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Shudder Celebrates Halloween with Argento, Dragula, Fulci, & More!

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Shudder October 2022

September is almost halfway over, but Shudder’s 61 Days of Halloween has only just begun. The all-horror/thriller streaming platform has curated a haunted host of horrors for those of us who live spooky season all year around, but go extra hard from September 1st to October 31st.

Next month is no different with the streamer creating a curated Dario Argento Collection as well as The House of Psychotic Women which features some of our favorite unhinged femme fatales.

Take a look at the full list of October releases below, and refresh your memory with this month’s schedule by CLICKING HERE.

What’s New on Shudder in October 2022!

September 30th:

Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror: Queer for Fear is a four-part documentary series from executive producer Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Steak House (Launchpad) about the history of the LGBTQ+ community in the horror and thriller genres. From its literary origins with queer authors Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde to the pansy craze of the 1920s that influenced Universal Monsters and Hitchcock, through the “lavender scare” alien invasion films of the mid-20th century and the AIDS obsessed bloodletting of 80s vampire films, Queer for Fear re-examines genre stories through a queer lens, seeing them not as violent, murderous narratives, but as tales of survival that resonate thematically with queer audiences everywhere. New episodes every Friday through October!

October 1st:

May: Nobody knows what to make of May (Angela Bettis). Born with a lazy eye, for which she wore a patch while growing up, she became a loner oddball whose only friend was a perfectly kept doll. She moves to L.A. and takes up with a filmmaker (Jeremy Sisto), but the relationship sours quickly — and dangerously. She then befriends an alluring lesbian colleague (Anna Faris), but that, too, along with every connection May attempts to make, turns deadly.

The Descent: One year after a tragic accident, six girlfriends meet in a remote part of the Appalachians for their annual caving trip. When a rock falls and blocks their route back to the surface, the group splinters and each one pushes on, praying for another exit. But there is something else lurking under the earth – a race of monstrous humanoid creatures that have adapted perfectly to life in the dark. As the friends realize they are now prey, they are forced to unleash their most primal instincts in an all-out war against an unspeakable horror. Neil Marshall’s relentless, claustrophobic creature feature proves one of the truly scary films of the 21st century and is rightly regarded as essential.

The Descent Part 2: Distraught, confused, and half-wild with fear, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where she encountered unspeakable terrors.

The Gate: When two boys accidentally dig up the gates of Hell and summon an army of tiny demons, they have to work fast to stop the demons from turning them into human sacrifices, or a big bad demon king will soon be slithering through the gate to take over the world. Starring a young Stephen Dorff (Blade).

October 4th:

The Collingswood Story: Young couple Rebecca and John attempt to keep their long-distance relationship alive via video chatting. However, a chance encounter with an online psychic plunges their lives into a world of nightmarish supernatural phenomenon.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow: When young Marylee Williams is found viciously mauled, all hell breaks loose in her small rural town. A gang of bigots pursue a suspect: her mentally challenged friend Bubba Ritter.

October 4th:

The Other Side of the Underneath: In 1972, screenwriter/feminist/radical theater icon Jane Arden adapted her own multimedia stage production “A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches” into a nightmarish exploration of reason, chaos, and her own battles with mental illness unlike anything audiences have seen before or since.

I Like Bats: Katarzyna Walter stars as a happily single vampire who works in her aunt’s curio shop when not feeding on various suitors and sleazebags. But when she falls for a handsome psychiatrist, she’ll discover that no affliction is more horrific than love. It combines splashes of absurdist black comedy with jolts of old-school gothic horror for a slyly contemporary take on the female bloodsucker mythos.

Footprints: In the most criminally underseen giallo of the ‘70s, Florinda Bolkan (A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin, Flavia The Heretic) stars as a freelance translator who wakes one morning missing all memory of her past three days. But will a trail of odd clues lead her to a place where perception and identity are never what they seem? Directed by Luigi Bazzoni (The Fifth Cord) with cinematography by three-time Oscar®-winner Vittorio Storaro (The Bird with The Crystal Plumage).

The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here!: The Mooney’s are a typical English family, except for one tiny detail… they’re all werewolves. One member of the family is of a mind to change their legacy, which stirs up family drama of the worst kind. The second of gutter auteur Andy Milligan’s productions made in England, this werewolf family saga is filled with the bitter worldview and confrontational hysteria Milligan is known for.

October 6th:

Deadstream: A disgraced and demonetized Internet personality (Joseph Winter) tries to win back his fans by live streaming himself, spending a night alone in an abandoned haunted house. However, when he accidentally unleashes a vengeful spirit, his big comeback event becomes a real-time fight for his life (and social relevance) as he faces off with the sinister spirit of the house and her powerful following. Deadstream stars Joseph Winter, who wrote and directed the film with Vanessa Winter. (A Shudder Original)

October 10th:

Opera: A stalker torments an opera star by forcing her to watch her friends being murdered in one of giallo horror god Dario Argento’s most terrifying films. When young operetta Betty is thrust into a leading role in Verdi’s Macbeth, she’s unprepared for the carnage that’s going to be unleashed. Soon enough she’s being stalked by a black-gloved killer who loves tying Betty up and taping needles around her eyes so she – and by extension us – are forced to watch the vicious slayings. The great Brian Eno and Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti composed the stellar score.

