Consider these scenes from the snow-dusted world of Canadian horror films, where the ordinary turns strange and insanity reigns.
In David Cronenberg鈥檚 鈥淩abid,鈥 a distressed woman asks a man for a hug. She then stabs him with her Freudian phallic armpit spike, sucking his blood and infecting him with a form of rabies that turns him into a zombielike rager.
In John Fawcett鈥檚 鈥淕inger Snaps,鈥 a wild beast 鈥 later revealed to be a werewolf 鈥 is devouring pets in a suburban neighbourhood. 鈥淚t got our dog!鈥 a mother screams, running into the street. A group of boys playing street hockey look up at her, shrug and go back to passing the puck.
Katherine Isabelle stars in 2000’s “Ginger Snaps.”
In Kyle Edward Ball鈥檚 鈥淪kinamarink,鈥 two tots awaken late at night to their shuttered and parentless home. They watch cartoons and play with a Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone. There鈥檚 no threat in sight 鈥 but what鈥檚 happening out of sight?
鈥淐anadians like to get weird with it,鈥 said Edmonton-born Ball of our national horror cinema. 鈥淓ven within the already subversive genre of horror.鈥
The above films and two others 鈥 Vincenzo Natali鈥檚 imprisonment puzzler, 鈥淐ube,鈥 and Bruce McDonald鈥檚 zombie horror-comedy, 鈥淧辞苍迟测辫辞辞濒鈥 鈥 comprise the five Canuck fright films that Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker (and, to many, honorary Canadian) Guillermo del Toro has selected for a program called 鈥淔rom Rabid to Skinamarink: Canadian Movie Madness.鈥 The films screen July 9 to 13 at TIFF Lightbox. Del Toro will comment on the films live each night via a video link from L.A., where he is in postproduction on “Frankenstein.”
Spanning 45 years from Cronenberg鈥檚 1970s 鈥渂ody horror鈥 phase to Ball鈥檚 acclaimed 2022 childhood chiller, the films share a common theme of alienation and environments that suddenly turned hostile. It鈥檚 a scenario any Canadian ever trapped on a highway during a snowstorm can identify with.
鈥淐anadians excel at horror because our wintry climate keeps us inside for a good part of the year, and it鈥檚 in those introspective spaces where horror flourishes,鈥 色色啦 writer-director Natali told the Star. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why all of the films in this program are so hermetic. They are dealing with horror that emerges from within.鈥
Natali made his feature debut with 鈥淐ube,鈥 as did Ball with 鈥淪kinamarink鈥 and the Calgary-born Fawcett with 鈥淕inger Snaps.鈥 色色啦 filmmakers Cronenberg and McDonald were already known quantities when they released 鈥淩abid鈥 and 鈥淧ontypool.鈥
They all come under the appreciative eye and careful curation of del Toro, whose love for Canada 鈥 and 色色啦 in particular 鈥 knows no bounds. The horror specialist has shot several of his features in southern Ontario, beginning with 鈥淢imic鈥 in 1997 and including his 2017 Oscar winner, 鈥淭he Shape of Water,鈥 and 鈥淔rankenstein,鈥 set for release this fall.
The master of monsters calls himself a 鈥溕瞡ian filmmaker,鈥 and he has a particular affinity for Cronenberg, whose work inspired him to get into moviemaking and who has become a personal friend 鈥 he鈥檒l be at the July 9 screening of 鈥淩abid.鈥
Guillermo del Toro selected the Canadian horror films in the new TIFF series.
Andreas Rentz/Getty ImagesIn a Star interview last year, del Toro talked about how Cronenberg 鈥渃ast a big shadow鈥 over his own work because of the 色色啦 filmmaker’s commitment to 鈥渉orror film as art鈥 and his willingness to experiment and evolve.
鈥淲hat I like about David is how he has had three very distinct, different reinventions of himself,” he said. “I think it鈥檚 a privilege when you see an artist reinventing himself. When he was doing body horror, that was one period. Then he reinvented himself into this sort of dystopian humanist, with reflective existential (films) like 鈥楥rash鈥 or 鈥楢 History of Violence,鈥 touching on noir and crime and all that. And now he鈥檚, I think, almost an essayist 鈥 There鈥檚 a handful of sages in film, and he鈥檚 a sage.鈥
Del Toro is also a big fan of the 色色啦 International Film Festival, which has screened many of his films, including his 1993 feature debut, 鈥淐ronos.”
He鈥檚 curated other programs and conducted master classes at TIFF, including ones on Hitchcock and Mexican horror films. His Canadian horror series is another chance for him to thank a festival and city he feels extremely close to.
鈥淚 feel very much at home at TIFF. Every time I make a movie I try to at the beginning, middle or end to do a couple of master classes there.鈥
This series kicks off Wednesday with a 鈥淩abid鈥 screening at TIFF Lightbox with Cronenberg in attendance and del Toro commenting live via video. (Three other featured directors 鈥 Natali, Fawcett and McDonald 鈥 are expected to attend their screenings, with del Toro joining via video.)
Before that, there鈥檒l be a free outdoor screening Tuesday of 鈥淭he Shape of Water,鈥 sponsored by TIFF at the Harbourfront Centre Concert Stage on Queens Quay W. It鈥檚 part of Harbourfront Centre鈥檚 Free Flicks series.
Here鈥檚 the rundown of the 鈥淔rom Rabid to Skinamarink: Canadian Movie Madness鈥 screenings at TIFF Lightbox, each beginning at 7 p.m.
Rabid (1977)
Getting infected? It鈥檚 the pits. Cronenberg鈥檚 fourth feature film, his second (after 鈥淪hivers鈥) about a ghastly epidemic, seemed like sci-fi fantasy at the time of its release. A woman named Rose, played by adult film star Marilyn Chambers, develops a disease-like form of vampirism and a bizarre new appendage following experimental surgery. Today, however, with COVID and other current plagues 鈥 and of course the viral horrors of this summer鈥檚 鈥28 Years Later鈥 and 鈥40 Acres鈥 鈥 鈥淩abid鈥 plays a bit like dark prophecy. In the late 1970s, however, this was Cronenberg establishing his unique and unapologetically grotesque brand of body horror 鈥 an oeuvre and influence that would spawn a 2019 remake by the Soska Sisters. (July 9)
Cube (1997)
A puzzle box of horrors that twists as if Rubik himself were holding it, Natali鈥檚 debut feature is a deceptively simple psychological thriller made for just $700,000, half of which was donated labour. Today, the film works like a precursor to 鈥淪aw鈥 and its grisly, gory ilk, with a cast of six finding themselves trapped in a maze of steel and glass with no apparent exit. Indeed, like 鈥淪aw,鈥 鈥淐ube鈥 is an example of a limited budget being used to great effect, with top-notch production design and special effects proving an excellent example of Canadian film talent and ingenuity. (July 10)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Fawcett鈥檚 teen werewolf story, starring Katharine Isabelle as goth Ginger, hasn鈥檛 become tame in the two-plus decades since its release. It鈥檚 something of a time capsule now. Ginger and her sister Brigitte (Emily Perkins) take walks at night 鈥 viewers can spot past iterations of many GTA locales (Etobicoke, Scarborough, Brampton). Of course, the street-hockey safety of suburbia is precisely what this postmodern send-up, written by Karen Walton, seeks to terrorize. There鈥檚 depth, however, in the film鈥檚 claws-out exploration of menstruation and womanhood. (July 11)
Stephen McHattie stars in the zombie comedy “Pontypool.”
Courtesy of TIFFPontypool (2008)
At the time of its release, McDonald鈥檚 鈥淧ontypool,鈥 adapted from Tony Burgess鈥檚 novel 鈥淧ontypool Changes Everything,鈥 was marketed as a standard horror movie. But indie iconoclast McDonald does not make standard movies. The film鈥檚 zombie outbreak is spread by language instead of rabid bites 鈥 鈥渧iral podcast鈥 suddenly takes on new meaning 鈥 making 鈥淧辞苍迟测辫辞辞濒鈥 the most Canadian of satires: a cold, and cold-blooded, zom-com where a tiny Ontario radio station, broadcasting one evening with Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) in one of two official Canadian languages, realizes on-air that bilingualism is no longer for road signs and the like: it鈥檚 for staying alive, too. (July 12)
Kyle Edward Ball’s “Skinamarink” deals with childhood terror.聽
Shudder/TNSSkinamarink (2022)
Ball emerged on international radars with this experimentally fuzzy (and not in a cute way) micro-budget horror that, at times, transmits cinematic white noise: dark hallways at odd angles, quiet televisions, and the terrifyingly mundane. It鈥檚 the kind of sleepwalking nightmare that鈥檚 big on atmosphere, light on story. Four-year-old Kevin (Lucas Paul) and his six-year-old sister, Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault), awaken late at night to discover themselves all alone at home, with their father mysteriously gone. The doors and windows in the house are missing, but there鈥檚 a persistent creepy feeling they鈥檙e not really on their own. Sharon, Lois & Bram this ain鈥檛. (July 13)
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