Blood in the Snow 2023: ‘My Animal’
My Animal, the feature-length directorial debut from music video cinematographer Jacqueline Castel, is a dramatic horror that offers a unique breath of fresh air to the coming-of-age sub-genre.
Festival Coverage
Blood in the Snow 2023: ‘The Hyperborean’
The Hyperborean has been written and directed by filmmakers who have been serving a 10-year sentence in my personal “movie jail” since being responsible for the gross-out body horror Septic Man. After missing their recent collaborations, director Jesse Thomas Cook and screenwriter Tony Burgess have appeared on my radar with their latest sci-fi mashup The Hyperborean and, thankfully, it’s pretty good.
The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival ’23: ‘Faceless After Dark’ And ‘V/H/S/85’
Shannon Page’s coverage of this year’s Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival (VHS) concludes with reviews of two spooky features – Faceless After Dark and V/H/S/85.
Toronto After Dark 2023: Shorts After Dark
The short films featured at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival are always worth a watch. The selections hardly miss, and audiences are usually given a wide collection of different types of horror told from diverse perspectives. The shorts I did catch at this year’s film festival were consistent with the past, but also included some all-timer scares and laughs.
The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival ’23: Short Films
The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival (VHS) has been scaring the socks off west coast audiences since 2018. In just a few short years, VHS has developed a reputation as one of the most diverse and exciting genre film festivals in Canada.
Toronto After Dark 2023: ‘Daniel’s Gotta Die’
Canadian filmmaker Jeremy LaLonde is becoming the go-to guy to find humour in despicable people. After taking a brief break to make an experimental drama (Ashgrove), LaLonde finds himself easing back into his comedic element with Daniel’s Gotta Die, a dark comedy about an inheritance-hungry, ne’er-do-well family being reigned in by a goodnatured sibling.
TIFF 2023: ‘I Don’t Know Who You Are’
M.H. Murray’s I Don’t Know Who You Are is a well-meaning dramatic thriller that raises awareness about systemic abandonment felt by sexual abuse survivors.
TIFF 2023: ‘Origin’
By: Jolie Featherstone Origin is Ava DuVernay’s latest film and it is, quite simply, a masterpiece.
TIFF 2023: ‘Seagrass’
In Seagrass, writer/director Meredith Hama-Brown uses a tired-and-true formula of the “family getaway” to uncover new wrinkles in an, otherwise, ordinary unit.
TIFF 2023: ‘Summer Qamp’
By: Jolie Featherstone Jen Markowitz’s documentary Summer Qamp follows several teens as they attend Camp fYrefly – a camp in rural Alberta where queer, non-binary, and trans teens get to be themselves, surrounded by peers and counsellors who can relate to their experience. From the moment the campers arrive, the camp implements a framework of care. Whether it’s coming out as trans or climbing a rock wall, the campers are supported.