Night of the Demon (UK/1957)

Psychiatrist Dr. John Holden travels to England for an international scientific conference, where a colleague, Henry Harrington, plans to deliver an exposé on devil cult leader Julian Karswell. Upon arrival, Holden learns that Harrington was killed the night before in a freak auto accident.

Holden, who debunks paranormal phenomena, decides to delve deeper into Harrington's research, hoping to expose Karswell's phony supernatural power----which he believes is simply the result of autosuggestion and mass hysteria, and is being used as a ruse to stop people from looking into the man's affairs.

After the investigation leads to a rare book on the occult, The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons, Holden is warned that if he doesn't stop digging, he'll die on October 28th at 10PM. It's then that he discovers a piece of parchment that has somehow ended up in his possession--on which is written a series of indecipherable runic symbols.

Happy Bloody Valentine's Day!

For those of us who prefer to celebrate anti-Valentine's Day, one can't help but think of the original 1981 slasher film, My Bloody Valentine, and the indelible mark it left on this day (much like the films Halloween and Black Christmas did for their respective fêtes). Shot in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, My Bloody Valentine was controversial even before its release. The MPAA, those bastions of confusing censorship, was going to curse the film with an X-rating unless several scenes were cut--and the director complied.

But the movie faced even more controversy upon its release, since one of the investors was the Canadian government--via the Canadian Film Development Corporation (now known as Telefilm Canada). One reviewer at the time noted that the CFDC "has no business supporting such a gross, insulting enterprise" (yet they previously invested in David Cronenberg's Shivers, The Brood, and Scanners--and managed to make money on the first two).

The Haunted Stamp House

Canada Post issued a bilingual commemorative stamp package on October 1, 1997, inspired by the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Four scary stamps were produced, depicting supernatural creatures (a werewolf, a goblin, a ghost, and a vampire) as seen through the imaginations of four Canadian illustrators. The thematic collection, depicting a dilapidated haunted house, included a stamp pane of sixteen stamps--which, when placed inside the cardboard sleeve, allowed for the monsters to peer out of the windows. The package was designed by Louis Fishauf.

Information included with the release notes that "legends of these imaginary creatures are known the world over, and can be found at the root of much Canadian folklore. Although tales of vampires appear only in isolated pockets of Canadian culture, every region of the country has its own ghost stories. Legends of werewolves abound in French Canada, with its myths of the tormented loup-garou. Goblins come in a variety of forms, from Quebec's mischievous lutin to the elusive Maritime will-o'-the-wisp."

Experience the New Flesh, while it lasts

This is the final week for David Cronenberg: Evolution, a major exhibition about the writer/director/actor, being held in the HSBC gallery at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (closes January 19th). I spent several hours wandering through the exhibit last month, and had a great time reading about his work and viewing props from his films. Cronenberg's evolution as a filmmaker was part and parcel with the evolution of the film industry in Canada, especially the horror genre; even if you're not a fan of his work, this is still definitely something you should see.

Dracula: The lost Canadian edition from 1900

First Constable edition, 1897

Bram Stoker's Dracula was first published in England by Archibald Constable and Company, in 1897. Extensive research by Robert Eighteen-Bisang and J. Gordon Melton has uncovered all the significant editions that have been printed over the years, and the results were compiled in their definitive bibliography Dracula: A Century of Editions, Adaptations and Translations (1998). In 2011, the two included a list of critical updates as part of Dracula in Visual Media, by John Edgar Browning and Caroline Joan Picart.

Thanks to newly-available resources from the University of Toronto Library, which were digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012, I believe I've unearthed a forgotten Canadian edition of Dracula, which was published in Toronto by The William Briggs Publishing Co., in July 1900.

Monster Cereal Smackdown: Boo Berry

This third entry is part of a series that celebrates the return of the vintage packaging for the "Monster Cereals" from General Mills. This retro packaging was only available in the United States, but many industrious Canadians (like me!) found a way to get their hands on a few boxes. It's taking me a while to work my way through each of the cereals, but I'm pushing on, despite the constant sugar high and the adverse affect that so much artificial colouring is having on my, um, system.