Tag Archives: canada

Killer Canadian Horror!

June 30, 2015 Doc Leave a comment

Aloha, mutants! Another holiday in the planner notated with a question mark is upon us: Canada Day! As I sit here in my Vancouver, BC Days Inn motel room (truth, I’m really in Canada!), I thought I’d help celebrate Canada Day by taking a moment to honor some of the maple-flavored maniacs from up north!

Now this is not a list detailing the great and wonderful subgenre of “canuxploitation”, though you can find just about all the info you’d need to ever find on the subject at the awesomely extensive website, Canuxploitation! Nor is this a list detailing movies simply filmed in Canada. Y’see, some time in the 1970s, directors (American and otherwise) realized they could get some major tax breaks by filming in Canada, so there are lots of Canadian-filmed horror films that aren’t from Canadian directors. For a list of those movies, just check out the Wikipedia page for it.

This list is simply intended to shine a a light on a few Canuck-born crazies who’ve contributed great things to the genre of horror. So let’s take a look at a few of ’em, eh? Continue reading Killer Canadian Horror! →

60s & 70s, Reviews

“The Brood” (1979) REVIEW

February 19, 2015 Doc Leave a comment

As far as I can remember, this is the first horror movie I ever saw. My mom and sister were watching it on TV, and it scared the shit out of me.
I’ve always preferred David Cronenberg to David Lynch when it came to “what-the-fuck-did-I-just-watch” cinema. In fact, it’s this point exactly that makes The Brood so scary: it’s so far out there…just the idea of what’s happening will give you goosebumps and freak you out. A description of the film from Wikipedia (since I really couldn’t put it into words any better):
“The film depicts a series of murders committed by what seems at first to be a group of children. These are in fact the psychosomatic offspring of a mentally disturbed woman, whose husband fights for custody, and finally the life, of their daughter.” Terrifying, right?

This movie has it all: body horror, killer kids, and even a statement about the topic-at-the-time, Women’s Lib.

80s & 90s, Holiday Horror, Reviews

“Terror Train” (1980) REVIEW

February 18, 2015 Doc Leave a comment

This is another movie I only saw recently and don’t know why I waited so long to do so. The movie cashes in on the late 70s/early 80s slasher genre, even casting Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead — and it’s a good one.

The movie goes like this: During a New Year’s party, a pledging pre-med student is lured into a room by his frat brothers under the pretense of some sort of sexual activity. It turns out to be a prank however, and the student finds a cadaver in the room instead. He’s horrified, traumatized, and as we find out, sent to a psych ward.

Years later (on the three-year anniversary of the prank), the class graduates and members of the frat (and sister sorority) take a train (for some reason, I’m not sure), and it’s also a costume party (again, not really sure why). They also have a magician (again, really not explained) played by THE David Copperfield. In fact, as the kids start being brutally murdered one by one, ol’ Copperfield becomes a suspect.

I won’t give away the ending…because it’s actually a surprise ending, and a really good one at that. The filmmakers did a great job on this considering it’s set in one location for the whole film.