News

We're back with another installment of Horror Highlights! In today's edition, we have an exclusive clip from Dreamland that features Juliette Lewis, the full documentary Tax Shelter Terrors, release details for Zeta, a teaser for 6:45, and an interview with the composer of Artik:

Exclusive Clip from Dreamland: Starring Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins, Juliette Lewis, directed by Bruce McDonald, written by Tony Burgess and Patrick Whistler:

On the night of the strangest weddings in cinema history, a grotesque gang boss hires a stone cold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend.

Uncork'd Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures will release the horror/crime/thriller Dreamland in theaters, on VOD and Digital HD on June 5, 2020.

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Canadian Horror Documentary Tax Shelter Terrors: "An in depth look how the Canadian Government tax incentives helped develop Canada's horror and exploitation film industry.

Montreal, Canada - Immediate Release – June...

Aging much better than a freezer burnt, half eaten cake, Happy Birthday to Me (1981) stands out as one of the better ones from the golden era of slashers, when the major studios weren’t afraid to throw some blood soaked (Canadian) coin at a B level concept, and in the process giving it some A list icing.

The Canadian ties? Filmed in Montreal when tax credits were still flying fast and furious, Happy was one of Columbia Pictures early ‘80s ventures into the horror world. (Graduation Day, released the same year, was the breadwinner of the two.) Recruiting the Canadian producing juggernaut of Andre Link and John Dunning (David Cronenberg’s cohorts on his mid ‘70s output, Shivers and Rabid), Columbia was guaranteed a good return on their investment. Of course, the Canuck connection doesn’t stop there – the cast includes such faces of Canadiana as Lawrence Dane (Scanners), Jack Blum...

Special Mention: Gojira (Godzilla)

Written and directed by Ishirô Honda

Japan, 1954

Ishiro Honda’s grim, black-and-white post-Hiroshima nightmare stands the test of time. This allegory for the devastation wrought on Japan by the atomic bomb is quite simply a powerful statement about mankind’s insistence to continue to destroy everyone and everything the surrounds us. With just one shot (a single pan across the ruins of Tokyo), Honda manages to express the devastation that Godzilla represents. Since its debut, Godzilla has become a worldwide cultural icon, but very little is said about actor Takashi Shimura, who adds great depth as Dr. Yamane; his performance is stunning. Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya originally wanted to use classic stop-motion animation to portray Godzilla, but time and budget limitations forced him to dress actors up in monster suits. Despite this minor setback, Tsuburaya’s scale sets of Tokyo are crafted with such great attention to detail,...

Le diable est parmi nous (a/k/a The Possession of Victoria and Satan’s Sabbath)

Written by John Dunning and André Link

Directed by Jean Beaudin

Canada, 1972

Le diable est parmi nous (also known as The Possession of Virginia and Satan’s Sabbath) continues the Fantasia International Film Festival’s foray into the dark, sleazy recesses on Quebec’s cinematic past. This, like the previously-covered Pouvoir intime, is another homegrown genre effort that hasn’t seen the light of day on home video since the VHS era. The 35mm copy shown at the festival is the only complete extant print, and was loaned from the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. As such, the screened version is in as good a shape as you could expect an archival print to be. The film itself, meanwhile, is remarkably messier, pitched somewhere between a Parallax View-esque conspiracy thriller and an occult-themed sexploitation film,...

Following previous announcements of their film lineup, the Fantasia International Film Festival has released their full lineup of movies to be shown at the 18th Annual festival, starting July 17.

New additions to the lineup include 2014 Cannes Selection When Animals Dream, directed by Jonas Alexander Amby and the return of Fantasia’s showcase of animated films, Axis.

Tickets for the festival go on sale starting July 16, and the festival runs through August 5.

View the whole press release of additional announcements below:

Fantasia Celebrates Its 18th Birthday

With Over 160 Feature Films Montreal, Thursday July 10, 2014 – 2014 is the year that Fantasia turns 18. We can’t believe it either. Fantasia’s 18th birthday means over 160 features and something in the neighborhood of 300 shorts, many being shown for the first time on this continent, a good number screening here for the first time anywhere in the world.In addition to being stacked with a multitude of breathtaking debut filmmaker discoveries,...

Fango editor Chris Alexander will host a special restored-director’s-cut screening of David Cronenberg’s first masterpiece, 1975’s Shivers, this Friday night, November 15 at 8:45 p.m. at Toronto’s Tiff Bell Lightbox, part of the ongoing David Cronenberg: Evolution screening series and massive exhibit/installation. Shivers, produced by Cinepix legends John Dunning and Andre Link, stars Lynn Lowry […]...

It has been announced that David Cronenberg’s first feature film, Shivers, is in the process of being remade:

‘Toronto — September 6, 2013 — Producers Jeff Sackman and Michael Baker today announced that they will remake the horror classic Shivers, David Cronenberg’s first feature film. That film, highlighted with a special screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, broke ground with its boundary-pushing sexuality and violence in its original release, nearly 40 years ago.

