The Rogers First Rites program was originally spearheaded by The Asylum, an L.A. distribution company that now specializes in " mockbusters" like Transmorphers and Snakes on a Train.

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Eager Beavers: Canuxploitation Indie Film Spotlight


Young, independent filmmakers have always been the guiding force of Canadian genre film, from the entrepreneurial spirit of Sidney J. Furie in the 1950s to the hipper, ironic films of Chris Windsor and John Paizs in the 1980s. As the means of producing a film has become cheaper in recent years, a new generation of Canadians have pulled out their digital video cameras to offer their own twisted take on Canadian genre film.

Most often made by rabid movie fans, these do-it-yourself films compensate for a lack of budget or precise technical skill with raw enthusiasm. More importantly, though, indie genre efforts can be the purest expression of regional filmmaking. Without the pretension of catering to an international market, DV features shot by budding young Cronenbergs have to use use whatever is freely available to them—from unused cottages to dense forest settings. They are rarely self-conscious about being set in Canada, or of containing distinctly Canadian themes.

This page is dedicated to do-it-yourself productions that don't necessarily fit in with Canuxploitation's main focus on theatrical and straight-to-video B-films, but remain an essential part of the Canadian genre film landscape. These self-distributed Super-8 or DV Canadian films deserve not only your attention, but also your support.



 

Black Bridge

2006, Starring Adam Smoluk, Jenny Pudavick, Clayton Champagne, Jason Malloy, Orlando Carreira. Directed by Kevin Doherty (Magic Toaster Productions).

Straight outta Manitoba, Kevin Doherty's head-banging feature-length debut Black Bridge is an authentically depicted coming-of-age story that follows the downward spiral of six friends—heavy metal fanatics Adrian (Adam Smoluk), Clive (Jason Malloy), Eddie (Mike Silver), Sammy (Orlando Carreira), Tracey (Jenny Pudavick) and Gomer (Clayton Champagne). As Adrian copes with the unwanted affections of preppy Kathy (Raimey Gallant), a violent feud between two local high schools erupts, and the others begin to worry about the constantly drugged out Sammy, who is getting dangerously into the occult. Things get serious when a field party held by Vinny Gay (Spencer Maybee), the leader of local gang The Hellrats, is crashed by the rival school, and his 12-year-old brother Mikey goes missing. Was it the Hellrats' rivals, Sammy looking for a body for a metal-inspired sacrificial ritual, or someone else entirely? What starts out like another take on FUBAR quickly unfolds into something entirely original, an engaging tragedy rooted in the media fascination with heavy metal as a doorway to drugs, suicide, Satanism and murder. Though a few false acting notes are hit, Black Bridge still manages to weave several naturally unfolding stories into a decisively emotional narrative, even working in some very funny flashes of dark humour. What's most impressive about this DV film is the incredible attention to detail, though. ColecoVisions, mullet wigs, grungy band shirts and wood-paneled rec rooms easily convince the viewer that it's 1984 all over again, complimented by a solid soundtrack of vintage Canadian metal gods like Helix, Kick Axe, and Thor, who even contributes " We Live to Rock" from the Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare! A worthy effort deserving of a goat-horn salute or two.



 

Bums

2006, Starring Roxanne Bielskis, Brett Butler,  Jason Butler,  Tammy Gerus,  Jeremiah McCann, Peter Rakaric, Tessa Sproule, Karen Suzuki.  Directed by  Brett and Jason Butler (Substance Productions)

Here's a surprisingly witty Toronto indie comedy from sibling acting/directing/ producing/writing team Brett and Jason Butler.  Drenched in a Kevin Smith-inspired slacker vibe of failed relationships, filthy anecdotes, and heavy intoxicants, the film finds Dave (Jason Butler) about  to call it quits with his promiscuous girlfriend Jill (Tessa Sproule). The  break-up doesn't go as smoothly as planned, however, and  their angry confrontation only serves as a launching pad for the unhappy couple's equally romantically-challenged friends to offer their own ruminations on love, sex, and the inherent problems with " boner logic" as they prepare for a night of cruising the bars. The engaging, beer pitcher philosophy is occasionally derivative of Clerks, but Bums does have some genuine, hilarious insights draped in knowing pop culture refences and off-handed sexual remarks. The acting isn't always sure-footed, and the film often indulges in unnecessary video effects, but the writing is surprisingly sharp and the characters are well-realized, making Bums a smart, cheeky addition to the Canuck comedy canon.



