A holiday as conspicuous as Christmas will undoubtedly attract the most thrills and chills at this time of year. In the past, TV’s genre anthologies have been a remarkable and plentiful source of wintry terror, be that of the Christmas variety or otherwise. The original Twilight Zone submitted the strangest of strange holiday stories, Tales from the Darkside provided the macabre classics “Seasons of Belief” and “The Yattering and Jack,” and Tales from the Crypt put a new spin on the EC-era slasher “And All Through the House.”
Christmas horror only became more weird and wild as the century changed. And as these five festive frighteners from more recent anthology series suggest, there’s never a better season for horror than winter.
Black Mirror (2011-)
White Christmas
Black Mirror, “White Christmas”
Before Charlie Brooker‘s critically acclaimed sci-fi anthology Black Mirror moved to Netflix, the series concluded its on-air...
Christmas horror only became more weird and wild as the century changed. And as these five festive frighteners from more recent anthology series suggest, there’s never a better season for horror than winter.
Black Mirror (2011-)
White Christmas
Black Mirror, “White Christmas”
Before Charlie Brooker‘s critically acclaimed sci-fi anthology Black Mirror moved to Netflix, the series concluded its on-air...
- 12/23/2022
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
From VancouverFilm.Net, here is the Vancouver Film Production Update for June 2019, including "90210", "Project Blue Book", "Altered Carbon" and a whole lot more:
New Media Feature
Coffee & Kareem
Local Production Company: Coffee Break Productions Inc.
Director: Michael J.E. Dowse
Producer: Ed Helms, Michael Falbo, Dan Clarke
Apr 22/19 - Jun 04/19
Operation Christmas Drop
Local Production Company: Ocd Productions Inc.
Director: Martin Wood
Producer: Steve McGlothen
May 22/19 - Jun 28/19
The Main Event
Local Production Company: Main Event Movie Inc.
Director: Jay Karas
Producer: Ian Hay
Jun 17/19 - Aug 16/19
TV Movie
All Summer Long
Local Production Company: Anchor Road Productions Ltd.
Director: Peter DeLuise
Producer: Harvey Kahn
Jun 03/19 - Jun 24/19
Darrow And Darrow 4 - Burden Of Proof
Local Production Company: Darrow 4 Productions Inc.
Director: Michael Robison
Producer: Jamie Goehring, Kevin Leslie
Jun 03/19 - Jun 21/19
Mystery 101: Movie 3 - Words Can Kill
Local Production Company: MU3 Productions Inc.
Director: Andy Mikita
Producer: Jamie Goehring,...
New Media Feature
Coffee & Kareem
Local Production Company: Coffee Break Productions Inc.
Director: Michael J.E. Dowse
Producer: Ed Helms, Michael Falbo, Dan Clarke
Apr 22/19 - Jun 04/19
Operation Christmas Drop
Local Production Company: Ocd Productions Inc.
Director: Martin Wood
Producer: Steve McGlothen
May 22/19 - Jun 28/19
The Main Event
Local Production Company: Main Event Movie Inc.
Director: Jay Karas
Producer: Ian Hay
Jun 17/19 - Aug 16/19
TV Movie
All Summer Long
Local Production Company: Anchor Road Productions Ltd.
Director: Peter DeLuise
Producer: Harvey Kahn
Jun 03/19 - Jun 24/19
Darrow And Darrow 4 - Burden Of Proof
Local Production Company: Darrow 4 Productions Inc.
Director: Michael Robison
Producer: Jamie Goehring, Kevin Leslie
Jun 03/19 - Jun 21/19
Mystery 101: Movie 3 - Words Can Kill
Local Production Company: MU3 Productions Inc.
Director: Andy Mikita
Producer: Jamie Goehring,...
- 5/28/2019
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Ahead of the UK premiere of Level 16 at Arrow Video FrightFest Glasgow 2019, director Danishka Esterhazy tells us about the long journey to get her film made, the empowering nature of female friendship and her love for sci-fi.
