The 40 Best Canadian Horror Films Of All Time
I'm a lifelong horror fan (since 1982) and Canadian who has watched over 200 Canadian horror movies to bring you the best. I will update this list as the years go by.
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40 titles
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPaul HamptonJoe SilverLynn LowryThe residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.David Cronenberg's masterpiece. The best Canadian horror film ever.
- DirectorÉric TessierStarsMichel CôtéPatrick HuardCatherine FlorentIn Montreal, on the same day that a policeman shot eleven children, killing ten, without any reason, the successful writer Thomas Roy amputates his fingers and tries to commit suicide. Completely catatonic, he is treated by Dr. Paul Lacasse and his big fan, the pregnant Dr. Jeanne Marcoux, in a psychiatric hospital. When the journalist Charles Monette, who is writing a book about Thomas, schedules a meeting with Dr. Paul, he shows pieces of newspaper showing that Thomas was present to the last thirty-seven tragedies in Canada. Dr. Paul reads the notes and decides to investigate further the life of Thomas Roy, disclosing dark secrets about his past.Another Senécal flick directed by Éric Tessier [5150 Rue des Ormes(5150 Elm's Way)] and produced by Nicole Robert [7 days]. One of the 10 most underrated horror films ever made in the world.
- DirectorPaul FoxStarsKate GreenhouseBruce McFeeJeff SeymourA beautiful but burnt out psychiatrist goes to the family's winter cottage for a weekend with her husband and sister, which is interrupted when a terrifying and unexpected guest arrives, a violent sex offender and patient of the doctor.Winner of various horror film fest awards. Brilliant. I also love director Paul Fox's other film Everything's Gone Green. Please direct more films!!
- DirectorJay BaruchelStarsJesse WilliamsJordana BrewsterJay BaruchelA pair of comic book writers begin to notice scary similarities between the character they created and horrific real-life events.Jay Baruchel: Please make more horror movies! You are a master. This film had me on the edge of my seat and made me think as well.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJames WoodsDebbie HarrySonja SmitsA programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.Along with Black Christmas (1974) and The Brood, this is usually considered the best of the Canadian horror films by non-Canadian horror fans. Many times it will be with those two on the 100 greatest horror films of all times lists from horror review books and online lists
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJennifer O'NeillStephen LackPatrick McGoohanA scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.
- DirectorJohn FawcettStarsEmily PerkinsKatharine IsabelleKris LemcheTwo death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf.The film that kickstarted the new wave of Canadian Horror for the 21st Century after Cronenberg's downfall.
Stars Canadian scream queen Katharine Isabelle (Freddy Vs. Jason, "Hannibal" TV Series, American Mary, See No Evil 2, Disturbing Behavior, Bones (2001), 13 Eerie, "Being Human" TV Series, Torment, Vampire (2011), Carrie (2002), The Girl In The Photographs, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. - DirectorÉric TessierStarsMarc-André GrondinNormand D'AmourSonia Vachon5150 ELM'S WAY is located at end of a quiet street in a small town. When Yannick fell off his bike.another Patrick Senécal thriller
- DirectorSandor SternStarsDavid HewlettCynthia PrestonTerry O'QuinnIsolated by his strange parents, Leon finds solace in an imaginary friend, which happens to be an anatomy doll from his father's doctor office. Unfortunately, the doll begins to take over Leon's life, and his sister's life as well.From producer Pierre David (The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome)
- DirectorDaniel GrouStarsClaude LegaultRémy GirardMartin DubreuilA doctor seeks revenge by kidnapping, torturing and killing the man who raped and murdered his young daughter.Another excellent script by Patrick Senécal, Quebec's master of horror, the man responsible for Sur le Seuil (Evil Words), Les 7 Jours du talion (7 Days), and 5150 Rue des Ormes (5150 Elm's Way). His books make the best quality of films. Looking forward to more of his work.
- DirectorChristian DuguayStarsPeter WellerRoy DupuisJennifer RubinA military commander stationed off planet during an interplanetary war travels through the devastated landscape to negotiate a peace treaty, but discovers that the primitive robots they built to kill enemy combatants have gained sentience.
- DirectorRobin AubertStarsFrançois ChénierGuy VaillancourtFrance LabontéA reporter goes to a mysterious village to investigate mysterious disappearances until one night, his friend gets abducted and every citizen wants him dead.
- DirectorColin MinihanStuart OrtizThe Vicious BrothersStarsBenjamin WilkinsonSean RogersonAshleigh GryzkoFor their ghost hunting reality show, a production crew locks themselves inside an abandoned mental hospital that's supposedly haunted - and it might prove to be all too true.In the sequel we learn that this film takes place in Canada. Grave Encounters 2 is almost as good as this one.