 

Confusions of an Unmarried Couple

2006, Starring Brett Butler and Naomi Johnson.  Directed by Brett and Jason Butler  (Substance Productions). 

The Butler Brothers' colour follow-up to Bums, Confusions of an Unmarried Couple is another poignant relationship comedy that sees the young filmmakers further developing their own unique voice. This time, self-deprecating slob Dan (Brett Butler) leaves his girlfriend Lisa (Naomi Johnson) after  he catches her in bed with another woman—just days after she accepts his marriage proposal. His clumsy attempts at reconciliation—interspersed with the couple's revealing video diaries—are more subtle than the sometimes sophomoric Kevin Smith-styled antics of their earlier film, making Confusions a more emotionally sophisticated  film. But  Confusions still manages to maintain a raw edge through the Brothers' use of clever, sexually frank dialogue.  Technically, it's an improvement over Bums as well, with tighter editing, considered cinematography, and more believable acting. Equal parts Woody Allen and the Hanson Brothers, Dan's  private thoughts and self-delusions provide most of the film's spot-on humour, and though the results aren't usually as  laugh-out-loud funny as  Bums,  Confusions is still an impressive follow-up that deserves to be seen by a wide audience.



 

Drop Box

2006, Starring David Cormican, Rachel Sehl, Mary Kitchen, Neil Whitely, Greg White. Directed by Anesty and Spiros Carasoulos  (Drop Box Productions).

There's just no avoiding comparisons to Kevin Smith  in this amusing, laid back  indie comedy about a spoiled celebrity pop singer, Mindy (Sehl), who accidentally returns a homemade sex tape to  a video store instead of the movie she actually rented. As she begs for the tape back, Tom (Cormican), the self-satisfied clerk, decides to put her in her place over the course of the afternoon. Shot  entirely within the confines of a Toronto-area " Mom 'n' Pop" rental outlet, Drop Box  is a  snappily-scripted 75 minute back and forth between Sehl and Cormican, who manage to wring some chuckles  out of this admittedly interesting premise. As with its clear inspiration, Clerks, the pair's  discussions are quick-witted and sexually frank, and they're often  interrupted by the store's clientele, whose clueless requests  are systematically ridiculed by  Tom. While humorous, these scenes, as well as Tom's purposeful humbling of Mindy,  seem more like a minimum wage slave's wishful thinking than reality, and it's questionable whether an in-demand celebrity would spend a good portion of her  day bickering without going for help from her handlers to begin with. But no matter--first time directors Anesty and Spiros Carasoulos make the best of their  limited resources, capturing Drop Box in a warm,  unobtrusive style that makes for fun, lighthearted viewing.


 

Exhumed

2003, Starring Masahiro Oyake, Hiroaki Itaya, Claire Westby, Moira Thomas, Chelsey Arentsen. Directed by Brian Clement (Frontline Films).

A total surprise on every account, this solidly directed three-part horror anthology from Victoria, B.C.-based filmmaker Brian Clement is a surefire homage to cinema past. The first story has a Japanese samurai and a monk doing battle with zombies in the appropriately named Forest of Death, the second takes place in the 1940s, as a female detective attempts to solve a rash of grave-robbings, while the third has a mad scientist experimenting on gangs of vampire mods and rockabilly werewolves in a post-apocalyptic future. My favourite episode is the second, a black and white segment that captures the film noir style perfectly. This movie should be mandatory viewing for any filmmaker who wants to experiment with digital video, as it shows that budgets are not a barometre for quality—it's the vision that counts, and Clement has it in spades. I can't wait to see his next masterpiece.   (Reviewed by David DeCoteau)



 

The Feral Man

2002, Starring Brett Kelly, Mary MacPherson, Mark Courneyea, Steve Patterson, Eric Schmidt and Corey Stevenson. Directed by Brett Kelly (Brett Kelly Entertainment).

