Happy Canada Day: 15 Must See Canadian Horror Films

Happy Canada day to all of our Canadian readers. We are an international site but as the day-to-day news contributor who happens to live in Canada I figured I would take  a minute and share some of my all time favorite Canadian Horror Movies.

I have deliberately picked films from a wide cross-section of styles and time but every horror film on this list is outstanding in my humble opinion. The fact that they are all Canadian horror films is just an added bonus since regardless of that fact they are great films on their own.

I encourage you to enjoy Canada Day with a deliciously terrifying Canadian Horror Movie

MAMA

Yes Mama is a Canadian horror movie believe it or not. The film was a Canadian / Spanish co production by legendary filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro and is one of the best films of 2013 so far.

Guillermo del Toro’s Mama is a supernatural thriller that tells the haunting tale of two little girls who disappeared into the woods the day that their parents were killed. When they are rescued years later and begin a new life, they find that someone or something still wants to come tuck them in at night. Watch the short film that inspired the feature film below.

SPLICE

Splice is a 2009 French Canadian horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring two very talented actors Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody. Sarah Polley is as Canadian as maple syrup and is also an incredibly talented and overlooked actress.

The story of SPLICE explores a dark vision of the world of genetic engineering in which two young scientists (Polley and Brody) become superstars by splicing different animal DNA to create fantastical new creatures. True to form it has catastrophic results.

Tucker & Dale Vs Evil

Tucker & Dale vs Evil is hands down one of the funniest horror comedies of all time. Its a bloody Canadian / American co-production which features lots of laughs, plenty of insane kill sequences and a truly outstanding cast.

Tucker and Dale are two best friends on vacation at their dilapidated mountain house, who are mistaken for murderous backwoods hillbillies by a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids. When one of the students gets separated from her friends, the boys try to lend a hand, but as the misunderstanding grows, so does the body count.

Screamers

There are a few movies that stand out for me as monumental sci-fi horror films. Terminator is one of them, Hardware is another and Screamers is as well. The 1995 horror film to this day still holds up and holds the high bar on what sci-fi horror movies should look like.

Screamers is the story of a group of soldiers on Sirius 6B who are waging a war against the Alliance. One of their weapons is the Screamers which are tiny robotic killing machines that hunt anyone who is not wearing a badge that marks that person as ‘friend’. With both sides exhausted from the war they setup a meeting only to discover that the SCREAMERS are much more than mindless robotic sentries.

Shivers

David Cronenberg is a legend to genre fans and Shivers is one of his fines films. Shot in 1975 this French Canadian horror film won Best Director distinction at the ’75 Sitges Film Festival and went on to become a classic with genre fans. Shivers is the story of a scientist who inadvertently releases the kind of sexually transmitted disease that true nightmares are made of.