Editorials
Terror from the Tundra: 20 Awesome Canadian Horror Movies!
It’s the most wonderful time of year when genre fans celebrate holiday horror. One of the most celebrated comes straight out of the snowy north – Ontario, to be exact – the famed Black Christmas. Canada has a thriving film industry and diverse locations for movies (even if they’re often dressed up as the United States) and several quality horror films have been made on her soil. This is partly thanks to the Canadian tax shelter in 1975-1982 that allowed film investors to deduct their entire contributions to avoid paying taxes on them. King Cronenberg benefited greatly from this program, and that made sure we did, too. We’ve come up with some recommendations here, with this list of 20 Canadian horror movies. When you’re finished, make sure you check out our previous list of Canadian Monster Movies! Get ready, it’s time for a dose of Canuxploitation.
Black Christmas – Bob Clark (1974)
Director Bob Clark has a peculiar body of work (A Christmas Story, Baby Geniuses, Porky) but his horror hits like Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things and Black Christmas are where he shines. A sorority house is plagued by sick phone calls: moaning and breathing into the phone, crude promises of rape and murder and general deranged laughter and babbling. When one girl goes missing, the threats become more serious. There’s a reason Black Christmas is well-loved. It’s surprisingly funny thanks to a bratty performance by Margot Kidder, and Olivia Hussey is at her prime in a fairly progressive story arc. An added touch of a drunk Sorority Mother, Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman) is the cherry on top for horror comedy connoisseurs. Though sometimes goofy, there is real fear to be found in Black Christmas. The calls received are truly disturbing, and the kills themselves are just juicy enough to entertain you through those long, cold, December nights.
Antiviral – Brandon Cronenberg (2012)
David Cronenberg’s baby boy Brandon entered the scene with a stoic and sterile feature-length debut with Antiviral. Syd (Caleb Landry Jones) works as a salesperson for company that sells and injects celebrity viruses. He also smuggles those viruses out in his body for sale on the black market. This is only one of a number of services requested in a civilization that has evolved to full-on celebrity worship. Antiviral asks a lot of its viewer, and its pace is slow but steady. If you’ve got a dystopian bone in your body, you’ll enjoy the ideas about celebrity obsession that are presented, since the idea alone is what makes Antiviral most compelling.
The Changeling – Peter Medak (1980)
One of the more recognizable entries to this list, The Changeling opens on a tragic accident as a composer (George C. Scott) loses his wife and child. Hoping to recover from the ordeal and start over, he moves to a grand house in “Seattle” and soon experiences signs of the paranormal. It seems there’s a message from a soul left behind. Genuinely frightening scenes, fantastic story and a wonderful performance by Scott and his costar Trish Van Devere make this a top-quality ghost story. Filmed in rainy Vancouver, those familiar with the city will enjoy a trip to the past at some local highlights and the natural eeriness the weather brings.
7 Days/Les 7 jours du talion – Daniel Grou (2010)
Quebecois filmmakers don’t get the spotlight they deserve most of the time, and that’s at least partly because their movies can be difficult to find. Thankfully, my local video store had this one tucked away for my viewing pleasure. Sort of. Bruno (Claude Legault) and his wife Sylvie (Fanny Mallette) have a happy life with their 8-year-old daughter Jasmine, until she goes missing and is found hours later raped and murdered. Once the perpetrator has been identified, Bruno intercepts him on the way to trial and tortures him for a period of seven days. This sounds a little similar to a film by another famous Canadian filmmaker, Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners, which is just as tense if a little tighter.7 Days isn’t just torture porn, but the scenes of brutal violence can be difficult to watch as Bruno descends towards his ultimate goal. The movie also examines guilt, revenge, and grief, punctuating moments of human struggle with excruciating pain. The film is deftly shot and lives in the greys and browns of others of its kind, but if you give it a watch you’ll find there’s more there than meets the eye.
American Mary – Jen & Sylvia Soska (2010)
American Mary is the Soska Sisters’ most well-known film (well, until their remake of Rabid comes out) and it’s also currently their best. A stunning Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Hannibal) stars as Mary, medical student gone rogue after dipping her toe in the body modification trade. When she’s assaulted, she takes bloody revenge into her own hands. American Mary is tale of feminine revenge that boasts atmosphere and a ton of onscreen talent. The Soskas – and everyone they work with – are solid horror fans and you can always sense joy and earnestness in their work.