Shivers will be directed by award-winning Danish filmmaker Rie Rasmussen from a screenplay written by Ian Driscoll. Sackman and Baker will produce through their respective companies, Tajj Media and Bunk 11 Pictures. Working with them as executive producer is the film’s original executive producer, André Link. Shivers will begin shooting in February 2014, with casting currently underway.

In Shivers, a genetically-engineered strain of parasites that turn people into violent, compulsive sex-addicts is released into a self-contained luxury apartment complex.

Producers Jeff Sackman and Michael Baker have hired Denmark’s Rie Rasmussen to remake David Cronenberg’s classic first feature, itself the subject of a special screening at Toronto this year.

Sackman’s Tajj Media and Baker’s Bunk 11 will produce while the film’s original executive producer André Link reprises his role.

Casting is underway in time for a February 2014 shoot. Ian Driscoll’s screenplay updates the original storyline about a parasite outbreak that turns apartment complex residents into sex fiends to incorporate the realities of the post-hiv digital world.

Cronenberg, the subject of the retrospective David Cronenberg: Evolution exhibition at Toronto, wrote and directed the original 1975 Shivers, which was known in some countries as They Came From Within.

“I’m Scandinavian and am very comfortable with sexual expression as a part of a healthy, modern-day reality, and I’ve always loved the underlying social messages in a well-made horror film,” said Rasmussen...

Producers Jeff Sackman and Michael Baker today announced that they will remake the horror classic Shivers, David Cronenberg’s first feature film. That film, highlighted with a special screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, broke ground with its boundary-pushing sexuality and violence in its original release, nearly 40 years ago. Shivers will be directed by award-winning Danish filmmaker Rie Rasmussen from a screenplay written by Ian Driscoll. Sackman and Baker will produce through their respective companies, Tajj Media and Bunk 11 Pictures. Working with them as executive producer is the film’s original executive producer, André Link. Shivers will begin shooting in February 2014, with casting currently underway. In Shivers, a genetically-engineered strain of parasites that turn people into violent, compulsive sex-addicts is released into a self-contained luxury apartment complex. The resident doctor attempts to find a cure before the infected, nymphomaniac inhabitants spread their legs – and the parasites.

The definition of a slasher film varies depending on who you ask, but in general, it contains several specific traits that feed into the genre’s formula. Author Vera Dika rather strictly defines the sub-genre in her book Games of Terror by only including films made between 1978 and 1984. In other words, she saw it as a movement. When someone describes Brick, they don’t define it as a noir, but instead neo-noir . In other words, it’s a modern motion picture that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in those from the 1940s and 1950s. So does one consider Scream a slasher film or a neo-slasher, or simply put, a modern slasher?

Some consider Thirteen Women to be the earliest slasher – released all the way back in 1932. Personally I think that is rubbish. Thirteen Women is more like Desperate Housewives on sedatives.

Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.

As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.

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124: (Tie) Inside (À l’intérieur)

Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury

Written by Alexandre Bustillo

2007, France

Four months after the death of her husband, a pregnant woman is tormented by a strange woman who invades her home with the intent on killing her and taking her unborn baby. This movie is not recommended for women on the brink of motherhood. Inside is one of the most vicious and...

The 2011 Fantasia International Film Festival has come to an end and as usual was a rousing success with more than 100,000 audience members. In addition 150 international directors, actors, and producers presented their films at the fest. Read on for the wrap-up and winners from this year's various competitions.

From the Press Release: sThe festival opened with a bang with the Canadian premiere of Red State by director Kevin Smith. This was only the first in a long line of sensational special events that took place over the course of the festival. Among those was the incredible homage to the great John Landis (Burke And Hare), marked by the presentation of Fantasia’s new trophy “Le Cheval Noir.” Mirroring our strong launch, the festival closed with the Canadian premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s Don’T Be Afraid Of The Dark. Other memorable events included: the homage to André Link and John Dunning...

My first exposure to Canadian filmmaker Larry Kent was in Fantasia's tribute reel to the maverick producing team of John Dunning and André Link, co-founders of Québec's legendary Cinépix production company. That reel affords the opportunity to see Larry Kent as a dashingly handsome young filmmaker. Unfortunately, the much-heralded on-stage tribute to Dunning and Link effectively capsized the festival's international posture by insisting on being unapologetically Québecoise. As no translative services were provided, it quickly became clear that I had not been invited to this particular party, specifically because I was an English-speaking media guest. So I left them to steep in their self-congratulatory regionality and sought out programs where I would be welcome. Fortunately, however, later that evening at the Irish Embassy Pub--the...

As Fantasia rings in its 15th anniversary, they are celebrating the founding fathers of Quebec’s genre cinema heritage — the legendary producing team of John Dunning and André Link a.k.a. the Roger Cormans of Canada. The duo regularly took risks supporting exciting new talent, kickstarting the careers of some of Canada’s greatest filmmakers such as David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Ivan Reitman, Denis Héroux, George Mihalka, Claude Jutra, Jean-Claude Lord, Don Cormody and Larry Kent, to name a few. Fantasia will be screening a ton of old Canuxploitation films for free throughout the fest, but there are also a number of promising Canadian features set to premiere. Below is a list of the three Canadian films I feel are most promising.

