The Royal Canadian Movie Podcast

We’re back this week and diving straight into what Canadians do best - Sci Fi Horror - with 2009’s ballsy Splice! With us this week, all the way from New York are Daphne Gardner & Kate McEdwards of the Ladies Horror Night Podcast. We have an awesome time talking about what makes a great movie monster, what makes special effects stand out, and finding out just what Adrian Brody is up to now.

This week’s end credit music is Elsa’s Theme, composed by Cyrille Aufort from the Splice OST.

This week we’re speaking to one of Toronto’s most active interdisciplinary artist Vanessa Rieger about one of her unquestionably favourite films 1986’s The Fly. Certainly Cronenberg’s most financially successful work from his early career, The Fly is still unquestionably deep and watchable. With practical effects that still hold up, shirtless Jeff Goldblum, no-nonsense Gina Davis, layer upon layer of allegory options, and beast of a score that translated into an opera, we recommend catching up with this classic today.

This week’s end credit music is the theme from The Fly, composed by Howard Shore.

In this Independent Investigation, Becky sits down with Luca Villacis (Channel Zero) and Munro Chambers (Degrassi: The Next Generation and TURBO KID HIMSELF) to talk the upcoming thriller Knuckleball! You’re not going to want to miss this one - with stories about working with Michael Ironside, doing your own stunts, shooting in Alberta winters and tips for actors finding longevity in their careers.

Knuckleball is directed by Michael Peterson and described as “Home alone gone wild” and will be in theatres in Toronto and Ottawa October 12th, and on VOD everywhere else soon after.

We’re kicking off 2018’s Shocktober with a second instalment of an old favourite - That’s right! We’re taking with Queer Fear’s Joshua Cross about 2004’s Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed! Shot back to back with Ginger Snaps 3, we talk about this incredibly dark twist on the Ginger Snaps story, why it’s so freaking hard to make a werewolf movie, and why horror movies are so important to queer culture.

This week’s end credit music is the theme from Ginger Snaps composed by Kurt Swinghammer

This week, RCMP mainstay Danielle Ayow joins Becky to talk about a whole bunch of stuff! First and foremost, she’s working on an updated version of her documentary But you’re not Black, and we go into the details of how one revises a doc. Taking a brief jaunt into the history of women at the NFB, they then focus in on two films by filmmaker, Rosie Dransfeld, The Dog Walker (2007) and Who Cares (2012). We chat how to find the end point of a documentary, the challenges of building a narrative, and how to get docs to the audiences that need to see them.

Find out more about Danielle's documentary But you're not Black at danielleayow.com

Trigger warning for Who Cares for a frank discussion of sexual assault and child abuse. The Dogwalker has lovely dogs and a nice man. Both films are available for free from the National Film Board.

In the run up to Shocktober, and with Cam in LA, Becky sits down with composer Janal Bechthold to talk the 2011 gothic YA novel adaptation The Moth Diaries. Directed by the legendary Mary Harron, with a score composed by Leslie Barber, we get excited about the complicated world of vampires (Ghosts? Vampire Ghosts?), integrating pop music with original composition and how to make an effectively ambiguous movie. As an added bonus, we discuss Janal’s excellent profile in Now Magazine, about why the industry of composers is so full of dudes, and what that actually means.

Find out more about Brave Little Army on their Facebook page and on the Black Lab Film Company Website. Donate to Best Friends Forever on Indie Go Go.

The Moth Diaries is available to rent from the NFB.

This week’s end credit music is Numb by Marina and the Diamonds.

In this episode, Becky sits down with filmmaker Tricia Lee fresh off her time at NBC's Universal's short film festival with her film Meeting Mommy. Written by and starring Kim's Convenience star Simu Lim, and Tina Jung of Kim’s Convenience, Jigsaw and Carter, and featuring new-comer Rebecca Chan, Meeting Mommy is a touching story of family transcendence. 

We recommend watching the short before listening to the episode, which is available on Youtube. Then settle in for a rousing discussion about the value of creating short films, what can be learned from genre films that apply to dramas, using personal stories in your work, and how to ask for and take feedback. 

You can check out all of Tricia's past work, including Clean Break, Silent Retreat and Bloodhunters on VOD. You can also check out Kim's Convenience, currently streaming on Netflix and CBC.ca

We usually have a strict policy of no Christmas movies until after Remembrance day, but when professional funnyman Sandy Marshall suggested 1983's A Christmas Story, we couldn't resist. As a midwesterner and Second City mainstay, Sandy knows a thing or two about the hilarity that can ensue from the mundane. 

If you haven't seen this holiday mainstay, the marathon will be up soon enough on TBS, and we certainly recommend checking it out. It holds up nicely. 

This weeks end credit music is a nice little easter egg off of the Christmas Story OST, Bob's Major Award by Paul Zaza and Carl Zitterer.

This week, Becky sits down with filmmaker Leo Scherman to talk about  his newest film Trench 11. Brutal, gory and a ton of fun, this WW1 set body horror/creature feature is sure to delight genre fans. And this movie isn't the only thing sure to please the fans, in this episode, we talk about Leo's time working with Cronenberg, planning practical special effects, and the pleasures of shooting in Winnipeg.

Trench 11 is in theatres in Canada now, and out on VOD and a streaming service near you everywhere. Visit their Facebook page or the Raven Banner Entertain website for updates and more information. 

This week's end credit music is Good Luck to the Boys in the Allies, by Toronto composer Morris Manley.

Happy 2nd Anniversary! That's right, for the past two years Cam and Becky have been having a great time chatting with guests all about their favourite Canadian films. In what's become our annual tradition, we sit down with the man who was the first guest on our podcast Mark Junop to talk about another giant rat movie. It seems like after 3, we've now gone through all the Canadian giant rat movies. And although we haven't saved the best of them for last (that was Of Unkown Origin) but this is certainly the most bananas. We don't even want to spoil the weirdo surprises for you!

Gather your buddies and get ready to say, "Hold on...what?" a lot.

This week's end credit music is the opening strains of Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder.