What is Canadian Horror?

What is Canadian Horror?
When a person makes a description of a film or genre by national orgins, we can usually get an idea what to expect. When we hear the French New Wave, we think jump cuts, and Godard, and auteur theory.

When someone says American New Wave, we think Robert Altman, Italian neo-realism, Roberto Rosselini, Italian post-neorealism, Federico Fellini, and so on.
With genre it’s about the same. Italian horror mean convoluted plot, dream like imagery, some debt to Hitchcock, and a lot of red. British Horror conjures up images of Dracula, or his brides, or Countess Bathory, Ingrid Pitt, Hammer films, and the like. Spanish horror = Jess Franco, Alex de Iglesia.

In my last entry, the question was, is the Final Destination series Canadian? The way to answer that question seemed to include:
What nationality is the filmmaker?
What nationality is the cast and crew?
Where was it shot?
Where was the money coming from?

Is there a combination of factors and should it be taken on a case by case basis.
When Kieslowski made Red, the Academy denied him a nomination for an oscar for best foreign film because the filmmaker was Polish, the cast and crew were French, and the money came from a number of places, and they couldn’t figure out what country the movie came from.

Polyglots like that used to never matter because when we see a movie like Contempt, we know Godard directed it, it’s a French language movie, and it fucking stars Brigitte Bardot and Michele Picoli, who are pretty French.
Does the nationality of the filmmaker matter? When Roman Polanski made Repulsion or Fearless Vampire Killers, were they Polish?

What about location? When Sergio Leone made Once Upon a Time in the West, the location was supposed to be the American west, but it was actually Italy. We think of it as an Italian movie.
But tons of movies supposedly shot in NY are actually shot in Toronto. We don’t call those Canadian.

I wonder if a films national identity isn’t just up for grabs. For example, Prom Night isn’t really claimed by anyone. It is a product of Canada’s tax shelter, slash for cash era. Ergo, it’s Canadian.

Could that be the definition then? Movies that are shot in Canada by Canadians? If it was funded by the CBC in any way.

Italy’s horror movies were usually taking the ball from the US. However, Black Christmas predated Halloween. And the movies we tend to think of most when we think of a slasher films are Prom Night, Terror Train, My Bloody Valentine, and Happy Birthday to Me.

Cronenberg has his own distinct style, but you can say the same of Ken Russel, Jess Franco, Jean Rollin, or Ruggero Deodato and none of them really ecompass, respectively, Britain, Spain, France, or Italy. Although Deodato's fear of the third world is extremely Italian.

And yet, when you see a movie like Cube, or Ginger Snaps, or even White Noise, you know you’re seeing something Canadian.

Maybe Canadian horror films have unseen commonalities. Things like tone, or pace, or theme. When put those in a movie with guys like Don Mckellar, or Sarah Polley, Kris Lemche, or David Hewlett, then you know it's Canadian. I might come back to this later. Maybe make a poll.