I thought this one would be easy.

Calgary is well-known for film production. Most people in the industry could quickly name a number of major movies (and some stone cold classics) that are associated with the city. So the biggest surprise for me after doing my research was just how many films I could not include.

With such close proximity to mountains and Western landscapes, “shot in Calgary” is often short-hand for where many productions are based, even if no actual filming actually takes place within the city itself. In other words, if I was doing the best movies from Southern Alberta, the list would look very different. But (municipal) lines have been drawn, and decisions had to be made.

With some much appreciated help from Mark Cogan, a passionate Alberta-based locations scout, I dug deep and tried to play fair to keep this Best Movies From… series pure.

Calgary, AB: 101

• Population: 1.5 million

• Nickname: Cowtown, Stampede City

• Named after Calgary House in Scotland (by Lieutenant-Colonel James Macleod of the North-West Mounted Police)

• Hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics

• Holds one of the world’s largest rodeos every year (The Calgary Stampede)

• The Plus 15 (+15) walkway in the downtown core is the world’s most extensive pedestrian skywalk system, with a total length of 16 kilometres (10 miles)

Claims to fame

The most famous person from Calgary very much depends on your age and interests.

If you still listen to Top 40 radio - or followed the news during the recent Winter Olympics - you probably know pop star Tate McCrae. But she’s just the latest singer from Calgary, after Tegan and Sara (Quin), Jann Arden, Melissa O’Neil, who were all born in Calgary - not to mention (Leslie) Feist, who spent formative years there. Country singer Paul Brandt, though, is probably the proudest musical representative of Cowtown.

In terms of celebrities, Elisha Cuthbert and Cory Monteith were both born in Calgary but moved away shortly afterwards. Tom Jackson has made it his home, Andrew Phung is a born and raised Calgary boy, and obviously I can’t forget WWF wrestlers Bret “The Hitman” Hart and the whole Hart wrestling family. But in terms of film and TV stars, Paul Gross has to be the biggest name from Calgary… though I realize I’m saying that as someone writing a Canadian film newsletter. Although, director Michael Dowse might deserve his own claim to the crown, as you’ll see below.

After that, there’s a long list of famous athletes (hockey players, Olympians), but as a sign of the times, I’ll instead just note some major Conservative politicians from the city: Ralph Klein, Peter Lougheed, Danielle Smith, Stephen Harper and…. Ted Cruz.

What’s a “Calgary” film, anyway?

As mentioned earlier, deciding what qualifies as being “shot in Calgary” depends on where you draw the line. Like Edmonton to the north, Calgary has a ring road that makes one obvious delineation of the city. The main union for film employees in Calgary, IATSE 212, uses this (Stoney Trail) to clarify what is considered a local production.

However, rapid suburban sprawl and savvy producers have challenged those definitions. It’s not a question of municipal pride, but travel expenses and tax credits. The Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC), therefore, has their own boundaries for what locations are considered as being filmed “in the zone”.

I used this as a guide not only to keep the film selections interesting, but to also parallel what most people in the Calgary industry consider to be a locally shot film.

There are also a couple key filming locations, such as the iconic Western town at CL Ranch, that fall just outside the boundary, but are accepted as being in the DGC zone. So I kept any films shot there as eligible for the rankings.

Early days

Calgary being a production hub goes all the way back to one of Canada’s first and most famous early films - Back to God’s Country (1919). Producer Ernest Shipman raised the funds for the movie within Calgary, and raised his profits by featuring a scandalous nude scene with his wife, Nell Shipman (who co-wrote the film). The iconic outdoor scenes, however, were mostly shot at Lesser Slave Lake, AB, and then California.

Carrying the torch for Calgary-based sexploitation films you’ll find The Naked Flame (1964), but that’s a rare exception for films made between the 1930s and 1960s in the city - and most of that film was shot in nearby towns of Banff and Canmore.

However, the early Silent Era produced a few notable pictures in the city, including The Calgary Stampede (1925) which proudly boasted being “filmed at the actual Calgary Stampede (in) Calgary Canada” over 100 years ago.

The Wild West and frontier aesthetic continued to attract big adventure productions post-war, like Northwest Stampede (1948), Canadian Pacific (1949), and (confusingly) Saskatchewan (1954).

Calgary on screen

The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) began in 2000 with Gary Burns’ local gem Waydowntown (2000), and still regularly premieres or screens local productions every year. But if you were looking for some examples of Calgary on screen before that, Hollywood is the biggest help.

The American New Wave came to town with a grungy little crime thriller called Prime Cut (1972) starring Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman. Most of the Alberta production takes place within a slaughterhouse, a meat factory, a county fair, various farmland, and a barn (where drugged up girls are being auctioned off as sex slaves), but during a foot chase you can catch a few glimpses of the Palliser Hotel downtown.

The Michael Ritchie directed film is also notable for being the screen debut of a radiant looking Sissy Spacek, who has a central role as one of the auctioned off girls being treated like meat from the Irish mob in Kansas City.

The original Superman (1978) also made hay of Alberta as a filming location, turning the villages of Blackie, Barons, and Beynon into the iconic Smallville. There’s also one tiny scene shot within Calgary proper, qualifying the original film for the list. The third film in the franchise may have had diminishing artistic and financial returns, but its use of Calgary is far more prominent. In Superman III (1982), the Man of Steel gets drunk at the St. Louis bar, before berating spectators and flying off over the C-Train with the Calgary Tower in the distance.

Another rich time in Calgary’s history that’s often been revisited on film is the 1988 Winter Olympics. Those zany Games have been fodder for a few movies, including Eddie the Eagle (2016), which did not shoot at all in Calgary (using Germany and Austria), but also the beloved Disney film Cool Runnings (1993) starring John Candy, which did use WinSport's Canada Olympic Park in the city, the Calgary International Airport, as well as a few other interior Calgary locations.

The coolest scene ever shot in Calgary, though, has to be an action sequence from Exit Wounds (2001). Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak - the cinematographer for Speed (1994) - most of the production from this otherwise forgotten Steven Seagal flick took place in Toronto-as-Detroit (including a gunfight within the CBC building!), but the key opening scene of Seagal saving the Vice President from an ambush was shot on Calgary’s (newly renovated) Centre Street Bridge crossing the Bow River.

The film’s best sequence is full of explosions, a helicopter ambush, and bad-guys-dressed-as-cops all getting mowed down by machine guns - what more can a boy ask for?

TV spotlight

Several major U.S. TV series have filmed in and around Calgary over the past few years, including Hell on Wheels (2011-2016), Wynona Earp (2016-2021) most seasons of Fargo (2012-2024), and the first season of The Last of Us (2023-). There’s also been some good Canadian sit-coms, like Young Drunk Punk (2015) and Jann (2019-2021). But without getting into logistics and technicalities for what was “really” shot in Calgary, I can’t mention TV in the city without giving a shout out to one of the longest-running series in Canadian television history: Heartland (2007-). I got to spend time shadowing three different directors on the series back in 2019, and watched a whole lot of episodes in preparation.

Top 10 Canadian films made in Calgary

To my surprise, three of these top 10 films I selected are from the past couple of years. I’ll take that as a sign that the local film scene is alive and well in Calgary - or at the very least, finally on the rise.

10. Kelly aka Like Father, Like Daughter (1981) - family adventure drama that hilariously tries to pass off Calgary as L.A., but the wilderness scenes are really great.

9. The Birds Who Fear Death (2024) - solid story starring Adam Beach where his character tries to scam a reserve out of inheritance money he believes he’s owed.

8. Lucky Star (2024) - gambling drama that worked on me, despite some obvious shortcomings in the performances.

7. The Suburbanators (1995) - Gary Burns’ indie slacker film that can easily be seen as a knockoff of the American trend in the early 90s, but holds up surprisingly well.

