Vancouver Horror Show 2024: Justin Harding's CARVED to Have Canadian Premiere During 7th Edition

VANCOUVER HORROR SHOW FILM FESTIVAL® 

RETURNS FOR ITS BIGGEST YEAR YET IN SEASON SEVEN 

 

The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival (VHS) returns with expanded programming for its seventh season. The beloved local festival will run for two consecutive weekends in October providing unique scares to kickstart the Halloween season. 

 

VHS is partnering with The Burnaby Halloween Festival for VHS: The Burnaby Edition, October 18th - 20th at Cineplex Cinemas Metropolis at Metrotown. The weekend will feature five exclusive feature films, two short programs and two industry panel discussions and filmmaker Q&As to follow all screenings.

 

The following weekend will see VHS take over Cineplex International Village Cinemas in downtown Vancouver, October 25th - 27th. VHS: The Vancouver Edition will bring three days of fresh and frightening programming – including four feature films, two shorts programs, industry panel discussions, filmmaker Q&As and a live podcast taping of the hit CBC podcast, Let’s Make A Horror.

 

VHS Talks Panel Series – VHS is proud to be partnering with Creative BC, UBCP/Actra, Directors Guild of Canada and Writers Guild of Canada to present the VHS Talks industry panel series. The festival will present four panels over the festival's two consecutive weekends. Special guests will include horror directing duo, The Spear Sisters, critically acclaimed director / producer Mackenzie Donaldson, screenwriter of two VHS 2024 feature films Carved and All The Lost Ones, Cheryl Meyer and Vancouver’s own, highly prolific and praised writer / director Karen Lam. 

 

VHS Indigenous Voices in Horror – VHS is excited to announce that Rylan Friday has joined the team for the 2024 season in the role of Indigenous Programming Consultant. Friday will be curating a block of seven Indigenous short films – Don’t Look Back: Indigenous Horror Shorts. The program has a variety of themes and Friday’s curation asks the audience to consider, “what is horror from an Indigenous perspective?” Additionally, Friday is curating the VHS Talks – Indigenous Voices in Horror panel discussion. 

 

Rylan Friday (Saulteaux Ojibway/Plains Cree/Métis) is a multidisciplinary award-winning director, curator, writer, and producer from Cote First Nation, Saskatchewan. His focus is to bring an honest discourse of LGBTQ2+ & Indigenous representation to the big screen. In 2019, he produced Trevor Mack's debut feature film Portraits From a Fire and helped implement its peer-to-peer mentorship program for Indigenous youth. Rylan has gone on to win the Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award, CMPA Indie Screen Awards out of Prime Time Ottawa 2022 and the Leo Award for Best Motion Picture for his efforts on Mack's debut feature. Rylan directed the critically acclaimed Terror/Forming, a queer Indigenous horror told in a continuous shot. The film been showcased at numerous film festivals such as the VIFF, VQFF, VHS Nuuk International Film Festival, Local Sightings Film Fest, Māoriland Film Festival, and imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Additionally, it secured the Best Short Horror Film award at the 2023 London Independent Film Festival and Best BC Film at VHS 2023. He is currently adapting it into his debut feature, Terror/Rising. 

 

VHS Special Presentation – Live Recording of CBC Podcast Let’s Make a Horror

Join VHS for a screening of short film, Close and Lock the Patio Door, after which, the comedian creators, will be taping an episode of their hit CBC podcast, Let’s Make a Horror. 

 

About the podcast – Lauded by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Vulture Magazine, the Let’s Make A… Podcast takes you inside a real writers’ room where three comedians attempt to make a seriously good script. Season three, Let’s Make A Horror, raises the stakes, following the comedians as they not only write but also direct and star in a real short film. Over the course of 10 episodes they get advice on making their film from legends of horror like director of The Blair Witch Project, Eduardo Sanchez, M3GAN star Ronnie Chieng, Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, Shape of Water), and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn.  This podcast is part of the CBC Podcasts family and was created and produced by Kelly&Kelly. 

