Bruce McDonald

Directing

Bruce McDonald

Born

1959-05-28 (67)

Place of birth

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Known for

Directing

Credits

37 titles

Bruce McDonald (born May 28, 1959) is a Canadian film and television director, writer and producer. He is known for his award-winning cult films Roadkill (1989) and Hard Core Logo (1996). He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave.

Known for

Pontypool poster
6.5

When disc jockey Grant Mazzy reports to his basement radio station in the Canadian town of Pontypool, he thinks it's just another day at work. But when he hears reports of a virus that turns people into zombies, Mazzy barricades himself in the radio booth and tries to figure out a way to warn his listeners about the virus and its unlikely mode of transmission.

Pontypool

2009

My Babysitter's a Vampire poster
7.1

Geeky 14-year old Ethan is left to babysit his younger sister, Jane, with his best friend Benny but after Ethan inadvertently puts Jane in harm's way, his parents hire a professional babysitter, the beautiful yet mysterious 17-year-old Sarah who, unbeknownst to them, is actually a fledgling vampire.

My Babysitter's a Vampire

2010

Last Night poster
6.6

Various citizens of Toronto anxiously await the end of the world, which is occurring at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.

Last Night

1998

Hard Core Logo poster
6.6

Bruce Macdonald follows punk bank Hard Core Logo on a harrowing last-gasp reunion tour throughout Western Canada. As magnetic lead-singer Joe Dick holds the whole magilla together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of life on the road come bubbling to the surface.

Hard Core Logo

1996

Hellions poster
3.9

A teen faces a night of terror when three malevolent trick-or-treaters come knocking at her door.

Hellions

2015

Picture Claire poster
5.6

Quebec native Claire Beaucage has a one-night stand with a photographer of some renown. Despite the language barrier between them, he invites her to visit him in Toronto. She shows up on his doorstep after an arson attack leaves her homeless, but soon finds herself caught up in a case of murder and mistaken identity.

Picture Claire

2001

Film credits

2010s · 3 titles

Behind the camera

Pontypool poster
6.5

When disc jockey Grant Mazzy reports to his basement radio station in the Canadian town of Pontypool, he thinks it's just another day at work. But when he hears reports of a virus that turns people into zombies, Mazzy barricades himself in the radio booth and tries to figure out a way to warn his listeners about the virus and its unlikely mode of transmission.

Pontypool

2009

My Babysitter's a Vampire poster
7.1

Geeky 14-year old Ethan is left to babysit his younger sister, Jane, with his best friend Benny but after Ethan inadvertently puts Jane in harm's way, his parents hire a professional babysitter, the beautiful yet mysterious 17-year-old Sarah who, unbeknownst to them, is actually a fledgling vampire.

My Babysitter's a Vampire

2010

Hard Core Logo poster
6.6

Bruce Macdonald follows punk bank Hard Core Logo on a harrowing last-gasp reunion tour throughout Western Canada. As magnetic lead-singer Joe Dick holds the whole magilla together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of life on the road come bubbling to the surface.

Hard Core Logo

1996

Hellions poster
3.9

A teen faces a night of terror when three malevolent trick-or-treaters come knocking at her door.

Hellions

2015

Picture Claire poster
5.6

Quebec native Claire Beaucage has a one-night stand with a photographer of some renown. Despite the language barrier between them, he invites her to visit him in Toronto. She shows up on his doorstep after an arson attack leaves her homeless, but soon finds herself caught up in a case of murder and mistaken identity.

Picture Claire

2001

The Tracey Fragments poster
5.9

Tracey Berkowitz, 15, a self-described normal girl, loses her 9-year old brother, Sonny. In flashbacks and fragments, we meet her overbearing parents and the sweet, clueless Sonny. We watch Tracey navigate high school, friendless, picked on and teased. She develops a thing for Billy Zero, a new student, imagining he's her boyfriend. We see the day she loses Sonny and we watch her try to find him.

The Tracey Fragments

2007

Weirdos poster
6.7

It's July 1976, and two Nova Scotian teens, Kit and Alice, are hitting the road with their sights on Sydney and their minds on the future. With them is Kit's new imaginary friend, who looks conspicuously like Andy Warhol, but who assures Kit that he is a spirit animal. Kit and Alice have big dreams, but do they really want the same things?

Weirdos

2016

Highway 61 poster
6.8

A naive Canadian barber who knows US popular culture inside and out meets a flamboyant roadie who needs someone to drive her and her "brother's" corpse from Thunder Bay, Ontario to New Orleans. Chaos ensues after the barber agrees to drive her, the corpse, and the drugs stashed within all the way.

Highway 61

1991

Highway 61 poster
6.8

A naive Canadian barber who knows US popular culture inside and out meets a flamboyant roadie who needs someone to drive her and her "brother's" corpse from Thunder Bay, Ontario to New Orleans. Chaos ensues after the barber agrees to drive her, the corpse, and the drugs stashed within all the way.

Highway 61

1991

Trigger poster
4.8

Ten years after ending their partnership as rock musicians, two women become re-acquainted in the course of one night.

Trigger

2010

Dance Me Outside poster
6.6

Explores the sensitive, and tense, relationship between life on an First Nations reservation and life in the outside world. When Native Canadian Silas Crow is forced to write a personal essay in order to get a much-desired job, he tells the story of the rape and murder of an Indian girl by a drunken thug. When the killer received a lenient two-year sentence for manslaughter, the First Nations community felt shock and anger—and tried desperately to deal with the after-effects of this lack of justice.