6. Ararat (2002) - the start of Atom Egoyan’s long, slow decline from the high of The Sweet Hereafter is better than what would follow, but still feels like Egoyan-light.

5. In Cold Light (2025) - gritty crime drama starring Maika Monroe as an ex-con trying to dig her way up is stylish looking and hard hitting.

4. The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom (2011) - low stakes coming-of-age drama that’s beautifully art directed to recreate the 1970s, with a satisfying third act.

3. Waydowntown (2000) - opened the inaugural CIFF in 2000 and remains an enduring comedic ode to Calgary’s skywalk system.

2. Passchendaele (2008) - the first half is cheesy TV-movie fluff, the second is filled with some of the most riveting images ever created in a Canadian film.

But, the Best CANADIAN Film Ever Made in Calgary is…

Fubar (2002)

Dir. Michael Dowse

The Canadian Hoser (aka a lovable loser) has been a broad stereotype ever since Bob and Doug MacKenzie first appeared on SCTV in 1980, but the early 2000s put the trope into high gear. At the exact time Trailer Park Boys (2001) hit the TV airways, a team from Calgary made up of Michael Dowse, David Lawerence, and Paul Spence were already in post-production of their micro-budget first feature: FUBAR (2002).

The three co-wrote the largely improvised mockumentary-style comedy about the headbanger subculture of mullet-haired drifters who love to shotgun beers and just keep on given'r. Many of the extras in the film weren’t even aware Lawrence and Spence, as Terry and Deaner, were playing characters, adding a level of authenticity to interactions that amplified the on screen interactions and antics.

Dowse, as director, also has a character surrogate in Gordon Skilling, who plays a documentary director acting as an audience bridge into their lives. But the plot takes a more serious turn when Dean is diagnosed with testicular cancer, putting the guys’ lifestyle into a much sharper focus.

The film was shot on a prosumer camera (Canon XL1) and looks appropriately cheap-o, but for this type of comedy that’s a feature - not a bug. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and has gone on to have a legacy that’s exceedingly rare for Canadian films. There’s an argument to be made that FUBAR 2 is a superior film, both in form and content, but the sequel moves the story to Edmonton and Fort MacMurray. And as far as local films go that actually try to embrace their roots in hilarious and uncomfortable ways, there’s really no beating the original. It’s an enduring reminder to other filmmakers they need to turn up the good, turn down the suck.

Local spotlight

Calgary is everywhere in the film, though it’s most likely not promoted by the tourism board. However, there’s at least one scenic shot of the boys shotgunning Pils in Union Cemetery with the skyline in the background that I think deserves to be put on a billboard advertising Calgary. Iconic.

In summary

It’s probably silly that I rank Passchendaele so high, but I can’t help but defend the one truly big swing ever taken in Canadian film (with a $20 million dollar budget that it never had a hope in hell of recouping). Gary Burns’ waydowntown is also a respectable choice, but a bit too simple and safe for my taste. So at the risk of coming across like a basic bro, I think this one is a no-brainer.

Top 10 Hollywood films made in Calgary

These are some heavy hitters. The only thing more impressive than the top 5 of this list might be the next top five movies that I eliminated for being filmed too far outside the city (see below).

10. Nightbreed - Director’s Cut (1990)

9. Silver Streak (1976)

8. Shanghai Noon (2000)

7. Cool Runnings (1994)

6. Superman (1978)

5. Little Big Man (1970)

4. The Order (2024)

3. Days of Heaven (1978)

2. Interstellar (2014)

But, the Best HOLLYWOOD Film Ever Made in Calgary is…

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Dir. Ang Lee

Few films become so famous that their title can be used as a punchline or shorthand for understanding a social circumstance. But now that Heated Rivalry is the new pop culture code for a “secret gay romance”, I’d love to see Brokeback Mountain simply become short-hand for “straight-up masterpiece”.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal play two shepherds who fall in love one summer and go on to have a hidden relationship from their wives and the wider world for the next 20 years. The story slips through time with an ease I can’t compare to many other films, conveying an ache and melancholy that’s somehow both contrasted and enhanced by the majestic vistas of the Canadian Rockies.

Alberta should be considered a co-star in the film, but that truth is forced to be a secret as well, as the story is set in Wyoming. However, in a telling opening credit, one of the Executive Producers is listed as “Alberta Film Entertainment”, although the IMDb credit goes to Tom Cox and Murray Ord. I’m sure there’s some inane contractual reason Cox and Ord didn’t get personal credits (Executive Producers are almost always individuals, not companies), but I’ll be romantic here and pretend like it was their way of advertising the film’s creative debt to the the province when the American financiers wouldn’t let the story itself be open about that relationship.

The script is - otherwise - truly a flawless work of art. Written by acclaimed novelist Larry McMurty (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment, The Last Picture Show) and Diana Ossana - based on Annie Proulx’s original 30-page short story - the amount of information communicated scene-to-scene, with such sparse dialogue and no melodrama, is remarkable. The casting has also only become more impressive with time, seeing how this launched the “serious” careers of Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway, all while fitting in great small parts by Kate Mara, David Harbour, Anna Ferris, Linda Cardellini, and even a completely convincing dramatic performance by Randy Quaid.

Along with its Oscar-winning script writers and director, the film’s instantly recognizable score was also rewarded - even if the film famously lost Best Picture to Crash. I’m on a bit of a lone island (at least in critical circles) thinking that Crash is way more entertaining and worthy of a second look than it gets credit for, but I’m also more convinced than ever on my recent rewatch of how worthy Brokeback Mountain is of all the praise it can possibly get.

Local spotlight

Like most big American films shot in Southern Alberta, Calgary itself is rarely featured (or even used), but Brokeback Mountain did do some actual production within city limits - pretending it was Mexico.

When Gyllehaal’s character Jack Twist is sick of going years between “high altitude fucks”, he makes his way down south for some companionment - though he’s really walking behind what’s now Rosso Coffee Roasters at 803 24th Ave SE. The set was dressed and cast to look the part, but it’s still a moment Calgary can claim.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Where to start? Plenty of recent Hollywood productions filmed within the city of Calgary, including Die My Love (2025) with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, Let Him Go (2020) with Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) with Finn Wolfhard and Paul Rudd. Rat Race (2001) also has a lot of fans, and the film shot in both Calgary studios and in McMahon Stadium. But the more impressive list of films are ones that had production offices in Calgary while shooting at distances too far away to be considered as filmed within the city.

The Revenant (2015) is a prime example - the movie that famously finally landed Leonardo Dicaprio the Oscar for Best Actor, and won two other major awards: Best Director for Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki. Many of the key scenes shot on Stoney First Nations Reserve, in Kananaskis Country, and at Fortress Mountain in the Rockies.

Inception (2010), Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), The Bourne Legacy (2012), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Robert (2007), Open Range (2003), Mystery Alaska (1999), X2: X-Men United (2003), The Edge (1997) Legends of the Fall (1994) and even parts of Game of Thrones (2011-2019) all filmed in similar parts of the province - if not the exact same locations, at times.

But the grand-daddy of Alberta-shot Hollywood production has to be Unforgiven (1992). Clint Eastwood’s revisionist Western filmed near Longview, Brooks, and Drumhellar. The film went on to win Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars, was a box-office hit grossing $159 Million, and remains a beloved staple of the genre.

However, my favourite piece of trivia has to be learning that one of the most iconic images in all of film history secretly features Alberta.

Stanley Kubrick used shots of Banff National Park throughout the final aerial mission above the Soviet Union for his black comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Slim Pickens riding a nuclear bomb to his death might be the ultimate image of America’s cowboy militarism, but somehow giving it an Alberta connection makes me learn to stop worrying and love the bomb, too.

