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Summertime Scares are on The Way on Shudder in June 2021!

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Summer is here and so is the horror as Shudder prepares to roll new and exciting films to their slate in June 2021! From Exclusives and Originals to popcorn classics, the all horror/thriller streamer has something for everyone!

June will also see continuing episodes of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs. We will also see the return of their Queer Horror curated collection which will debut on June 2nd for Pride Month featuring new titles alongside previously available films including  Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker, Night Breed, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Resurrection, Mohawk, Spiral, Lyle, Scream, Queen!, Hellraiser, Tammy and the T-Rex, The Quiet Room, Stranger by the Lake, Knife+Heart, The Ranger, Lizzie, The Old Dark House, All Cheerleaders Die, Better Watch Out, Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl, and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama.

Take a look at the full schedule below, and let us know what you’ll be watching in the comments!

Shudder Release Schedule for June 2021

June 1st:

Ginger Snaps: Unleashed: In this sequel to 2000’s Ginger Snaps, Ginger’s sister Brigitte, now a werewolf herself, must try to find a cure for her blood lust before the next full moon while hiding out in a rehab clinic from a relentless werewolf.

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning: Set in 19th Century Canada, this prequel to Ginger Snaps focuses on Brigette and her sister Ginger who take refuge in a Traders’ Fort which later becomes under siege by some savage werewolves.

An American Werewolf in LondonTwo American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists in this classic horror comedy from John Landis.

Eve’s Bayou: Samuel L. Jackson leads an incredible star-studded cast in this film from writer/director Kasi Lemmons (Candyman). What did Eve see and how will it haunt her? Husband, father and womanizer, Louis Batiste, is the head of an affluent family, but it’s the women who rule this gothic world of secrets, lies and mystic forces.

Burn, Witch, Burn!: When a college professor discovers his wife has been practicing witchcraft for years, he forces her to destroy all of her magical trappings despite her warnings that she’s been using them to protect him. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

June 2nd:

Islands: This 23 minute erotic thriller from Yann Gonzalez (Knife+Heart) is an intense journey through a maze of love and lust. The film is featured in Shudder’s Queer Horror Collection.

Terror, Sisters!: Today is a day unlike any before. Today is the day Kalthoum and their girlfriends imagine their revenge. Directed by Alexis Langlois. The film is part of the Queer Horror Collection.

Der Samurai: Set in a small German village, a bloody game of cat-and-mouse ensues between a young, straight-shooting police officer and a cross-dressing villain with a large sword and a predilection for beheadings. The film is part of the Queer Horror Collection.

Thirst: The drug addict Hulda is arrested accused of murdering her brother. After she is let go because of insufficient evidence, she meets Hjörtur, a thousand-year-old gay vampire. Together they have to fight a cult while being investigated by a rogue detective. The film will be featured in the Queer Horror Collection. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

Rift: Two men in a secluded cabin are haunted by the dead relationship in this Icelandic film from Erlingur Thoroddsen. The film is part of the Queer Horror Collection. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

June 3rd:

Caveat: A SHUDDER ORIGINAL. Lone drifter Isaac accepts a job to look after his landlord’s niece, Olga, for a few days in an isolated house on a remote island. It seems like easy money, but there’s a catch: he must wear a leather harness and chain that restricts his movements to certain rooms. Once Olga’s uncle Barrett leaves the two of them alone, a game of cat and mouse ensues as Olga displays increasingly erratic behavior as a trapped Isaac makes a series of horrific discoveries in the house. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

June 7th:

Night of the Living Dead: A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a
horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the East Coast of the United States in this classic from George Romero. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

Reunion: A pregnant woman returns to her recently deceased grandparents’ old family home to spend time with her estranged mother. What begins as a tenuous reunion slowly turns terrifying. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

Beyond the Door III: An introverted American student travels to Yugoslavia as part of a school trip to witness an ancient pagan ritual with a deadly secret. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

June 8th:

The Amusement Park: A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE. Recently discovered and restored 46 years after its completion by the George A. Romero Foundation and produced by Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, director George A. Romero’s The Amusement Park stars Martin’s Lincoln Maazel as an elderly man who finds himself disoriented and increasingly isolated as the pains, tragedies and humiliations of aging in America are manifested through roller coasters and chaotic crowds. Commissioned by the Lutheran Society, the film is perhaps Romero’s wildest and most imaginative movie, an allegory about the nightmarish realities of growing older, and is an alluring snapshot of the filmmaker’s early artistic capacity and style and would go on to inform his ensuing filmography. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

June 14th:

Monstrous: A young woman goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously vanishes in Whitehall, New York, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot sightings. She quickly learns that an evil more sinister than she could ever imagine is hiding in the woods. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgSWhFnELiY

The Retreat: A man finds himself alone and lost after a horrifying encounter with a monster during a backpacking trip into the Adirondack High Peaks. Now, he must fight for his life, and sanity, as he battles the evil Native American legend, The Wendigo. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

Evilspeak: An outcast military cadet taps into a way to summon demons and cast spells on his tormentors through his computer. The film stars Clint Howard. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

June 15th:

The Conspiracy: A documentary about conspiracy theories takes a horrific turn after the filmmakers uncover an ancient and dangerous secret society.