Dance Me Outside

1995

Dance Me Outside poster
6.6

Explores the sensitive, and tense, relationship between life on an First Nations reservation and life in the outside world. When Native Canadian Silas Crow is forced to write a personal essay in order to get a much-desired job, he tells the story of the rape and murder of an Indian girl by a drunken thug. When the killer received a lenient two-year sentence for manslaughter, the First Nations community felt shock and anger—and tried desperately to deal with the after-effects of this lack of justice.

Dance Me Outside

1995

Dance Me Outside poster
6.6

Explores the sensitive, and tense, relationship between life on an First Nations reservation and life in the outside world. When Native Canadian Silas Crow is forced to write a personal essay in order to get a much-desired job, he tells the story of the rape and murder of an Indian girl by a drunken thug. When the killer received a lenient two-year sentence for manslaughter, the First Nations community felt shock and anger—and tried desperately to deal with the after-effects of this lack of justice.

Dance Me Outside

1995

Dreamland poster
5.3

On the night of the strangest wedding in cinema history, a grotesque gang boss hires a stonecold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend.

Dreamland

2019

Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story poster
3.9

The life of Valley of the Dolls author Jacqueline Susann, filled with frustrations and glamour as she settles to become a best-selling writer after struggling as an actress.

Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story

1998

Hard Core Logo 2 poster
4.6

Bruce McDonald’s long-awaited follow-up to his cult classic mock-doc stars McDonald himself as "Bruce," the director of Hard Core Logo, who has relocated to L.A. and scored a profitable gig as a TV director. When the show he’s been working on is suddenly put on hiatus, Bruce is at loose ends. When he hears that punk rocker Care Failure (played by real-life musician Care Failure) has claimed that she channelled the spirit of Hard Core Logo’s late singer Joe Dick while writing songs for her new album, Bruce hies to Saskatchewan, where Failure and her band Die Mannequin are recording the album under the tutelage of Dick’s idol and former mentor Bucky Haight (Julian Richings, who played the same role in the original film).

Hard Core Logo 2

2010

Hard Core Logo 2 poster
4.6

Bruce McDonald’s long-awaited follow-up to his cult classic mock-doc stars McDonald himself as "Bruce," the director of Hard Core Logo, who has relocated to L.A. and scored a profitable gig as a TV director. When the show he’s been working on is suddenly put on hiatus, Bruce is at loose ends. When he hears that punk rocker Care Failure (played by real-life musician Care Failure) has claimed that she channelled the spirit of Hard Core Logo’s late singer Joe Dick while writing songs for her new album, Bruce hies to Saskatchewan, where Failure and her band Die Mannequin are recording the album under the tutelage of Dick’s idol and former mentor Bucky Haight (Julian Richings, who played the same role in the original film).

Hard Core Logo 2

2010

This Movie Is Broken poster
3.6

Bruno wakes up in bed next to Caroline, his long time crush. But tomorrow she's off for school in France, and maybe she only granted this miracle as a parting gift for her long time friend. So tonight is Bruno's last chance. And tonight, as it happens, Broken Social Scene, her favourite band, is throwing a big outdoor bash. Maybe if Bruno, with the help of his best pal Blake, can score tickets and give Caroline a night to remember, he can keep this miracle alive.

This Movie Is Broken

2010

The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess poster
3.8

A woman becomes romantically involved with a murder defendant while she is a juror in his trial.

The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess

2004

Elimination Dance poster
7.0

Ever more bizarre criteria are used to eliminate couples from a secret dance event.

Elimination Dance

1998

Elimination Dance poster
7.0

Ever more bizarre criteria are used to eliminate couples from a secret dance event.

Elimination Dance

1998

Blue poster
6.0

New carpet factory footage intercut with old porn creates a brief but telling glimpse into the human psyche.

Blue

1992

Roadkill poster
6.0

A music promoter sends a young woman on a road trip in search of a band who hasn't been showing up for their gigs.

Roadkill

1989

Roadkill poster
6.0

A music promoter sends a young woman on a road trip in search of a band who hasn't been showing up for their gigs.

Roadkill

1989

The Husband poster
6.9

A darkly comic drama about a man left to care for his infant son when his wife is imprisoned for cheating on him with a minor.

The Husband

2014

No artwork available
10.0

A portrait of Toronto-born Indigenous musician Robbie Robertson.

Road Songs: A Portrait of Robbie Robertson

2001

Platinum poster
4.5

An up-and-coming indie band consider signing a record deal.

Platinum

1997

Music from the Big House poster
6.0

Rita Chiarelli, an award-winning recording artist, has decided to take a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the blues—Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary a.k.a Angola Prison. She never imagined that her love of the blues would lead her to play with inmates serving life sentences for murder, rape and armed robbery. In what was once the bloodiest prison in America, inmates relatives will be invited to listen alongside other prisoners, to hear remarkable voices singing stories of hope and redemption. Let yourself be swept away by one of Blues’ most soulful pilgrim daughters who is finding out if music really is an escape.

Music from the Big House

2010

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pontypool Changes

—

No artwork available
9.0

American Whiskey Bar is a live Canadian television film directed by Bruce McDonald, adapted from a novel by Michael Turner. It follows a screenwriter attempting to mount a provocative project, intercut with the “film within the film” depicting conversations among patrons in a downtown bar. Broadcast during the Toronto International Film Festival, the production blurs the line between scripted drama and live performance.

American Whiskey Bar

1998