The biggest celebration of Canadian horror is back with a fresh slate of northern chills! Now in its 8th year, BLOOD IN THE SNOW (BITS) 2019 takes place from November 21 to 26 at the Royal Cinema in Toronto, featuring six nights of the best horror fare in the nation, including feature films, shorts, webseries, and the newly added podcast category.

The festival opens with the comedy slasher PUPPET KILLER (dir. Lisa Ovies), where a group of teenagers must discover if the psychotic killer stalking them is their emotionally damaged friend, or his murderous childhood toy.

BITS veteran Audrey Cummings returns with SHE NEVER DIED, the followup to 2015’s He Never Died staring Oluniké Adeliyi as the cannibalistic immortal Lacey, who must face her own inner demons while simultaneously finding her next meal. Also returning is THE NIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS (dir. Paul Tanter) that revisits the killer couple of Santa and Mrs. Claus for another murderous rampage in this follow up to 2017’s Once Upon a Time at Christmas.

Montreal filmmakers Chris Bavota and Lee Paula Springer make their feature BITS debut with DEAD DICKS, which took home the audience award for best Canadian feature for its world premiere at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival.

Other feature debuts are the award winning HAPPY FACE (dir. Alexandre Franchi), UFO conspiracy film MAJIC (dir. Erin Berry) and the long-awaited werewolf thriller HUNTER’S MOON (dir. Matt Campagna). The Festival closes with Z (dir. Brandon Christiensen) about a family terrorized by their son’s imaginary friend.

BITS 2019 will feature three new short film showcases:

FUNNY FRIGHTS: featuring the return of BITS alumni Ryan LaPlante (DON’T SNEEZE), Ryan Couldrey (THE TRAINEE), as well as debuts from Kelsey Bollig (ASKING FOR A FRIEND), Anik Jean (BE GOOD), and Nada Cosovic (VIDEO VENGENCE).

EMERGING SCREAMS: featuring emerging Canadian filmmakers including the return of Kaw Tay Whee School with SNACK TIME, BITS’s first film from Newfoundland with NEW WOMAN directed by Benjamin Noah, and the first from Nunavut with TRASH by Suzanne Ethridge.

DARK VISIONS: takes a moodier tone with shorts including ROMI by Robert Cuffley, ABHORRENT directed by Davis Scott, DREAMCATCHER from Michael Alexander Ucello, and FORET NOIRE by Jean-Marc E. Roy and Philippe David Gagné.

The web series program will return as well as a newly introduced feature length web series program with the World Premiere of Sci-Fi series DEEP SIX (dir. Davin Lengyel)

The festival closes with the yearly “Bloodies” awards show followed by the exclusive World Premiere of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD VR, where fans will be able to try out a 360 degree virtual reality experience inside the virtual version of the original house from the 1968 classic film by the late George A. Romero.

For the full lineup, more info, and tickets, visit the official Blood In The Snow website.