10 Canadian Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die

One of the best examples of a haunted house horror, The Changeling has been lauded as one of the most influential Canadian films, winning multiple awards, and Martin Scorsese listing it as one of his favourite horror films of all time. Steven Spielberg admitted that he used the film as inspiration when setting the scene for Poltergeist. It is unaffectedly spooky and doesn’t rely on jump scares, instead building up tension slowly.

Clever camera techniques, such as filming high shots from the top of the stairs looking down helped to instil the feeling that the ghost was always watching, and the scene with the red ball bouncing down the stairs has become iconic and much imitated trope in supernatural films.

The story is compelling, with young Joseph’s murder for his grandfather’s inheritance a genuine reason for a vengeful spirit, and the potentially funny scene of John being chased by an empty wheelchair is really quite terrifying, due in part to George C Scott’s believably frightened reaction.

Cornerstone Films has had the rights to a Changeling remake since 2018 and are due to make a more contemporary version of the story with the location now set in Italy.