NEW SHUDDER ORIGINAL & EXCLUSIVE FILMS
For the Sake of Vicious- Premieres January 6
View Trailer HERE
(Available on Shudder US, Shudder UKI and Shudder ANZ)
Romina, an overworked nurse and single mother, returns home from her late shift on Halloween night to find a maniac hiding out with a bruised and beaten hostage. When an unexpected wave of violent intruders descends upon her home, the trio realize the only way out of the situation is to work together and fight for their survival. Starring Colin Paradine, Lora Burke, Nick Smyth, directed by Gabriel Carrer and Reese Eveneshen.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror – Premieres January 10
View Trailer HERE
(Available on Shudder US, Shudder CA, Shudder UKI and Shudder ANZ)
From writer/director/co-producer Kier-La Janisse comes “a seductive mega-text” (Indiewire) through the history of folk horror, featuring clips from over 200 films and interviews with more than 50 filmmakers, authors and scholars that explore the rural roots, occult creeds and cultural lore that continue to shape international cinema. An “astounding achievement” (Screen Anarchy) that Rue Morgue calls “an unprecedented journey into where folk horror has been, where it’s going and ultimately what it says about humanity.” Audience Award Winner SXSW 2021 and Fantasia International Film Festival 2021, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched has been hailed as “brilliant” (AV Club) and “mind-blowingly epic” (Film Threat) and stands as perhaps the definitive genre documentary of our time.
The Last Thing Mary Saw – Premieres January 20
(Available on Shudder US, Shudder UKI, Shudder CA and Shudder ANZ)
Southold, New York, 1843: Young Mary (Stefanie Scott, Insidious Chapter 3), blood trickling from behind the blindfold tied around her eyes, is interrogated about the events surrounding her grandmother’s death. As the story jumps back in time, we witness Mary, raised in a repressively religious household, finding fleeting happiness in the arms of Eleanor (Isabelle Fuhrman, Orphan), the home’s maid. Her family, who believe they are seeing, speaking, and acting on God’s behalf, view the girls’ relationship as an abomination to be dealt with as severely as possible. The couple attempts to carry on in secret, but someone is always watching, or listening, and the wages of perceived sin threaten to become death, with the tension only heightened by the arrival of an enigmatic stranger (Rory Culkin, Lords of Chaos) and the revelation of greater forces at work. Directed by Edoardo Vitaletti.
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster – Premieres January 27
View Trailer HERE
(Available on Shudder US, Shudder CA, Shudder UKI, and Shudder ANZ)
Beginning just before his debut as Frankenstein’s creation, Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster compellingly explores the life and legacy of a cinema legend, presenting a perceptive history of the genre he personified. His films were long derided as hokum and attacked by censors. But his phenomenal popularity and pervasive influence endures, inspiring some of our greatest actors and directors into the 21st Century – among them Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Perlman, Roger Corman &John Landis all of whom and many more contribute their personal insights and anecdotes. Directed byThomas Hamilton.
NEW SHUDDER SERIES
A Discovery of Witches: Season 3 – Premieres Saturday, January 8 View
Trailer HERE
(Available on Shudder US)
In the final season of A Discovery of Witches, Matthew (Matthew Goode) and Diana (Teresa Palmer) return from their trip to 1590 to find tragedy at Sept-Tours. They must find the missingpages from the Book of Life and the Book itself before it’s too late. Their enemies are gearing upagainst them, and a monster from Matthew’s past who has been lying in wait will return forrevenge. A Discovery of Witches Season 3 is based on the ‘The Book of Life’ novel from Deborah Harkness’s bestselling All Souls trilogy and is the third and final installment.
Etheria: Season 3 – Premieres Monday, January 17
(Available on Shudder US, Shudder CA, Shudder UKI, and Shudder ANZ)
Season 3 takes viewers to strange new worlds with stories directed by women about medieval warlords, magicians, musical androids, apocalyptic western gunslingers, inescapable time loops, dead body buddy comedies, middle-aged female assassins, homicidal hairstylists, demented surreal slashers, spare body parts, and more.
THE FOLK HORROR COLLECTION
Paired with the streaming premiere of Woodlands Dark & Days Bewitched, the definitive documentary on folk horror, Shudder is proud to present an unprecedented collection of films in the genre, many never before available to stream.
New to Shudder this month are the “unholy trinity” of English folk horror — Blood on Satan’sClaw, The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General — along with Kasi Lemmons’ southerngothic, Eve’s Bayou, all coming January 1. On January 10, the collection expands globally with Alison’s Birthday (Australia), Clearcut (Canada), Edge of the Knife (Haida Nation / Canada), Eyes of Fire (US), Il Demonio (Italy), Lake of the Dead (Norway), Leptirica (Yugoslavia), Lokis (Poland), Tilbury (Iceland) and Wilzcyzca (Poland).
These new additions join the many folk horror titles already on Shudder, including Black Sabbath, Black Sunday, Celia, Dearest Sister, Demon, A Field in England, Impetigore, Kill List, La Llorona, Messiah of Evil, The Noonday Witch, Noroi: The Curse, Pyewacket, Prevenge, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Viy, The Wailing, Wake Wood and many more.
NEW ADDITIONS TO SHUDDER’S MOVIE LIBRARY
January 1
• Blood on Satan’s Claw
(Available on Shudder US)
In seventeenth-century England, the children of a village slowly convert into a coven of Devil worshipers.
Witchfinder General
(Available on Shudder US)
A young soldier seeks to put an end to the evils caused by a vicious witch-hunter (Vincent Price at his most evil) when the latter terrorizes his fiancée and kills her uncle.
The Wicker Man
(Available on Shudder US)
Naive officer Sargeant Howie is sent to Summerisle, a secluded island off the coast of Scotland, to investigate the disappearance of a young girl named Rowan in this horror essential. When he arrives there, he finds a very tight-knit community that is mistrustful and hostile to outsiders. Soon, Howie begins to realize that the town might be a strange pagan cult, one given to unbridled sexuality and possible human sacrifice.
Sinister
(Available on Shudder US)
Washed-up true crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) finds a box of super 8 home movies in his new home that suggest the murder that he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose legacy dates back to the 1960s.
Lake Mungo
(Available on Shudder US)
Joel Anderson’s terrifying faux documentary chronicles a grieving family’s strange, inexplicable experiences after the death of their daughter, Alice. Profoundly unsettled, they seek the help of a psychic and parapsychologist, and discover Alice had been living a disturbed life, hiding dark secrets. Something haunted their daughter, and the terrifying truth awaits at Lake Mungo.
Eve’s Bayou
(Available on Shudder US)
What did little Eve (Jurnee Smollett) see—and how will it haunt her? Husband, father and womanizer Louis Batiste (Samuel L. Jackson) is the head of an affluent family, but it’s the women who rule this gothic world of secrets, lies and mystic forces.
January 3
• Blood for Dracula
(Available on Shudder US)
Writer/director Paul Morrissey and star Udo Kier create a sumptuously depraved Euroshocker. Desperate for virgin blood, Count Dracula journeys to an Italian villa onlyto discover the family’s three young daughters are also coveted by the estate’s Marxiststud (Joe Dallesandro).
• Flesh for Frankenstein
(Available on Shudder US)
A delectably gory and cynical social satire from acclaimed filmmaker Paul Morrissey,Flesh for Frankenstein is among the most original and transgressive interpretations ofMary Shelley’s classic novel. With an exceptional cast, led by Udo Kier (Suspiria, Mark of the Devil), in what might be his most iconic performance, Joe Dallesandro (Cry Baby), Monique van Vooren (Sugar Cookies), and Italian child star Nicoletta Elmi(Deep Red), and featuring a lush soundtrack by Claudio Gizzi (Blood for
Dracula). Available in both 2D and 3D versions.
January 4
Dark August
(Available on Shudder US)
A man accidentally runs down a young girl and has a curse placed on him by the girl’s father, an occultist. He goes to a spiritualist for help in fighting the curse.
Dream No Evil
(Available on Shudder US)
A young orphan girl obsessed with finding her father gets adopted by a traveling church. She grows up and gets engaged, but her obsession with locating her father is about to turn deadly.
Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood
(Available on Shudder US)
A family infiltrates a sinister carnival where their son mysteriously disappeared.
The Child
(Available on Shudder US)
A newly hired housekeeper arrives to her employer’s house in the countryside. She slowly discovers that the only child in the house, an eleven-year-old girl, hides a deadly secret.
The Premonition
(Available on Shudder US)
A foster mother begins experiencing psychic visions after the psychotic biological mother of her foster daughter begins stalking them.
The Witch Who Came From the Sea
(Available on Shudder US)
Molly experiences violent fantasies in which she ties up muscular men up before bloodily dispatching them with a razor. But when a news report announces the shocking double-murder of two footballers which strongly echoes one of Molly’s most recent depravedflights of fancy, the fantasy starts to bleed into reality–literally
January 5
Beyond Dream’s Door
(Available on Shudder US)
Ben’s nightmares come back to haunt him and his friends in this psychological/supernatural horror film.
