Tag: Horror

Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival Conjures a Killer First Wave for 2026

Celebrating Halloween with the Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival can’t look any better with Michael Dougherty in attendance!

Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival
Runs Oct 14–18 at the Cineplex Cinemas International Village and The Rio. Photographer Credit Emmett Race

The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival returns for its ninth year, and its first wave has a fine Halloween-season hook: a 19th anniversary screening of Trick ’r Treat with writer-director Michael Dougherty in attendance. The presentation also includes a new 4K restoration of Season’s Greetings, the animated short that first introduced Sam before he became one of modern horror’s best-known little monsters.

Four features have been announced so far. Hammer Films brings Ithaqua to B.C. audiences, with Luke Hemsworth starring in a frozen 19th-century Canadian outpost besieged by hunger, cold and an ancient flesh-eating evil. It marks Hammer’s first original monster in 60 years. You can read our review here, as we got an early look during London’s Fright Fest. An interview with director Casey Walker can be read here.

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When Mathieu Fortin’s The Parrot Isn’t Squawking Release Me, Release Me….

…that’s because it’s being held captive by Bell Media! It’s not a bad thing, but when The Parrot needs to spread his wings, and tell all, let’s hope this producer has plans to expand this bird’s reach.

The Unearthly Notes The Parrot PosterBefore reviewing Mathieu Fortin’s The Parrot, and again afterwards, I had to search online and hunt through my various books examining the themes common in H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction. I wanted to see if there was any mention of talking birds revealing the secrets of forgotten cults before moving forward. I knew this filmmaker’s idea came from The Notes and Commonplace Book of H.P. Lovecraft. While there are no specific mentions of a parrot in the book, the ideas are certainly there.

The most telling lines from the public-domain scan are the following. On page three, it reads: “As dinosaurs were once surpassed by mammals, so will man-mammal be surpassed by insect or bird—fall of man before the new race.” Page eight offers two tantalizing clues. The line that inspired this work reads, “[A] talking bird of great longevity—tells secret long afterward,” but I suspect Fortin drew upon more than that single note. Another speaks of “Ancient and unknown ruins—strange and immortal bird who speaks in a language horrifying and revelatory to the explorers.”

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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.”

How Far Can Insidious Out of the Further Go? Sequelitis Is Hard to Shake

Insidious Out of the Further takes another trip into its shadowy pocket dimension, but recycled scares and a stubborn case of sequelitis keep its strongest ideas from breaking free.

Insidious Out of the Further PosterSpoiler Alert

One can call me a sucker for what Leigh Whannell created with the Insidious franchise. He had some great ideas concerning where one can go when either asleep or when someone has died, and has unresolved issues. Also, it’s hard to avoid making a play on words with the latest release, Insidious Out of the Further. The real question is how can this IP stay fresh six films in?

The Further is a pocket dimension which feels less like purgatory and more like a waystation to a better life. Those souls who get stuck there must have died in the worst possible ways and therefore, can’t move on. That’s either because of what they did or there’s a demon forcing them to stay. When there are other souls like Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) choosing to remain here to help guilde the deserving out of there, I believe she’s like an Angel. The fact she’s chosen to remain behind to do this work since her death from the first film to now says everything. And when she said there’s somewhere better waiting on the other side, surely Heaven must exist.

Well, that’s my occult theory.

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The Last Jiangshi Short Film Breathes New Life Into an Undead Legend

The Last Jiangshi pairs an ancient member of the living dead with a modern grad student for an unusual comedic adventure. This affectionate Mr. Vampire homage finds humour, melancholy and sympathy within its supernatural mythology.

The Last Jiangshi Short Film PosterI had to save reviewing Yu Chih Chieh’s comedic short film, The Last Jiangshi, for Ghost Month rather than earlier, because it’s appropriate. Just what this work explores is the clash of beliefs, and if this member of the living dead is to survive to today, Lao Li (Benyu Zhang) may no longer have blood to feast on. Instead, it’s whether he and Jie (Alex Zhong), a grad student, can survive as the ultimate odd couple!

There’s even a taoist priest waiting to pounce on the unlikely partnership, and banish the nightstalker to the other side! In what’s amusing is the sympathy that’s quickly generated. Li doesn’t like what he’s become. He just wants to live and understand this world.

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What’s Worth Hiding Under the Sand? A Top 3 Mid-Summer Comic Book Guide to Horror

Before we resume our Fantasia Film Festival, some frightful reading is in order with this mid-Summer comic book guide on what’s hot under the sun and not.

Mid-Summer Comic Book Guide and the WolfmanAs we are now knee deep into Summer and resting inside tents, just what scares can comic book publishers offer? Between melting in Montreal (okay, technically we’re not as our coverage of Fantasia Film Festival is remote) and wanting some time to relax in between films, thankfully all is cooler in the Pacific Northwest. With this mid-Summer comic book guide, I had to let readers know just what I’m reading.

Just what series can make for a scary summer depends on what’s your jam, and as some publishers are readying for All Hallow’s Eve already, that doesn’t mean what’s out now can do the job. There are enough monster mash-ups, gothic revivals, and tributes to make this bright season look good.

Here’s my top picks on what to read if hiding out from the sun if your thing.

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