The Stendhal Syndrome: A detective suffers strange hallucinations while hunting a serial killer in Dario Argento’s bone-chilling ‘90s masterpiece. Anna (Asia Argento) is on the trail of a psycho when she experiences Stendhal syndrome, a condition that causes people to become overwhelmed by works of art to the point of psychosis. But when the killer kidnaps and rapes her, it begins a process that threatens all who cross Anna’s path. Using CGI to bring Anna’s artistic hallucinations to life, Argento crafts a brutal yet visually stunning thriller that stands on par with his classics.

Identikit: In what remains the most obscure, bizarre, and wildly misunderstood film of her entire career – and perhaps even ‘70s Italian cinema – Elizabeth Taylor stars as a disturbed woman who arrives in Rome to find a city fragmented by autocratic law, leftist violence, and her own increasingly unhinged mission to find the most dangerous liaison of all. Academy Award® nominee Ian Bannen (The Offence), Mona Washbourne (The Collector) and Andy Warhol co-star in this “unique, hallucinatory neo noir” (Cult Film Freaks) – barely released in America as The Driver’s Seat – directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi (‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore), adapted from the unnerving novella by Muriel Spark (The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie) and featuring cinematography by three-time Oscar® winner Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now, The Last Emperor).

October 11th:

Dragula Season 1: The Boulet Brothers host a competition of drag performers who don’t just push the envelope – they hew it up and spit it out. With themes like Zombie and challenges like being buried alive, this ain’t your momma’s drag competition. Joining seasons 2, 3 and 4 and ahead of the upcoming Titans spin off exclusively on Shudder, revisit the first season of the Boulet Brothers’ beloved groundbreaking drag-horror competition.

Lux Aeterna: Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg are on a film set telling stories about witches. Technical problems and psychotic outbreak gradually plunge the shoot into chaos. Written and directed by Gaspar Noé.

October 13th:

Dark Glasses: In Dark Glasses, an eclipse blackens the skies on a hot summer day in Rome – a harbinger of the darkness that will envelop Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli) when a serial killer chooses her as prey. Fleeing her predator, the young escort crashes her car and loses her sight. She emerges from the initial shock determined to fight for her life, but she is no longer alone. Defending her and acting as her eyes is a little boy, Chin (Andrea Zhang), who survived the car accident. But the killer won’t give up his victim. Who will be saved? The long-awaited return from Italian master of horror and acclaimed writer-director Dario Argento, the film stars Ilenia Pastorelli, Asia Argento and Andrea Zhang. Beginning Friday, October 7, Dark Glasses will debut at the IFC Center in New York and at the Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles, ahead of the film’s streaming debut on Thursday, October 13.Additional theaters, to be announced later, will follow beginning Friday, October 14.  (A Shudder Original)

She Will: After a double mastectomy, Veronica Ghent (Alice Krige), goes to a healing retreat in rural Scotland with her young nurse Desi (Kota Eberhardt). She discovers that the process of such surgery opens questions about her very existence, leading her to start to question and confront past traumas. The two develop an unlikely bond as mysterious forces give Veronica the power to enact revenge within her dreams.  Also starring Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan Aris, Rupert Everett, and Olwen Fouéré. Directed by Charlotte Colbert. (A Shudder Exclusive)

October 20th:

V/H/S/99: V/H/S/99 marks the return of the acclaimed found footage anthology franchise and the sequel to Shudder’s most-watched premiere of 2021. A thirsty teenager’s home video leads to a series of horrifying revelations. Featuring five new stories from filmmakers Maggie Levin (Into The Dark: My Valentine), Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City), Flying Lotus (Kuso), Tyler MacIntyre (Tragedy Girls) and Joseph & Vanessa Winter (Deadstream), V/H/S/99 harkens back to the final punk rock analog days of VHS, while taking one giant leap forward into the hellish new millennium. (A Shudder Original)

October 21st:

Joe Bob’s Haunted Halloween Hangout: For his fourth Halloween special on Shudder, the World’s Foremost Drive-In Movie Critic leaves no plastic skull, fake spider, or foam tombstone behind in his mission to celebrate the Samhain season the RIGHT way for once! Leaving nothing to chance, Joe Bob and Darcy enlist the help of a special surprise guest.

October 24th:

Manhattan Baby: In Lucio Fulci’s chilling follow-up to The New York Ripper, an evil Egyptian entity possesses the young daughter of an archaeologist. When Susie returns home, she and her brother Tommy start behaving badly, and visitors to their room begin turning up dead. Can Susie’s parents stop the entity from destroying her? Or is it already too late? Borrowing elements from Rosemary’s BabyThe Exorcist and Poltergeist, Fulci crafts a surprisingly gore-free ghost story that favors suspense over gruesome kills. The opening sequence ranks among the director’s best work.