- DirectorVincenzo NataliStarsAbigail BreslinPeter OuterbridgeMichelle NoldenA teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth, but her actions have consequences for herself and others.Vincenzo Natali's (Cube, Splice) best film. An excellent ghost story with many twists. Produced by Steven Hoban (Ginger Snaps, Blood & Donuts). Co-starring Stephen McHattie (Pontypool)
- DirectorMaurice DevereauxStarsIlona ElkinNicolas WrightNeil NapierKaren boards a late-night train and fights with several other passengers to survive a murderous night after becoming trapped in a tunnel.It was criminal that director Maurice Devereaux never followed this up with another film. Production and Special make-up effects by Quebec's Adrien Morot, the best in the business. Also responsible for the head of special make-up effects for X-Men: Days of Future Past, Noah, Riddick, Warm Bodies, Punisher: War Zone, Martyrs, Sur Le Seuil (Evil Words), Decoys and many others.
- DirectorShawn LindenStarsCamille SullivanSummer H. HowellDevon SawaJoseph and his family live in the remote wilderness as fur trappers, but their tranquility is threatened when they think they are being hunted by the return of a rogue wolf, and Joseph leaves them behind to track it.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeremy IronsGeneviève BujoldHeidi von PalleskeTwin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
- DirectorAndrew CurrieStarsKesun LoderBilly ConnollyCarrie-Anne MossIn an Earthly world resembling the 1950s, a cloud of space radiation has shrouded the planet, resulting in the dead becoming zombies that desire live human flesh. A company called Zomcon has been able to control the zombie population. Zombies can be temporarily neutralized by being shot, but can only be permanently neutralized by their brain being destroyed. Their ultimate disposal is through cremation, or burial, the latter which requires decapitation with the head being buried separately from the body. Conversely, Zomcon has created the domestication collar, when activated and placed on a zombie makes the zombie controllable, and thus an eternally productive creature within society. Because all dead initially become zombies, the elderly are viewed negatively and suspectly. And all people, adult or child, learn to shoot to kill to protect society. Zomcon is the go to organization for all things zombie. In the town of Willard, the Robinsons - father Bill (Dylan Baker), mother Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss), and adolescent son Timmy (Kesun Loder) - are one family who don't own a zombie as a domestic, since Bill is afraid of zombies, as, when he was a child, he had to shoot his own zombie father, who tried to eat him. Bill has thus become fascinated with funerals to see zombies put away permanently. But Helen feels pressured to get a zombie when Zomcon's new head of security in Willard, the officious Jonathan Bottoms (Henry Czerny), moves into the neighborhood with his family. Never having had to deal with a zombie directly, Timmy is initially wary of their zombie. But as a lonely child who has no friends and is often bullied, Timmy eventually befriends their zombie, who he names Fido (Sir Billy Connolly), as he treats the zombie much like a faithful pet dog. Timmy protects Fido at all cost, even after Fido, due to no fault of its own, is implicated in some deaths, which creates a mini-wave of loose zombies unknown to Zomcon. But Fido may play a larger role within the family as a companion for Helen, who is largely neglected by Bill, since he sees human affection as ultimately resulting in such difficult issues as what happened between him and his own father. With Timmy and Helen treating Fido with kindness, Fido, in turn, may prove that not all zombies, even when without their domestication collar, are out to kill anyone and everyone in their path.
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsStephen McHattieLisa HouleGeorgina ReillyA radio host interprets the possible outbreak of a deadly virus which infects the small Ontario town he is stationed in.
- DirectorDerek LeeClif ProwseStarsClif ProwseDerek LeeMichael GillTwo best friends see their trip of a lifetime take a dark turn when one of them is struck by a mysterious affliction. Now, in a foreign land, they race to uncover the source before it consumes him completely.Produced by Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, the producer behind Insidious 1 & 2, Sinister, Skyline and Dark Skies.
- DirectorWilliam FruetStarsBrenda VaccaroDon StroudChuck ShamataA rich playboy has a large house in the Ontario countryside. One weekend he invites his girlfriend, a fashion model, but on his way to the house he drives past a gang of crazed young men. The men find out where the house is and terrorize the couple.Written and directed by William Fruet (Funeral Home, Spasms, Bedroom Eyes, Killer Party, Blue Monkey) and produced by John Dunning and André Link who both did They Came From Within, Rabid, My Bloody Valentine & Happy Birthday To Me. Also produced by Don Carmody (They Came From Within, Rabid, Terror Train, Orphan, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Afterlife and Retribution, 13 Eerie, Gothika & Silent Hill
- DirectorAdam MacDonaldStarsJeff RoopMissy PeregrymNicholas CampbellAn urban couple goes camping in the woods and find themselves lost in the territory of a predatory black bear.fantastic survival film from new writer/director Adam MacDonald. His second film Pyewacket is also good. I'm looking forward to more of his work. Could he be the next Cronenberg?
- DirectorPat MillsStarsTommie-Amber PirieSarah AllenRossif SutherlandA lesbian couple with a rocky relationship go to a pre-wedding retreat and end up fighting for their lives when a group of militant serial killers tries to murder them.
