Capsule Reviews of Select Feature Films:
The Best of Canadian Horror returns in November with the annual Blood in the Snow Film Festival.
For tickets, click on the link to get to the official website:
https://www.bloodinthesnow.ca/
(copy and paste the link if clicking does not work)
FOREIGNER (Canada 2025) ***
Directed by Ava Maria Safai
Everyone wants to fit in - especially foreigners relocating to a new country. As the teen girl protagonist leaves Iran for Canada, British Columbia, from the looks of it, she looks desperately to fit in. She tries her utmost to improve her English by imitating the dialogue from the TV, much to the chagrin of her grandmother and slightly over-possessive father, both of whom want her to take pride in her Iranian heritage. Worse still, at school, she meets three white mean girls, and she is pressured even more to be accepted into the group. The ultimate moment comes when she decides to dye her hair blonde in order to look Canadian. Granny and Dad are shocked. The act unleashes some demon of some sort. The film blends two different genres as a Mean Girls-type movie and the horror genre, which unfortunately does not work that well. It all looks as if there are two separate movies here. But the film is still quite engrossing, as audiences should be able to relate to the pressure of fitting into any society or group, whatever the circumstances.
SON OF SARA (Son of Sara: Volume 1) (Canada 2025) ***
Directed by Hunter Bone
Pregnant mothers make a good premise for horror movies. SON OF SARA begins with a distraught mother tied up, screaming,” Please don’t kill my baby.” After her baby is killed, the mother’s throat is slit. A ghastly introduction to the horror movie, in which the film continues, soon after, with Sara (a different woman), as she describes herself, violently pregnant. She begins to be haunted by strange urges. Sara lives with her girlfriend Carol (this is an LGBT+ film) in their apartment. At some point, Sara encounters her ex-boyfriend, Troy, the one who got her pregnant, and agrees to join him for dinner. What starts out as a dinner invitation spirals into a bloody, demented nightmare. A bloody enough film, with not much of a storyline, but with psychological and supernatural elements. The cast, which includes Chloe Van Landschoot as Sara, Tymika Tafari as Carol, and Garrett Hnatiuk as Troy, delivers credible performances. Is there a Volume 2 coming soon?
VIOLENCE (Canada 2025) **
Directed by Connor Marsden
The film setting is the 1980s, where cellphones are noticeably absent in the film, with a protagonist called Henry VIOLENCE who has to navigate two cartel wars in order to survive. Not only does Henry need to navigate, but also he audience who has to figure out who is who and what is going on, in a messy setup. Henry also wants to save a hooker girl he cares for. The narrative is somewhat of a mess, and the acting is satisfactory at best, with hardly a star or character anyone would care for. The only good thing about the film is the visuals of the alternative 80s setting in an unnamed country. The film is shot in Sudbury in Ontario. The film has played in other festivals and has no distribution dates yet.