I have never seen a DV movie I have ever liked—until this week. It figures that it would be Canadians who would get it right. Made on a micro budget without the contribution of Canuck tax subsidies, The Feral Man is young Ottawa filmmaker Brett Kelly's horror opus. Kelly directs, writes and stars as the film's hero, Danny, a poor schlub with a lousy job stuck in a go-nowhere relationship. When Danny's father dies, he visits the graveyard to pay his respects and things get a whole lot worse when he's mauled by some sort of creature. He survives the attack, but feels somehow... different. Kelly, best known for his Canadian slasher films The Bonesetter and The Bonesetter Returns directs this little creepfest with a sure hand, although The Feral Man is a little too talky for its own good. Regardless, Brett Kelly is a Canuck to look out for.  (Reviewed by David DeCoteau)



 

The Intercessor: Another Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare

2005, Starring Jon Mikl Thor, Craig Bowlsby, Dave Collette, Brad Pope, Melissa Ellingham. Directed by Benn McGuire and Jacob Windatt.

One of two (planned) follow-ups to the essential 1987 Canuxploitation classic Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare, The Intercessor was originally conceived as a series of three short films that would segue into the true sequel, but grew into an indie feature of its own. Unfortunately, it barely matches the original Nightmare for fun and craziness, offering instead a patience-testing brew of half-formed stories, laughable effects and amateurish camerawork. The patchwork plot has underworld entities Zompira (Dave Collette) and Mephisto (Craig Bowlsby) battling for the Earth by destroying the last two innocents on the planet—the girlfriend of a physically-challenged comic book artist and a little girl. The comic artist (Brad Pope)—whose drawings resemble junior high binder scribblings—tries to save his gal, and somehow channels the Intercessor (the incomparable Jon Mikl Thor) in the process, who arrives for a showdown with Mephisto and his evil army. Not at all what you might expect as a follow-up to the entertaining Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare, this film is marred by incredibly subpar sound, lighting and DV cinematography, as well as CGI effects that are, hands down, the worst I've ever seen this side of a high school video. Thor doesn't get much screen time until halfway through the film, and even then he does little more than replicate his stage show antics of battling creatures with giant rubber weapons. One can only hope the next sequel will be an improvement over this embarrassing rock 'n' roll atrocity.



The Legend of Viper's Hill

2006, Starring Donna Henry, Tom Griffin, Tina Michaud, David Rusk. Directed by David A. Lloyd (The Cousin Company).

The first feature film from Newmarket, Ont's The Cousin Company is a MiniDV psychological thriller with a healthy splash of ghosts and blood. The film recounts the doomed history of Viper's Hill,  which began when a woman was raped and impregnated by a wandering transient. When the baby died during childbirth, she was thrown into a deep depression, and hung herself, cursing the town with her final breath. Ever since then, anyone who has moved into the house has gone insane, murdered themselves and their loved ones. Accompanied by her family lawyer, Larry (David Rusk), the victim's granddaughter, Meredith Baron (Donna Henry), returns to town to debunk the story and sell the house, but the ghosts have different ideas. Though its flashback-within-a-flashback structure is sometimes confusing, and the film concludes with an unnecessary twist, The Legend of Viper's Hill is a fairly solid effort, featuring a well-thought out story and tight editing. After a talky, exposition-filled first half, the film really gets down to business, with director Lloyd mustering some decent atmosphere and special effects to produce some geniunely effective moments—a difficult task, since the " cursed" suburban tract house setting is neither old, nor particularly spooky. Blood-spurting scenes of the ghosts putting the scare on Meredith and reporter Jackie (Tina Michaud), and the final shocker of an eerie TV newscast that seems to progressively dwarf the viewer stick out as the film's best moments, and do provide some genuine chills in that exciting last half hour. While not perfect, The Legend of Viper's Hill is nonetheless an impressive first feature that smartly plays to its strengths.