- DirectorRobin AubertStarsMarc-André GrondinMonia ChokriCharlotte St-MartinIn the aftermath of an infectious outbreak, inhabitants of a village in rural Quebec find themselves confronting an invasion of ravenous zombie-like beings.A long awaited return to form from Robin Aubert, who brought us Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnes .
- DirectorErnie BarbarashStarsJaime KingTerry ChenPei-Pei ChengA young mother and her six-year-old son come face to face with the mysteries of two murders and a great crime against the Chinese community into which they have recently arrived from Shanghai.Produced by Shawn Williamson and Stephen Hegyes, the men behind The Thaw.
- DirectorMark A. LewisStarsVal KilmerMartha MacIsaacAaron AshmoreA research expedition to the Arctic discovers that a melting polar ice cap has released a deadly prehistoric parasite.
- DirectorMatthew HastingsStarsCorey SevierStefanie von PfettenKim PoirierLuke and Roger are just another couple of college guys trying to lose their virginity. But when Luke sees something unusual, he begins to suspect that the girls on campus aren't exactly human.Comedy/Horror done right.
- DirectorRobert WilsonStarsDominique SwainMarie-Josée ColburnSteven McCarthyA group of friends enjoying a weekend in the woods play a game of "Dead Mary" and summon an evil witch who begins possessing them one by one.
- DirectorDaniel RobyStarsMarc PaquetMarianne FarleyFrédéric PierreTwo roommates discover that the family of one of their girlfriends is populated with vampires.
- DirectorChaz ThorneStarsJay BaruchelSergio Di ZioNigel BennettA young man inherits a nearly bankrupt funeral home from his estranged father. He falls in love with the alluring young mortician, only to find out she's offing people to keep the place in business!
- DirectorSimon LavoieStarsJean-François CasabonneMarine JohnsonAntoine L'ÉcuyerAfter her father's death, a young woman raised in isolation struggles to make sense of her world.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsOliver ReedSamantha EggarArt HindleA man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.Another David Cronenberg gem.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsKyle McCullochMichael GottliAngela HeckWhile their mother is dying in the modern Gimli, Manitoba hospital, two young children are told a tale by their Icelandic grandmother about Einar the Lonely, his friend Gunnar, and the angelic Snjofridur in a Gimli of old.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsMarilyn ChambersFrank MooreTerry SchonblumA young woman develops a taste for human blood after experimental plastic surgery, and her victims turn into blood-thirsty zombies, leading into a city-wide epidemic.
- DirectorGrant HarveySteven HobanBrett SullivanStarsWilliam ShatnerGeorge BuzaRob ArcherInterwoven stories that take place on Christmas Eve, as told by one festive radio host: A family brings home more than a Christmas tree, a student documentary becomes a living nightmare, a Christmas spirit terrorizes, Santa slays evil.
- DirectorGeoff RedknapStarsAden YoungCamille SullivanJulia Sarah StoneA man who abandoned his family now risks everything to find his missing daughter, including exposing the secret that he is becoming invisible.from the very promising director Geoff Redknap. Looking forward to his next film. It was practically impossible to find this one though.
- DirectorJohn PoliquinStarsRichard HarmonShawn C. PhillipsJennica FultonA film student who is obsessed with the movie Grave Encounters sets out with his friends to visit the psychiatric hospital depicted in the original film.
- DirectorWilhelm LiebenbergFederico SanchezStarsCaroline NéronSarah ManninenVictoria SanchezDetective Raymond Pope is a detective of questionable morals, searching for his missing wife. His investigation leads him to the wealthy estate of the enigmatic Elizabeth Kane and her young maid Irina.Art Direction by Massimo Antonello Geleng, the production designer/art director for many Italian horror films by Dario Argento, Michele Soave, Lamberto Bava, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci and Ruggero Deodato including Cemetery Man, Cannibal Holocaust, City of the Living Dead (The Gates of Hell). Eternal stars one of my favourite actors, Conrad, Pla, supporting actor for Canada's best English language television series "19-2"
- DirectorAlain VézinaStarsÉdith Côté-DemersAlexandre LandryRaymond BouchardA ship was found drifting with its crew massacred on the coast of the Gaspé ... It's consternation! In the process, an ambitious journalist, helped a young museum professional archivist rather shy and sedentary, discovers that a collector of maritime objects with dubious intentions may be linked to this terrible story. Then begins a race against time to find out who is this mysterious diver decimating everything in its path to achieve its goals and recover valuable documents looted the wreck of the "Princess of the North", where he found death, 100 years ago ...A low budget b-movie with better than average effects. There's something special here though. I liked it. I think they acheived exactly what they set out to do. Édith Coté-Demers is great too.
- DirectorAdam MasseyStarsChris DiamantopoulosChloe BradtMichael CramA mysterious stalker plagues a reality tv survivalist during his five days alone for a new season of his show in the northern Ontario wilderness; and the figure may not be human.