Only in the world of If They Came From Within: An Alternative History of
Canadian Horror, a multifaceted art project that imagines a
different, more vibrant and lurid legacy of uniquely Canuck genre films. What if our country's film history included a couple of Roger Corman-like
brothers who made drive-in movies during the '50, '60s and '70s about a
tundra monster, an alien invasion via the Northe
rn Lights, vampire
cavemen, or a high altitude sasquatch, all set in the country's snowy,
northernmost climes? What if our '70s horror cinema also included a lauded adaptation of
Frankenstein that was set against the backdrop of the Great Depression; a
slasher flick about a disfigured axe-wielding maniac chopping up kids who
break into an abandoned Hamilton brewery, called Stubbies of course; or a
Quebecois hillbilly horror movie featuring a family backwoods psychos
luring lost travelers to their sugar shack, called Cabane à sang? What is the '80s brought us a bloody revenge film titled The Bear-Handed
Brawler, about a Vancouver cop who loses his hands to the mob and has them
replaced with gut-ripping grizzly claws by a mad scientist? Or there was a
'90s blockbuster apocalypse movie about spores that infect Toronto and
turn the population into hideously mutated psychos? And where was Caucus
of the Dead, the great Canadian zombie comedy of the 2000s, in which
zombies invade parliament and only a page can stop them. Imagine an alternative universe of Canadian horror movies that didn't get
made, couldn't get made and maybe even shouldn't get made... but we'd love
to see nonetheless. The goal of If They Came From Within is to bring these
imaginary movies to life via fictional genre movie posters created by some
of the country's best designers, based on synopses from our own Canuck
genre filmmakers (and me!), and then expand on this faux movie history
through additional evidence of a cinematic reality in the form of
promotional stills, props, radio ads and even trailers.