 

Massacre Up North

2001, Starring Loren Eisen, Labe Kagan, Kieran Hart, Allison Leigha Taylor, Nicholas Fuega. Directed by Paul Stoichevski (Impact Pictures Ltd.). 

Released by Rogers Video as part of their " First Rites" line of independent films, Massacre Up North stars first time writer/director Paul Stoichevski as Leslie, a childhood burn victim whose disfigurement leads him to murder as a way to deprive others of what he can't have himself. This is a lacklustre impersonation of a slasher right down to the obsession with surface appearances, as a pair of grizzled cops track Leslie down while he hacks away at lovey-dovey couples with an array of tools borrowed from his hardware store. Things start to get a little weird at the end when medieval studies graduate Leslie inexplicably dons a full suit of chainmail armour and confronts an attacking SWAT team in a forklift. The gore and make-up effects are generally pretty transparent, and a freeze frame often interrupts the onscreen carnage, but the film does feature a surprising amount of nudity and some curiously realistic sex...?! Unfortunately, while you might expect some significant CanCon in a film titled Massacre Up North, the only real reference to the film's country of origin is when " O Canada" plays repeatedly on a cell phone.



 

Meat Market

2000, Starring Claire Westby, Paul Pedrosa, Teresa Simon, Chelsey Arentsen, Cam Pipes, Ken Peters. Directed by Brian Clement (Frontline Films).

From the talented folks at Frontline Films comes this apocalyptic zombie epic shot in Vancouver. When the living dead take to the streets, Shahrokh and Argenta—two security guards from the medical company that accidentally created the creatures—load up their guns and attempt to send some of the zombies back to hell. As the city is finally overrun with gut-munching corpses, the guards head for safety, where they can regroup, and search for survivors. Things get a little muddled when they meet up with a bunch of B-movie refugees, including a troupe of black leather-clad lesbian vampires and a Mexican wrestler named El Diablo Azul, but together they form a formidable zombie-busting team. The plot is a little shaky and character development is all but ignored, but Meat Market is a pleasant surprise that goes far above and beyond what you might expect from a D.I.Y. production. With significant nods to all three of George A. Romero's zombie classics, Meat Market absolutely delivers on its promise with multiple exploding heads, an army of well made-up zombies, nudity and buckets of blood. Well edited and nicely shot, Meat Market easily leads its class in Canadian DV genre efforts.



 

My Dead Girlfriend

2006, Starring Brett Kelly, Caitlin Delaney, Anastasia Kimmett, John Muggleton, Ella Rose. Directed by Brett Kelly (Brett Kelly Entertainment).

Up-and-coming Ottawa actor/director Brett Kelly does it again with the horror comedy My Dead Girlfriend, a deadpan delight about what happens when your beloved turns into a flesh-crazed zombie. Kelly stars as Steve, a likeable schmuck who decides it's time to move in with his girlfriend Amy (Delaney), but just as he's thinking about making their relationship permanent, he accidentally backs over her with his car—repeatedly. Steve frantically tries to revive his lifeless lover by clumsily casting a reanimation spell from one of her books on witchcraft, and suprisingly enough, it works—Amy's soon up and running around again, only with a broken back and an insatiable appetite for meat. Hiding out a friend's cottage for a few days, Steve is forced to do some fast thinking when his buddies suddenly arrive for the weekend with their girlfriends and a case of beer in tow. Anchored by  Kelly's inspired comic performance as the frazzled boyfriend who goes to extremes to explain Amy's ravenous behaviour—especially when his friends start disappearing—this micro-budgeted DV effort is not only clever, but it's frequently laugh-out-loud funny, avoiding both obvious zombie comedy clichés and Weekend at Bernie-styled slapstick. The gore effects are well-staged, but the real attraction here is watching Kelly come up with plausible excuses to explain everything from exposed vital organs to projectile vomiting. Buoyed by co-star John Muggleton's wry script and generally solid acting all around, My Dead Girlfriend is a very polished slice of Canadian indie horror cinema that manages to resurrect more than a few ghastly giggles.



P.O.V.

2002, Starring Katherine Jane Reid, Graeme Anning, Natalie Bartello, Jason Sharman, Tom Doleman and Sarah Kim Turnbull. Directed by Michael Baker and Brian McKechnie (Sick and Twisted Productions).

