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Maple Syrup Massacre is an editorial series where Joe Lipsett dissects the themes, conventions and contributions of new and classic Canadian horror films. Spoilers follow…

William Fruet is one of Canada’s most important directors. He’s renowned for not only his contributions to ‘realist social dramas’ such as 1970’s Goin’ Down The Road (one of Canada’s first English language fiction feature films) and 1972’s Wedding in White, but also for his Canuxploitation films of the 70s.

Death Weekend – or The House by the Lake as it was known in the United States – was made in 1976 in an effort to capitalize on a unique Canadian funding model at the time.

As previously explored in this editorial series, as well as my David Cronenberg podcast Sexy & Surreal, Canadian films are funded by the public via governmental organizations. In the 1970s, the government created the Canadian Film Development Council (Cfdc) in...

"Not giving 'the wave' is just a symbol of what we've become as a society." Road rage is dangerous!! Don't let it take over you. This Canadian short film titled A Simple F*!&ing Gesture is about a couple that gets super pissed in their car one evening. After playing at festivals the past few years, it's now online to watch for free. While stuck in traffic, emotions escalate for a husband and wife when another driver doesn’t give them a "thank you wave" after they cut in. Comparing him to a symbol of all that is wrong in the world, they are terrified when he pulls over to confront them. Starring Paul Bates, Christy Bruce, Chuck Shamata. At only 8 mins, this is a fast and easy watch, and a nice reminder that anger comes all too easily these days. ›››

View the Post: Watch: Road Rage Dark Comedy Short...

“The monster has returned,” lieutenant colonel Nancy Jaax ominously writes to her former mentor Wade Carter in the premiere episode of National Geographic’s limited series “The Hot Zone.” When Jaax (Julianna Margulies) believes that Ebola Zaire has surfaced in an ill monkey in Reston, Virginia, she reaches out to the ostracized Carter (Liam Cunningham) for advice, though she suspects he may not answer her clarion call. Both Jaax and Carter lie at the heart of “The Hot Zone,” and Margulies and Cunningham both deliver strong performances that anchor the miniseries with their emotional intensity.

Though much of “The Hot Zone” takes place in and around Washington, D.C. in 1989 and centers on Jaax’s mission to contain a potential outbreak of the Ebola virus, a significant portion of the program depicts Carter’s journey to Zaire in 1976 when he first encounters Ebola. In order for these storylines to work,...

Hey, "Blood & Treasure" fans. We hope you guys enjoyed tonight's episode 4. Now that it's all wrapped up and officially in the history books, it's time to take a look at what's coming up in the next,new episode 5 which is scheduled to air next Tuesday night. The kind folks over at CBS did indeed serve up an official press release for episode 5. So, that's what we'll be referencing for this spoiler session. As usual, we'll get things started by revealing the title of this episode. Episode 5 is officially labeled, "The Brotherhood Of Serapis." It sounds like episode 5 will feature some very interesting, action-filled, scandalous and dramatic scenes as Lexi gets more intel on Farouk and has to lie. Farouk takes a huge risk and more! We'll go ahead and start off this spoiler session with the very complex Lexi storyline. It turns out that Lexi is going to get...

[Guest author Christopher Lombardo of Really Awful Movies celebrates Canada Day by looking back at three backwoods Canadian horror films.] In the ’70s, Canadian tax loopholes spurred growth in domestic horror films, providing a more reliable low-cost means of recouping one’s investment in a frequently fickle business. A few, like Martin Scorsese’s favorite The Changeling, were critical darlings, while the bulk of them were regarded as cheap government-funded trash. A prominent Canadian critic famously called Cronenberg’s Shivers “an atrocity, a disgrace to everyone connected with it” in a jeremiad titled “You Should Know How Bad This Film Is. After All, You Paid for It.”

Luckily, for those of us invested in such things artistically if not financially (unless you count our tax dollars), we got gems such as Happy Birthday to Me, My Bloody Valentine, Black Christmas (1974), and many others.

The “tax shelter” era, in addition to straight-ahead slashers, also gave us lesser-known films that exposed class divisions—punishing urban interlopers who lacked the necessary survival skills to thrive in the wilderness.

"Lure people out of the villages into its cave with his white face and red nose..." The Weinstein Company has debuted a trailer for the horror film Clown, which is directed by Jon Watts, the filmmaker now set to direct the next Spider-Man movie. It's actually based on a fake trailer that Watts originally made in 2012 that included fake credits for producer Eli Roth. Roth actually saw the trailer, got involved, and helped them make a feature version and this is the final product. The concept is about a clown suit that a father finds that when he puts it on turns him into an evil child-eating clown, which reminds me a bit of Santa Clause or The Mask (though this is much, much more sinister). The cast includes Andy Powers, Laura Allen, Peter Stormare, Christian Distefano, Chuck Shamata, and Elizabeth Whitmere. See both trailers below. Here's the official release...

Stars: Andy Powers, Laura Allen, Peter Stormare, Elizabeth Whitmere, Christian Distefano, Chuck Shamata, Matthew Stefiuk, Sarah Scheffer, Allen Altman | Written by Christopher D. Ford, Jon Watts | Directed by Jon Watts

An Eli Roth produced horror film about a killer clown. As concepts go, Clown has itself a real doozy. When the clown he hired for his son’s birthday party flakes out on him, a desperate dad and real estate agent dresses up in the clown costume he finds in the basement of one of his properties. His clown act is a resounding success, but isn’t quite so funny the next day, when he can’t get the make-up, wig or nose off his face. Even worse, he appears to be transforming into a child-eating demonic clown. It’s up to his wife and a dodgy Peter Stormare to save the poor guy before its too late – both for...

Stars: Andy Powers, Laura Allen, Peter Stormare, Elizabeth Whitmere, Christian Distefano, Chuck Shamata, Matthew Stefiuk, Sarah Scheffer, Allen Altman | Written by Christopher D. Ford, Jon Watts | Directed by Jon Watts

There’s been a lot of hype surrounding Clown, no doubt because purveyor of gore and grue, Eli Roth (Hostel), has his name attached to the film. So forgive me if I came away from the movie feeling a little under-whelmed. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed what I saw but I couldn’t help but feel it needed something more… After all, when you break the story down, it’s not much more than a Tales From the Crypt/Tales From the Darkside-style morality play; and those two TV shows told their stories in less than thirty minutes.

Clown tells the story of doting father Kent who dons a clown outfit he finds in an abandoned property he is renovating,...

"Daddy, I hope you stay a clown forever!" What started as a fun fake trailer has turned into one of the most anticipated horror releases of the year with Clown. Director Jonathan Watts captured the attention and imagination of producer and horror maestro Eli Roth, who decided to take this monstrosity on as a pet project back in 2012. Now we have the first trailer, which quickly goes off the rails, earning its place as one of the few must-see thrillers of 2014. Watch as a man shows up for a birthday celebration dressed as a party clown, and slowly transforms into something quite hideous. Dimension Films will release Clown later this year, though no firm release date has been announced yet.

Clown comes to theaters in 2014 and stars Peter Stormare, Laura Allen, Elizabeth Whitmere, Christian Distefano, Chuck Shamata, John MacDonald, Andy Powers, Sarah Scheffer. The film is directed by Jonathan Watts.

The Clown is a film from director Jon Watts and producer Eli Roth. This title was recently completed. And, the film stars Peter Stormare ("Prison Break"), Laura Allen (From Within) and Elizabeth Whitmere,. Dimension Films will distribute this title in 2014. The film's story involves an ancient curse. This curse inhabits and ancient clown costume, which turns its wearer into a deranged killer! The wearer's personality is disturbed and altered until there is nothing left but murderous intentions. The first trailer for Clown is available, now. Fans of horror are encouraged to take a look as Clown moves closer to a release date. Release Date: Tba. Director: Jon Watts. Writers: Christopher D. Ford and Jon Watts. Cast: Peter Stormare, Laura Allen, Elizabeth Whitmere, Christian Distefano and Chuck Shamata. The trailer for Clown is here: *filmed in Ottawa, Ontario. Subscribe to 28 Days Later: An Analysis Email Subscription

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Clown Trailer. Jon Watts‘ Clown (2014) movie trailer, from a film produced by Eli Roth, stars Peter Stormare, Laura Allen, Elizabeth Whitmere, Christian Distefano, and Chuck Shamata. Clown‘s plot synopsis: “A loving father dons a clown outfit, wig, bulbous nose, and pancake makeup to entertain at his son, Jack’s (Distefano), [...]