In summary

I may have spent way too many hours splitting hairs over what qualifies as being shot in Calgary and what doesn’t, but as a result, I learned a hell of a lot about productions in Alberta. In addition to Mark Cogan, I also got specifics from @NiftyCrispy on Youtube, and several other sources that took more than a quick Google search.

But if I thought Calgary required a deep dive, my eyes are already bleeding trying to get through the movies in my next city - and not because it’s brimming with quality. Good thing I really love Saskatchewan.

The Best Movies From… will continue with Regina. To get it sent directly to your inbox, subscribe now.

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BONUS!

Here’s my radio interview with CBC Calgary that got turned into a video. They asked me two minutes before we went live to turn on my camera “just in case”. I didn’t think much of it. So not only is it framed horribly, but I am literally in the closet going off about Brokeback Mountain…

LINK to VIDEO

DOUBLE BONUS!

My interview with CBC was also turned into an article for their website. I’m happy to see the work being shared, but a couple small notes of clarification:

1. The boundary I used for what is considered “filming in Calgary” is the one used by the Director’s Guild of Canada - I didn’t make it myself.

2. As far as I know, Back to God’s Country (1919) never filmed in Calgary - it was just the production hub and where the money was raised. When I said “most of it was shot in Lesser Slave Lake”, what I didn’t specify is that the other filming happened in California.

CBC article:

LINK to ARTICLE

As a kid growing up in small towns around Alberta, Edmonton always represented the epicentre of family fun (Klondike Days, Jubilations Dinner Theatre, Oilers games, Chuck E. Cheese, West Edmonton Mall, etc). But admittedly, I’ve never thought of it as a destination for filmmaking - even as an adult. So forming two Top 10 lists required me to dive deep into dozens of hitherto unseen (and unheard of) movies to create a truly definitive ranking.

Honestly, I loved it. What a treat seeing the city in a new light - via psychedelic horror, sex comedies, and even Hong Kong action movies (!). Making these discoveries is exactly what I hoped to achieve in my Best Movies From… series.

Edmonton, AB: 101

• Population: 1.2 million

• Nickname: City of Champions, Festival City, Gateway to the North

• Named after Edmonton, Middlesex, England (the hometown of influential HBC governor Sir James Winter Lake)

• North America's northernmost city with over one million people

• One of Canada’s sunniest cities (up to 17 hours of daylight in summer)

Claims to fame

Most of the celebrities associated with Edmonton were either born in the city and moved away shortly thereafter (Michael J Fox, Tommy Chong, Jill Hennessy), or spent stints there during their youth (Leslie Nielsen, Tantoo Cardinal). Two notable exceptions are Nathan Fillion and Bruce McCulloch, who were both born in the city and were residents up until at least high school.

Other big names who are connected to Edmonton include musicians Robert Goulet, k.d. lang, and Ruth B, athletes Mark Messier (hockey), Alphonso Davies (soccer), and Joey Moss (football), and the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney.

The Edmonton film scene

The most notable director to come from Edmonton is probably Arthur Hiller, who made Love Story (1970), earning an Oscar nomination for Best Director. He was born and raised in Edmonton, before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force and navigating heavy bombers over Nazi-occupied Europe in WWII. But his film career started at the CBC in Toronto before moving to the U.S. and eventually becoming the president of the Director’s Guild of America.

In terms of directors who have made movies in Edmonton, Anne Wheeler is undoubtably the city’s biggest on screen champion. She may live in B.C now, but Wheeler earned her Order of Canada from her sensitive storytelling usually shot in or around the city. Films like Loyalties (1986), Cowboys Don’t Cry (1988), and Angel Square (1991) all received several Genie nominations, but her stand-out achievement has to be Bye Bye Blues (1989), where the period recreation and storytelling lend to some top-notch indie filmmaking.

Otherwise, the local scene was mainly productions coming out of the Film and Video Arts Society (FAVA), one of Canada’s oldest not-for-profit artist-run-centres that still exists today.

Efforts to stimulate the local industry started in earnest in the early 2010s with a partnership between the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) and Kilburn Media, which invested over $5 million in local productions. The “Edmonton Film Fund” didn’t last (2012-2016), but maintains a minor legacy through top-billing in the credits of a few films listed below (Cut Bank, Freezer), available to stream on Tubi. And the AMPIA now awards $10,000 annually to the 1st place winner of the Edmonton Film Prize.

Early days

Feature films didn’t get rolling in Edmonton until the 1970s, starting with the prison drama I’m Going to Get You, Elliott Boy (aka Caged Men, aka Caged Men Plus One Woman), which was released in 1971. Directed by Ed Forsyth and starring mostly amateur local actors, the film opens with a bank heist that goes wrong. The lone survivor gets screwed over by his money-hungry girlfriend, arrested, and then raped in prison. Most of the movie was filmed at the detention barracks of CFB Griesbach on an overall budget of about $200,000.

Considering the financial restraints, the film looks pretty good - and might actually be shot a bit too cleanly to properly convey some of the harsh subject matter and violence (where blood all looks like bright red paint). But virtually no other feature films were made in the city for almost a decade.

Edmonton on screen

Like most cities in Canada, the majority of films shot in Edmonton don’t take place in the city explicitly, but if you know where to look you can find some real treats.

For example, legendary Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg made his least legendary film in the city. Fast Company (1979) is a rare for-hire commercial effort that doesn’t only hide Cronenberg’s interests and talents, but drapes the Edmonton International Speedway in star-spangled iconography at every opportunity. But, between all the drag racing, you’ll still sporadically catch glimpses of downtown.

About a decade later, two more screen legends came to the city - martial arts expert Sammo Hung and internationally acclaimed actress Maggie Chueng - to star in Golden Harvest’s production Paper Marriage (1988). The Hong Kong action-comedy pretends to take place in L.A. (hilariously dubbing all the white actors into Cantonese), but is still the best Edmonton has ever looked on screen.

Not only do big dialogue scenes overlook the skyline along the North Saskatchewan River, but the entire third act takes over the then-newly expanded West Edmonton Mall, including crashing through the observation glass into the mall’s waterpark and chases down the Skyscreamer water slide. Not to mention the big fight aboard the pirate ship in the middle of the mall.

TV spotlight

Until recently, very few TV series were made in Edmonton. The notable exception would be the fabled sketch comedy series SCTV, which moved to Edmonton for season 3. By this point, John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, and Harold Ramis were no longer on the show, but with Dave Thomas promoted to head writer, it allowed for Rick Moranis to join (the only cast member not to come from the ranks of The Second City). Which, of course, birthed the series’ most enduring legacy - Bob and Doug Mackenzie - now immortalized in a statue in Edmonton’s ice district.

More recently, all five seasons of the APTN and Showcase series Blackstone (2009-2015) filmed in and around Edmonton, focusing on life on a First Nations reserve. The big budget HBO series The Last of Us (2023) also shot a few scenes in the city, turning the Alberta Legislature Building (and a few others) into parts of a post-apocalyptic Boston.

Top 10 Canadian films made in Edmonton

Chances are you haven’t heard of many (any?) of these films, so I’ll add a little description to each. Maybe you’ll seek a few out.

10. White Coats (2004) - written and directed by SCTV’s Dave Thomas, this hospital-set sex comedy features bit parts for a number of famous people (Dan Aykroyd, Dave Foley, Maury Chaykin, Matt Frewer) and the bit parts of many unfamous people.

9. Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004) - a 19th century prequel to the Ginger Snaps franchise; it’s better than the second film, but a long way from the first.

8. Come True (2020) - not the best film about the waking-nightmare dream-state to come out of Edmonton, but a good one with a memorable ending.

7. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2 (1987) - the title sounds like a joke - and the film has some good humour - but it’s also straight up better than the original (hot take?).

6. Hey Viktor! (2023) - frequently funny mockumentary from Cody Lighting, who played a small part in the film Smoke Signals (1997) and tries to spark new fame.

5. Running Brave (1983) - well-budgeted and impressively mounted film by Donald Shebib about a Sioux American athlete who won gold at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

4. Draw! (1984) - a confined Western with a big cast (Kirk Douglas, James Coburn) and a great script seems ultra-American but is financed and created all by Canadians.

3. Fubar 2: Balls the Wall (2010) - a couple key scenes at West Ed make this under-rated sequel qualify, mostly for its surprising heart and clutch supporting performances.

2. Bye Bye Blues (1989) - Anne Wheeler’s gem of a film about a wartime wife who forms a band waiting for her husband to return - including some top notch original songs.

But, the Best CANADIAN Film Ever Made in Edmonton is…

Skinamarink (2022)

Dir. Kyle Edward Ball

If you’ve seen Skinamarink and feel it could only possibly qualify as the worst film to come out of Edmonton, I won’t judge. Watching the movie at a theatre, unable to retreat into a second screen from sheer boredom at times, often tested my patience. But I’m grateful I endured to come out the other side.

The film’s premise, on the surface, is classic elevated horror: two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished. That is not a dishonest description of this film, but does nothing to prepare you for the Skinamarink’s entrancing qualities and experimental look that more often than not will have you question what you’re even looking at.

Film nerds might describe it as what would happen if Apichatpong Weerasethakul made Paranormal Activity. Except even that suggests more narrative than the film is prepared to offer. With almost no dialogue to speak of - or even no human faces to look at - the film’s fuzzy experimental images play like a signal static haunted house nightmare. It’s undeniably artistic and audacious, and truly demands you surrender to the filmmaker’s intentions for the spell to be cast.

And yet somehow - beyond all odds and reason - the film grossed $2 million dollars at the box office, on a budget of $15,000. Word-of-mouth depended on a lot more than the modest number of fans from the director’s “Bitesized Nightmare’s” YouTube channel showing up. Some ecstatic reviews helped, but its timing post-COVID also can’t be ignored.

Skinamarink’s lo-fi look, with mock infrared and digital grain, forces your mind to wrestle with every image and struggle to find clarity, or escape. Keeping the audience engaged in that process is a gargantuan task, but clearly I’m not alone in thinking director Kyle Edward Ball pulled it off. Once you’re locked in, some moments are truly terrifying.

Local spotlight

If you’re looking to see Edmonton featured on screen in Skinamarink - forget it. The premise is that the windows and doors of the home are sealed or have disappeared. We could be anywhere, it could be any time. We’re stuck in a nightmare - in Edmonton.

No jokes, please.

In summary

Experimental films are not normally my jam, and don’t make for easy recommendations, but I’m still compelled by Skinamarink’s achievements both on and off screen. I’m also maybe being a bit too cute by not including Cronenberg’s film in the top 10, but I couldn’t help weigh Fast Company against its filmmaker’s (realized) potential.

Speaking of potential, Michael Maxxis’s Puppy Love (2020) premiered almost six years ago at festivals, but is still unavailable to watch - even though the trailer looked promising to crack the list. I tracked down Maxxis and he told me the film will finally get a release later this year, after being delayed from some legal issues.

Top 10 Hollywood films made in Edmonton

Full disclosure: not only are these the 10 best Hollywood films ever made in Edmonton, they’re basically the only 10 (not counting Hallmark Christmas movies). Save one insane and surprising exception you’ll see below.

10. Christmas in Wonderland (2007)

9. Snow Day (2000)

8. Bridge to Terabithia (1985)

7. Freezer (2014)

6. Cut Bank (2014)

5. Good Luck Chuck (2007)

4. Santa’s Slay (2005)

3. Paper Marriage (1988)

2. The Edge (1997)

But, the Best HOLLYWOOD Film Ever Made in Edmonton is…

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Dir. Andrew Dominik

One of the most gorgeously photographed films of the 21st century was pretty safe at #1, but if I was being a purist to consider any film that has footage in it from close to Edmonton, this would only be the second best Western (or Hollywood film) on the list. Details on that below.

Andrew Dominik’s film starring Brad Pitt was initially a bit lost in a year filled with five star classics, like No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton and Zodiac - all of which similarly explore the darkness of man in the all-American pursuit of fortune or infamy. Though the visuals for Jesse James were instantly hailed for Roger Deakins’ dreamy and evocative cinematography (for which he no doubt would have won the Oscar had he not split his own votes with a double nomination for No Country for Old Men), many critics accused the film of being as overlong as the title. Casey Affleck also received an Oscar nomination for his performance, but the film’s legacy has only grown in the decades since its release.

As lists for the best films of the 21st century started piling up last year, Rolling Stone, Empire, and international critics polls all featured the title.

I was onboard with heralding the film from the beginning. Beyond the images that frequently look as though they’re being filmed through thick gauzy glass, distorting the image like a old camera struggling with early optics, the story deconstructs the myth behind a legend of the old West. This allows us to live uncomfortably with someone latching on to second-hand fame in a way that feels more relevant than ever in a social media age.

Local spotlight

Fort Edmonton Park is a location used in many of the films on these lists (certainly anything taking place in the 19th century), but none have rendered the grounds or train tracks as grandly as Jesse James. The movie was also shot at Calgary's Heritage Park, the Exchange District in Winnipeg, and several other locations around Alberta and Manitoba, but I’m slotting in for Edmonton particularly for this stand-out sequence.

HONOURABLE MENTION

When it comes to Westerns, the grand daddy of them all is by most accounts John Ford’s The Searchers (1956). And even though the film famously flaunts VistaVision images of Monument Valley in Utah/Arizona, the epic Western also famously spans years, and seasons. And the one wintery location on their search is none other than Elk Island National Park, 35km East of Edmonton.

John Wayne and Jeffery Hunter never came to Edmonton to film the scene, which was admittedly not even done within city limits. The shots of buffalo were captured by a second unit (with stand-ins for the actors), so making this film #1 felt like too much of a cheat. But before doing the research, if you told me a classic film of this stature even had an Edmonton connection, I probably would have snapped back “That’ll be the day”.

In summary

Of all the films I watched, the most excited I got was certainly Paper Marriage, which I know isn’t a “Hollywood” film - whatever. I also couldn’t find an English subtitled version of the Bollywood rom-com Humko Deewana Kar Gaye (2006), which was filmed in Edmonton, but the whole movie is on YouTube if you want to scan it for shots of WEM.

The most pleasantly surprised I got was Santa’s Slay - a delightfully fully twisted Christmas horror B-movie that is genuinely fun. I’m also fairly impressed by the stronger-than-expected showing of Canadian films, which meant leaving off recent titles like Before I Change My Mind (2022) and Bloodthristy (2020). They would certainly have made the list in some other cities.

Next up with be Edmonton’s sister city down Highway 2 which has no shortage of films to chose from.

The Best Movies From… will continue with Calgary. To get it sent directly to your inbox, subscribe now.

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BONUS!

I was interviewed by CBC Radio in Edmonton to go through by Top 5 Hollywood Films ever made in the city. You can listen to it below.

Listen HERE

YOUR VOTE

Not happy with where I landed? Agree with my pick? Here’s your chance to vote.

For years, I was convinced there had never been a great film from Vancouver. The city is dubbed “Hollywood North” for all the film and TV production it attracts, but all I ever hear about are network shows and franchise entertainment. Why had all this crew experience never spawned a local film movement, like the Toronto New Wave? Why could I not associate any major filmmakers with the city?

Those questions inspired the Best Movies From… series. I hoped to surprise myself - and I did.

Vancouver, B.C. 101

• Population: 780,000 (City of Vancouver) / 3,000,000 (Metro Vancouver region)

• Nickname: Rain City, Terminal City, The Wet Coast, Vancity, Hollywood North

• Named after George Vancouver (1757–1798), an English Royal Navy officer.

• 50% of residents speak a first language other than English

• Home to the largest cluster of VFX and animation studios in the world

Claims to fame

Today, Vancouver’s two most famous sons are probably Ryan Reynolds and Seth Rogan, though neither hold residence in the city anymore. Canadian music icons like Bryan Adams, Nickelback, Michael Bublé, and Sarah McLachlan still call it their home-base, as does authour Douglas Coupland, activist David Suzuki, and businessman Chip Wilson (Lululemon).

Other movie stars Vancouver can claim include Jason Priestley, Hayden Christensen, Joshua Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jacob Tremblay, Kristin Kreuk, Cobie Smulders, Taylor Kitch, and Finn Wolfhard. Some personal favourites are definitely Mackenzie Davis and Nathan Fielder. Many of these people lived in the Metro Vancouver area, like Surrey, Richmond, Port Moody, and Burnaby - which you can’t mention without also mentioning Michael J. Fox.

The Vancouver film scene

But what about filmmakers? Rogan and his creative partner Evan Goldberg are probably the highest profile directors from Vancouver, even if they’ve only directed two films together (This Is The End and The Interview). District 9 director Neill Blomkamp went to Vancouver Film School after moving from South Africa and lives in the city, but within the industry he’s almost more famous for the films he hasn’t made.

Until doing this research, the only filmmakers I even associated with Vancouver were Bruce Sweeney, Carl Bessai and Mina Shum - not exactly household names. And maybe the infamous low-rent German director Uwe Boll (House of the Dead, BloodRayne) who shoots there all the time and now calls Vancouver home. But while being called the world’s worst director is certainly a claim-to-fame, it sure wasn’t helping Vancouver’s reputation.

There’s definitely some names I overlooked, including Phillip Boros, Sturla Gunnarsson, and Patrick Lussier. But their work overall is considered fairly minor (with one exception I’ll make below).

A major oversight for me was definitely Allan King, a pre-eminent documentarian whose films are towering achievements of cinéma vérité. Warrendale (1967) and A Marriage Story (1969) are still engrossing masterpieces today, even in a world saturated with reality TV. I never realized King was born in Vancouver and grew up in the neighbourhood of Kitsilano, since his career is so strongly tied to Toronto in the 1960s and 1970s. But his groundbreaking first short film for CBC, Skid Row (1956), is a revealing look at three homeless alcoholics in Vancouver's downtown eastside, which set the stage for his uncompromising career. So while most of his movies aren’t a product of Vancouver specifically, King himself certain is.

For my money, the only filmmaker who made significant Vancouver feature films was Larry Kent. His rag-tag, no-budget Vancouver trilogy of The Bitter Ash (1963), Sweet Substitute (1964) and When Tomorrow Dies (1965) were completely in-step with the birth of Canadian cinema that was happening across the country. In fact, The Bitter Ash fits neatly into another trilogy with Nobody Waved Goodbye (1963) and Le chat dans le sac (1963) about disaffected young men pushing against rigid social norms that would come to define much of the country’s early films. But after Kent moved to Montreal in 1967, he left behind a hole in Vancouver that I feel has never been adequately filled.

Vancouver on screen

It’s almost a running joke that Vancouver never plays itself on screen. Strange, considering its coastal skyscrapers and mountainous backdrops are damn-near picture perfect. But the city is usually stripped for parts, with productions leveraging individual aspects of Vancouver to double for coastal cities of Seattle, San Fransisco or L.A., historic neighbourhoods in New York or Chicago, or foreign capitals like Tokyo, Washington, Moscow, and even Pyongyan). Most scenes are then usually altered with set decorations and CGI-enhancements to suggest we’re somewhere else. In other words, it’s hard to spot Vancouver on screen unless you know what to look for.

But you’ll get a real kick out of seeing Vancouver when you aren’t supposed to.

TV spotlight

Locals, of course, will recognize city streets and parks throughout the CW’s “Arrowverse” of superhero shows like Arrow (2012-2020), The Flash (2014-2023), Supergirl (2015-2021), Smallville (2001-2011), and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (2016-2022). The belt-holder for most production in Vancouver though goes to Supernatural (2005-2022) with 15 seasons and 327 episodes - enough that you can book tours to see hot spots from the show. Other beloved local-shot series include 21 Jump Street (1987-1991), the X-Files (1993-2002, 2016), Riverdale (2017-2023), The Good Doctor (2017-2024), and the new CBS hit Tracker (2024-)

Your best bet for getting a good view of the city is on a Canadian TV series. In fact, if you’ve ever wished Canada had it’s own version of The Wire - I’ve got news for you: it does. Intelligence (2006-07) was a short-lived, but highly compelling crime show following both sides of the law through a compromised crime boss informing Vancouver’s not-so-squeaky-clean Organized Crime Unit. It was created by Chris Haddock, who is also behind the series DaVinci’s Inquest (1998-2006), Da Vinci’s City Hall (2005-06), The Romeo Section (2015-16), and may be Vancouver’s greatest screen advocate.

Other Canadian series explicitly set in Vancouver include Danger Bay (1984-1990), Neon Rider (1990-1995), Cold Squad (1998-2005) Motive (2013-16), Continuum (2012-2015), and the ongoing series Family Law (2021-).

And no, I’m not forgetting about one of Canada’s longest-running scripted TV series, The Beachcombers (1972-1990), but that was mostly shot in nearby Gibsons, BC - and good luck streaming more than a few sporadic episodes of that series due to lapsed contracts and cost-prohibitive rights issues.

Classic movie moments

The oldest surviving feature-length movie shot in Vancouver is Winds of Chance (1925), a silent film by two-time Oscar winning director Frank Lloyd (Cavalcade, Mutiny on the Bounty), which filmed scenes on the Seymour Gorge in North Vancouver.

After that, most of the films produced in B.C. during the 1930s were dubbed “quota quickies” - cheap B-movies made to fulfill Britain’s Cinematograph Films Act of 1927. Kenneth J. Bishop was the most notable entrepreneur to capitalize on the opportunity, producing fourteen of the twenty-two Canadian quickies made between 1933 and 1937, until the law was re-written to exclude Canada. But not before giving us films like Secrets of Chinatown (1935) Secret Patrol (1936), Rose-Marie (1936).

You could write entire books about all the films made in Vancouver, and many have. So it’s hard for me to sum it all up here.

Instead, I’ll cut right to the best films ever made in the city, which is a big enough task.

Top 10 Canadian films made in Vancouver

I have a shortlist of honourable mentions (The Odds, Hello Destroyer, Whale Music) but after that’s it’s kind of a dog’s breakfast of less-than-ideal options.

Also, I’m not including The Changeling (1980) simply because I crowned it for Victoria, but otherwise it would easily be a top five Canadian film for Vancouver.

10. Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

9. Little Criminals (1996)

8. Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008)

7. Double Happiness (1994)

6. Kissed (1996)

5. Riceboy Sleeps (2022)

4. Sweet Substitute (1964)

3. Afflicted (2013)

2. The Grey Fox (1982)

But, the Best CANADIAN Film Ever Made in Vancouver is…

Hard Core Logo (1996)

Dir. Bruce Macdonald

Still one of my favourite Canadian films of all-time, Hard Core Logo was also the first Canadian film I ever loved. As a road trip movie across Western Canada, I never really associated it with Vancouver - even if that’s where the film starts. But most of the production happened in and around the city, which stood-in for other locations - like Edmonton and Winnipeg (Vancouver really can’t catch a break, eh?). So I am frankly relieved to call this a Vancouver film, and have no hesitation also calling it great.

Before Quentin Tarantino picked it up under his Rolling Thunder label, before Billy Talent named their band after the film’s lead guitarist (played by Callum Keith Rennie), and long before Hugh Dillon would become a TV star (Flashpoint, Mayor of Kingstown), I remember watching it twice the weekend I discovered it on home video - once alone, and then again the next day to show my high school rock band. I was completely seduced by the film’s mix of comedy and cautionary tale, with kick-ass tunes like “Who the Hell You Think you Are?” and “Someone’s Gonna Die Tonight”. The chemistry between the bandmates is cutting and completely genuine feeling. Dillon, of course, had all the bona fides to pull off the part of Joe Dick, already being a real-life frontman for The Headstones. The pre-internet release also had a bit of a Blair Witch effect on me, blurring the lines of what I knew to be real and not. By the end it was clear the film was pure mockumentary, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment in the least.

The film premiered at the 1996 Festival de Cannes, and in 2002, readers of Playback voted it the 4th greatest Canadian film ever made. I enjoy the film just as much today, and if you don’t agree, “you don’t know shit from good chocolate”.

Local spotlight

The film showcases a lot of mountainous landscapes during the traveling scenes, and dives deep into dank clubs and drug tripping farms. But before they head out, the band do some interviews at the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver, giving a clear sense of place and tidy visual foreshadowing of the shaky journey ahead.

In summary

In terms of my personal taste, Hard Core Logo was a slam dunk as soon as I knew it was eligible, but my latest revisit of The Grey Fox was extremely rewarding. The two films’ themes are strangely similar, following depressed men chasing former glory, but their treatments are diametrically opposed (grainy, hand-held, often experimental filmmaking in Hard Core Logo vs the steady, beautiful, and timeless production values of The Grey Fox), so I won’t begrudge anyone that selection. You’d have a hard time convincing me anything else was in the running, but I would be genuinely pleased and interested for people to make a case for something else.

Top 10 Hollywood films made in Vancouver

The full list is long, and I’m omitting a couple films that did more shooting in other parts of Canada for the sake of future articles.

The short list is also full of big Hollywood options, from standout franchises (the Deadpool films, Rise/Dawn/War of the Planet of the Apes, Night at the Museum movies) to some sports movies like Miracle and Rocky IV. I could cop out and do a top 20, but choices must be made.

10. The NeverEnding Story (1984)

9. Happy Gilmore (1996)

8. Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

7. Best in Show (2000)

6. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

5. The Hurt Locker (2009)

4. Juno (2007)

3. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

2. First Blood (1982)

But, the Best HOLLYWOOD Film Ever Made in Vancouver is…

Elf (2003)

Dir. Jon Favreau

It’s easy to take a film for granted that has become so entrenched in pop culture, but Elf is not only an all-time Christmas movie, but a perfect Hollywood confection. I could sit here and sing the film’s virtues, but if you have any kids - or half a heart - you already know how much this film feels like magic.

No wonder Hollywood became obsessed with dissecting Elf’s formula for success. Shortly after its release, the beats of the script were templated in Blake Snyder’s bestselling book on screenwriting Save the Cat!, which has served as the go-to writing recipe for Hollywood executives the past two decades. Suffice to say it’s been often imitated, never duplicated - not even by the filmmakers themselves (despite the promise of massive pay-days for a sequel).

And who doesn’t love an underdog story - both onscreen and off. The film was predicted to be “the first and possibly the last Will Ferrell star vehicle” by The Washington Post, and even Ferrell thought as much while filming on the streets of New York and acting like a brain-damaged man-child (out of context, anyway). But those moments work because of the tone established early on, as Favreau recreates a live-action version of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials that came to define so many childhood interpretations of Christmas. It’s not obvious, but the North Pole sequences were filmed inside the Pacific Coliseum at the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) in Vancouver and Coquitlam’s Riverview Hospital (Metro Vancouver).

In addition to the film having an infectiously fun performance by Ferrell, balanced by James Caan having absolutely none of it, even the classic filmmaking techniques with forced-perspective to render size differences add a level of meta-textual playfulness I can’t resist. Plus, I believe in Santa’s Canadian citizenship, so this an extra appropriate selection.

Local spotlight

Trying to recognize Vancouver within Elf is a futile exercise, but you’ll catch a brief glimpse outside the window of the World’s Best Cup of Coffee shop. At the time, it was actually a restaurant called The Only Sea Food, which opened in the 1910s (and was appropriately named as the only sea food restaurant in the neighbourhood at the time). But the building was demolished in 2021, so any Elf pilgrimage to the shooting location won’t be too satisfying.

In summary

It took a lot of mental wrestling to not rank First Blood as number one, but ultimately the location star of that movie is Hope, B.C. - which almost gets to play itself in the film (as Hope, “Washington”). There are, however, apparently some scenes from that most-excellent Rambo movie shot in Vancouver, so I am more than happy to include it on the list.

And even though it didn’t make the Top 10, I also like the fact that Ryan Reynolds is from Vancouver and shot much Deadpool in the city. But there’s only so many homer points I can give - I’m trying to do serious work here!

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YOUR VOTE

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This is my fourth year of watching 365 films. I write short reviews for them all on Letterboxd, but it’s become a frequently requested year-end tradition to share a quick-reference breakdown for friends. So it’s now on Bon Shot, Bad Shot.

I saw 128 new films released in 2025. Most of them are sorted below.

All my Top 10 films felt like 4.5 star movies, so their rankings are pretty flexible. No instant 5-star movies for me this year, but an above-average number of really good ones.

My number one film had an Oscar-qualifying run at the end of December, but opens wide on January 23rd.

Stay tuned at the bottom for my TV rankings as well.

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TOP 10 FILMS OF 2025

1. The Testament of Ann Lee

2. Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie

3. Eddington

4. It Was Just an Accident

5. Hamnet

6. No Other Choice

7. Weapons

8. Bugonia

9. Marty Supreme

10. Final Destination: Bloodlines

The Next Best Three

Nouvelle Vague

One Battle After Another

28 Days Later

Unapologetically Awesome

Sinners

Good News

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Better Than Necessary

Predator: Badlands

K-Pop Demon Hunters

Wake-Up Deadman: A Knives Out Mystery

Overrated By Everyone Else

Blue Moon

Warfare

Black Bag

Underrated By Everyone Else

William Tell

Die My Love

Drop

Over-Hated By Everyone Else

Honey Don’t

Mickey 17

Karate Kid: Legends

Buzz Worthy

Train Dreams

Sorry, Baby

Good Boy

Buzz Ruined It for Me

The Mastermind

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

The Secret Agent

Want to Love, But Not There Yet

Sentimental Value

Song Sung Blue

F1

Criminally Underseen By Others

Nuremberg

One of Them Days

Christy

Satisfying Sequels

Den of Thieves: Pantera

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Zootopia 2

Surprisingly Good Straight-to-Streaming (Netflix)

Kinda Pregnant

Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy

Number 24

Real Good Real-Life Stories (U.S.)

Last Breath

Roofman

The Lost Bus

Real Good Real-Life Stories (World)

Palestine 36

Noviembre

Outstanding

Foreign Appeal

Ad Vitamin

Dog 51

Tehran

Extra Special Indies

Little Lorraine

Lurker

She Rides Shotgun

Big Swing (and a Miss)

Running Man

Fantastic Four

Megan 2.0

Trash Action (Bad)

G20

iHostage

Play Dirty

Trash Action (Good)

Counterstrike

Ballerina

Motor City

Comedy is So Back!

Fackham Hall

Splittsville

The Naked Gun

Comedy is So Over

Happy Gilmour 2

The Napa Boys

Minecraft

Kick-Ass Canadian Films

Deathstalker

Modern Whore

The Cost of Heaven

Weak-Ass Canadian Films

Youngblood

Keeper

40 Acres

Top Docs You Gotta Watch

The Perfect Neighbour

Predators

Cover-Up

Docs Worth a Watch

Unknown Number

Whistle

Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster

Pop-Culture Docs (for Film Lovers)

Wick is Pain

Megadoc

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

Pop-Culture Docs (for Canadians)

This is the Tom Green Documentary

Lilith Fair

John Candy: I Like Me

Diamonds in the Rough Stuff

Dangerous Animals

Together

Havoc

Fine, but Forgettable

Fountain of Youth

Caught Stealing

Mountainhead

OK… But Why??

Lilo & Stitch

The Amateur

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

Big Budgets, Modest Returns

Superman

Thunderbolts*

Frankenstein

Big Stars, Big Disappointment

The Smashing Machine

Ballad of a Small Player

Jay Kelly

Great Directors, Wrong Direction

A House of Dynamite

Sacrifice

Flight Risk

Shrug Emoji

Swiped

Good Fortune

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

Festival Favs Coming in 2026

Tuner

Bad Apples

Dead Man’s Wire

Wasted My Time Watching

Wicked for Good

The Accountant 2

Cleaner

Snow White

O’Dessa

The Amateur

The Sexiest Man in Winnipeg

Another Simple Favour

So Bad it Made Me Mad

Love Hurts

Opus

Happy Gilmore 2

Worst of the Year

Straw

50 Great Films I Finally Saw (from the 20th Century)

When We Were Kings (1996)

The Birdcage (1996)

A Little Princess (1995)

Copycat (1995)

Muriel’s Wedding (1994)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

The Age of Innocence (1993)

A Perfect World (1993)

The Crying Game (1992)

The Fisher King (1991)

State of Grace (1990)

The Party (1990)

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989)

The Vanishing (1988)

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Police Story 2 (1988)

Running on Empty (1988)

The Mosquito Coast (1986)

Death Wish 3 (1985)

Missing (1982)

Breaker Morant (1980)

The Long Good Friday (1980)

Cruising (1980)

Breaking Away (1979)

My Brilliant Career (1979)

The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

Soldier of Orange (1977)

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Death Wish (1974)

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

State of Siege (1972)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Walkabout (1971)

The Devils (1971)

Wake in Fright (1971)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

Kes (1969)

Seconds (1966)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (1966)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Breathless (1960)

The Enemy Below (1957)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars’ Plot (1946)

Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944)

The Great Dictator (1940)

TOP 10 TV Shows of 2025

1. The Rehearsal (Season 2) - HBO/Crave

2. Adolescence - Netflix

3. The Pitt - HBO/Crave

4. The Studio - Apple+

5. Task - HBO/Crave

6. Andor (Season 2) - Disney+

7. The Chair Company - HBO/Crave

8. SAS: Rogue Heroes (Season 2) - Amazon Prime

9. Shorsesy (Season 4) - HBO/Crave

10. I Love L.A. - HBO/Crave

The Next 10 Best TV Shows of 2025

11. The Lowdown - Disney+

12. The Diplomat (Season 3) - Netflix

13. Cobra Kai (Season 5) - Netflix

14. Death By Lightning - Netflix

15. The Agency - Paramount+

16. Severance (Season 2) - Apple TV+

17. Hacks (Season 4) - HBO/Crave

18. 100 Foot Wave (Season 3) - HBO/Crave

19. The White Lotus (Season 3) - HBO/Crave

20. Hostage - Netflix

Top 5 Docs Series / Reality

1. 100 Foot Wave (Season 3) - HBO/Crave

2. American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden - Netflix

3. Survivor (Season 48) - Global

4. Faceoff: Inside the NHL (Season 2) - Amazon Prime

5. Survivor (Season 49) - Global

Don’t Regret, but Don’t Really Recommend

Department Q - Netflix

Too Much - Netflix

Paradise - Disney+

Chad Powers - Disney+

Caught Up On (And Loved)

American Primeval - Netflix

Drive to Survive (Season 1) - Netflix

Survivor (Season 20) - Apple rental

Gave Up On

Alien: Earth

Wednesday

Monster: The Ed Gein Story

I Finished, So You Don’t Have To

The Bear (Season 4) - Disney+

The Last of Us (Season 2) - HBO/Crave

Black Rabbit - Netflix

Squid Game (Season 3) - Netflix

Wayward - Netflix

I Haven’t Started Yet, But I Plan to (in 2026)

Pluribus

Nobody Wants This (Season 2)

Slow Horses (Season 5)

The Eternaut

Mr. Scorsese

Victoria, B.C. being the first destination of this series is not meant to be ironic (see below). I’ll make my way from the West Coast of Canada all the way to the East Coast during this series, and want to include places like Victoria that are often overshadowed by their big brother cities (yeah, you’re next, Vancouver!).

But first, some local context.

Victoria, B.C. 101

• Population: 92,000 (City of Victoria) / 400,000 (Greater Victoria Area)

• Nickname: The Garden City

• Named after Queen Victoria in 1843

• Capital of British Columbia (B.C.)

• Mildest climate in Canada

• One of the best places on Earth for viewing wild orcas

Claims to fame

In terms of famous Canadians, writer and painter Emily Carr is a true Victoria icon. Several people from the music world have also lived in the city, like singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, super-producer David Foster, and interviewer-extraordinaire Nardwaar the Human Serviette.

The biggest celebrity from the Victoria region is certainly Pamela Anderson (who still lives about an hour away in Ladysmith, B.C.). But in terms of Victoria itself, there are a handful of known actors who have lived in the city, including Meg and Jennifer Tilly, and 90s heart-throb Devon Sawa (more on him soon). Canadian director Atom Egoyan was also raised in The Garden City - even though his films lead the Toronto New Wave of the 80s and 90s.

Victoria on screen

If you’re wondering where you’ve ever seen Victoria shine on screen, your best bet is probably the Netflix mini-series Maid (2021), starring Margaret Qualley. Although the story is set “near Seattle” on the fictional Fisher Island, the ferry commutes that are a central drama to the show are quintessential Victoria Islands.

Several other series have also filmed on the island, in and around Victoria, including Reginald the Vampire, Resident Alien, The Twilight Zone (revival version), Murdoch Mysteries, See, and The X-Files.

For films, Hollywood actually has a long history of shooting in Victoria, B.C., going back to the 1930s. The first “talkie” ever filmed in Canada was shot in Victoria - The Crimson Paradise (aka Fighting Playboy), released in 1933 - but is considered a lost film, as no copies exist. But many surviving productions embraced their Northern setting, like Woman Against the World (1937), Convicted (1938) and Death Goes North (1939) about a Canadian Mountie and his dog that have to track down the murderer of a lumberyard owner (sounds cool, eh?).

Not many films were shot in Victoria during the post-war decades of the 50s and 60s (which was common across Canada), but some notable titles stick out near the end, including Russ Meyer’s Vixen! (1968) and Five Easy Pieces (1970), nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Cameras only really get rolling again during the infamous tax-shelter era (1975-1982), leading to slasher crap like April Fools Day (1986), but also the best Canadian film ever made in Victoria.

In terms of popular locations, Craigdarroch Castle is a Victorian Era mansion that has been used in productions of Little Women (1994), The Boy (2016), and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). And the Hatley Castle (in Colwood, near Victoria) was used as “Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters” in the original X-Men series from 2000-2006. University of Victoria’s campus is also frequently used as a shooting location for Hollywood films.

Notable Canadian films

We’ll start with some nominees for best Canadian films shot in Victoria:

Normal (2007) - directed by Carl Bessai, starring an all Canadian cast and crew, including Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Gabrielle Rose.

Wrecked (2010) - starring Adrian Brody, about a man who wakes up in a car wreck at the bottom of a ravine and must overcome incredible odds to survive.

But, the Best CANADIAN Film Ever Made in Victoria is…

The Changeling (1980)

Dir. Peter Medak

I wouldn’t say the competition was particularly close, but I’ll elucidate on choosing The Changeling anyway.

Directed by Hungarian filmmaker Péter Medák, starring American film icon George C. Scott, and set in the U.S., you’d be forgiven for not even knowing this is a Canadian film. But it was produced by Canadian Garth H. Drabinsky (and Joel B. Michaels), who raised most of the $6.6M budget by selling $25,000 shares to 264 investors during Canada’s infamous tax shelter era. That alone qualified it for the first-ever Genie Awards in 1980 (Canada’s Academy Awards), where it won Best Picture and seven more awards (including the Golden Reel for most successful Canadian film at the box office). Aside from some establishing shots in American cities, most of the film was shot in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.

The story follows a New York composer (Scott) relocating to Seattle after the tragic death of his wife and daughter on a very snowy, mountainous pass (Hollyburn Ridge in Cypress Provincial Park, West Vancouver). Scott moves to “Seattle” and into a large historical mansion, which is actually a combination of real exterior locations, property extensions, and interior set builds. The home becomes almost a living thing, trying to communicate with the still-grieving father, and leading him to uncover a mystery about a child that was killed within those walls.

The film is a mature and handsomely shot supernatural thriller, featuring a subdued performance by Scott that (at first, to me), seemed as though he was embarrassed to be in a haunted house movie. But on a recent re-watch, I now see his reactions as more subdued shock and determination to find answers, rather than ignoring signs as a threat to leave. Unlike the slasher craze that was picking up steam (spawned, in large part, by the Canadian film Black Christmas) and even the “get out!” haunted house pictures of the time like The Amityville Horror (1979), The Changeling has some deeper worries in mind about grief and how to find purpose after a tragedy.

Local spotlight

Near the end of the film, when George C. Scott’s character decides to confront the titular changeling in the story, he finds himself at the Hatley Castle in the west end of Greater Victoria. It’s a stunning and stately manor, reflecting a U.S. Senator’s inherited wealth and status, which he stands to lose is secrets are revealed. Built in 1908, the rosewood panels, teak floors, and baronial fireplace still feel impressively grand in a film that alternates between the Lincoln Center in New York City, the imposing Rainier Tower in Seattle, and the movie magic of a haunted mansion.

Final words

The Changeling didn’t just set a trend for productions shooting at the Hatley Castle, but B.C. in general. The film is actually credited with spurring production in B.C. and turning Vancouver (where much of the film was shot) into Hollywood North. But it’s being slotted in for a Victoria win because of the way it uses the estate, and becausse it’s just a superb Canadian film.

Notable Hollywood films

Very few Hollywood films are shot entirely in Victoria B.C, but since there’s no way of dividing these up by what percentage of the film was shot there, the rule is that if anything got filmed in the city, it qualifies. If I subjectively narrow those down to a chronological Top 10 (before naming #1), it looks like this:

Vixen! (1968)

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Hot Pursuit (1987)

Little Women (1994)

Lake Placid (1999)

Better than Chocolate (1999)

Scary Movie (2000)

X2: X-Men United (2003)

Godzilla (2014)

Deadpool (2016)

But, the Best HOLLYWOOD Film Ever Made in Victoria is…

Final Destination (2000)

Dir. James Wong

Sorry, not sorry. Not only does the film star Victoria’s own Devon Sawa, but the first film in this unlikely franchise also started a tradition of the whole series being shot in British Columbia - minus the fourth movie The Final Destination (2009), which is also the worst one (coincidence? I think not). However, that’s just a bonus. I’m not from Victoria or B.C., and am not awarding the film points for local integration (ok, maybe a little).

So while the most recent film, Final Destinations: Bloodlines (2025) might be the peak of the series (by B.C.-based directing duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein), the first film sets the template for how to make these films terrifyingly fun.

You can feel Final Destination finding its eventual formula as it goes. After Sawa’s character has a premonition of a plane crash, he panics and aborts a flight, taking several of his classmates off with him. But cheating death is temporary, so one-by-one fate comes for them. Initially, it’s a more typical slasher movie where dark shapes literally “foreshadow” a kill, or water slips away after performing death’s wet work. But as if course-correcting mid-movie, the film then dials back the supernatural elements and anthropomorphic approach to death, realizing that the more random seeming and over-the-top-yet-possible the kill, the better. Death can come from anywhere, at any time.

In terms of setting the tone and delivering fist-pumping entertainment, Final Destination holds up. The plane explosion is still really effective, and while the kills aren’t all that inventive compared to what we would get, they are still well-timed and executed. The single best sequence from the whole series is no doubt the log truck highway accident in Final Destination 2, and the most inventive and insane kills are in Bloodlines, but the first film is the only one made in Victoria and deserves the mantle.

Local spotlight

If you’ve seen the film, the finale is rather unforgettable, with the final survivors travelling to France six months later to celebrate their new lease on life. Except that cozy little cobblestone street cafe in Paris is actually the corner of Langley Street and Bastion Square in Victoria. The glowing, soon-to-be-deadly sign for Le Cafe Miro 81 was affixed to 45 Bastille Square Ave - currently the home of Wind Cries Mary restaurant.

In other words, the final destination in Final Destination is, in fact, Victoria, B.C. How could this not be the pick?

You can re-watch the scene here (or spoil the ending).

Final words

Yes, it’s fair to argue that Five Easy Pieces (1970) is a more important film and a touchstone of the New Hollywood Era, but while I find Jack Nicholson’s looseness refreshing (a completely unbridled performance that would be memed to death today), the thin plotting and wandering character-first storytelling doesn’t hold up as strongly. Someone else who grew up on Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women (1994) would also be well within their rights to crown that film, but I prefer Greta Gerwig’s approach to the story, mixing in a level of self-aware authourship.

Most of the other big films shot in Vicrtoria overlap with Vancouver - the city that actually inspired this whole series for some unflattering reasons. Stay tuned…

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YOUR VOTE

Not happy with where I landed? Agree with my pick? Here’s your chance to vote.

What to Expect

To give you a taste of what’s in store, here’s the first monthly series I’ll be running.

One city per month or so, from coast-to-coast. I’ll dig into the best films ever made in Canada - both foreign (Hollywood) and domestic. But there will be other series in between, pitting Canada’s films vs the national cinema of other countries. And more.

Will this newsletter be pure CanCon?

I doubt it. I may re-focus during the Oscars, or whenever else the mood strikes, but I do want to bring more attention to the movies made here at home. The goal is to get people talking - or at least curious - about Canadian cinema.

Piece of cake, right?

Backstory

After a decade of writing for Dear Cast and Crew, a new chapter beckons. DC&C managed an impressive reach, and I’m extremely proud that we published over 1,000 articles, created a video series that received millions of views, and generated ancillary opportunities in my career as a writer/director for film and TV (but probably lost me some, too). However, DC&C was a true team effort, and after losing one of the key members of that team / a great friend, there was really no way to continue - both emotionally, and technically (Casey was key in more ways than one).

How it Works

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~ Bon film!

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