Genre: Thriller
Spider
Director
David Cronenberg
Writer
Patrick McGrath
Cast
Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne
Producers
Catherine Bailey, David Cronenberg, Samuel Hadida
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Black Christmas
If Black Christmas doesn’t make your skin crawl, it’s on too tight!
At the start of winter break, a group of sorority sisters begin to receive threatening anonymous phone calls. The calls are initially creepy, but soon turn murderous as girls start disappearing from the sorority house and the sisters begin to suspect a killer is in their midst. But no one realizes just how close the mad murderer may be!
Inspired by the terrible true crimes of the Westmount murders in Montreal, Black Christmas is surely not your traditional holiday fare, but when the film is this historically significant — Bob Clark’s film is often cited as one of the first slasher films in horror — naughty or nice, it’s time to check it off your list!
Director
Bob Clark
Writer
Roy Moore
Cast
Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon
Producer
Bob Clark
Genres
Horror, Thriller
Interest
Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Warner Bros
A Dangerous Method
Director
David Cronenberg
Cast
Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen
Producer
Jeremy Thomas
Genres
Drama, Romance, Thriller
Interests
Biography, Literary Adaptation
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Bon Cop Bad Cop
Ward (Feore) and Boucher (Huard) couldn’t be more different: one is an English-speaker from Toronto, the other is a French-speaker from Montreal; one never deviates from established procedure, the other is a rebel who refuses to play by the rules. The detectives soon learn that if they are to solve this lurid crime, which is linked to the world of hockey, they need to stop bickering and work together.
With uproarious performances from both leads, Bon Cop, Bad Cop is a genuinely clever take on the buddy-cop genre that will keep you captivated throughout.
Director
Érik Canuel
Canuel made music videos and TV commercials before turning to film. His features include Nez rouge and Le dernier tunnel, Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer, and the recent Undercover Grandpa. Bon Cop Bad Cop won a Genie for Best Motion Picture and the Golden Reel Award. Next, Canuel will direct the feature film The Burning Man.
Writers
Leila Basen, Alex Epstein, Patrick Huard, Kevin Tierney
Cast
Colm Feore, Patrick Huard
Producer
Kevin Tierney
Genres
Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Interest
Family Relationships
Original Languages
English, French
Language Versions
EN CC, EN Subtitles, FR CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Le confessionnal (The Confessional)
Unfolding in flashbacks between the past and the present, the film follows the story of an adopted man on a search for his true identity, as recounted by his mother to a priest in a private confessional. Family secrets are on the line, blurred by the filming of I Confess. Further, lies and intrigue are clouding the air with mystery — and the foreshadowed sparks of the Quiet Revolution are growing louder.
Winner of the Genie for Best Film, Best Director and several others.
Director
Robert Lepage
Writer
Robert Lepage
Cast
Lothaire Bluteau, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Kristin Scott Thomas, Patrick Goyette
Producers
Philippe Carcassonne, David Puttnam, Denise Robert
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interests
Arts and Culture, Family Relationships
Original Language
French
Language Version
EN Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
- Own Voice
L’Inhumain (The Inhuman)
Mathieu (Samian) may be a brilliant and successful neurosurgeon, but his life is far from perfect. When his long-term prescription drug habit is exposed, and his wife discovers he’s been having an affair, Mathieu faces professional and personal consequences. His father’s sudden death prompts Mathieu’s return to the northern Anishinaabe community of his youth and the remote forest cabin where he goes to scatter his father’s ashes. But what begins as a respite from his chaotic life to a place he thought he’d left far behind becomes a battle with something far darker. Haunted by painful memories and hunted by the legendary Wendigo, Mathieu faces demons both figurative and literal.
A rare French-language Indigenous genre film, L’inhumain is the directorial debut of Anishinaabe producer and writer Jason Brennan. It’s a thrilling and evocative parable about the dangers of feeding the monster inside.
Director
Jason Brennan (Anishinaabe)
Writer
Jason Brennan (Anishinaabe)
Cast
Samian (Algonquin), Véronique Beaudet, Jeanne Roux-Cote, Sonia Vigneault
Producer
Jason Brennan (Anishinaabe)
Genres
Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Indigenous Filmmaker
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
7th Screen
Crash
After hitting Dr. Helen Remington (Hunter)’s vehicle in a critical car accident, film producer James Ballard (Spader), a man in an open marriage, and Remington, whose husband died in the crash, begin an unlikely affair that seems to take place exclusively in and around automobiles. While he is recovering, Ballard meets Vaughan (Koteas), a man who leads a bizarre subculture of people who fetishize car crashes, car safety tests and traffic accidents in general. As Vaughan’s unusual cult meetings intersect with their lives, Ballard finds deeper meaning not just in his marriage, but in mankind’s increasingly intertwined and disturbing relationship to technology.