My Bloody Valentine – George Mihalka (1981)
My Bloody Valentine is a Canadian cult classic that plays on the local folklore of Harry Warden, a man who went mad after surviving a devastating mine collapse. Legend has it he returns on St. Valentine’s day to murder anyone who celebrates. This year, the sleepy town of Valentine’s Bluffs is throwing a Valentine’s Day dance: the first in 20 years! This, of course, brings Harry back from his slashing slumber and the townspeople start to receive some gory warnings. Chock full of melodrama and teenage love triangles, slasher fans won’t want to miss this one’s seriously awesome kills.
Pin – Sandor Stern (1988)
Mannequins are base-level creepy. Instructive medical mannequins take things to a whole other level as is the case with Pin, a musculatory-system exposed dummy that serves as both model and teacher in Dr. Linden’s office. Linden (Terry O’Quinn) is a cold, scientific man who uses ventriloquism to make Pin speak to his two strange children, Ursula (Cynthia Preston) and Leon (David Hewlett). It’s Pin who diagnoses their illnesses and gives them the ol’ sex talk, and his presence in their lives has a profound effect on Leon’s psychology. When he and his sister are grown and tragically orphaned, Pin becomes a member of the family who disturbs and destroys the relationships around them. Pin feels really special because of its strangeness; from the plot to the dialogue found within. Relational boundaries are often crossed, and it’s sinister in more of a Psycho way than the popular slashers of the decade.
Pontypool – Bruce McDonald (2008)
“These long winters make me feel like I’m living in the basement of the world. It’s so cold, and so dark.” Welcome to Canada. Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) is the local radio mouthpiece in Pontypool. The idea is compelling: residents of a small Ontario town develop an illness that’s spread by language. Grant and his coworkers Sydney (Lisa Houle) and Laurel-Ann (Georgina Reilly) broadcast the happenings as best they can with the information that’s coming in. Most of the carnage is never seen, only described in detail over the phone by hysterical eyewitnesses. The strength here lies in your own imagination and what kind of macabre scenarios you can produce. The weakness is that the idea runs out of steam, eventually. Still, Pontypool has a rabid and loyal fanbase and stands as a unique take on what some would call the zombie genre.
Deadly Eyes – Robert Clouse (1982)
This one made the list purely for its use of dachshunds in rat costumes running around the sewers of Toronto. Deadly Eyes attempts horror from GMO crops, in this case, a steroid-infused grain causes giant rats to feast on the local residents. We all know that when you see one rat, there’s 10 you don’t see, and before you know it the streets are awash with the filthy creatures. If you’re looking for a fun flick to watch with a case of beers and a couch full of friends, try this one out. If you feel strangely connected to the idea, good news: There’s a book to fill in all the glaring gaps.
Cube – Vincenzo Natali (1997)
This ‘90s Canadian horror leans sci-fi in all the best ways. A group of strangers finds themselves connected inside of a labyrinthian death-trap, and must work together with their individual strengths to escape and find out where they are, and more importantly, why they’re there. Thankfully the premise is strong enough to carry the film’s weaker points, and it’s easy to appreciate the thought that went into the Cube’s design. Even if it doesn’t become a personal favourite, fans of Saw might find it particularly interesting. Good news? A remake is in the works.
The Mask/Eyes of Hell – Julian Roffman (1961)
Wow. Known for being Canada’s first feature-length horror movie, The Mask is something extra special for its use of early 3D. In this story, Psychiatrist Dr. Barnes (Paul Stevens) receives an ancient ritual mask from one of his patients who claims that wearing the mask gives psychedelic hallucinations that drive to madness and even murder. During these scenes when Dr. Barnes wears the mask, original audiences donned their mask-shaped glasses to experience the visions of cults and torture in colourific 3D. The visions are strange and eerie, and quite effective in their artistic appearances. I’d give just about anything to get my hands on a pair of those original Magic Mystic Mask Glasses! For genre fans, this one is a must-see. You can check it out in restored 3D on Blu.
Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile – Jeff Gillen, Alan Ormsby (1974)
Deranged begins with a somber narrator warning viewers of what they are about to see, calling the story one with “profound reverberations” that’s “not for the squeamish or faint of heart” and he’ll reappear several times to clue us in on what’s going on. Not that it’s necessary, but it is a little charming. This is a horror movie that tries to balance empathy with the real-life horrors of Ed Gein and even in its success proves just how difficult that can be. Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom) is close to his mother – a little too close. After she passes, his loneliness causes him to dig up and nurse his mother’s corpse. But bodies decay and require “maintenance” and Ezra needs somewhere to get parts. True crime fans, rejoice.
