6th annual Vancouver Horror Show film festival returns

The Vancouver Horror Show film festival is back for its 6th year at the Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Vancouver.

The three-day event features independent horror movies filmed everywhere from international locations to right here in Vancouverites’ backyards.

One of the films, Anacoreta, follows a group of friends on a getaway to an isolated cabin in the woods.

“It’s bit of a horror-thriller but more of a look into the terrors of trying to make a movie,” said Jesse Stanley, a producer and actor in the movie.

Matt Visser, an actor and co-writer, says the production of the film was a challenge since it took place when COVID-19 restrictions were still in place.

“We were trying to figure out what could we do with a minimal crew, what could we do that was away somewhere that was safe for us to film,” he said.

The location they settled on was a cabin in Anderson Lake in Squamish, meaning Anacoreta features the natural beauty of British Columbia.

Stanley says this movie was extra special for her because she was able to bring her four-month old baby, Henry, to set.

“There was a lot of me needing to go feed the baby and pumping in between takes,” she said. “And when set up was happening, we would set him up on a Jolly Jumper on some of the old beams of the cabin, and he would be everyone’s entertainment.”

Meghan Hemingway, who co-founded this festival 6 years ago, says independent films allow actors and creative minds of all experience levels to express themselves.

“There is something kind of rock and roll about the independent scene,” she said. “Anyone can do it. If you have the execution and the vision, you can get in and tell stories, and it’s pretty wildly impressive.”

“Often, as an actor and as a creative, we make something, it just sits there and it doesn’t get the life it deserves.”

According to Hemingway, watching scary movies tool for connection that some people turn to.

“There’s a universality to fear, and it’s sort of connective,” Hemingway said.

“When you’re in a theatre with a bunch of people watching a horror movie and you’re trying to get through it together, there is sort of a catharsis that happens and a community that builds and something very really being tapped into which is fear.”

The Horror Show will travel to Burnaby for Oct. 20-22, to Terrace for Oct. 24-28 and to Grand Forks for Oct. 26-27.