The Hard Part Begins

Canuxploitation is a neologism for a movement of Canadian exploitation films produced roughly between 1974 and 1982. It started when the government of Canada, in an effort to kickstart the then-underdeveloped Canadian film industry, introduced a tax credit scheme to make developing films significantly more profitable. This resulted in a rush of low-budget horror and exploitation titles, intended as tax shelters rather than films produced for conventional profit. As a result, many amateur and up-and-coming Canadian filmmakers - some who would later go on towards critical and commercial success, such as David Cronenberg and Ivan Reitman - dabbled in the canuxploitation boom. The scheme also attracted American filmmakers, many of which had projects that were rejected by Hollywood studios. The movement ended in 1982, when the Capital Cost Allowance tax credit was halved.