An ambitiously-structured whodunit, P.O.V. repeats the same storyline with the camera moving between the points of view of six different characters. In the film, housemates Samantha, Ray, Quinn, Chloe, Greg and Rachel spend a night drinking and shooting the breeze about bad horror films and their relationships, when suddenly, unsociable and uptight Rachel is found unconscious on the couch. Things take a turn for the worse when her boyfriend Ray curiously takes her upstairs and ties her up. Rather than being repetitive, P.O.V. succeeds in teasing your sense of curiosity by revealing more information in each new segment many things are kept purposely obscured until Ray's point-of-view, which is presented fourth. What doesn't work quite so well are the post-production slow motion and digital effects that have been added to let the audience into the minds of each particular character. While there's little that is Canadian about the film, P.O.V. is an ambitious project that uses elaborate staging that often seems closer to theatre than film.



Prey for the Beast

2007, Starring Brett Kelly, Jodi Pittman, Ray Besharah, Amanda Leigh, Anastasia Kimmett, Lisa Aitken, Sonia Myers. Directed by Brett Kelly (Brett Kelly Entertainment).

The latest horror effort from Ottawa's maestro of the microbudget, Brett Kelly, Prey for the Beast is an old school creature feature that proves that you can make a unpretentious, bloody B-movie without talking down to your audience. While it doesn't aspire to anything revolutionary with the tried-and-true genre, it's still another consistently fresh and funny effort from star/director Kelly and screenwriter Jeff O’Brien that, like My Dead Girlfriend, delves a bit into relationship issues between kills. This time, Bud (Kelly), a despondent hoser recovering from a recent breakup goes on a camping trip with his pals in hopes that they will cheer him up. At first it doesn't seem to work, as the conversation inevitably returns to his friends' own significant others, but once they run into a trio of girls also out in the woods, Bud begins to forget his troubles. A hint of romance is in the air, but unfortunately so is the putrid musk of a hairy, Sasquatch-like monster that begins to rip the campers apart one by one. As the frightened survivors band together and try to make it to safety, tempers flare and the film nicely builds to an unexpected finale. It's a fun throwback, but the practical effects work, especially the detailed and menacing " beast" itself, is particularly impressive. It's surely director Kelly's goriest film to date, but the real reason to check Prey for the Beast out is to see Kelly's steadily increasing confidence behind the camera, which should quickly earning him a place alongside Canada's best and brightest indie B-filmmakers.




Reunion of Blood

1998, Starring Lili Gagnon, Gilles Hannus, Mitch Wolanski, Barbara Requesens, Caroline Fournier, James Benchimol. Directed by Ian Black and Roberto Crocitti (Black Magic Productions & Amalga Films).

Vampirism makes its way North in Reunion of Blood, an entry from Quebec that boasts some impressive makeup and special effects. A small group of friends stage their annual high school reunion at a remote cottage, but this year, they are to be joined by Boris, an estranged classmate they have not seen in years. Boris is just back from a European research trip to Vlad the Impaler's castle, and his friends soon discover that he has brought back more than a few bottles of wine from Vlad's own cellar. Like all good made-in-Quebec horror films, Reunion of Blood has a strong religious component that harkens back to the Catholic elements of Quebecois horror of the early 1970s, as well as an emphasis on a link to Europe that makes it thoroughly French-Canadian. The staging of scenes can be a little wooden, and the editing tends to work against the creation of suspense, but Reunion of Blood contains effects that seem advanced for the micro-budget, including some exceptional makeup work.