Director
David Cronenberg
Writer
David Cronenberg
Cast
James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Unger
Producers
David Cronenberg, Robert Lantos, Jeremy Thomas
Genres
Drama, Horror, Romance, Thriller
Interest
Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Language Version
FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Cube
Fear, paranoia, suspicion, desperation: In Vincenzo Natali’s cult classic, seven complete strangers find themselves trapped together in a booby-trapped puzzle of interconnected boxes.
Imprisoned in a seemingly endless maze of rooms, each with its own set of deadly traps and hidden dangers to overcome, the seven reluctant collaborators must try to work together to find a way out, without succumbing to the terrors of the cube. Will they crack the code and find an exit, or are they just burrowing deeper into a sinister game that they don’t understand and can never escape?
An absolute classic of Canadian sci-fi horror, Cube is a cool, complex film with a major cult following and a slew of sequels. The conceptually brilliant thriller marked Natali as a visionary new talent and has inspired a whole genre of “trapped in a puzzle” horror films including the wildly popular Saw franchise.
Director
Vincenzo Natali
Writers
André Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, Graeme Manson
Cast
Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett, Julian Richings
Producers
Mehra Meh, Betty Orr
Genres
Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Thriller
Interest
Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Language Version
FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Curling
In a remote part of the Quebec countryside, Jean-François (Bilodeau) brings up his daughter Julyvonne (Bilodeau) alone, home-schooling her in between shifts doing maintenance at an isolated motel. However, vague and mysterious occurrences — a blood stain at the motel, frozen bodies in the snow — soon threaten their peaceful solitude.
Atmospheric and suspenseful, Curling is a beautiful blend of realism with a dash of Hitchcock, set in the icy stillness of rural Quebec.
Winner of the Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Locarno Film Festival.
Director
Denis Côté
Writer
Denis Côté
Cast
Emmanuel Bilodeau, Philomène Bilodeau, Roc LaFortune, Sophie Desmarais
Producers
Denis Côté, Stéphanie Morissette
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Original Language
French
Language Version
EN Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
Mongrel Media
Dead Ringers
Two bodies. Two minds. One soul. In one of David Cronenberg’s best and most disturbing films, the lives of identical twin gynecologists (each played by Jeremy Irons) are disrupted when a beautiful woman (Bujold) enters their lives, throwing their relationship out of balance.
Kinky, bloody, and allaround gruesome, Dead Ringers is a complex relationship story, an intense psychological drama and a masterpiece of body-horror that puts a deadly spin on hopeless love and loss.
“A stylistic tour de force.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Director
David Cronenberg
Writers
David Cronenberg, Norman Snider, Bari Wood, Jack Geasland
Cast
Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske
Producer
Marc Boyman
Genres
Drama, Horror, Thriller
Interests
Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Literary Adaptation
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
TVA Films
Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster
Eddie gets his start by recruiting a gang of small-time crooks and slowly turns them into a crack team of professional thieves. He launches a series of spectacular bank robberies, gaining notoriety and quickly becoming both a beloved national celebrity and public enemy number one. Part action-packed crime caper, part romance, this vibrant film brings an incredible true story to life.
Director
Nathan Morlando
Morlando’s first film, Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster, won Best Canadian First Feature at TIFF. He also directed Mean Dreams, which debuted in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival. He recently produced Giant Little Ones and directed episodes of the show Cardinal.
Writer
Nathan Morlando
Cast
Scott Speedman, Kelly Reilly, Kevin Durand, Brian Cox, Charlotte Sullivan
Producer
Allison Black
Genres
Action/Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Interests
Biography, History
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Exotica
Dark, engaging and with a brilliant ensemble performance from its many players, Exotica is one of Egoyan’s most engaging and alluring films. A hypnotic thriller about desire, obsession and loneliness, it won eight Genie Awards.
Director
Atom Egoyan
Egoyan received the Governor General’s award in 2015 for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. He was the first-ever Canadian director to earn two Oscar nominations (for The Sweet Hereafter). His award-winning films include Exotica, Ararat and The Captive. His most recent film, Guest of Honour, premiered at TIFF 2019.
Writer
Atom Egoyan
Cast
Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Don McKellar, Arsinée Kahnian, Mia Kirshner
Producers
Atom Egoyan, Camelia Frieberg
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interests
Classics, Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Hyena Road
Under the command of Captain Pete Mitchell (Gross), ace sniper Ryan Sanders (Sutherland) has caught wind of a dangerous insurgency. Stopping it will take the cooperation of Afghan locals and the dogged efforts of Canadian troops. Showing how forces on either side can work together to prevent senseless tragedy, Hyena Road goes down a dusty, dirty, thunderous path.