 

VHS 2024 Feature Film Presentations:

 

All The Lost Ones – From Canada comes the unforgettable and haunting All The Lost Ones, directed by Mackenzie Donaldson (Orphan Black, Citizen Bio, Snowpiercer). A future civil war is sparked by government-imposed measures due to climate change. Nia, her sister Penny, and her boyfriend Ethan are hiding out when a militia leader and his followers arrive on their doorstep. Starring Sheila McCarthy, Devon Sawa and Lochlyn Munroe. Filmmaker Q&A to follow screening.

 

Altona - VHS will host the Vancouver premiere of Canadian documentary, Altona. This true crime documentary, and real life horror story, examines the far-reaching effects of a deadly attack that shattered a community and the survivor who needed to face his demons in order to overcome them. The debut feature film from the award-winning Affolter brothers – Heath, Jon, Nathan and Thomas – Altona combines stunning animation with never-before-told eyewitness accounts to ask the question, can you forgive what you'll never forget? This film contains extremely graphic and sensitive material that may be triggering to some audiences. Filmmaker Q&A to follow screening.

 

Carved – VHS will host the Canadian Premiere of Carved, from Canadian born filmmaker Justin Harding. A hilarious and scary gorefest, Carved tells the story of a group of survivors who get trapped in a reenactment village on Halloween and must fight against a vengeful pumpkin creature. This film is quickly going to become an essential annual viewing for horror lovers and halloween lovers alike. Filmmaker Q&A to follow screening.

 

The Daemon – Canadian Premiere. From USA filmmaking duo Matt Devino and David Michael Yohe comes The Daemon. Haunted by the aftermath of his father’s suicide, Tom abandons his wife and seeks refuge at the lakeside cottage where his father met his tragic end. There, his tormented memories from childhood resurface, all intricately connected to an ancient, mystifying force lurking beneath the lake’s depths, driving Tom inexorably towards madness. As Tom’s communication dwindles into eerie silence, Kathy, desperate to rescue her husband, enlists the help of her brother Mark, a struggling entrepreneur, and Mark’s compassionate yet inexperienced wife, Jess, a trauma and grief counselor. Unaware of the sinister malevolence seeping from the lake, Tom becomes a willing vessel for the same evil that claimed his parents and now threatens all who dare draw near. Filmmaker Q&A to follow screening.

 

Finality of Dusk – From Canadian writer / director duo Madison Thomas (Ojibwe/Saulteux & Russian/Ukrainian settler), comes Finality of Dusk. In the year 2045, amidst environmental devastation, Ishkode (Marika Sila) and her unlikely companion Niife (Cherrel Bergen) join forces on what is left of the land to save themselves by protecting each other. Filmmaker Q&A to follow screening.

 

Never Hike Alone 2 – Vancouver Premiere. From visionary filmmaker Vincent DeSanti comes Never Hike Alone 2, a Friday the 13th fan film masterpiece. Twenty years after the last sighting of Jason Voorhees, Crystal Lake resident and former victim Tommy Jarvis still lives with the haunting notion that Jason will one day return. This is a must see for the horror lovers out there.

 

Scared Shitless – From Canadian director Vivieno Caldinelli comes the hilarious and raunchy Scared Shitless. Starring Steven Ogg and Canadian comedy legend Mark McKinney, Scared Shitless tells the story of a plumber and his germophobic son who are forced to get their hands dirty to save the residents of an apartment building, when a genetically engineered, blood-thirsty creature escapes into the plumbing system. Equal parts funny, gross and perfectly Canadian. 

 

Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire – A faux true-crime documentary about two detectives in pursuit of an infamous serial killer named Mr. Shiny, who terrorized Southern California for almost two decades. From award-winning Canadian filmmaker Stuart Ortiz (Grave Encounters). Followed by Q&A with Producer Alex Yesilcimen.

 

Tails From The Void – VHS 2024 will host a special advanced screening of three as yet unreleased episodes of the dark and disturbing Tails From The Void. An episodic horror anthology series based on the most viral and haunting stories from the popular r/NoSleep podcast. VHS is thrilled to welcome showrunner Francesco Loschiavo for a Q&A session to follow the screening. 

