VIFF 2024: Nightbitch

“Mother’s not quite herself today…” That Norman Bates line from Psycho gets a new spin in this bracingly strange movie based on Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed 2021 novel. Mother (Amy Adams) used to be an artist in the big city. Now she’s just another mom in the suburbs. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) still travels widely for work, leaving … Read more

VIFF 2024: Fréwaka

Canadian Premiere Shortly after the death of her estranged mother, Shoo (Clare Monnelly) a primary care nursing student takes a placement in a remote Irish village to care for Peig (Brid Ni Neachtain) a reclusive, elderly woman who lives in fear, haunted by her experiences in a Catholic asylum. The house in the woods holds … Read more

VIFF 2024: Else

Following a mediocre one-night stand, Anx and Cass are forced into lockdown together in Anx’s apartment. A mysterious virus is causing people’s bodies to melt and fuse with the surfaces of inanimate objects. All the infected can do is moan in pain as their body slowly merges with whatever they are touching. Holed up for … Read more

VIFF 2023: Tiger Stripes

Director Amanda Nell Eu has entered the ring of teen-girl body horror with Tiger Stripes, following in the footsteps of masters Ducournau, Cronenberg, and De Palma. Ensconced in a Malaysian school for girls, rebellious 12-year-old Zaffan’s body starts to change before everyone else’s. But these changes are far from normal. She is growing aggressive as … Read more

VIFF 2023: The Sacrifice Game

It’s the tail-end of 1971, and Blackvale School for Girls is closed for the holidays — except that two boarders, Samantha and Clara (Madison Baines and Georgia Acken) are stuck here, which means that Miss Tanner (Chloë Levine) and her boyfriend, handyman Jimmy (Gus Kenworthy) have to stick around too. But there’s worse to come: … Read more

VIFF 2023: Red Rooms

North American Premiere Every morning before dawn, Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) descends on a Montréal courthouse, eager to secure front row seats for the harrowing trial of Ludwig Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), a loner accused of the torture and murder of three teenage girls. Even more disturbingly, these atrocities were streamed online in the Dark Web’s “red … Read more

VIFF 2023: Raging Grace

When a position opens up caring for a terminally ill British aristocrat in his secluded mansion, Joy (Maxine Eigenman) jumps at the opportunity. To an undocumented Filipino woman with a mischievous, equally undocumented daughter, Grace, it sounds like the perfect gig. Gradually, though, Joy begins to realize she’s swapped the frying pan for the fire. … Read more

VIFF 2023: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

Meet Sasha, the world’s most compassionate young vampire. Her family is at their wits’ end with her reluctance to embrace their lethal traditions; instead she relies on somewhat ethically sourced blood bags to survive. But when her clan decides to cut off her supply to push her out of her comfort zone, she’s forced to … Read more

VIFF 2021: The Scary of Sixty-First

When college friends Noelle (Madeline Quinn) and Addie (Betsey Brown) secure an affordable apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, it’s not only too good to be true but worse than they could’ve ever imagined. They’ve barely unpacked when an exceedingly strange investigator (director Dasha Nekrasova) darkens their doorstep and shares the suite’s sinister lineage: it … Read more

VIFF 2021: The Beta Test

In the post-Weinstein era, the fragile Hollywood ecosystem of predatory talent agencies and investors is a house of cards teetering on collapse. Jordan Hines (Jim Cummings), an ambitious but struggling agent trying to preserve his way of life, receives an anonymous invitation to a no-strings sexual encounter. Obsessed with uncovering the people behind the letter, … Read more