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Shudder’s October Schedule Gives Us Something to Scream About!

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Shudder October

“TRICK OR TREAT!” We don’t care what anyone says. Halloween season is officially begun at iHorror and Shudder is feeling the same way. The streaming platform released their 61 Days of Halloween highlights, and–because they were feeling particularly generous–they decided to drop their October slate release schedule as well!

The month includes chilling classics, new originals, exclusives, and specials, and the return of both the Ghoul Log* and their Halloween Hotline** where callers can get customized suggestions for their viewing pleasure!

Check out the full schedule of release for the month of October below!

Thrills & Chills On Shudder in October!

October 1st:

Escape from New York: Kurt Russell stars in the John Carpenter classic! In a bleak, alternate future, Manhattan Island has become the nation’s only maximum-security prison. When Air Force One crash lands in the prison, the government sends in a disposable hero, Snake Plissken (Russell), an outlaw and former war hero, to get him out.

Motel Hell: CULT CLASSIC ALERT!! A seemingly friendly farmer and his sister kidnap unsuspecting travelers and bury them alive, using them to create the “special meat” they are famous for. Also available on Shudder Canada

Razorback: As a vicious wild boar terrorizes the Australian outback, the husband of one of the victims is joined by a hunter and a farmer in a search for the beast.

October 4th:

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum: The crew of a horror web series travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast. It soon encounters much more than expected as it moves deeper inside the nightmarish old building. Also available on Shudder Canada.

The Endless: As kids, they escaped a UFO death cult. Now, two adult brothers seek answers after an old videotape surfaces and brings them back to where they began. Starring and directed by Aaron Moorehead and Justin Benson! Also available on Shudder Canada.

Night of the Demons (1988): A group of kids go to a Halloween party, only to have to face down a group of demons. Also available on Shudder Canada, Shudder UKI, and Shudder ANZ.

Witchboard: In Kevin S. Tenney’s demonic debut, a woman (‘80s video vixen Tawny Kitaen) unknowingly makes contact with an evil spectre using a Ouija board, which results in a spiritual slaying spree. Now it’s up to Linda’s boyfriend and her ex to stop the evil entity before it possesses her and kills again. Also available on Shudder Canada, Shudder UKI, and Shudder ANZ.

October 5th:

The Mutilator: In this sickening slice of ‘80s slasher fun, a homicidal hunter lures his estranged son to his beach house, then starts killing the poor kid’s friends with an array of deadly devices. It’s all part of a deranged vengeance aimed at Ed Jr., who accidentally killed his mother while attempting to clean his father’s gun collection as a child. As the night drags on, Big Ed uses steel hooks, axes and even an outboard motor to play the most dangerous game with the confused co-eds. Also available on Shudder Canada and Shudder UKI.

October 6th:

V/H/S/94: A Shudder Original Film, V/H/S/94 is the fourth installment in the hit horror anthology franchise and marks the return of the infamous found footage anthology with segments from franchise alumni Simon Barrett (Séance) and Timo Tjahjanto (May the Devil Take You Too) in addition to acclaimed directors Jennifer Reeder (Knives & Skin), Ryan Prows (Lowlife) and Chloe Okuno (Slut). In V/H/S/94, after the discovery of a mysterious VHS tape, a brutish police swat team launch a high intensity raid on a remote warehouse, only to discover a sinister cult compound whose collection of pre-recorded material uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy. Also available on Shudder Canada, Shudder UKI, and Shudder ANZ.

October 8th:

Joe Bob’s Halloween Hoedown!In what has become an annual tradition, iconic horror host and foremost drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs returns with a special The Last Drive-In double feature just in time for Halloween, premiering live on the Shudder TV feed. You’ll have to tune in to find out what movies Joe Bob has selected, but you can count on something scary and perfect for the season, with special guests to be announced. (Also available on demand beginning October 10.)

October 11th:

Nosferatu, The Vampyre: Werner Herzog’s 1979 Nosferatu remake stars the ghoulish German actor Klaus Kinski, French siren Isabelle Adjani, and Bruno Ganz. Herzog, who was famous for creeping people out with intense documentaries and narrative films, took a surprising turn with this adaptation of both Dracula and F.W. Murnau’s original Nosferatu, which was an illegal adaptation of the novel itself. Also available on Shudder Canada.

Nosferatu in Venice: Professor Paris Catalano visits Venice, to investigate the last known appearance of the famous vampire Nosferatu during the carnival of 1786. Also available on Shudder Canada.

Possum: Disgraced children’s puppeteer Philip returns to his childhood home of Fallmarsh, Norfolk, intent on destroying Possum, a hideous puppet he keeps hidden inside a brown leather bag. When his attempts fail, Philip is forced to confront his sinister stepfather Maurice in an effort to escape the dark horrors of his past.  Also available on Shudder Canada.

Wake Wood: A grieving couple are given the chance to resurrect their daughter in this Irish horror film starring Aidan Gillen of Game of Thrones fame. After Alice’s accidental death, her parents move to a quaint village to make a fresh start. But when a local offers to perform a ceremony that will temporarily bring their daughter back, they can’t resist. But when Alice returns, she isn’t quite herself, of course.

October 12th:

House: A horror novelist moves into a freaky haunted house after his aunt kills herself. Roger Cobb needs a quiet place to write his Vietnam memoir and forget about his young son’s mysterious disappearance. But when ghosts and monsters intrude, Roger’s got to work up the courage to fight back – and make peace with the past. Also available on Shudder Canada and Shudder UKI.