The Teeth Beneath

2006, Starring John Swinamer, Matt Brouin Tyler Knowlton, Zachary Tovey, Jermaine Arsenault. Directed by Zachary Tovey and Jason Eisener (Official Site).
Nova Scotian directors of the fake grindhouse trailer Hobo With a Shotgun, Zachary Tovey and Jason Eisener's The Teeth Beneath is a goofy horror farce obviously inspired by the Evil Dead school of independent filmmaking, but it's still a lot of fun. It all starts when a bunch of novice criminals try to rob a skateboard shop built on the burial site of a deranged killer. But the raging psychopath has risen from the shallow grave in the basement, and kills one of the thieves, forcing the store clerks to clean up the mess before they open. Starting with a cool credits sequence, The Teeth Beneath is an impressive little Canadian indie flick. Sure, the plot is derivative and the film sometimes veers too far into skateboard video territory, but it's undeniably energetic and surprisingly well put together. Reminiscent of the campy Canadian films of Lee Demarbre, it's a film that has definitely been made with the intention to entertain—and it frequently does, with kung fu, eyeball gouging, homemade weapons and rock 'n' roll numbers. Recommended.




Vampire Dentist

2006, Starring Trevor Crane, James Petit, Connie Williams, Rozz Woodcock. Directed by Christine Whitlock (C.J. Productions).

Under the banner C.J. Productions, Hamilton's Christine Whitlock has been quickly building her own no-budget house of horrors, writing, producing and directing DV efforts like Sharp Teeth and its sequel, Marina Monster. Vampire Dentist, her second feature, has cash-strapped dentists Dr. Moe Lars (Trevor Crane) and Dr. Pierce Able (David Squires) renting out their office after hours to Dr. Drek Vam Dent (James Petit), a pale, black-clad dental technician who specializes in the fangs of his undead brethren. Their plan seems to work, at least until a number of local residents are turned into blood-sucking vamps, and Lars and Vam Dent both fall for Connie Duns (Connie Williams), a blind patient. While it's clear Whitlock has a knowledge of B-movies of the past, even tossing in a Little Shop of Horrors reference, Vampire Dentist is an unfocused mess. Overlong by at least 20 minutes, the film is little more than a collection of scenes of Halloween costume vampires pulling victims (40, to be exact!) into the woods, supplemented by painfully unfunny boob and fart jokes in the dentist's waiting room. Very few scenes propel the story forward at all, which doesn't even conclude properly—it just arbitrarily stops after 90 minutes, and informs the audience to be on the lookout for a sequel! But Vampire Dentist exists mostly to present absolutely leering shots of the cleavage and legs of dozens and dozens of girls, mercilessly pandering to its perceived viewership of teen males. Exactly why they would be interested in this scantily-clad parade from Hamilton when late-night cable TV and the Internet present far more tangible options, however, is unclear. It's the lack of believable locations that is most damaging, though—instead of filming in a real dentist's office (don't they rent out space at night like in the film?), the patients get their check-ups in a couple of lawn chairs set up in a warehouse. While it's great to see women challenging the male-dominated Canadian B-film world, Whitlock needs to concentrate less on titillation and more on storytelling if she plans on truly making her mark..




The Widower

1999, Starring Shawn Milstead, K. Ramona Orr, Tim Trylinski, Darren Andrichuk and Irene Miscisco (Cinestir).

Another Rogers First Rites title, The Widower is the debut feature from Vancouverite music video director Marcus Rogers. It's also penned by a rookie screenwriter (Ed Kedzierski), shot on 16mm for about the cost of a pair of hockey tickets, and quirky as hell—the hallmarks of a movie trying hard for cult status. Shawn Milstead, caked in dime-store makeup, plays Milton, an old man who can't accept his wife's death and continues to make her dinner, hold one-sided conversations and take her out on dates, despite the fact her corpse is stinking up his grimy apartment. His nosy neighbour (the annoyingly Mary Walsh-like Irene Miscisco) is onto him, however, and most of the movie has her encouraging a pair of gay, hopelessly inept, doughnut-chugging cops to drive around Vancouver's industrial side-streets to arrest the delusional title character. Hell-bent for " hip," like so many talky post-Pulp Fiction flicks, The Widower strains its creative muscles under 88 minutes of tedious plot, forced performances and mediocre dialogue. Cameos by the likes of Joey " Shithead" Keithly, Jello Biafra and Nardwuar the Human Serviette  (as a doughnut slinger) do little to help this cinematic marriage of glaring eccentricity and mind-numbing monotony.  (Reviewed by Dave Alexander)