Stir Cheat Sheet: Author Sam Wiebe tags 10 Vancouver-shot horror films for the Halloween season

Cataloguing the campy to the harrowing, the writer behind Shot in Vancouver: Adventures in Hollywood North appears at the Vancouver Writers Fest on October 24 and 25

By Janet Smith

Sam Wiebe (photo by Mel Yap) and his new book.

The Fly II

The Changeling poster.

SAM WIEBE IS a lifelong movie fan and a bestselling author of West Coast–set crime fiction, thanks mostly to his series about Vancouver PI Dave Wakeland.

His most recent release, Shot in Vancouver: Adventures in Hollywood North (Arsenal Pulp Press), is a nonfiction exploration of the extensive film history of Vancouver and B.C, and a detailed account of how this city became the third-largest film hub in North America. He’ll be appearing at the Vancouver Writers Fest, alongside fellow writers Steve Burgess, Justin McElroy, and Christopher Cheung (Very Vancouver), at the Vancouver: A Field Guide event (October 24, 1:30 pm at Arts Umbrella). He also shows up at Best of B.C. Mysteries, October 25 at 1:30 pm at the Revue Stage.

With Halloween coming up, Stir tapped the author for his locally shot horror recommendations. As Wiebe puts it: “Long before Backrooms or the newest version of Carrie, Vancouver was supplying locations for horror films and series. Early films like The Changeling and Prophecy paved the way for an explosion of horror films in the ’80s, ’90s, and beyond. Jason Voorhees, Micheal Myers, Chucky, and Godzilla are only some of the well-known monsters who’ve stomped and slashed their way through the Lower Mainland over the years.”

Here are Wiebe’s 10 notable horror movies shot in our backyard, with background on locations from the Capilano Dam to Buntzen Lake.

The Mad Room.

#1

The Mad Room (1969)

“‘Stunning’ Stella Stevens, as the Vancouver Sun called her, plays an ambitious woman whose murderous young siblings are released from an asylum into her care. Capilano Dam and Vancouver Island play integral parts in this twisty psychological thriller.”

#2

The Changeling (1979) 

“A favourite of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin Tarantino, this haunted house story has one of the most influential seance scenes, as well as shots of Deep Cove, the Orpheum, and the Granville Bridge. The house itself was constructed on a lot in Oakridge; for the final scene, it was burned down, resulting in an arson investigation.”

American Gothic

#3

American Gothic (1987) 

“Yvonne De Carlo was Vancouver’s first homegrown movie star. Long after her glory days in The Ten Commandments and The Munsters, De Carlo appeared as a puritanical hillbilly matriarch in this unsettling slasher film. Her catchphrase: ‘Don’t you wanna be in the Clean Plate Club?’”

#4

The Fly II (1989)

“Directed by Oscar-winning makeup artist Chris Walas, this gory sequel to the Cronenberg classic was shot almost entirely at SFU, which appears as a genetics laboratory and home to the son of Brundlefly.”

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

#5

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

“Jason takes his sweet time getting to New York via cruise ship, and his rampage mostly takes place in Downtown Vancouver. A bit of false advertising, but a clever and funny entry into the slasher series.”

#6

Lake Placid (1999)

“‘I’m rooting for the crocodile,’ Betty White tells a sheriff in Maine (actually Buntzen Lake and Shawnigan Lake). Stan Winston Studios’ 32-foot animatronic crocodile is the real attraction of this creature feature, written by Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley.”

Slither

#7

Slither (2006)

“Before he took over the DC Universe, James Gunn directed this homage to campy horror films like Night of the Creeps, starring Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks. Alien slugs run amok through Langley and Surrey, mutating the townsfolk.”

#8

Unnatural & Accidental (2006)

“Director Carl Bessai adapted Marie Clements’s play about a young Indigenous woman searching for her mother while a serial killer stalks Vancouver. Based on a harrowing true story, the film features terrific performances from Carmen Moore, Tantoo Cardinal, and Callum Keith Rennie.”

American Mary

#9

American Mary (2012)

“Ginger Snaps’ Katharine Isabelle plays a medical student who earns extra cash performing extreme surgeries for the body-modification community. But when she’s wronged, Mary turns her skills (and scalpels) to revenge. North Vancouver’s Soska Sisters directed this modern-day grindhouse classic.”

#10

X-Files: I Want to Believe—Vrach Frankenshteyn (2008/2026)

“The X-Files was always at its best doing ‘Monster of the Week’ episodes. Mulder, Scully, and much of the original X-Files crew return to Vancouver (as well as Pemberton Valley and Coquitlam’s Riverview Hospital) for a case involving missing persons, body parts, and complex moral choices. A darker (and bloodier) director’s cut was released this year.”

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