House II: Ghosts, a magic skull, and Amazon warriors are just a few elements of this super-fun sequel. Jesse moves into his family’s strange mansion, and, after a few drinks, decides to dig up his great-grandfather’s corpse to see if a mythical skull is buried with him. Sure enough, Jesse finds the skull, but soon winds up on a time-traveling adventure with his undead gramps.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe: Coroners are mystified by an unidentified corpse, until a series of terrifying events make it clear:
Jane Doe may not be dead.

October 14th:

The Medium: A documentary team follows Nim, a shaman based in Northern Thailand, the Isan area, and encounters her
niece Mink showing strange symptoms that seem to be of inheritance of shamanism. The team decides to
follow Mink, hoping to capture the shaman lineage passing on to the next generation, but her bizarre
behavior becomes more extreme. From director Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter) and producer Na Hongjin (director of The Wailing). Winner Best Film, Bucheon International Film Festival 2021. Also available on Shudder Canada, Shudder UKI, and Shudder ANZ.

October 18th:

Pulse: A mysterious webcam site claims to offer visitors the chance to connect with the dead in Japanese horror god Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s heart-stopping film. A group of friends are rocked by another friend’s suicide, and his ghostly reappearance in computer video images. Is he trying to reach out from the afterlife, or is something more sinister afoot? When they find a mysterious disk in the dead man’s apartment it launches a program that seems to present odd, ethereal broadcasts of people in their apartments. But there’s something strange about these transmissions… Also available on Shudder Canada and Shudder UKI.

Children of the Corn: A couple must escape from a town of evil kids in this Stephen King short-story adaptation that spawned seven sequels. Burt and Vicky are traveling through Nebraska until an accident leads them to a town where twisted tykes obey a kiddie preacher who demands all adults must be sacrificed to an evil entity who lives in the cornfield. Also available on Shudder Canada and Shudder UKI.

Blood and Black Lace: When young model, Isabella, is murdered by a masked killer, the employees of a chic Italian fashion house find themselves the next targets of the mysterious assailant. A missing diary, a torrid affair, deception and backstabbing are all potential motives for the fashion house slayings.

October 19th:

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula Season 4: The groundbreaking Shudder Original series follows ten drag artists from around the world competing for a $100,000 grand prize – the largest in show history. Season four will feature a spectacular lineup of guest judges including Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical film series), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows), Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones), Misha Osherovich (Freaky), Queer country music icon Orville Peck, pop metal star Poppy, Ray Santiago (Ash vs. The Evil Dead), Bob the Drag Queen (We’re Here), and more, with additional judges to be announced later. Dubbed one of “the 19 best LGBTQ+ shows everyone needs to watch” by Cosmopolitan, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula is written and produced by the Boulet Brothers with Executive Producer David Sigurani and director Nathan Noyes.

Dragula -- Shudder

Dragula — Shudder

October 25th:

The Addiction: A New York philosophy grad student turns into a vampire after getting bitten by one, and then tries to come to terms with her new lifestyle and frequent craving for human blood. Also available on Shudder Canada and Shudder UKI.

Just Before Dawn: Five young people venture into the backwoods of Oregon to claim a property, and find themselves being stalked by a hulking, machete-wielding psychopath. Also available on Shudder Canada and Shudder UKI.

Rituals: Adventure-seeker Mitzi invites fellow doctor and three other physician friends to go on their annual camping trip in the middle of the unexplored Canadian mountains. The five of them thought that they were alone in the middle of nowhere on their ritual camping trip, but this time someone was watching them. A crazed psychopath wants to play a psychological game of survival with the five campers and it soon becomes a horrifying game of kill or be killed.

October 27th:

Behind the Monsters: The new original docu-series Behind the Monsters takes a deep dive on cinematic horror icons, including Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Candyman, Chucky and Pinhead, and features interviews with horror experts and the writers, directors and actors from the original films that made each character the stuff of genre legends. Written and directed by Gabrielle Binkley and Anthony Uro and produced by Stage 3 Productions, Behind the Monsters is executive produced by Phil Nobile Jr., Kelly Ryan and Mark Shostrom.  New episodes every Wednesday!

Behind the Monsters

October 28th:

Creepshow Season 3 Finale: Based on the 1982 horror comedy classic, the anthology Creepshow returns for a third season and is still the most fun you’ll ever have being scared! From showrunner Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead), a comic book comes to life in a series of vignettes, exploring terrors ranging from murder, creatures, monsters, and delusions to the supernatural and unexplainable. You never know what will be on the next page. Guest stars include Michael Rooker, James Remar, Johnathon Schaech, Reid Scott, Hannah Fierman, King Bach and Ethan Embry. Series premieres on September 23rd with new episodes every Thursday!

Horror Noire: A new Shudder Original anthology film, Horror Noire is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2019 documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror and features new work from both established and emerging talents, showcasing stories of Black horror from Black directors and screenwriters. Anthology writers featured include Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, Victor LaValle, Shernold Edwards, Al Letson and Ezra C. Daniels. Cast featured include Lesley-Ann Brandt (Lucifer, Spartacus), Luke James (The Chi, Thoughts of a Colored Man), Erica Ash (Survivor’s Remorse, A Black Lady Sketch Show), Brandon Mychal Smith (Four Weddings and a Funeral, You’re the Worst), Sean Patrick Thomas (Macbeth, The Curse of La Llorona), Peter Stormare (American Gods, Fargo,) Malcolm Barrett (Genius: Aretha Franklin, Timeless) and Rachel True (The Craft, Half & Half), among others.

*The Ghoul Log Premieres on October 1st

**Get your personalized horror recommendations by calling Sam at 914-481-2239 every Friday in October between 3 and 4 pm ET!

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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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