Earth to Colby: Calgary's Paranormal Landscape Takes Center Stage in New Horror Film
The upcoming found-footage horror movie Earth to Colby delves deep into Calgary's most chilling urban legends and supernatural hotspots, offering audiences a spine-tingling tour of the city's haunted history. Directed by first-time filmmaker Rino Mioc and co-written with Stephanie Kvellestad, this Calgary-produced feature will make its world premiere on April 25 as part of the Calgary Underground Film Festival's lineup of homegrown thrillers.
The Mysterious Stuck House at the Film's Core
At the heart of the supernatural narrative lies what characters refer to as the "stuck house"—an eerie location that exists outside normal time and space. While the film is set throughout Calgary, this central piece was actually filmed at an old Airbnb property just outside Strathmore. In the story, a group of young people discover coordinates to this mysterious location in a notebook, drawing them toward a portal where protagonist Colby (played by Saylor McPherson) hopes to connect with her deceased father.
"I always had the stuck house in mind, of them going into a house that doesn't exist in any normal time and space and getting trapped there for a while and discovering all sorts of horrors," explains director Rino Mioc in an interview. "That was the image that was always in my mind for it, and it serves as the long midpoint of the film and causes a big emotional turn from there on."
Inspired by Real Calgary Paranormal Lore
The film draws loose inspiration from the mysterious Gideon Keys, an anonymous notebook reportedly discovered at the University of Calgary in 2009 containing 200 stories about paranormal locations throughout the city. This phenomenon gained significant online attention across Reddit and other discussion platforms as enthusiasts attempted to uncover its origins, eventually becoming the subject of a 2023 documentary titled The 200 Phenomena of Calgary, Alberta that also screened at CUFF.
In Earth to Colby, the titular character—a vlogger obsessed with documenting Calgary's paranormal urban myths—discovers a similar notebook at Memorial Park Library. Accompanied by skeptical friend Derrick (Casey Coston), online believer Mixie (Elisa Collard), and social media influencer Bryce (Kevin Morrison), Colby investigates various haunted locations including:
- The old train bridge in Lindsay Park, reportedly haunted by the ghost of a murdered child
- Queen's Park Cemetery
- Memorial Park Library itself, which Colby believes contains supernatural energy
Found-Footage Format and Family-Friendly Horror
Shot in a faux-documentary style characteristic of the found-footage subgenre, the film begins with the revelation that Colby has mysteriously disappeared. Through flashbacks captured in her own footage, viewers witness her growing obsession with the paranormal as Derrick and documentary filmmakers attempt to solve the mystery of her vanishing. The central questions driving the narrative include:
- Did Colby run away due to bullying?
- Has she become trapped in another dimension?
- Do genuine supernatural terrors exist in Calgary, or is this an elaborate hoax?
Despite its inherent creepiness, the film maintains a PG rating with no violence, sex, swearing, or graphic gore. Mioc explains this intentional approach: "I had these nostalgic feelings and memories of growing up with friends and watching horror films that we probably shouldn't have been watching at that age, and family channel stuff and Disney things that were marked horror-driven, but were still safe to watch at a young age or with your parents. I remember the feeling of community and togetherness that those projects bring together because you can watch it with different groups."
Calgary Underground Film Festival Premiere
Earth to Colby originated as part of the Telus STORYHIVE scripted edition series and now joins other locally produced horror films at this year's Calgary Underground Film Festival. The festival has established a reputation for showcasing homegrown chillers, with this year's lineup also including the Calgary-shot horror CAMP and Edmonton director Simon Glassman's debut horror-comedy Buffet Infinity.
The film represents a thoroughly Calgary production, from its inspiration drawn from local paranormal lore to its filming locations throughout the city. As audiences prepare for the April 25 premiere, Earth to Colby promises to deliver both supernatural scares and nostalgic horror comfort while putting Calgary's haunted history firmly in the spotlight.
