[URBAN NOTE] "Excessive film shoots at Riverdale home irks neighbours"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Holly Honderich notes controversy around film shoots at a Riverdale home.

Nightmare on Pape Ave.

That’s how one Riverdale resident describes the “excessive” number of film shoots that have taken place in the historic Toronto property next door.

The most recent one, the remake of Stephen King’s IT, has taken over the three-storey, nearly 130-year-old property right beside the home where Nick Shcherban lives with his family.

IT — based on a King novel of the same name — follows several children terrorized by an evil, shape-shifting monster that appears in the form of a demonic clown.

But according to Shcherban, a horror story is also playing out in real life.

“These (films) have been affecting the lives of the families in the neighbourhood,” Shcherban said.

“It looks like Universal Studios out there,” he added, referring to the trucks and crew members that have become a staple at the corner of Pape and Riverdale Aves, surrounding the property that was once used as a home for single mothers.