Happy Birthday To Me – J. Lee Thompson (1981)
This is another school slasher entering the magnificent eighties. This time it follows Virginia Wainwright (Melissa Sue Anderson) and her crew of the “Top Ten” at Crawford Academy. As members of the illustrious group begin to go missing, Virginia experiences flashbacks of trauma that occurred to her years before on her birthday. As we join Virginia in putting the pieces back together, the two events begin to connect. Happy Birthday to Me is full of signature cheeky ‘80s humour, inappropriate and always over the top. And while this movie dissolves into a bit of a ridiculous melodrama in the reveal of the final act, the kills along the way are a ton of fun.
Death Weekend/The House By The Lake – William Fruet (1976)
Perhaps channeling Pekinpah’s Straw Dogs, Death Weekend is a rape and revenge horror story filmed in rural Ontario. Unfortunately, this one has never had a DVD release so it can be difficult to get your hands on. Harry (Chuck Shamata) is a dentist and also a womanizer, and he’s managed to convince his new friend Diane (Brenda Vaccaro) to accompany him to his lake house for a “party”. Once they arrive, it becomes clear that there is no party planned at all. While the two are fighting over the bald-faced lie, a group of thugs from a road rage altercation on the way take the two hostage and torture them over a period of 24 hours. For fans of final girls, Diane is one who holds her own.
Backcountry – Adam MacDonald (2014)
I’m not sure if everyone grows up being legitimately afraid of bears, but growing up near the Rocky Mountains came with many warnings and scary stories about bear encounters. Even in school, we learned what to do in case we were being chased by one, and I’ve personally experienced – more than once – an exploded can of bear spray in a public bathroom. Anyway, bear attacks are scary, and Backcountry has one of the best you can find. Not much else needs to be said about this romantic camping getaway that turns into a terrifying ordeal. Good to watch before your next big camping trip.
Afflicted – Derek Lee, Clif Prowse (2013)
Found Footage fans, rejoice! Afflicted is a solid entry into the subgenre that takes an eons-old tale and serves it with a twist. Clif Prowse and Derek Lee wrote, directed, and starred in this tale about two friends who go on a trip around the world to film a web series as one of Derek’s last wishes, as he suffers from an abnormal connection in his brain that could lead to his death. After a sympathetic one night stand, Derek starts to display some symptoms that aren’t exactly related to his brain condition (or any known STI). Afflicted explores how far we’re willing to go for our friends, and how much of ourselves we’re willing to lose.
The Shrine – Jon Knautz (2010)
The Shrine, even in its modest form, is a movie that I can’t seem to stop thinking about. Carmen (Cindy Sampson) is an ambitious journalist whose commitment to investigation is affecting her relationship and her job. When she hears about several disappearances in a small Polish village, she endeavors to uncover the sinister truth behind them. The Shrine delves into cult territory, and having a weakness for dangerous religious zealots wreaking havoc on their followers makes this one to check out.
Rituals – Peter Carter (1976)
Rituals is commonly called the Canadian version of Deliverance, and it matches it both in pacing and survival scares. Four doctors continue their yearly tradition of taking a group trip. This year, they’re taking a bushwacking fishing trip in an extremely remote location. Their friendship has a long, rich history with ample baggage to root around in along the way, and as expected it seems like just a bunch of guys arguing about the ethics of medical procedures for the first bit. Before long, it becomes obvious that the group is being stalked by a menacing figure who contributes to their misfortune, and as time goes they being to think he may have more of a personal connection with them than they realize. Do yourself a big favour: watch the uncut version, and bring an extra pair of shoes.
Prom Night – Paul Lynch (1980)
Starring more familiar faces such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen, Prom Night is a classic story about owning up for your mistakes. When bullying causes an accidental death, a group of kids make a pact to keep it a secret. Six years later, as they’re preparing for and celebrating prom, a masked killer begins his slow revenge. Some snazzy disco numbers and an iconic rolling head stand out on this financially successful Canadian horror, making it one that features prominently on the slasher circuit even with its surprisingly tender ending.
Comforting Skin – Derek Franson (2011)
Koffie feels empty and alone. She combats this by dressing up and hanging out at the bar hoping to bring home someone who will love her. She has no luck in the romance department, and it’s evident from her scars and self-doubt that she has struggled mightily in the past. After yet another night of dejection, she impulsively gets a tattoo that wants to take up more real estate on her body and her mind. The tattoo whispers to Koffie and changes her behaviour, leading to obsession that drives her further and further into darkness. A hearty, earnest performance by Victoria Bidewell makes Comforting Skin soar surprisingly high as a story about destructive desire. This body horror fan wishes it leaned a little more into the grotesque, but the discomfort it brings satiates the appetite just enough.
There you have it, a scant serving of what Canada can offer on the horror front! Keep watching, we’re not done yet.
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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