When watching the feature film Hellions, premiering at this month’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), try to imagine director Bruce McDonald hiding in a dark hallway ready to spring a trap.

“It’s super-fun,” says the Toronto director — on a lunch break while filming a project in Calgary, Alberta, — of working in the horror genre and trying to scare the pants off viewers.

“It’s kind of like when you’re hiding in a dark hallway laughing just before you’re trying to scare people. It’s kind of a delight.”

Hellions was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to mixed reviews. It’s a horror film high on the eerie atmospherics and low in the gusher factor.

The plot revolves around 17-year-old Dora who finds out, unexpectedly and much to her dismay, that she’s pregnant. And then, quite literally, all hell breaks loose. Over the next 90 minutes or so, and on Halloween no less, she is visited by a number of very creepy little trick-or-treaters who become increasingly evil until finally Dora’s boyfriend’s decapitated head ends up in the old treat bag, and their demonic intent is clear.

Eventually, after the doctor and the copper are taken care of, the little critters come for Dora’s baby, which is growing at a rate of about a month per hour, and she’s faced with a choice.

“It’s very much kind of grounded in the nightmare of this woman,” says McDonald. “It’s her kind of fever dream.”

One could argue that the film explores the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate, and when put to McDonald, he agrees and relays an interesting story involving a phone call with Robert Patrick, who plays the cop in the film. 

“He was quite delighted with the script because he was like, ‘This is a great pro-life movie,’ ” says McDonald. 

“This is a serious Christian man, proud NRA, Republican, Christian American man. And I’ve got nothing against him, He’s a great guy and that’s how he read the film.”

But McDonald sees it the opposite way.

“It’s funny. I told him I read it as a woman feeling pressures, but ultimately it was her choice,” he continues. “And he said, ‘Of course you did. You’re Canadian.’ ”

McDonald describes the perfect audience for the film as being teenage girls. His daughter, now 12, has seen some cuts and likes what she’s seen so far.

“All her friends are coming to the premiere,” he says.

McDonald is married to Dany Chiasson, also a filmmaker. They worked together on films such as Trigger and This Movie Is Broken.

Hellions stars Chloe Rose, a young Toronto actress best known for her work as Katie Martin on Degrassi: The Next Generation. But to McDonald, she’s better known as his daughter’s babysitter.

“I first met Chloe when she was about seven,” he says. “Her mom worked in a little restaurant around the corner, and, yeah, Chloe babysat my daughter.”

So, when it was time to cast the role of Dora, the team cast a wide net and had a look at 40 or 50 actors from Vancouver, New York City, Toronto and Montreal.

“I didn’t say a thing because I didn’t want to jinx it,” says McDonald. “But after seeing all those people, and before I said a thing, they said their unanimous choice was Chloe. And she was my first choice, also, not just because of our shared history. She’s very talented and I was impressed with her.”

The scenes shot outside Dora’s home were filmed in infrared, adding an interesting effect, playing up the dream (or nightmare) quality of Hellions.

The creep factor is upped even further by a soundtrack by Todor Kobakov and Ian LeFeuvre, featuring an off-kilter children’s choir chanting lullabies in the background. 

“Kids are just kinda creepy, you know,” says McDonald, who explains that the St. Michael’s youth choir was used for the vocal score. 

“You get them in corn, you get them chanting together. It’s creepy.”

The script, by Pascal Trottier, attracted McDonald for the possibilities beyond dialogue to the sequences in the film that would allow the creative filmmaker to have a little fun.

“It was kind of the instant, ‘I like this,’ ” he says. “I read it and I like Halloween and said, ‘OK let’s do it.’ ”

McDonald is no stranger to terrifying tales. One of his last major feature films was the horror/thriller Pontypool (2008), wherein a mysterious plague turns a town’s residents into zombies. It was selected as one of the best Canadian films at TIFF in 2008.

But McDonald’s credits also includes work on such family-style fare such as CBC’s Heartland and Bomb Girls.

“I’m a Gemini,” says McDonald, by way of explanation. 

“I can work in two worlds simultaneously. It’s good to keep the yin and the yang both fed, to keep that balance.”

McDonald attended the film program at Ryerson University. His first few feature films are considered Canadian classics, including Roadkill and Highway 61, both featuring actor Don McKellar in lead roles, as well as the rockumentary Hard Core Logo starring Hugh Dillon and Callum Keith Rennie. 

Hard Core Logo received a Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music — Original Song and was nominated for five other awards including Best Direction.

Currently, McDonald is gearing up to shoot an indie movie called Weirdos, penned by award-winning Canadian playwright Daniel McIvor.

As was the case with many of his past films, Hellions will be a feature presentation at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

McDonald is, of course, fondly remembered for his enduring quote from 1989 when, after winning a $25,000 Canadian film award, he said he would spend the money on a “big hunk of hash.” He’s that kinda lovable filmmaker: the one often seen at premieres and festivals with the big old cowboy hat.

Hellions joins a number of Canadian films at this year’s TIFF,  which features films from the  country’s biggest names, including Atom Egoyan’s Remember (starring Christopher Plummer); Deepa Mehta’s Beeba Boys; and Paul Gross’s Hyena Road.

“I love TIFF. They’ve always been very generous,” McDonald says.

“I was there two years ago for a film called The Husband. It’s a great sort of showpiece for the world. The world comes to TIFF. People are curious. And you’ve got that pedigree. When you play TIFF, you’re somewhat ahead of the pack. You’re not just another total mongrel mutt. You’ve got a little pedigree and a little class. So it’s nice.”