Antlers (2021):

This horror-thriller has, as one of its stars, the locations in which it was shot. The tale of the Wendigo, a cruel and blood lusting spirit that is part of First Nations and Native American lore, is made even more frightening by the dark, brooding, rainy and depressing look, achieved by shooting in the Hope, BC area during winter, although the setting is supposed to be the State of Oregon. It's the story of a small-town schoolteacher named Julia Meadows (Keri Russell), recently returned to her hometown from California for reasons initially unclear. She lives with her brother Paul (Jesse Plemons), the town deputy, although it is an uneasy relationship for reasons that eventually become somewhat clear. The focus is on a young student in her classroom, Lucas Weaver who is decidedly strange. The bigger boys bully him, he has very little to say about anything, and when he goes home to the ramshackle place in the bush, we learn that something is very, very wrong. Part of what makes this a good horror film is the fact that information on the characters and the "thing" that has a lust for human flesh is parcelled out in small bits and pieces. There are no long dialogue scenes in which we are being told what's happening - instead we are mostly being shown what's happening. There's a nice turn by Canadian First Nations veteran actor Graham Greene ("Dances with Wolves," The Twilight Saga"), and special effects once we get to see what it is that lives in young Lucas's house, that are believable and about as scary as you would want. Perfect for the season, horror movie fans will get full value here, with the amount of gore downplayed, and the "Hah! Made you jump" quotient ramped up. Rated 14A.

Black Friday (2021):

With the Holiday season in the rear-view mirror this seasonal horror-comedy doesn’t have the same gravity that it would during its initial release in November, which is just as well, because it isn’t a very good movie. That isn’t the fault of Vancouver’s Devon Sawa who stars, and it isn’t the fault of Michael Jai White who co-stars, but rather falls at the feet of a premise and a script that seem designed to do just one thing – make audiences grimace and say, “Oh, gross,” at the many depictions of death at the hands of zombie-like monsters. The setting is a big box retailer during the Holiday season, looking towards Black Friday. As a group of disgruntled employees reluctantly spend Thanksgiving at the store, preparing for the biggest shopping day of the year, an alien parasite crashes into the earth inside a meteorite. For reasons never well-explained, it chooses, as its initial victims, shoppers lining up to get Black Friday deals. Each time the chomp is put on a shopper, it turns into a hideous creature looking for someone else to chomp. Soon members of the store staff are bitten and so it goes. Something is growing in the middle of the store, and that can’t be good. Neither can this movie, but for teens and up, it has a certain glimmer. Rated 14A.

Superdeep (2020):

This action-sci-fi-horror thriller is as Russian as vodka and caviar having been filmed in that country for both the exteriors and for the studio work. The actors are all Russians, well-known in their home country, and the plot spins out in a very Russian kind of way. The world’s deepest borehole is the focus of the story, with a small scientific team making the decision to see what it harbours. In the depths, under the earth, the group finds what the secret is, the reason that members of the research team attached to whatever is in the hole seem to go missing for no apparent reason. Led by Anna Federova (Milena Radulovic), an esteemed epidemiologist, they soon find what’s at the bottom and what’s behind the disappearances, and it turns out to be a major threat to the entire planet. Not a bad film, with the Russian influence making it a very non-Hollywood experience that I kind of liked. Rated 14A.

Mother/Android (2021):

A good cast headlined by Chloe Grace Moretz ("Greta," "The Equalizer") does solid work in this Netflix-distributed story set in a post-apocalyptic world where androids, used for years as servants and labourers, have developed sentient characteristics and are now revolting against the humans.  Georgia (Moretz) is a young woman, pregnant, and living in an area where the android uprising is at its peak.  She and her boyfriend Sam (Algee Smith) decide the only way to have their baby survive will be to cross no-man's land and get to the safety of the city of Boston where the human enclave has the upper hand.  A sci-fi thriller that keeps us on our toes as the couple comes up against one obstacle after another.  Rated 14A. 

Robin Robin (2021):

This stop-motion animated film from the UK tells the story of a little baby robin who rolls out of her nest onto the ground, and who is saved, and then raised by a family of mice. As Robin gets older, she begins to realize that she is not a mouse, and that maybe she doesn't really belong with this family. A heart-warming story with an excellent message that both children and parents will enjoy. Gillian Anderson ("The X-Files") provides one of the major voices in this British made film. Rated G.