It has been 10 years since first draft to a world premiere at Fantastic Fest. Quite a journey. What inspired you in the first place and what kept you going?
Yes, it has not been an easy road with this film. I wrote Level 16 right after graduating from film school and I had hoped that it would be my first feature film. But I could not find any investors or broadcasters or distributors who wanted to support the film. I love science fiction, love dystopian films, but I had not seen many (any?) with a primarily female cast. Most science fiction films have a large male cast with maybe one or two female actors in smaller roles,...
It has been 10 years since first draft to a world premiere at Fantastic Fest. Quite a journey. What inspired you in the first place and what kept you going?
Yes, it has not been an easy road with this film. I wrote Level 16 right after graduating from film school and I had hoped that it would be my first feature film. But I could not find any investors or broadcasters or distributors who wanted to support the film. I love science fiction, love dystopian films, but I had not seen many (any?) with a primarily female cast. Most science fiction films have a large male cast with maybe one or two female actors in smaller roles,...
- 1/29/2019
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Recently, CW released the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Reign" episode 11 of season 2. The episode is entitled, "Getaway," and it turns out that we're going to see Francis plot up a new scheme to take out the Dark Riders legend while Mary puts in her best effort to protect Conde from the vicious Vatican, and more. In the new, 11th episode press release: Mary is going aid an endangered Conde. Press release number 2: Mary (Adelaide Kane) will take action to save Condé (Sean Teale) when she learns the Vatican is hunting him for bearing the branded mark of the Dark Riders. Francis (Toby Regbo) will devise a plan to put an end to the Dark Riders legend, which puts Bash (Torrance Coombs) at risk. Meanwhile, Kenna (Caitlin Stasey) is going to reveal Catherine's (Megan Follows) ulterior motives to Claude (Rose Williams). Celina Sinden, Craig Parker, Jonathan Keltz and Anna Popplewell also star.
- 1/17/2015
- by Andre Braddox
- OnTheFlix
"Getaway" -- Mary (Adelaide Kane) takes action to save Cond? (Sean Teale) when she learns the Vatican is hunting him for bearing the branded mark of the Dark Riders. Francis (Toby Regbo) devises a plan to put an end to the Dark Riders legend, which puts Bash (Torrance Coombs) at risk. Meanwhile, Kenna (Caitlin Stasey) reveals Catherine's (Megan Follows) ulterior motives to Claude (Rose Williams). Celina Sinden, Craig Parker, Jonathan Keltz and Anna Popplewell also star. Lynne Stopkewich directed the episode written by Daniel Sinclair.
- 1/16/2015
- by editor@buddytv.com
- buddytv.com
CW is going back to normal schedule and they are excited to share what remains left of their seasons. Thus the glowing network has released their latest primetime line up for Jan 19th’s week and yes, it does include Jane the Virgin. Sadly it will all pretty be re-runs as the mid-season premiers will take place later on. However, that isn’t stopping CW from gushing. Here is the official line up so far.
Monday, January 19
The Originals
“Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire” — (8:00-9:00 p.m. Et) (TV-14, V) (HDTV)
When Two Sides Collide — With Vincent (guest star Yusuf Gatewood) on the loose and hell bent on revenge, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) brings Cami (Leah Pipes) to the safe house as he and Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) return to the compound. Hayley and Jackson (guest star Nathan Parsons) devise a plan to bring the vampires and werewolves together to consider a truce,...
Monday, January 19
The Originals
“Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire” — (8:00-9:00 p.m. Et) (TV-14, V) (HDTV)
When Two Sides Collide — With Vincent (guest star Yusuf Gatewood) on the loose and hell bent on revenge, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) brings Cami (Leah Pipes) to the safe house as he and Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) return to the compound. Hayley and Jackson (guest star Nathan Parsons) devise a plan to bring the vampires and werewolves together to consider a truce,...