Hyena Road won three Canadian Screen Awards.
“The goal of the movie is truth-telling rather than flag-waving, but it also succeeds as impactful storytelling.”
— Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Director
Paul Gross
Gross starred in the hit TV series Due South and Slings & Arrows. He directed, wrote and starred in Men With Brooms, which won a Canadian Comedy Award, as well as Hyena Road and Passchendaele, which won a Genie for best film. Gross also starred in the mini-series Alias Grace and Caught, the series Tales of the City and Y: The Last Man, and the films Falling and The Middle Man.
Writer
Paul Gross
Cast
Allan Hawco, Rossif Sutherland, Paul Gross, Christine Horne
Producers
Paul Gross, Niv Fichman
Genres
Action/Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Interests
Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, FR Dub
Canadian Distributor
Elevation Pictures
Incendies
Incendies is the kind of film you’ll want to watch more than once. With intricate timelines and a family drama spanning two very different continents, the twists and turns of Denis Villeneuve’s celebrated adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad’s award-winning play are explosive, frightening and emotionally intense.
Winner of eight Genie Awards and nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Writer
Denis Villeneuve
Cast
Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard
Producers
Luc Déry, Kim McCraw
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Family Relationships, Global Experiences, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
French
Language Version
EN Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Polytechnique
There are some tragedies so devastating they defy rational understanding. Villeneuve films in black and white, shifting back and forth in time, attempting to maintain a sane and calm point of view in the face of just such a senseless act of violence. The result is a sensitive yet stark account of one of the more profoundly disturbing crimes in recent Canadian history.
The film won nine Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture, and five Jutra Awards. The Toronto Film Critics Association awarded it the Best Canadian Film Prize, with critic Brian D. Johnson referring to it as “a film of astonishing courage.”
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Writer
Jacques Davidts
Cast
Maxim Gaudette, Sébastien Huberdeau, Karine Vanasse, Evelyne Brochu
Producers
Julien Rémillard, Maxime Rémillard, André Rouleau, Don Carmody
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interests
History, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
French
Language Version
EN Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Remember
A riveting journey that will keep you guessing until the very end, Remember’s engrossing twists and incredible performances are simply unforgettable.
“This is one of those rare mainstream releases that gets everything right, right down to its knockout ending.”
— Scott Marks, San Diego Reader
Director
Atom Egoyan
Egoyan received the Governor General’s award in 2015 for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. He was the first-ever Canadian director to earn two Oscar nominations (for The Sweet Hereafter). His award-winning films include Exotica, Ararat and The Captive. His most recent film, Guest of Honour, premiered at TIFF 2019.
Writer
Benjamin August
Cast
Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Henry Czerny, Bruno Ganz
Producers
Ari Lantos, Robert Lantos
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interests
Discrimination, ESL, Family Relationships, History
Original Language
English
Language Version
EN CC
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Skip Tracer
Director
Zale Dalen
Writer
Zale Dalen
Cast
David Petersen, John Lazarus, Rudy Szabo
Producer
Laara Dalen
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Interest
Classics
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
International Film Distributors
La turbulence des fluides (Chaos and Desire)
A Quebecois seismologist living in Tokyo returns to her hometown to investigate the strange disruption of the tides along the St Lawrence, in Manon Briand’s atmospheric and deftly humorous drama.
Suspecting that the cessation of the tides might indicate an impending earthquake, Alice (Pascale Bussieres) arrives in Baie-Comeau, Quebec to solve the mystery.
Confronted by numerous people from her past, unusual weather and the inexplicable behaviour of the locals (including Genevieve Bujold as the owner of a local diner who is convinced of a supernatural explanation), Alice’s scientific certainty begins to waver Though many of the locals’ stories don’t stand up to scrutiny, she starts to suspect that something beyond her comprehension may be happening.
"So visually energetic and smartly written that one never stops enjoying the sheer pleasure of looking at it." – Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
Director
Manon Briand
Writer/director Briand’s other features include 2 secondes and the TV movie Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story. For her feature La turbulence des fluides, Briand earned a Jutra Award and many other nominations. Her first short film, Les sauf-conduits, won Best Canadian Short Film at TIFF.
Writer
Manon Briand
Cast
Julie Gayet, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Geneviève Bujold, Pascale Bussieres
Producers
Roger Frappier, Luc Vandal, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Interests
Environment, Female Filmmaker
Original Languages
English, French
Language Versions
EN CC, EN Subtitles, FR CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne