#FIRSTLOOK: BIG CANARY PRODUCTIONS PRESENT UPCOMING PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR “ELISE”

Canadian producer Kim Yu (seen above, left) is expanding Big Canary Productions, her production banner and an offshoot of long-established production services company Blue Moon Communications, with a renewed focus on developing and producing character-driven film and television projects.

Among the first projects on Big Canary’s expanding development slate is ELISE, an original supernatural psychological horror feature from emerging Guyanese-Canadian screenwriter Amir Bacchus. Yu has optioned the screenplay, with acclaimed horror filmmaker, author and former FANGORIA Editor-in-Chief Chris Alexander (seen above, right) attached to direct. The deal was struck earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival’s 2026 TIFF: The Market.

“Shifting more of my focus to Big Canary feels like a natural next chapter for me,” said Yu. “My career has allowed me to work across so many different parts of the filmmaking process, and I’ve always enjoyed working closely with filmmakers and helping build projects from the ground up. ELISE represents exactly the kind of project I want Big Canary to champion: distinctive, character-driven storytelling with a strong creative point of view and the potential to connect with audiences well beyond Canada.”

Currently in development in Canada, ELISE blends supernatural and psychological horror with an emotionally driven story about grief, obsession and the inability to let go.

The film follows Marlon Reid, who, while recovering in hospital after near-fatal heart surgery, forms an unexpected connection with fellow survivor Elise Carter, a woman whose life becomes inexplicably intertwined with his own. When that connection is shattered by loss, Marlon’s grief begins to open the door to something darker. Haunted by memory, guilt and an unknown presence, he is forced to confront the terrifying consequences of refusing to let go of the person he loves. At its heart, ELISE asks a deceptively simple question: How far will someone go to hold on to a person they cannot bear to lose?

The screenplay marks the first optioned feature for Bacchus, a Toronto-based Guyanese-Canadian screenwriter who has worked in film and television for several years. The story draws in part from Bacchus’s own near-death experience, transforming something deeply personal into a supernatural exploration of mortality, attachment and the psychological aftermath of survival.

“What immediately stayed with me about ELISE was that underneath the horror is something incredibly human,” said Yu. “Amir has written a story about grief, love and our instinct to hold on, even when letting go may be the only way forward. The fact that the screenplay comes from something he experienced personally gives the material an emotional honesty that I think audiences will feel. And I’m looking forward to working with Chris who understands how to take that intimacy and build a distinctive, unsettling cinematic world around it.”

Alexander brings to ELISE a career spanning horror filmmaking, criticism, publishing, music and film education. He served as Editor-in-Chief of FANGORIA from 2009 to 2015 and is the co-founder (with film producer Charles Band) and Editor-in-Chief of horror film magazine DELIRIUM. His filmmaking credits include Blood for Irina, Queen of Blood, Necropolis: Legion, Space Vampire, Parasite Lady and Drakulon.

He is also the author of Corman/Poe, chronicling the making of Roger Corman’s celebrated cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, and Art! Trash! Terror!: Adventures in Strange Cinema, a collection of essays, interviews and memoir examining international horror, dark fantasy, exploitation and cult cinema.

“What drew me to ELISE was the way Amir uses the language of horror to explore something painfully universal — the fear of losing someone and the dangerous places grief can take us,” said Alexander. “There’s a tragic romance beating at the heart of this story, but surrounding it is something increasingly strange, intimate and nightmarish. I see the film existing in that uneasy space between a love story, a ghost story and a psychological descent, where memory and reality begin to bleed into one another. Amir has given us a deeply personal foundation, and I’m excited by the opportunity to build a dark, atmospheric and emotionally immersive world around it.”

For Yu, Big Canary Productions follows a career spanning publicity and distribution, production and unit management, line producing and producing across film and television.

Her recent credits include Finch & Midland, the Hong Kong-Canadian collaboration written and directed by Timothy Yeung and starring Anthony Wong, Nina Paw and Patrick Tam. The film premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival and later opened in the Top 5 at the Hong Kong box office before receiving a Canadian theatrical release in 2026.

Yu’s other work includes unit management on the Netflix limited series I Will Find You, line producing The Swearing Jar and producing a slate of Tubi Originals. That cross-disciplinary experience now forms the foundation for Big Canary Productions and its growing development slate.

Additional projects on Big Canary Productions’ development slate, along with further creative attachments, casting and production details for ELISE, will be announced as development continues.

ABOUT BIG CANARY PRODUCTIONS
Big Canary Productions is a new Canadian production banner from producer Kim Yu and an offshoot of her long-established production services company, Blue Moon Communications. Building on Yu’s experience across producing, production and unit management, publicity and distribution, Big Canary Productions is focused on developing character-driven film and television projects with distinctive creative voices and Canadian and international potential.

ABOUT ELISE
ELISE is a supernatural psychological horror feature about love, grief, obsession and the terrifying consequences of refusing to let go. After surviving a near-death experience, Marlon Reid forms an unexpected connection with Elise Carter, a woman whose life becomes mysteriously intertwined with his own. When love turns to loss, Marlon discovers that grief can leave the door open to something far more dangerous.