Maple Syrup Massacre is an editorial series where Joe Lipsett dissects the themes, conventions and contributions of new and classic Canadian horror films. Spoilers follow…
William Fruet is one of Canada’s most important directors. He’s renowned for not only his contributions to ‘realist social dramas’ such as 1970’s Goin’ Down The Road (one of Canada’s first English language fiction feature films) and 1972’s Wedding in White, but also for his Canuxploitation films of the 70s.
Death Weekend – or The House by the Lake as it was known in the United States – was made in 1976 in an effort to capitalize on a unique Canadian funding model at the time.
As previously explored in this editorial series, as well as my David Cronenberg podcast Sexy & Surreal, Canadian films are funded by the public via governmental organizations. In the 1970s, the government created the Canadian Film Development Council (Cfdc) in...
William Fruet is one of Canada’s most important directors. He’s renowned for not only his contributions to ‘realist social dramas’ such as 1970’s Goin’ Down The Road (one of Canada’s first English language fiction feature films) and 1972’s Wedding in White, but also for his Canuxploitation films of the 70s.
Death Weekend – or The House by the Lake as it was known in the United States – was made in 1976 in an effort to capitalize on a unique Canadian funding model at the time.
As previously explored in this editorial series, as well as my David Cronenberg podcast Sexy & Surreal, Canadian films are funded by the public via governmental organizations. In the 1970s, the government created the Canadian Film Development Council (Cfdc) in...
- 7/25/2023
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
Stars: Brittany Baker, Pooch Hall, Chris Whitcomb, Eric Lutes, David Gere, Brendan Kelleher, Salvatore DelGreco, Angie Campbell, Eric Allan Kramer | Written and Directed by Matthew Kohnen
Alarmed is the latest original film from the streaming service Tubi. Regular readers may have noticed it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed one of those, and there’s a simple reason for that. Apart from Terror Train, which went to a different service here, they haven’t done anything that caught my attention lately. This sounded like it could be a decent home invasion thriller so I gave it a look.
Janet and Sean are having marital issues. The fact their son Billy got busted for hacking some government networks and is back living with them 24/7 while he serves a sentence under house arrest isn’t helping matters.
They decide they need some time to themselves and plan a weekend getaway.
Alarmed is the latest original film from the streaming service Tubi. Regular readers may have noticed it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed one of those, and there’s a simple reason for that. Apart from Terror Train, which went to a different service here, they haven’t done anything that caught my attention lately. This sounded like it could be a decent home invasion thriller so I gave it a look.
Janet and Sean are having marital issues. The fact their son Billy got busted for hacking some government networks and is back living with them 24/7 while he serves a sentence under house arrest isn’t helping matters.
They decide they need some time to themselves and plan a weekend getaway.
- 2/24/2023
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Tubi, the free streaming service that recently brought us a remake of Terror Train (and a sequel to that remake), has picked up the streaming rights to the unscripted film Dead Hot, starring Vanessa Hudgens and her best friend, musician Gg Magree. Tubi is planning to release Dead Hot on April 14th.
Described as “an intimate journey into the supernatural realm that explores identity, feminine power and sisterhood”, Dead Hot has the following synopsis: Hudgens and Magree are self-taught students of witchcraft and have been experimenting and connecting with the spirit world for much of their lives. But after a ghost hunt gone wrong, the duo realizes they need to seek out proper mentorship and training, so they head on a pilgrimage to Salem with cameras chronicling their journey for a masterclass in witchcraft.
The film comes to us from Bunim-Murray Productions and Banijay Rights. Bunim-Murray’s president Julie Pizzi...
Described as “an intimate journey into the supernatural realm that explores identity, feminine power and sisterhood”, Dead Hot has the following synopsis: Hudgens and Magree are self-taught students of witchcraft and have been experimenting and connecting with the spirit world for much of their lives. But after a ghost hunt gone wrong, the duo realizes they need to seek out proper mentorship and training, so they head on a pilgrimage to Salem with cameras chronicling their journey for a masterclass in witchcraft.
The film comes to us from Bunim-Murray Productions and Banijay Rights. Bunim-Murray’s president Julie Pizzi...
- 2/9/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Kevin Williamson built his career on peeking behind the curtain and breaking the rules. Scream deconstructed everything we thought we knew about horror films. So many imitators followed that the meta-horror movie sometimes feels like its own subgenre. Williamson understands why rules exist but knows that breaking them isn’t just fun but necessary for the genre’s evolution. Horror’s cause and effect model often penalizes characters, while those who practice general good behavior and listen to the angels on their shoulders often survive to see another sunrise. But for almost 30 years, Williamson’s shown no love for that tradition.
Scream reshaped the Final Girl into something else in 1996 when it threw the slasher rules out of the window. Now with Sick, scribe Kevin Williamson does the same for a new generation of fans while using an actual life-or-death scenario as the backdrop. One where following every single rule...
Scream reshaped the Final Girl into something else in 1996 when it threw the slasher rules out of the window. Now with Sick, scribe Kevin Williamson does the same for a new generation of fans while using an actual life-or-death scenario as the backdrop. One where following every single rule...
- 2/3/2023
- by Marcus Shorter
- bloody-disgusting.com
Christopher B. Stokes, the directors of such films as House Party 4, You Got Served, Somebody Help Me, Somebody Help Me 2, The Stepmother, and The Stepmother 2, is about to send four more movies out into the world over the course of just three months – and it’s all thanks to the Tubi streaming service. Continuing to get into original programming (previous Tubi originals include the Terror Train remake and its sequel), Tubi has teamed up with Footage Films to bring four “Black cinema thrillers” to their service. Stokes has directed all four of the movies and wrote the scripts for each one with Marques Houston.
First up is The Assistant, which is set to reach Tubi on January 20th. Variety reports that The Assistant follows doctor Raven Fields (Erica Mena) who finds herself drowning in work and looks to hire an assistant to help with her day-to-day. Taking a chance on a young and cheery woman,...
First up is The Assistant, which is set to reach Tubi on January 20th. Variety reports that The Assistant follows doctor Raven Fields (Erica Mena) who finds herself drowning in work and looks to hire an assistant to help with her day-to-day. Taking a chance on a young and cheery woman,...
- 1/13/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
In 1980, Canada delivered one of the most mind boggling slasher films of all time. Terror Train, directed by Roger Spottiswoode, threw Halloween, Friday the 13th, Animal House, Runaway Train and stage magic into a body bag, shook it up and dumped out a glorious Frankenstein monstrosity featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and David Copperfield. Forty-two years later, this classic oddity gets a modern yet mostly faithful retelling courtesy director Philippe Gagnon.
The premise is exactly the same: a well-to-do fraternity holds a Halloween bash on a privately chartered train only to have their numbers picked off one-by-one. There’s a mysterious magician, played by Tom Rozon in the finest Gary Numan impersonation ever, and an angry killer bent on revenge for the misdeeds of said fraternity. Costumes exchange and body counts rise as both guests and train employees realize someone is out to get them. The main difference is a twist...
The premise is exactly the same: a well-to-do fraternity holds a Halloween bash on a privately chartered train only to have their numbers picked off one-by-one. There’s a mysterious magician, played by Tom Rozon in the finest Gary Numan impersonation ever, and an angry killer bent on revenge for the misdeeds of said fraternity. Costumes exchange and body counts rise as both guests and train employees realize someone is out to get them. The main difference is a twist...
- 10/28/2022
- by Chuck Foster
- DailyDead
Stars: Matias Garrido, Corteon Moore, Robyn Alomar, Noah Parker, Dakota Jamal Wellman, Tim Rozon, Mary Walsh, Emma Elle Paterson, Tori Barban | Written by Ian Carpenter, Aaron Martin | Directed by Philippe Gagnon
Released in 1980 the original Terror Train was one of the many slashers to be released in the wake of Friday the 13th and Halloween. Benefiting from the presence of that film’s star, Jamie Lee Curtis it did well at the box office and has built a following over the years. There was even an attempt to remake it in the early 2000s, but that ended up morphing into Train, a film that sucked even by torture porn standards.
Since the original was a favourite of mine, I was initially interested when I heard it had been remade and was scheduled for an October release. However, when I heard Tubi was involved, a lot of that interest faded. As...
Released in 1980 the original Terror Train was one of the many slashers to be released in the wake of Friday the 13th and Halloween. Benefiting from the presence of that film’s star, Jamie Lee Curtis it did well at the box office and has built a following over the years. There was even an attempt to remake it in the early 2000s, but that ended up morphing into Train, a film that sucked even by torture porn standards.
Since the original was a favourite of mine, I was initially interested when I heard it had been remade and was scheduled for an October release. However, when I heard Tubi was involved, a lot of that interest faded. As...
- 10/25/2022
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
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