Winterbeast
(Available on Shudder US)
People are being killed off near a popular mountain lodge, with a legend claiming that the mountain is haunted by a deadly Native American demonic curse.
Fatal Exam
(Available on Shudder US)
A group of university students are invited by their parapsychology professor to investigate a haunted house for the weekend.
January 10
Eyes of Fire
(Available on Shudder US)
A preacher is accused of adultery, and he and his followers are chased out of town. They become stranded in an isolated forest, which is haunted by the spirits of long dead Native Americans.
Il Demonio
(Available on Shudder US)
A stunning story of obsessive love, set in a rural Southern Italian village where Christianity has integrated many of the old superstitious beliefs. Daliah Lavi (The Whip and the Body) plays Purif, who is distraught when her lover is betrothed to another. Her erratic behavior is interpreted as demonic possession—leading the villagers to turn against her with physical and sexual violence.
Alison’s Birthday
(Available on Shudder US)
Getting its first official release since the VHS era, this Australian paranormal cult is unearthed! During a Ouija board session with her teenaged friends, 16-year-old Alison gets a message from beyond the grave not to go home for her 19th birthday. Fast forward three years later to the week of her 19th: she gets a call from her mother that they’rehaving a party to celebrate, and they want her there alone.
Leptirica
(Available on Shudder US)
Based loosely on by Milovan Glišić’s classic 1880 Serbian vampire story After Ninety Years – which preceded Bram Stoker’s Dracula by nearly two decades – Djordje Kadijevic’s adaptation is a subversive, darkly erotic take on Glišić’s pastoral tale of agroup of rural villagers beset upon by the infamous vampire Sava Savanovic, who has taken up residence in their local flour mill.
Clearcut
(Available on Shudder US)
A white lawyer arrives to a remote area in Northern Ontario to defend Indigenousactivists who are blocking a logging company’s clearcut of old growth on their land. A pacifist by nature, and perceiving himself as sympathetic to Indigenous concerns, he finds his values shaken when he is paired with an angry, rogue Indigenous activist named Arthur (Graham Greene) who insists on kidnapping the head of the logging company to take him deep into the forest—where he hopes to teach him the price of his destruction.
Wilzcyzca
(Available on Shudder US)
A domestic hit in Poland on first release, Marek Piestrak’s stunning wintry werewolffilm is a sexually charged folktale that pits a 19th century Polish patriot against the ghost of his unfaithful wife, who haunts him from beyond the grave as a she-wolf.
Lake of the Dead
(Available on Shudder US)
Considered a classic of Norwegian cinema, a group of colleagues venture to a remote cabin to look for a missing friend and are spooked by an old legend: that the cabin had belonged to a man who killed his sister and her lover and then drowned himself in the lake. Since then, it is said that anyone who stays in the cabin will be driven to the same fate.
Tilbury
(Available on Shudder US)
This made-for-TV film shares the Icelandic lore of the Tilbury, a creature who could be summoned by women in times of financial hardship and starvation. But the gifts of the Tilbury come with their own brand of destruction. Set in 1940, during the British occupation, a country boy discovers his childhood sweetheart is having an affair with a British soldier, but suspects it could be one of the evil creatures.
Lokis
(Available on Shudder US)
A pastor and ethnographer visits a remote corner of 19th century Lithuania where folkcustoms associated with the area’s pagan past still have a hold on the population. Therehe finds himself the guest of a strange old family consisting of a sadistic Count and his mad mother, who—legend has it—was raped by a bear on her wedding night; the Count himself reputed to be the product of this bestial assault.
Edge of the Knife
(Available on Shudder US)
Edge of the Knife is a feature length Haida language film about pride, tragedy, and penance.Adiits’ii, the lead character in the film, is mentally and physically pushed to the brink of survival and becomes Gaagiixiid/Gaagiid — the Haida Wildman. The Gaagiixiid is one of Haida’s mostpopular stories, sustained over the years though song and performance.
January 24
• The Last Matinee
(Available on Shudder US)
When a vicious murderer attacks a local cinema, the projectionist’s daughter and a groupof patrons must fight back in the darkness of the matinee.
• Dachra
(Available on Shudder US)
A chilling horror following a journalist who when investigating a gruesome case, makes a disturbing discovery about her past.
