Blood in the Snow Film Fest: 'Grade-Eh Horror' on the Big and Small Screens
By Thom Ernst
Yes, the Santa Claus Parade just happened, and peppermint in our hot chocolate is becoming a thing. But don’t get too cozy because something for the wicked is yet to come.
BITS, aka The Blood in the Snow Festival, is filling the seasonal gap between Halloween and Christmas—with a month on either side. It’s splitting its exposure between live horror at the Isabel Bader theatre and a streamed program on Super Channel.
What is BITS other than a clever acronym?
A scene from Blood Opera at the Isabel Bader Theatre
I wish the question didn’t need to be asked, but I fear some still blank at the name. A shame because The Blood in the Snow Film Festival is an ideal antidote for the rosy-cheeked cheerfulness that lies ahead, and a generous gift for every dark-loving soul who might eagerly await the coal they hope to find stuffed in their Christmas stocking.
BITS sprung onto the festival scene with the force of an alien face-hugger bursting from the chest of a Nostromo crew member (those who know, know).
What began as a monthly curated program called ‘Fright Night at the Projection Booth’ is now a week-long festival of Canadian-branded horror films. The Canadian-specific independent, underground, and genre cinema program is practically patriotic. Even frightfully patriotic, bringing films and filmmakers from across the country.
The festival director Kelly Michael Stewart gives the festival its heart—and its heart is huge. Stewart, easily recognizable in a Van Helsing-like fedora, is blessed with the ability to see the gold trimming along the edge of darkness.
What’s more, Stewart and his reliable team of programmers (the ones I’ve met, like Stewart, are disarmingly kind and inclusive) have a supernatural ability to champion films that fall—unfairly—through the gargantuan cracks (aka pretensions) of other film festivals.
The films are wonderfully subversive stories filled with joyful mayhem and carnage; movies that appear to be as fun to make as they are to watch. They are gloriously low-budget, filled with a ‘lets-make-a-horror-movie’ spirit missing from the big-budget efforts of mainstream cinema. I have not seen a BITS-programmed film that did not thrill me in one way or another.
The festival also has a film industry side-line called Deadly Exposure, which includes panels and access to industry-type folk. Plus, there’s a party every night at the Tranzac club in Toronto.
There are two ways to enjoy the festival; Torontonians and those who prefer the coziness of their homes can watch selected BITS features and shorts and Q&As virtually on Super Channel. Others can join audiences at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto.
The festival schedule for screenings at both Super Channel and Isabel Bader theatre can be found online. The festival runs from November 21, 2022, to November 26, 2022.
ISABEL BADER THEATRE HIGHLIGHTS
Influencer - Kurtis David Harder’s film about a social media star named Madison (Emily Tennant) who tries to make Thailand sound extra exciting online, and comes up dry until she meets a charismatic fellow traveler (Cassandra Naud) who lures her to a lonely island. Opening night film is preceded by a short, My Soul To Take, about an app that demon-possesses a young woman’s phone. Directed by horror star Laura Vandervoort (Bitten).
L’Inhumain - Jason Brennan’s portrait of an addicted and depressed neurosurgeon named Mathieu (Samian), who tries to find himself by disposing of his father’s ashes in his Anishiinabe territory home. An uplifting attempt at closure goes South when he attracts the attention of a Wendigo.
Polaris - Set in 2144, K.C. Carthew’s story about a young girl raised by a polar bear, who follows the guiding light of the North Star to avoid brutal hunters. Currently 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Dark Nature - Berkley Brady’s film takes place on an Indigenous women-led retreat in the wilderness, where abuse survivors confront the “monsters” that bedevil them, both figuratively and literally.
Cryo - A group of scientists awake in the far future with no clue as to where they are, or even who they are. It’s the feature debut by Barrett Burgin.
Curse of Aurore – Mehran C. Torgoley directed, and co-wrote with star Liana Barron, this tale of three American indie filmmakers who decide to make a movie based on the real-life murder of a child in Quebec by her stepmother in 1920. They hope to find inspiration for a feature film. Instead, they make enemies of the locals and attract the attention of an unfriendly apparition.
Follow Her – Sitting at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, Follow Her stars Dani Barker as Jess, a fame-obsessed online content creator, who makes videos of herself answering ads for fetishists. Amid a mood of revenge after a particular encounter, she answers an ad seeking a co-writer for an “erotic fiction” novel, a job that takes her out in the middle of nowhere, with no cell signal.
Residents of Arcadia – And more YouTube era horror. Dom Cutrupi – who, believe it or not, got his start at the Vatican City TV channel – directed this film about two online influencers who suddenly see a mysterious digital countdown on their mirrors. Surely something horrific awaits at the count of zero.
The Devil Comes at Night – They had me at the title. Directed by Scott Leaver, it follows a retired boxer who shows up at his late father’s farm seeking his inheritance. Instead, as so often happens in rural areas, he encounters a cannibal cult.