- 1/1/2015
- by Sarah Peel
- Boomtron
Lost Girl Episode 207 "Fae Gone Wild" Written By: Alexandra Zarowny Directed By: Lynne Stopkewich Original Airdate: 4 June 2012 In This Episode... A trio of girls in black leather slink into the police department and seduce the cops on duty out of their uniforms, then dress up convicted murderer Zephyr as he is being transferred in the cops clothes and sneak him out of the station. As Hale and Dyson were the only two detectives who apparently weren't in the squad room at the time, they investigate. The woman who is caught on video escorting Zephyr out of the station is identified as Sherri. Her mother, Donna, hires Bo and Kenzi to find her. They have been...
- 6/5/2012
- FEARnet
Toronto -- Taking a step back from acting, Molly Parker is to direct her first feature in Canada.Parker ("Swingtown," "Deadwood") is to shoot "The Ballad of Maura MacKenzie" in Newfoundland and Toronto in late summer 2011 for indie producers Markham Street Films and Rock Island Productions.The drama is based on the Joan Clark novel "An Audience of Chairs," which portrays the struggles of woman alone in a Cape Breton farmhouse, battling mental illness while grieving the loss of her two daughters.The script was written by Rock Island's Rosemary House.No word on casting.Parker is lending her star wattage to two pictures at this week's Toronto International Film Festival, "Trigger" and "Oliver Sherman."Parker's breakout acting role was in Toronto in 1996 with Lynne Stopkewich's "Kissed," where she played a young woman whose fixation with death led her to acts of necrophilia in a mortuary.– The Hollywood Reporter...
- 9/16/2010
- backstage.com
Toronto -- Taking a step back from acting, Molly Parker is to direct her first feature in Canada.
Parker ("Swingtown," "Deadwood") is to shoot "The Ballad of Maura MacKenzie" in Newfoundland and Toronto in late summer 2011 for indie producers Markham Street Films and Rock Island Productions.
The drama is based on the Joan Clark novel "An Audience of Chairs," which portrays the struggles of woman alone in a Cape Breton farmhouse, battling mental illness while grieving the loss of her two daughters.
The script was written by Rock Island's Rosemary House.
No word on casting.
Parker is lending her star wattage to two pictures at this week's Toronto International Film Festival, "Trigger" and "Oliver Sherman."
Parker's breakout acting role was in Toronto in 1996 with Lynne Stopkewich's "Kissed," where she played a young woman whose fixation with death led her to acts of necrophilia in a mortuary.
Parker ("Swingtown," "Deadwood") is to shoot "The Ballad of Maura MacKenzie" in Newfoundland and Toronto in late summer 2011 for indie producers Markham Street Films and Rock Island Productions.
The drama is based on the Joan Clark novel "An Audience of Chairs," which portrays the struggles of woman alone in a Cape Breton farmhouse, battling mental illness while grieving the loss of her two daughters.
The script was written by Rock Island's Rosemary House.
No word on casting.
Parker is lending her star wattage to two pictures at this week's Toronto International Film Festival, "Trigger" and "Oliver Sherman."
Parker's breakout acting role was in Toronto in 1996 with Lynne Stopkewich's "Kissed," where she played a young woman whose fixation with death led her to acts of necrophilia in a mortuary.
- 9/16/2010
- by By Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
At the first look, it's very easy to loathe Lynne Stopkewich's Kissed. In fact, the production value is a little bit questionable and the execution slightly lacks energy. However, Kissed's technical flaws can be overlooked in the long run because of its script's depth.
Ever since she was young, Sandra Larson (Natasha Morley) has tried to understand what death is. As time goes by, her romantic ideals about death grow into necrophilia. Now that Sandra (Molly Parker) is an adult, she decides to study embalming for the pleasure of being around dead bodies of men. Then enters Matt (Peter Outerbridge), a medicine student who is her first love ever and also a person with whom she's opened about her necrophilia. However, Matt's growing obsession for Sandra eventually makes him see that he can never be loved by her as much as dead men.
First of all, congratulation for...
Ever since she was young, Sandra Larson (Natasha Morley) has tried to understand what death is. As time goes by, her romantic ideals about death grow into necrophilia. Now that Sandra (Molly Parker) is an adult, she decides to study embalming for the pleasure of being around dead bodies of men. Then enters Matt (Peter Outerbridge), a medicine student who is her first love ever and also a person with whom she's opened about her necrophilia. However, Matt's growing obsession for Sandra eventually makes him see that he can never be loved by her as much as dead men.
First of all, congratulation for...
- 4/6/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
In the mid-'70s, when women (among them Claudia Weill, Joan Micklin Silver, Joan Darling) were getting the chance to direct mainstream movies, Pauline Kael cautioned against expecting great things right away. Filmmakers needed a chance to learn and develop, she said, and there was always a chance they might not, or might simply become proficient hacks. It didn't matter, she was quoted as saying, whether there was a king or a queen on top of the garbage heap.
Daphne Merkin's profile of Nancy Meyers in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks back was an attempt to claim that a Garbage Queen was a step forward. The trouble with the piece, as with almost every plight-of-women-in-film article, is that the relentless focus on Hollywood winds up saying that the women directors working outside the mainstream don't exist.
The institutional sexism that still cripples Hollywood is appalling. When Mira Nair...
Daphne Merkin's profile of Nancy Meyers in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks back was an attempt to claim that a Garbage Queen was a step forward. The trouble with the piece, as with almost every plight-of-women-in-film article, is that the relentless focus on Hollywood winds up saying that the women directors working outside the mainstream don't exist.
The institutional sexism that still cripples Hollywood is appalling. When Mira Nair...
- 1/21/2010
- by Charles Taylor
- ifc.com
VANCOUVER -- Canadian filmmaker John Pozer has launched a lawsuit against his ex-partner and fellow filmmaker Lynne Stopkewich for a share of the profits from Kissed, Stopkewich's 1996 debut feature about a young woman sexually attracted to corpses. In a March 20 lawsuit, Pozer claims he lived with Stopkewich in 1994 while she developed and financed Kissed, a film about an attractive young necrophiliac, played by Molly Parker, who has sex with corpses in a funeral home. Produced as a low-budget feature, Kissed spurred a bidding war for its U.S. distribution rights after bowing at the 1996 Toronto International Film Festival. The Samuel Goldwyn Co. eventually grabbed the U.S. rights, while Malofilm Distribution secured the Canadian rights.
- 3/25/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IFP/West Los Angeles Film Festival
A Montreal movie from beginning to end and proud of it, "Looking for Leonard" is a low-budget noir looker, written and directed by Canadians Matt Bissonnette and Steven Clark. Accidental killings, hidden treasure, life on the streets, this film has a metaphorical mission that is aptly alluded to in the title.
Finding a sizable audience is the real trick, however, with projects competing for Bohemian audiences everywhere you look. From the performances and wry dialogue to the sets and cinematography, "Looking" is a film with a lot of things going for it.
Canadian actress Kim Huffman as Jo longs to just once see Montrealer Leonard Cohen. As if to grant her wish for our pleasure, the film occasionally inserts silent footage of novelist Cohen, from public appearances to more intimate material. Meanwhile, with the help of Mac McCaughan's score, one easily gets into Jo's and the film's bored-but-expectant mood as we learn she is one of a successful three-person stickup team and is hardly leading a fulfilling existence.
Jo's partners are tough-talking, TV-addicted amateurs Ted (Ben Rainer), also her boyfriend, and his brother Johnny (Darcy Belsher). Determined to move up to robbing banks, which Jo bluntly tries to talk them out of, the brothers leave her alone for a weekend and she meets a just-arrived Czech computer programmer, Luka (Joel Bissonnette), at the store where she's shoplifting seemingly out of boredom.
They have chemistry, with his upright but hapless character fatefully falling in love. Making out at her place, they're surprised by Johnny. A vicious fight starts and Jo hits Johnny with an ashtray. He dies and she sends Luka away.
