5. Videodrome (1983)
Internet may have killed the video star, but David Cronenberg’s Videodrome remains a grotesquely relevant bit of pop culture trash. And by trash, I mean a metaphorical mirror reflecting our garbage souls. We humans are killing each other to hand over our free will to the masters of technology. A quick, electric blast of endorphins is all we need to ignore the societal hate stacking higher and higher around us. Long live the new flesh? If the Canadians are sensing the catastrophe bubbling inside the system, then you know the rest of the world is totally f’d. (Brad Gullickson)
4. The Witch (2015)
Look. There is nothing more Canadian than starting drama because you’re bored, isolated, and the weather has you in a foul mood. Who among us, fellow Canadians, hasn’t stirred the pot or pointed an accusatory finger just because what the heck else is there to do? Set in New England but shot in Northern Ontario, The Witch makes it clear that such environmental stressors can have fatal consequences, but I would counter by saying: have you ever been trapped in a combo hurricane-blizzard in the Maritimes? Shit gets dire! Anyway, Thomasin’s family saying that she’s a witch because the going got tough one-hundred percent. A classic Canadian experience! Only seconded, perhaps, by the true baby-swallowing capacity of the woods up here. Personally, I don’t leave anything of value near even a grove for fear that it’ll disappear. The forest is thick and shit goes missing. Sometimes it’s your copy of a farmer’s almanac. And sometimes it’s a baby. Don’t mess with nature, cautions The Witch. That is unless you want to live independently and have an absolute blast doing so. Which, come to think of it, is also very Canadian. (Meg Shields)
3. Dead Ringers (1988)
“Aggressively shot in Toronto” is a staple of David Cronenberg’s filmography. Not, mind you, because he’s particularly patriotic (god forbid) but because he feels like “he should be able to shoot in Canada” if he wants to. It’s a kind of endearingly stubborn confidence that feels at home with the bullheaded passion of the Mantle twins: identical gynecologists who “yes, and” themselves into malpractice, madness, and eventually murder. There’s co-dependency and then there’s forcing yourself into drug addiction so that you and your twin can get synchronized. I jest, but only because boy oh boy is this a sad film. Perhaps it tracks that the man who pioneered the New Flesh knows a thing or two about an organ as easily manipulated as the heart. Despite its sensational psychosexual premise, Dead Ringers is more drama than deviancy. So yes, there are medical instruments that look like H.R. Giger had a field day with surgical steel. And yes, there’s body horror aplenty (watching this film as a vagina-having person? Very difficult!). But, lurking under all the sensational scares is something heart-wrenching, paranoid, and painful: an identity tragedy about the destructive, malicious side of unconditional intimacy. (Meg Shields)
2. Black Christmas (1974)
The United States likes to yell “first!” at any and every opportunity, but don’t let the recognition factor behind John Carpenter’s Halloween fool you — Bob Clark‘s Black Christmas is the first of the holiday slashers. Happily, it’s also one of the best slashers, period, thanks to Clark’s masterful control of tone and terror. The film unfolds mostly in a sorority house over the colorfully lit holiday, and occasional eyeball aside, it keeps its killer under wraps for most of its running time. It’s incredibly creepy, and that’s not even counting the highly disturbing phone calls made by the sicko on another line in the house. Does the ending still leave me boggled that the police wouldn’t search the attic after a mass slaughter with a victim still missing? Yes, but I’m not here to judge Canadian cops. Pair this unsettling gem with Clark’s other Christmas classic for a fantastic double feature of holiday fun. (Rob Hunter)
1. The Changeling (1980)
In most parts of the world, a red bouncing ball is nothing more than a child’s plaything. But in Canada, a red bouncing ball serves as a terrifying reminder of the deep, dark secrets hidden within creepy mansions. At least that’s what happens in Peter Medak‘s superbly frightening haunted house tale, The Changeling. This may be a film based on true events that occurred in Denver with a story centered on a New York composer who relocates to Seattle and discovers that a US senator may not be who he seems but don’t let that fool you. This film is as Canadian as Nanaimo bars and beavertails. Vancouver’s historic Hotel Europe fills in as the Seattle Historical Society while the famed Hatley Castle acts as the senator’s home. As someone that lives in the American portion of the Pacific Northwest, I can safely say nothing is more Canadian than Vancouver acting as a stand-in for Seattle (and Portland). (Chris Coffel)
Related Topics: 31 Days of Horror Lists, Canada, David Cronenberg, Horror
