Cinematheque presents sinister Canadian horror films

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This article was published 03/10/2019 (2544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

According to our reputation, Canadians are kind and polite.

So naturally, we’ve just got to be fostering a secret undercurrent of rage and violence.

That reveals itself in our vicious Canadian horror films, especially between 1975 and 1982, when producers looking to make a quick buck did so with little financial risk, thanks to generous tax incentives intended to boost the Canadian film industry. (Those were the years David Cronenberg made a name for himself to the extent that his career extended long past his early horror offerings such as Rabid, Shivers and Scanners.)

Canada’s sinister subliminal is the theme of Cinematheque’s Halloween-season offerings Aurora Gorealis, highlighting a selection of “Canucksploitation,” mostly from the 1980s. It’s a program that encompasses mainstream, teen-friendly slashers, a couple of eccentric, kid-targeted terror tales and even one of Cronenberg’s more illustrious efforts. On the program:

Happy Birthday to Me (1981) stars Melissa Sue Anderson (Little House on the Prairie) as a prep school senior who suffers an accident and, while struggling with amnesia, is alarmed to discover her school friends are being killed off one by one. The notorious poster, featuring death by shish kebob, doesn’t quite spoil the shocking reveal of that scene. On Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 18 at 9 p.m.

The Gate (1987) is a fun, juvenile movie directed by Tibor Takács about a couple of kids who inadvertently open up a gateway to hell in their suburban backyard. Friday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. The latter two screenings will be introduced by Caelum Vatnsdal, author of the essential They Came From Within: A History of Canadian Horror.

Dead Ringers (1988) seems like a very David Cronenberg kind of tale. It’s about identical twin gynecologists (both played by Jeremy Irons) who slowly degenerate into a state of self-destructive madness. Surprise! It’s based — very loosely — on a true story. Friday, Oct. 11 at 9 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 9 p.m.

My Bloody Valentine (1981) When a series of gruesome murders plague a mining town around Valentine’s Day, the presumed-dead survivor of a mining disaster is suspected, but the truth will not stay buried. In 1981, this was considered quite the gorefest, but a 2009 remake in 3D upped the ante. Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. and Thursday, Oct. 31 at 9 p.m.

Curtains (1983) is a wintry Canuck slasher about a group of actresses who assemble for a casting call to compete for the role of a maniac, only to fall victim to a masked madwoman. Saturday, Oct. 12 at 9 p.m (introduced by Vatnsdal), and Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.

The Peanut Butter Solution (1985) is a Quebec film, intended for a kid audience, that has a disturbing, surreal undercurrent as an 11-year-old boy loses his hair after being spooked by the spirits of a homeless couple. When the ghosts offer him a cure for his baldness (see title), his hair grows back so abundantly, his teacher kidnaps him to harvest his locks to make paintbrushes. Sunday, Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m.

Watching Night of the Living Dead (2018) is the sole new film in the bunch, possibly inspired by Christian Marclay’s The Clock, in that it’s an assembly of movie and TV footage of characters watching George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. It screens Friday, Oct. 25 at 9 p.m. with a reception following at Platform Centre gallery, which is next door to Cinematheque in the Artspace building.

randall.king@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @FreepKing