Canadian Horror Film Elise Sets Director and Canadian Release Plan
Canadian psychological horror film Elise has a producer, a director and a route to cinemas.
Producer Kim Yu has optioned the original screenplay by Guyanese Canadian writer Amir Bacchus, taking the exclusive right to develop it for the screen, Deadline reported. The project is now in development in Canada under Yu's banner Big Canary Productions. Development means the script and production plan are being worked up before any shoot.
Big Canary is an offshoot of Blue Moon Communications, a Toronto-based production services company. Yu is expanding her development and production activities through the label. Elise is an early centrepiece of that slate.
Attached to direct is Chris Alexander. That credit means he is formally lined up to make the film, subject to the project moving forward. Genre audiences may recognise his name. He is a former editor-in-chief of Fangoria, the long-running horror fanzine.
On the release side, Equinoxe Films has acquired the Canadian distribution rights, Deadline reported. In plain terms, Equinoxe will handle getting the finished film into cinemas in Canada. The company is targeting a theatrical release in the fourth quarter of next year. Its president is Michael Mosca.
The deals were struck during the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival's inaugural TIFF: The Market. The Market is the festival's meeting place where producers, sales agents and buyers arrange finance and sales. Deadline carried the announcement as an exclusive.
What makes this stand out for general audiences is the timing. Many independent films shoot first and search for a distributor later. Here the Canadian cinema plan is already in place while the film is still being developed. The next steps will be familiar ones for any production: finalise the script, cast, set a budget and fix a shoot date.
