By Steve Newton
I’ve long complained about the lack of decent horror flicks being made in and around Vancouver, but in recent years Hollywood has upped its game considerably as far as the Great Fright North is concerned.
Drew Goddard‘s The Cabin in the Woods was cause for celebration in 2012, and more recently Alexandre Aja‘s Horns helped the world forget that this city was also the birthplace of Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan.
The latest scary movie to be shot in these parts is Blackburn, which will be released by Raven Banner Entertainment. The film—which stars Calum Worthy (Disney’s Austin & Ally), Lochlyn Munro (Freddy vs. Jason), Sarah Lind (WolfCop) and Emily Ullerup (Sanctuary)—is about five college friends who, after a forest fire and rock slide, “are trapped in a small Alaskan ghost town with a horrifying history.”
From the looks of the teaser trailer, Blackburn brings to mind a more stylized version of 2003’s Wrong Turn, which I thought was pretty decent. And not just because of Eliza Dushku’s tanktop.
Director Lauro Chartrand went the extra scary mile by casting local horror champs the Soska Sisters (American Mary) and getting actors/stuntmen Ken Kirzinger (Jason Vorhees from Freddy vs. Jason) and Brad Loree (Michael Myers from Halloween: Resurrection) to play the hideously deformed villains Digits and 3eyes.
Think positive, horror freaks.