Blue Sunshine: Montreal’s new horror house

Advertising their venue as “Montreal’s newest psychotronic cinema room”, Blue Sunshine is a new theatre boasting a fifty-seat capacity and a line-up filled with trash, cult, avant-garde, art house, independent and musical films.

Located in the heart of the Plateau at 3660, St-Laurent, Blue Sunshine will be open from Thursday to Saturday weekly and aims to show films that have had a hard time finding a home due to controversial topics or inaccessibility.

Housed in the theatre is the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, a place where writers, directors and programmers of the film genre can offer their insight and experience to any horrorphiles in attendance. The Institute will be collaborating with Montreal’s annual Fantastia Festival, including an H.P. Lovecraft masterclass on July 18th with Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli, a writing/directing duo behind several animated films.

Opening weekend screenings include Cannibal Girls on Friday the 25th, a Canadian film by Ivan Reitman starring Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin about a couple on vacation who are terrorized by the cannibal ladies who own the bed-and-breakfast they are staying at.

On Saturday the 26th, The Beaver Trilogy will be shown. Starring Groovin’ Gary, Sean Penn and Crispin Glover, the half-film/half-documentary by Trent Harris revolves around a talent show and one man’s obsessive quest to re-enact a scenario from it.

Admission to both films are $8 and include complimentary beverages and snacks. There will also be an all-you-can-eat cereal buffet at future screenings for $5.

Blue Sunshine is owned and run by Kier-La Janisse and David Bertrand. Janisse is a writer and film programmer who heads the Big Smash! Film Collective in Winnipeg and the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. Bertrand is a screenwriter, journalist and a film industry handyman and has contributed to publications such as Fangoria, Rue Morgue and The Nerve. He has written and produced several short films, has been a writer on the CBC series The Border and has helped script everything from movies to video games.