Continue reading: Clown (2014) Movie Trailer: Eli Roth Helps Make Bozo a Monster...

Beginning on Halloween night and running through November 7th, New York's Lincoln Center is once again playing host to a horror film festival called Scary Movies, which will see both world premieres of new horror films as well as screenings of genre faves from the past.

With oodles of filmmakers in attendance, and tons of movies being shown, it looks to be another can't miss event. Read on for all the details!

From the Press Release

The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual horror fest Scary Movies returns for its 7th edition featuring several U.S. and New York City premieres among its lineup of highly anticipated horror films and thrillers, genre rarities and fan favorites. Appearances include filmmakers Eli Roth, Andrew van den Houten, Cliff Prowse and Derek Lee.

Among the nine U.S. or NYC premieres are; Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson’s high school horror-revenge film...

Brian Trenchard-Smith looks deep into the art of directing animals, long before the digital age.

When Brian Trenchard-Smith wants to tell you about directing animals on film, you step out of the way. Here’s Brian with many, many wonderful tales (and tails).

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the latest example of how digital makes possible previously impossible animal actions, like a gorilla leaping from the Golden Gate Bridge into a helicopter cockpit. Take a look at the Comicon teaser.

But there was a time when the animal and the lens were all you had to work with. In the pre-cgi era, I was lucky enough to stage sequences involving cats, bobcats, dogs, lions, elephants, boa constrictors, chimps, spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, a mud crab, a pigeon, and a frog.

Working with All Creatures Great And Small requires complex planning, flexibility, and infinite patience. I hold the trainers...

Receiving its world premiere at the Santa Barbara (Calif.) International Film Festival, Canada's "The Spreading Ground" is a tediously routine thriller that plays like cable filler despite its more artistic aspirations.

Director-cinematographer Derek Vanlint may have given everything a big-screen sheen, but this connect-the-dots story about a downtrodden detective (Dennis Hopper) on the trail of a serial kiddie killer is awash in stale TV crime-show platitudes.

When the bodies of five girls turn up in the river during a 24-hour period, Detective Ed Delongpre (Hopper) finds that he's not the only person conducting an investigation. Concerned that the scandal will harm her reputation, Mayor Hackett (Elizabeth Shepherd) has put the screws to Delongpre's superior, Capt. Neiman (Chuck Shamata), who, in turn, has bribed the local Irish mob into speeding up the process.

They put their on man on the case --the cold-blooded but highly methodical Johnnie Gault (Tom McCamus) --while Delongpre also has to deal with a very tricky reconciliation involving the mayor's assistant, Leslie (Leslie Hope), who also happens to be his estranged daughter.

Essentially a watery take on Fritz Lang's "M," "The Spreading Ground" drowns under the weight of all the cliched dialogue and stiffly choreographed action sequences.

While it's nice to see Hopper playing low-key for a change, there's so little character detail for him to grab on to that there are times he barely registers at all.

As the wronged daughter, Hope conveys all the necessary tough/vulnerable emotions, but she too is stuck with a character that has been sketched with the broadest of strokes, courtesy of screenwriters Mark Nakamura and Eric Nicholas.

Production values, are, for the most part, economically efficient, with the exception of the on-the-cheap, toothless synth score -- attributed, ironically, to a composer who goes by the name of Shark.

Like the rest of this soggy enterprise, those sonic water droplets ring annoyingly synthetic.

THE SPREADING GROUND

Tsunami Entertainment

Producer:Ken Nakamura

Director:Derek Vanlint

Screenwriters:Mark Nakamura, Eric Nicholas

Story:Mark Burman, Ross Korte

Executive producers:Beni Atoori, Susan Wichmann

Director of photography:Derek Vanlint

Production designer:Seamus Flannery

Editor:Michael Doherty

Costume designer:Tamara Winston

Music:Shark

Color/stereo

Cast:

Detective Ed Delongpre:Dennis Hopper

Leslie Delongpre:Leslie Hope

Johnnie Gault:Tom McCamus

Capt. Neiman:Chuck Shamata

Mayor Hackett:Elizabeth Shepherd

Running time --- 95 minutes

No MPAA rating...