 

VHS 2024 Shorts – The 2024 program features 47 unique short films from eight different countries. VHS is proud to showcase homegrown talent, the 2024 lineup boasts more than 40 percent Canadian films.

 

Cheat Meal (USA) – Canadian Premiere. Writer and lead actor Cory Walls and director Drew Bierut come together to serve up serious laughs and shudder-worthy gore with the ridiculously infectious Cheat Meal. Suspicious that his girlfriend is cheating on him with her new personal trainer, Owen decides to take matters into his own hands. What he discovers is far more difficult to digest.

 

Family Descent – From VHS alumn, Vancouver writer / director,  Brodi-Jo Scalise comes Family Descent, the story of a young man who returns home after the passing of his father only to become embroiled in a sinister family plot that must occur during a rare lunar eclipse.

 

Forgive Me – Canadian Premiere. Director Cameron Sun (USA) tells the haunting tale of a shadowy figure that stalks the only Asian teenager in an American suburb.

 

Hell Is A Teenage Girl – Written & Directed by Stephen Sawchuck (CAN) Every Halloween, the small town of Springboro is terrorized by its resident SLASHER – a masked serial killer who targets sinful teenagers that break ‘The Rules of Horror’ – don’t drink, don’t do drugs, and don’t have sex! At the center of it all is Parker Campbell, the Slasher’s estranged biological daughter. In an attempt to make things right with the town and clear her family name, Parker sets out on a life-or-death mission in hopes of ending his reign of terror once and for all.

 

The Neighbourhood at the End of the World – Convinced that her husband has been abducted and replaced by a doppelgänger, Abby Aimes, with the help of her young son, Jetson, take this imposter hostage in order to force him to confess. The Neighbourhood at the End of the World is a horror film with a fascinating inquest into the darker side of identity and family values. From Skinner Street Films, writer / director Shane Day. 

 

The Power of the Strike – Made in Germany, Canadian Premiere. Award-winning Russian-born filmmaker Dima Barch delivers a vivid, stylish and visceral story that takes place during one completely life-altering night in a bowling alley. 

 

Queen of the Underworld – Canadian Premiere. Funded entirely by Canada Council For The Arts comes award-winning writer / director Stephanie Izsak’s latest feat, Queen of The Underworld. Morgan Taylor Campbell stars as a woman in recovery from her past who begins to experience sleep paralysis. She must determine if the phenomena is just a part of her healing process – or if something otherworldly waits in the dark. 

 

Redlights – Powerful and thought provoking. An evening out takes a dramatic turn for two Indigenous women, Tina and Amber, when Amber is suddenly taken into police custody. Fearing the worst, Tina tails the cruiser outside city limits and makes a courageous choice to free her friend. From writer, director, producer and story editor Eva Thomas who is a member of Walpole Island First Nation which is located in Southwestern Ontario; she is also Tohono O’odham, Cherokee and Scottish. Redlights will play as part of the Indigenous Voices in Horror Shorts Block at VHS – The Vancouver Edition.

 

For more information:  www.vancouverhorrorshow.com

 

For Full Festival Schedule & Tickets: https://vhs2024.eventive.org/schedule

 

About The Vancouver Horror Show – Founded in 2018, The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival (VHS) is a registered charity under the Canadian Revenue Agency, and an incorporated non-profit society in British Columbia with the mission to celebrate outstanding cinematic storytelling in the horror genre, and to support the filmmakers and screenwriters who tell those stories.

 

VHS is devoted to finding selected works – feature films, short films and screenplays alike – that contain elevated narratives that challenge archaic ideas about what the horror genre might have traditionally encompassed. VHS is committed to fostering the growth of student (or emerging) filmmakers early in their careers, supporting them as they develop their craft and connecting them to a broader filmmaking community. VHS is interested in horror that moves the needle forward in terms of messaging, inclusivity, representation and thoughtful narrative. The festival's mission includes bolstering the local filmmaking community and connecting it to a wider, global community – at VHS connectivity is key.