Housebound: A young woman is forced to return to her childhood home after being placed under house arrest, where she suspects that something evil may be lurking. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

The Similars: On the rainy night of October 2, 1968, eight people waiting in a remote bus station for a bus heading to Mexico City start experiencing a strange phenomenon. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEg8kV2b7v4

June 17th:

Superdeep: A SHUDDER ORIGINAL. The Kola Superdeep borehole is the largest Russian secret facility. In 1984, at the depth of more than 7 miles below the surface, unexplained sounds were recorded, resembling the screams and moans of numerous people. Since these events, the object has been closed. A small research team of scientists and military personnel had gone down below the surface to find out the secret that the world’s deepest borehole was hiding. What they have found poses the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced. Now the future of the world is in their hands. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

June 21st:

City of the Living Dead: A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

Homewrecker: Two women befriend each other, but one becomes obsessed with the other. (Also available on Shudder Canada)

The Antenna: In a dystopian Turkey, the government begins installing new television antennas at homes throughout the country. Mehmet, a superintendent at a crumbling apartment complex, must supervise the installation of the new antenna. When the broadcast it transmits begins to menace the residents of the apartment complex, Mehmet must seek out the spiteful entity. (Also available on Shudder ANZ)

June 24th:

An Unquiet Grave: A SHUDDER ORIGINAL. A year after losing his wife in a car crash, Jamie convinces her sister, Ava, to return with him to the site of the accident and help him perform a strange ritual. But as the night wears on, it becomes clear that he has darker intentions. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

June 29th:

Vicious Fun: A SHUDDER ORIGINAL. Joel, a caustic 1980’s film critic for a national horror magazine, finds himself unwittingly trapped in a self-help group for serial killers. With no other choice, Joel attempts to blend in with his homicidal surroundings or risk becoming the next victim. (Available in all Shudder Territories)

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Movie Reviews

Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘Haunted Ulster Live’

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Everything old is new again.

On Halloween 1998, the local news of Northern Ireland decide to do a special live report from an allegedly haunted house in Belfast. Hosted by local personality Gerry Burns (Mark Claney) and popular children’s presenter Michelle Kelly (Aimee Richardson) they intend to look at the supernatural forces disturbing the current family living there. With legends and folklore abound, is there an actual spirit curse in the building or something far more insidious at work?

Presented as a series of found footage from a long forgotten broadcast, Haunted Ulster Live follows similar formats and premises as Ghostwatch and The WNUF Halloween Special with a news crew investigating the supernatural for big ratings only to get in over their heads. And while the plot has certainly been done before, director Dominic O’Neill’s 90’s set tale of local access horror manages to stand out on its own ghastly feet. The dynamic between Gerry and Michelle is most prominent, with him being an experienced broadcaster who thinks this production is beneath him and Michelle being fresh blood who is considerably annoyed at being presented as costumed eye candy. This builds as the events within and around the domicile becomes too much to ignore as anything less than the real deal.

The cast of characters is rounded out by the McKillen family who have been dealing with the haunting for some time and how it’s had an effect on them. Experts are brought in to help explain the situation including the paranormal investigator Robert (Dave Fleming) and the psychic Sarah (Antoinette Morelli) who bring their own perspectives and angles to the haunting. A long and colorful history is established about the house, with Robert discussing how it used to be the site of an ancient ceremonial stone, the center of leylines, and how it was possibly possessed by the ghost of a former owner named Mr. Newell. And local legends abound about a nefarious spirit named Blackfoot Jack that would leave trails of dark footprints in his wake. It’s a fun twist having multiple potential explanations for the site’s strange occurrences instead of one end-all be-all source. Especially as the events unfold and the investigators try to discover the truth.

At its 79 minute timelength, and the encompassing broadcast, it’s a bit of a slow burn as the characters and lore is established. Between some news interruptions and behind the scenes footage, the action is mostly focused on Gerry and Michelle and the build up to their actual encounters with forces beyond their comprehension. I will give kudos that it went places I didn’t expect, leading to a surprisingly poignant and spiritually horrifying third act.

So, while Haunted Ulster Live isn’t exactly trendsetting, it definitely follows in the footsteps of similar found footage and broadcast horror films to walk its own path. Making for an entertaining and compact piece of mockumentary. If you’re a fan of the sub-genres, Haunted Ulster Live is well worth a watch.

