch City, episodes of Degrassi and Heartland. His recent films include Trigger, The Husband, Hellions, Weirdos and Dreamland. He recently directed the series Creeped Out and Malory Towers and is currently working on the films Switched at Death and I Have a Bad Feeling About This.

Writer

Tony Burgess

Cast

Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly

Producers

Jeffrey Coghlan, Ambrose Roche

Genres

Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interests

Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Literary Adaptation

Original Language

English

Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy

Director Kelly Makin
Year 1996
Run Time 89min
Genre Comedy, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
The hilarious tale of a pharmaceutical firm’s rise and fall after executives pressure a scientist (McDonald) to release a hastily tested antidepressant. The drug makes people remember their happiest moments, but has some rather unfortunate and unintended side effects!

The film stars and was written by The Kids in the Hall, one of Canada’s best loved and most internationally acclaimed comedy troupes. Made on the heels of their successful five-season TV show, Brain Candy is an uproarious social satire of both Big Business and modern science.

An off-beat, oddball combination of cerebral humour and belly laughs, Brain Candy is sure to delight any Kids in the Hall fan.

Director

Kelly Makin

Writers

Norm Hiscock, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney

Cast

Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson

Producers

Lorne Michaels, Tom Rosenberg, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, David Steinberg

Genres

Comedy, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interest

Cult & Offbeat Cinema

Original Language

English

Videodrome

Director David Cronenberg
Year 1983
Run Time 87min
Genre Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Max Renn (Woods) is the president of a trashy TV channel desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he and his girlfriend (Harry) unearth a mysterious show called “Videodrome” and try to find its origins, they end up embarking on a hallucinatory journey into a shadow world of conspiracies, sadomasochism and bodily transformation.

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

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

James vs His Future Self

Director Jeremy LaLonde
Year 2019
Run Time 94min
Genre Comedy, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
James (Jonas Chernick) is stuck in a rut. He's a theoretical physicist obsessively searching for a breakthrough in his research, and he's also desperately in love with his colleague but can never work up the courage to tell her how he feels. That all changes when a man (Daniel Stern) shows up claiming to be his future self, after he finally discovered the key to time travel. He comes with a warning though: If James pursues his research, he will also ruin his life forever.
 
This hilarious sci-fi comedy was nominated for four Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

Director

Jeremy LaLonde

Writers

Jeremy LaLonde, Jonas Chernick

Cast

Jonas Chernick, Daniel Stern

Producers

Jonathan Bronfman, Jordan Walker, Jonas Chernick

Genres

Comedy, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Original Language

English

Psycho Goreman

Director Steven Kostanski
Year 2020
Run Time 95min
Genre Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

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

Rhymes for Young Ghouls

Director Jeff Barnaby (Mi’qmaw)
Year 2013
Run Time 88min
Genre Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
It’s 1976 on the Red Crow Mi’kmaw reserve, and 15-year-old Aila (Jacobs) is the weed princess of her community. Hustling drugs with her uncle Burner, she sells enough dope to pay a “truancy tax” to Popper, the sadistic “Indian agent” who runs St. Dymphna’s Residential School.

It’s a tough life, but she’s making it work. That is, until the precarious balance of her world is threatened by her father’s return from prison and the theft of her drug money.

Part fable, part small-town drama, Rhymes for Young Ghouls is a richly imaginative and striking drama about growing up during a very dark time in Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people.

“A savvy [Indigenous] genre film with a strong, beautiful and ingenious heroine whose courage helps right an injustice.” — Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail

Director

Jeff Barnaby (Mi’qmaw)

Writer

Jeff Barnaby (Mi’qmaw)

Cast

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (Mohawk), Glen Gould (Mi’qmaw), Brandon Oakes (Mohawk), Roseanne Supernault (Cree/Métis)

Producers

Aisling Chin-Yee, John Christou, Justine Whyte

Genres

Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Trickster

Director Michelle Latimer
Year 2020
Run Time 264min
Genre Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Jared (Oulette), a teenaged drug dealer in Kitimat, BC, finds his life upended by a series of preternatural events that expose the magical undercurrent both in his community and in his own family. When a mysterious stranger (Queypo) comes into town looking for his mother (Lightning, in a CSA-winning performance), Jared is forced to come to terms with his own powers in order to save the people he loves.

Based on the critically-acclaimed novel Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson (Haisla/Heiltsuk) and steeped in Haisla mythology, Trickster was named by Playback as the top scripted series of 2020 and received 11 CSA nominations, winning three.

Director

Michelle Latimer

A filmmaker and actor, Latimer’s first short, Choke, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Her credits include several documentaries and dramatic shorts, such as The Underground and Nuuca. She has directed the television series Rise, Burden of Truth and Trickster.

Cast

Crystle Lightning (Cree), Joel Oulette (Cree/Métis), Kalani Queypo (Blackfoot), Anna Lambe (Inuk)

Genres

Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker, Literary Adaptation, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English