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1- Beyond The Black Rainbow

Panos Cosmatos‘ debut, Beyond the Black Rainbow, is one of the must see films at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival.

As Fantasia rings in its 15th anniversary, they are celebrating the founding fathers of Quebec’s genre cinema heritage — the legendary producing team of John Dunning and André Link a.k.a. the Roger Cormans of Canada. The duo regularly took risks supporting exciting new talent, kickstarting the careers of some of Canada’s greatest filmmakers such as David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Ivan Reitman, Denis Héroux, George Mihalka, Claude Jutra, Jean-Claude Lord, Don Cormody and Larry Kent, to name a few. Fantasia will be screening a ton of old Canuxploitation films for free throughout the fest, but there are also a number of promising Canadian features set to premiere. Below is a list of Canadian films I look forward to with one addition that I can guarantee, is a must see.

#1 - Some Guy who Kills People

There are a few Canadian films that look extremely promising that are screening...

When the Fantasia International Film Festival returns to set Montreal ablaze this summer, the fantastic film festival – one of the largest and most influential of its kind in the world – will be celebrating its 15th anniversary with an astonishing three-week showcase of international genre cinema, from July 14th to August 7th, 2011.

The full line-up of over 120 feature films from across the world will be announced in another few weeks. But for now, Fantasia is proud to reveal several juicy teases, each related to the country it calls home.

2011 Artwork:

For the festival’s 2011 edition, a painting by esteemed Montreal artist Donald Caron was commissioned. As of this year, the festival will be calling its main jury award “Le Cheval Noir”, and it was desired that the event’s 15th-anniversary artwork would depict this in an imaginative way.

The poster art and award moniker are a nod to a wonderfully fantastical...

One of the largest and most influential film festivals of its kind in the world will be celebrating its 15th anniversary with three thrilling weeks showcasing international genre cinema, from July 14th to August 7th, 2011. The full line-up of over 120 feature films from across the world will be announced in another few weeks but Twitch released a press release from the festival detailing some exciting news. The festival has added a program Maple Syrup Thrills, a tribute to John Dunning and André Link responsible for such genre film landmarks as David Cronenbergs early break through hits Shivers, Rabid, as well as Happy Birthday To Me, Death Weekend and My Bloody Valentine.

Fantasia will award the trailblazing duo with a pair of Lifetime Achievement Awards and will also mount a special Dunning/Link retrospective series in order to allow a new generation of film lovers a chance to see some of...

Happy Valentine’s Day Bidite Nation!! We here at HorrorBid strive to bring out the horrors of all the holidays, and this one is no exception. I’m sure some of you have great quiet evenings planned with your loved one. Exchanging boxes of chocolates, arranging those roses so that they are just right, and even planning some intimate memories behind closed doors, all of these make Valentine’s Day truly special!...

Some, on the other hand, are just going to enjoy another night, one like every other. Dateless or not, you can still eat your own chocolate, light some candles, and even watch miners get slaughtered by Harry Warden in My Bloody Valentine. The question is which version do you watch? The 1981 Canadian version, or the 2009 American 3D one? Fear not fellow bidites! Today we will compare each film, so that in the end it will be clear as to which film to watch.

The latest in the revival of ’80s slasher favorites, Patrick Lussier’s My Bloody Valentine, came, saw and whipped up a 3-D storm at cinemas. Somewhat inevitably, of course, this means that a part two is on the cards.

“Originally, I wrote a sequel to the original movie and submitted it to Lionsgate as My Bloody Valentine Part II,” veteran producer John Dunning—who produced the original 1981 stalk ’n’ slash classic with Andre Link and Stephen Miller and receives an executive-producer credit on the redux—tells Fango. “They still have my script, but it relates only to the story of the first film and not the new one. So I’ll be talking to the studio soon about using a few of the elements of my follow-up and, by changing parts of the storyline, adapting it into something that follows the new version.”

Dunning, who ran the now-iconic Cinepix genre...

Valentine’s Day is February 14, but this year, fans of George Mihalka’s holiday slasher favorite My Bloody Valentine got a couple of early gifts. Not only did Lionsgate’s remake prove relatively faithful to the spirit and storyline of the original while adding the fun of 3-D, but the company gave the 1981 Canadian chiller its long-awaited DVD release in uncut form, with numerous moments of MPAA-scissored gore reinstated.

This disc (reviewed here) has delighted fans who’ve had to make do for over 25 years with VHS and disc editions from previous distributor Paramount containing the R-rated cut. And no one could be happier with its release than director Mihalka himself, who has long bemoaned the butchering of Valentine, and had been told a restoration would be impossible. “I was asked whether I wanted to do a director’s cut a few years ago,” he reveals. “Of course I said yes,...