3 eyes out of 5
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Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘Never Hike Alone 2’

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There are fewer icons more recognizable than the slasher. Freddy Krueger. Michael Myers. Victor Crowley. Notorious killers who always seem to come back for more no matter how many times they are slain or their franchises seemingly put to a final chapter or nightmare. And so it seems that even some legal disputes cannot stop one of the most memorable movie murderers of all: Jason Voorhees!

Following the events of the first Never Hike Alone, outdoorsman and YouTuber Kyle McLeod (Drew Leighty) has been hospitalized after his encounter with the long thought dead Jason Voorhees, saved by perhaps the hockey masked killer’s greatest adversary Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews) who now currently works as an EMT around Crystal Lake. Still haunted by Jason, Tommy Jarvis struggles to find a sense of stability and this latest encounter is pushing him to end the reign of Voorhees once and for all…

Never Hike Alone made a splash online as a well shot and thoughtful fan film continuation of the classic slasher franchise that was built up with the snowbound follow up Never Hike In The Snow and now climaxing with this direct sequel. It’s not only an incredible Friday The 13th love letter, but a well thought out and entertaining epilogue of sorts to the infamous ‘Tommy Jarvis Trilogy’ from within the franchise that encapsulated Friday The 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter, Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning, and Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Even getting some of the original cast back as their characters to continue the tale! Thom Mathews being the most prominent as Tommy Jarvis, but with other series casting like Vincent Guastaferro returning as now Sheriff Rick Cologne and still having a bone to pick with Jarvis and the mess around Jason Voorhees. Even featuring some Friday The 13th alumni like Part III‘s Larry Zerner as the mayor of Crystal Lake!

On top of that, the movie delivers on kills and action. Taking turns that some of the previous fils never got the chance to deliver on. Most prominently, Jason Voorhees going on a rampage through Crystal Lake proper when he slices his way through a hospital! Creating a nice throughline of the mythology of Friday The 13th, Tommy Jarvis and the cast’s trauma, and Jason doing what he does best in the most cinematically gory ways possible.

The Never Hike Alone films from Womp Stomp Films and Vincente DiSanti are a testament to the fanbase of Friday The 13th and the still enduring popularity of those films and of Jason Voorhees. And while officially, no new movie in the franchise is on the horizon for the foreseeable future, at the very least there is some comfort knowing fans are willing to go to these lengths to fill the void.

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Mike Flanagan Comes Aboard To Assist in Completion of ‘Shelby Oaks’

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shelby oaks

If you have been following Chris Stuckmann on YouTube you are aware of the struggles he has had getting his horror movie Shelby Oaks finished. But there’s good news about the project today. Director Mike Flanagan (Ouija: Origin Of Evil, Doctor Sleep and The Haunting) is backing the film as a co-executive producer which might bring it much closer to being released. Flanagan is a part of the collective Intrepid Pictures which also includes Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka.

Shelby Oaks
Shelby Oaks

Stuckmann is a YouTube movie critic who’s been on the platform for over a decade. He came under some scrutiny for announcing on his channel two years ago that he would no longer be reviewing films negatively. However contrary to that statement, he did a non-review essay of the panned Madame Web recently saying, that studios strong-arm directors to make films just for the sake of keeping failing franchises alive. It seemed like a critique disguised as a discussion video.

But Stuckmann has his own movie to worry about. In one of Kickstarter’s most successful campaigns, he managed to raise over $1 million for his debut feature film Shelby Oaks which now sits in post-production. 

Hopefully, with Flanagan and Intrepid’s help, the road to Shelby Oak’s completion is reaching its end. 

“It’s been inspiring to watch Chris working toward his dreams over the past few years, and the tenacity and DIY spirit he displayed while bringing Shelby Oaks to life reminded me so much of my own journey over a decade ago,” Flanagan told Deadline. “It’s been an honor to walk a few steps with him on his path, and to offer support for Chris’ vision for his ambitious, unique movie. I can’t wait to see where he goes from here.”

Stuckmann says Intrepid Pictures has inspired him for years and, “it’s a dream come true to work with Mike and Trevor on my first feature.”

Producer Aaron B. Koontz of Paper Street Pictures has been working with Stuckmann since the beginning is also excited about the collaboration.

“For a film that had such a hard time getting going, it’s remarkable the doors that then opened to us,” said Koontz. “The success of our Kickstarter followed by the on-going leadership and guidance from Mike, Trevor, and Melinda is beyond anything I could have hoped for.”

Deadline describes the plot of Shelby Oaks as follows:

“A combination of documentary, found footage, and traditional film footage styles, Shelby Oaks centers on Mia’s (Camille Sullivan) frantic search for her sister, Riley, (Sarah Durn) who ominously disappeared in the last tape of her “Paranormal Paranoids” investigative series. As Mia’s obsession grows, she begins to suspect that the imaginary demon from Riley’s childhood may have been real.”

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