Luka dumbly leaves his wallet behind, and she self-defensively tells the police he was the killer. Drunk and a wanted man, Luka hits the streets, where he hides in the shadows with opinionated urban scarecrow Chevy (the late Justin Pierce of "Kids" in his final role). Jo lies to Ted and confides with nice girl Monica (Molly Parker) in some of the film's best scenes. Eventually, Jo decides to leave town with a stash of cash, and her fondness for reading Cohen helps Ted uncover her duplicity. Heading for tragedy, the film instead agreeably comes in for a happy landing.
LOOKING FOR LEONARD
Frustrated Films
Boneyard Film Co.
Credits:
Screenwriters-directors: Matt Bissonnette, Steven Clark
Producer: Sylvia Wilson
Executive producers: Lynne Stopkewich, Jessica Fraser, Dean English, Molly Parker
Director of photography: Brian Pearson
Production designer: Patricia Christie
Editors: Annie Ilkow, Andrew Kowalchuk, Michael Dowse
Costume designer: Janine Metcalfe
Music: Mac McCaughan
Cast:
Jo: Kim Huffman
Ted: Ben Rainer
Johnny: Darcy Belsher
Luka: Joel Bissonnette
Monica: Molly Parker
Chevy: Justin Pierce
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A Montreal movie from beginning to end and proud of it, "Looking for Leonard" is a low-budget noir looker, written and directed by Canadians Matt Bissonnette and Steven Clark. Accidental killings, hidden treasure, life on the streets, this film has a metaphorical mission that is aptly alluded to in the title.
Finding a sizable audience is the real trick, however, with projects competing for Bohemian audiences everywhere you look. From the performances and wry dialogue to the sets and cinematography, "Looking" is a film with a lot of things going for it.
Canadian actress Kim Huffman as Jo longs to just once see Montrealer Leonard Cohen. As if to grant her wish for our pleasure, the film occasionally inserts silent footage of novelist Cohen, from public appearances to more intimate material. Meanwhile, with the help of Mac McCaughan's score, one easily gets into Jo's and the film's bored-but-expectant mood as we learn she is one of a successful three-person stickup team and is hardly leading a fulfilling existence.
Jo's partners are tough-talking, TV-addicted amateurs Ted (Ben Rainer), also her boyfriend, and his brother Johnny (Darcy Belsher). Determined to move up to robbing banks, which Jo bluntly tries to talk them out of, the brothers leave her alone for a weekend and she meets a just-arrived Czech computer programmer, Luka (Joel Bissonnette), at the store where she's shoplifting seemingly out of boredom.
They have chemistry, with his upright but hapless character fatefully falling in love. Making out at her place, they're surprised by Johnny. A vicious fight starts and Jo hits Johnny with an ashtray. He dies and she sends Luka away.
Luka dumbly leaves his wallet behind, and she self-defensively tells the police he was the killer. Drunk and a wanted man, Luka hits the streets, where he hides in the shadows with opinionated urban scarecrow Chevy (the late Justin Pierce of "Kids" in his final role). Jo lies to Ted and confides with nice girl Monica (Molly Parker) in some of the film's best scenes. Eventually, Jo decides to leave town with a stash of cash, and her fondness for reading Cohen helps Ted uncover her duplicity. Heading for tragedy, the film instead agreeably comes in for a happy landing.
LOOKING FOR LEONARD
Frustrated Films
Boneyard Film Co.
Credits:
Screenwriters-directors: Matt Bissonnette, Steven Clark
Producer: Sylvia Wilson
Executive producers: Lynne Stopkewich, Jessica Fraser, Dean English, Molly Parker
Director of photography: Brian Pearson
Production designer: Patricia Christie
Editors: Annie Ilkow, Andrew Kowalchuk, Michael Dowse
Costume designer: Janine Metcalfe
Music: Mac McCaughan
Cast:
Jo: Kim Huffman
Ted: Ben Rainer
Johnny: Darcy Belsher
Luka: Joel Bissonnette
Monica: Molly Parker
Chevy: Justin Pierce
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/16/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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