Tag: Hammer Films

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!

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(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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The Woman in Black is Barely Back, A Movie Review

the-woman-in-black-2-poster-watermarked-691x1024Perhaps the biggest question some fans of Susan Hill’s original Woman in Black treatment will ask is that of, “did she sell out?” After a very successful publication run, the narrative about Jennet Humfrye’s eternal lament because she can never be reunited with her son, Nathaniel, will never change. If she can not find peace, nor will anyone else who decides to make their residence at Eel Marsh Manor. Once when Jennet’s spirit catches sight of a mortal youth, that person is doomed to die. That’s the curse. There’s no rhyme or reason to reveal beyond that to create an effective horror tale.

While the first film dealt with the isolation of horror, the second focuses on the desolation. Against the backdrop of World War II during the London Blitz, Eve (Phoebe Fox) becomes an unwilling governess to a group of children who are to be evacuated to the English countryside for their safety. Unfortunately for one, a young Edward (Oaklee Pendergast), who lost his parents during a recent bombing, his remorse draws the attention of the spirit of Jennet. There’s no mystery to who the Woman in Black is, but instead, there’s a question of why she’s called the Angel of Death. Her shadowy presence almost represents the fear all Brits had during this time because of the regular bombings that occurred. Although this mean spirit does not represent Nazi Germany, the subtext in Jon Croker’s screenplay certainly implies it. He might have worked from a spec sheet that Susan Hill wrote for a cinematic adaptation. She most unlikely wrote a novella either. If she did, that would have been published instead of the novelization by crime-fiction author Martyn Waites. This noticeable fact undermines whatever themes Hill might have intended for the movie.

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