Quebec horror films are having a moment. Will that make getting funding easier?
Young filmmakers are leading the pack in bringing nightmares to the big screen
Quebec movie fans reliably come out to see the films made here — especially compared to the rest of Canada. But until recently, the horror genre has been an exception.
While filmmakers say it's a struggle to get horror films made in the province, two recent successes show a growing appetite for movies that keep us up at night.
Les chambres rouges (Red Rooms) by Pascal Plante, a courtroom thriller with horror undertones about two young women obsessed with the trial of a serial killer, is both a critical and popular hit in Quebec. It won the Cheval Noir for best film at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal last summer, which specializes in horror and other genre films. Les chambres rouges is now in its third month in Montreal cinemas.
In her feature debut, Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant (Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person), Ariane Louis-Seize wrote and directed a dark comedy about a young vampire who doesn't want to kill — instead she looks for a willing victim. It won the director prize at Venice Days and the Grand Prix in the national competition at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema. Venice Days runs concurrent to the Venice Film Festival and is one of the most important festivals for celebrating groundbreaking auteur cinema.
These movies represent a positive shift in the funding of Quebec films that seem increasingly open to genre cinema, a category of films defined largely by shared narrative and aesthetic conventions, such as horror, thrillers and science fiction. And they show how horror chez nous has evolved beyond typical slasher films.
Kevin Laforest, co-host of the film podcast Rembobinage, has been covering Quebec Cinema for 20 years.
"Traditionally, funding institutions in Quebec have been more cautious about producing genre cinema," he says. For much of its history, Quebec cinema was primarily making documentaries, which eventually led to favouring naturalist social dramas about everyday life.
That trend has started to shift, though, and Laforest sees how horror has captured the imagination of the Quebec audience. He points to the success of Montreal festivals like Fantasia and SPASM — both with a focus on horror films — as a significant part of that change.
"The emergence of a new generation of filmmakers who grew up with these festivals like Pascal Plante and Ariane Louis-Seize contributes to the local cinema becoming more daring and diverse," he says.
In 2017, the success of Robin Aubert's Les affamés (Ravenous), a zombie film that explored tensions and values between urban and rural communities in Quebec, also contributed to a shift in thinking about funding genre films. It was the first Quebec film bought as part of Canada's $100 million deal with Netflix.
The film won the top prize at the Gala Québec Cinéma and the Luc-Perreault Prize for best Quebec feature awarded by the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma. These are two of the most prestigious awards for Quebec film and to date, Les affamés is the only horror film to ever win either prize.
"I imagine that if I were a decision-maker, this is the kind of success that would make me want to support more Quebec horror films," says Laforest.
Les affamés is connected to an international movement where horror has stepped out of the shadows and into the limelight. It can be seen as part of the "elevated horror" films that bridge the gap between horror, like The Witch, Get Out, Titane and Midsommar.
Though a controversial term (filmmakers like Jordan Peele reject it), movies that fall under this umbrella are not only successful at the box office but received unprecedented critical attention, and in some cases, even Oscar nominations.
"Once shunned by critics and the 'elites,' horror cinema is taken more and more seriously, carving out a place in all major festivals and attracting an audience that is not limited to fans of the genre," Laforest says.
The Quebec horror films that have been made have largely done it without government funding. Less than 10 years ago, in an article for, horror producers told La Presse they had to self-finance their films or work with limited funds.
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SODEC, the province's publicly funded cultural development agency, argued at the time they were holding genre films to the same standard as dramas and comedies. But members of the horror community in Quebec still felt neglected and ignored.
That is now starting to change as horror in Quebec enters a golden era. With several horror or horror-adjacent films in various stages of development at SODEC, Laforest sees a growing movement.
"This is a notable trend that I think will continue," he says.
This story was produced by Justine Smith as part of the CBC Creator Network. Learn more about the Creator Network here.
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