Horror is an endlessly fascinating genre. The idea alone is weirdly sadomasochistic—it’s a genre that profits off watching fictional characters get scared, attacked, murdered, while simultaneously scaring the viewers themselves. But taken at a deeper level, horror explores the disturbing side of human nature, our own twisted, often unspeakable, fantasies coming to life on the […] More »

“I tried to remember any case in the course of my reading where two women are represented as friends.” -Virginia Woolf There’s a hoary old cliché about male nerds that they’re perennially afraid of women, clamming up whenever one begins to talk, scoffing through their retainer at the thought of one intellectually matching them on […] More »

To kick off This Magazine‘s Every Film is Political series, we present WAL-TOWN, a timely documentary on Wal-Mart’s business practices. This fall, we begin a new film screening series at the TRANZAC (292 Brunswick Avenue), featuring documentaries and narrative films that tackle current political and social issues. The series kicks off on September 25 with […] More »

Brave New River Saturday, May 4 at 3 p.m. TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 WHAT: Director Nicolas Renaud takes us to James Bay, where hydroelectric development has been a controversial topic for decades—especially between the government and the Cree there who’ve called the area home for centuries. WANT MORE? Check out our September 2011 story by […] More »

If you spend time in any of the Maritime arts communities, chances are you’ll meet a back-to-the-lander. In the early 1970s, many artists, hippies and draft dodgers left the comforts of urban life to head east in search of fresh air and cheap land. I’ve heard amazing stories of long-haired painters trying to fit into […] More »

My grandmother was the oldest of 13 brothers and sisters. One of my great-uncles was a brain surgeon—a colleague of Dr. Penfield’s, my grandmother would tell us proudly, never understanding why this fact was so entertaining to my brothers and I. But for anyone who grew up with Canadian television, the answer to this question […] More »

Last Sunday I swung by Fire on the Water – named for a time when old boats were lit ablaze and set out to sea for entertainment – a day of art installations, music and dancing at Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion in west-end Toronto. Built in 1922 as changing facilities for the local beach and swimming […] More »

Whenever I think about the pursuit of fame (the pre-Kardashian era), my mind automatically tracks back to reruns of the 1980s TV show Fame, and Debbie Allen warning Leroy et al about the price of pursuing your creative dreams. “Fame costs and right here’s where you start paying – in sweat,” Allen warns her students, […] More »

Oh god, not this joker again. These are the first words that enter my head when I see the new issue of Rolling Stone on the newsstand. The cover features a haggard Charlie Sheen. He looks like a cross between a chain-smoking bobble head and a contestant vying for first place in a Keith Richards […] More »

Wondering how best to pay tribute to a musician who recently died? Just say no to holograms—please I beg of you—and instead enlist some adorable children to help you with your tribute. That’s what Portland filmmaker James Winters did. Winters got his kids and nephew to reenact the Beastie Boys 1994 video for “Sabotage” (directed […] More »

During Toronto’s Hot Docs closing weekend, I watched a fascinating film called The Mechanical Bride. The U.S. film, directed by Allison de Fren, is a 76-minute journey into the world of men and their life-sized dolls: how they’re made, how they’re fixed, how men relate to them, how they have sex with them, and how […] More »