Tag: Casey Walker

Fright Fest’s Ravenous, Unseen Ithaqua Reinvents the Wendigo Legend

Casey Walker’s Ithaqua transforms the frozen Canadian wilderness into a Western Gothic nightmare where hunger, colonialism and the Wendigo legend converge. Luke Hemsworth leads this brutal survival tale where the cold may be the least dangerous thing outside.

Ithaqua Movie Poster World Premiere
Played at Fright Fest 2026
on Sat 29 3:30 PM (BST)

Life in the Canadian wilderness can be rough. It’s even tougher once those brutal winters settle in and settlers are forced to huddle together in huts, where the only warmth comes from a fire burning beneath an opening for smoke to escape. And no, those aren’t smoke signals to signal something specific. When the name Ithaqua isn’t widely known, it takes a talent like Casey Walker to convey the intent. Between Walker and co-writers Pascal Trottier and Peter Scott Vicaire, who flesh out the lore and world, what’s presented is haunting and eerie.

Between expectations created by the title and how August Derleth used Ithaqua in his fiction, there’s no cosmic horror this time. It’s survival through and through, and I’d label this film Western Gothic, especially given its fantastic cinematography and depiction of survival in the snow. Frosted water creates alien textures, mist hangs over the lake, and the environment itself feels alive. The question becomes: who reigns in this world? The answer suggests someone does, and that’s a cat-and-mouse game I can get behind!

Continue reading “Fright Fest’s Ravenous, Unseen Ithaqua Reinvents the Wendigo Legend”

2026 Update. Casey Walker Interview: Home Bodies, Ithaqua and Worlds Beyond the Door.

In this Casey Walker interview, the filmmaker talks about expanding Home Bodies beyond its original script, working with Ian and Emma Ho, and finally bringing Ithaqua to audiences after 14 years.

Casey Walker InterviewIn this Casey Walker interview. we get to talk to him about more than what’s changed for him after a decade of producing and getting back to the director’s chair. This filmmaker reflects on why he never stopped producing genre flicks in between regular work for television. That’s because that’s what he loves. Ever since his debut film, A Little Bit Zombie, he’s carved out a niche that is uniquely his.

When asked about how does he do it, his answer is simply, “I just focus on making something that I’m going to be really happy with because I never know when I’m not going to be able to ever do it again.”

It shows in works he’s executive produced too, like The Void, where he helped shape someone else’s vision. He’ll support and guide when needed, but when he’s in the captain’s chair, there’s a lot more to be aware of.

When comparing his past work in television and independent film to what he’s making now, he noted, “There’s definitely a bit of horror in everything I do. As for comedy, I think they’re very interlinked. I love the levity that comes with it, so it’s like the scary stuff and the relief through the humour has always attracted me to the things I’ve made. So yeah, they’re kind of synonymous.” Continue reading “2026 Update. Casey Walker Interview: Home Bodies, Ithaqua and Worlds Beyond the Door.”

When Home Bodies is Casey Walker’s Sophomore Film Debuting At Fantasia 2026, This Sci-Fi Thriller Is Sure to Haunt!

Two sheltered twins get an unexpected new family member in Casey Walker’s eerie sci-fi fable, Home Bodies, and it seems home schooling can lead to other unsettling concerns.

Home Bodies Official Poster
Played at Fantasia Film Festival on Thu July 23, 2026 9:30 PM at the Cinéma du Musée

* Potential Spoiler Alert

While waiting for news about Casey Walker‘s movie Ithaqua, also slated for release this year, I’m glad his surreal science fiction fable Home Bodies is getting lots of love at Fantasia Film Festival 2026. It’s a beautifully constructed and self-contained story set in the future, one where human experimentation is very real, and we should all be afraid, very afraid.

Blue (Ian Ho) and Red (Emma Ho) are twin siblings living a very sheltered life. They’re not allowed to go out, and while they get to grow up and be who they are, nobody’s filling them in on the birds and the bees, or teaching them how to socialize or the world beyond their four walls. And just how they’re “raised” is rather bizarre. All they have access to are neon coloured VHS tapes and a rather surreal television show called Barn. It’s best not to say too much about this Sesame Street wannabe, but that’s the gist I got.

Continue reading “When Home Bodies is Casey Walker’s Sophomore Film Debuting At Fantasia 2026, This Sci-Fi Thriller Is Sure to Haunt!”

(Re)introducing Casey Walker. From A Little Bit Zombie to Ithaqua, What Can We Expect?

Although there isn’t a lot of new updates on Hammer Films’ upcoming horror feature Ithaqua, directed by Casey Walker, this work is still labelled currently in production, and we revisit this filmmaker’s past work in A Little Bit Zombie.

Casey Walker FilmmakerWhen websites I’ve contributed to in the past go offline, it’s time to resurrect and update some of those favourite pieces here. More than 10 years ago, I discovered A Little Bit Zombie (ALBZ) by an up-and-coming filmmaker, Casey Walker. Since then, he produced The Void, an excellent Lovecraftian-style movie, and directed a few episodes of The Hardy Boys.

In his latest work, he’s reworking a tale based on the Ithaqua indigenous legend. This film stars Luke Hemsworth, Kevin Durand, and Michael Pitt. A lot has changed since it was first announced. The website Upcoming Horror Movies suggests it may debut late 2025 or next year. At the time of writing, all we know is that Hammer Films picked up the rights.

According to HollywoodNorthbuzz.com, the story is as follows:

Cole Franklin, an American mercenary, is recruited as a hired gun and guide at the remote outpost of Fort William, which is struggling to survive the decline of the fur trade. With dwindling supplies, the keepers of the Fort blackmail Cole into leading a trading party to a nearby Indigenous village where they discover a massacre and encounter the remaining half-crazed inhabitants for the bloodshed.

Though the trading party survives with minimal losses and returns to the Fort with a bonanza of food and furs, the supernatural force responsible for the carnage follows them back. As the casualties stack up, it becomes evident that something unnatural is driving the residents insane with murderous hunger. The rag-tag band of survivors forces Cole to put his military expertise to use in organizing their last stand against what can only be described as some kind of madness.

Although I haven’t found further updates since this announcement, I’ll share more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, please enjoy this interview I conducted when he and the cast came to town! This film made its worldwide debut at the Victoria Film Festival. Interview follows:

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It is Never Safe or Good to Enter “The Void,” A Movie Review

The Void

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

* Mild Spoiler Alert

Nearly everything I ever wanted to see in an H.P. Lovecraft inspired film can be seen filling The Void. This indie Canadian horror movie made its world premiere in 2016 at Fantastic Fest, and six months later (set to release April 7th), it is getting limited theatrical distribution in the United States (showtimes can be found on Screen Media films website) and is now available worldwide via VOD on outlets like iTunes.

This movie produced by Casey Walker (A Little Bit Zombie, one of many people involved) and written/directed by Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie (who are also part of the maverick horror company Astron-6) show several heads are better than one to create a movie about cults on the loose and serving a greater cosmic force — or they have watched one too many Re-animator movies. I see a bit of Clive Barker influence with their editing style and visual direction (their use of real prosthetics is to be commended) for this film. When it comes to crafting a tale involving surviving a night at a ward, perhaps the familiar idea of taking the fight to a hospital from Hellraiser II is not needed. Technically, these filmmakers are paying homage to the horror movies they loved from their childhood (the 80’s), like John Carpenter’s The Thing, but sometimes I wonder if coming up with a new idea is even possible these days without conjuring up recollections of past products.

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