Demonia: In what fans consider his last great film, Godfather of Gore Lucio Fulci returns to the startling imagery and bloody excesses of his ‘70s/‘80s classics for an unholy saga of demonic nuns and supernatural carnage: When a Canadian archeological team excavates the ruins of a medieval Sicilian monastery, they unleash the vengeance of a crucified coven of satanic sisters with full-on Fulci fury.

Aenigma: For his final horror hit of the ‘80s, writer/director Lucio Fulci combined elements of CarriePhenomena, and Suspiria with the grisly surrealism of his own past classics for one last shocker: When a bullied student at a New England girls school becomes comatose after a prank gone wrong, her tormenters will suffer graphic telepathic punishment that includes the infamous ‘death by snails’ scene.

Fulci for Fake: He was known as The Maestro of Splatter, but who was the real Lucio Fulci? Through never-before-seen home movies, rare behind-the-scenes footage from his classic films, audio confessions from Fulci himself and revealing interviews, writer/director Simone Scafidi creates an unflinching portrait of the one of the most visceral, controversial, and immortal horror filmmakers of all time.

October 25th:

The Boulet Brothers Dragula: Titans: Hosted and created by the Boulet Brothers, “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans” is a ten-episode spin-off series starring some of the most popular drag icons from the show’s previous seasons competing in a grand championship of drag artistry and shocking physical challenges for a one hundred-thousand-dollar grand prize, the headlining spot on the upcoming world tour and the first ever “Dragula Titans” crown and title. Guest Judges include Elvira, Harvey Guillen, Justin Simien, David Dastmalchian, Poppy, Alaska, Katya, Joe Bob Briggs, Bonnie Aarons, Barbara Crampton, and more to be announced later. Exclusively on Shudder!

Shudder Dragula

October 28th:

Resurrection: Margaret’s life is in order. She is capable, disciplined, and successful. Everything is under control. That is, until David returns, carrying with him the horrors of Margaret’s past. Resurrection is directed by Andrew Semans, and stars Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth. (A Shudder Exclusive)

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‘Longlegs’ Creepy “Part 2” Teaser Appears on Instagram

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Longlegs

Neon Films released an Insta-teaser for their horror film Longlegs today. Titled Dirty: Part 2, the clip only furthers the mystery of what we are in for when this movie is finally released on July 12.

The official logline is: FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.

Directed by former actor Oz Perkins who also gave us The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs is already creating buzz with its moody images and cryptic hints. The film is rated R for bloody violence, and disturbing images.

Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, and Alicia Witt.

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Melissa Barrera Says ‘Scary Movie VI’ Would Be “Fun To Do”

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Melissa Barrera might literally get the last laugh on Spyglass thanks to a possible Scary Movie sequel. Paramount and Miramax are seeing the right opportunity to bring the satirical franchise back into the fold and announced last week one might be in production as early as this fall.

The last chapter of the Scary Movie franchise was almost a decade ago and since the series lampoons thematic horror movies and pop culture trends, it would seem they have a lot of content to draw ideas from, including the recent reboot of slasher series Scream.

Barerra, who starred as final girl Samantha in those movies was abruptly fired from the latest chapter, Scream VII, for expressing what Spyglass interpreted as “antisemitism,” after the actress came out in support of Palestine on social media.

Even though the drama wasn’t a laughing matter, Barrera might get her chance to parody Sam in Scary Movie VI. That is if the opportunity arises. In an interview with Inverse, the 33-year-old actress was asked about Scary Movie VI, and her reply was intriguing.

“I always loved those movies,” the actress told Inverse. “When I saw it announced, I was like, ‘Oh, that would be fun. That would be so fun to do.’”

That “fun to do” part could be construed as a passive pitch to Paramount, but that’s open to interpretation.

Just like in her franchise, Scary Movie also has a legacy cast including Anna Faris and Regina Hall. There is no word yet on if either of those actors will appear in the reboot. With or without them, Barrera is still a fan of the comedies. “They have the iconic cast that did it, so we’ll see what goes on with that. I’m just excited to see a new one,” she told the publication.

Barrera is currently celebrating the box office success of her latest horror movie Abigail.

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Thrills and Chills: Ranking ‘Radio Silence’ Films from Bloody Brilliant to Just Bloody

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Radio Silence Films

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella are all filmmakers under the collective label called Radio Silence. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are the primary directors under that moniker while Villella produces.

They have gained popularity over the past 13 years and their films have become known as having a certain Radio Silence “signature.” They are bloody, usually contain monsters, and have breakneck action sequences. Their recent film Abigail exemplifies that signature and is perhaps their best film yet. They are currently working on a reboot of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York.

We thought we would go through the list of projects they have directed and rank them from high to low. None of the movies and shorts on this list are bad, they all have their merits. These rankings from top to bottom are just ones we felt showcased their talents the best.

We didn’t include movies they produced but didn’t direct.

#1. Abigail

An update to the second film on this list, Abagail is the natural progression of Radio Silence’s love of lockdown horror. It follows in pretty much the same footsteps of Ready or Not, but manages to go one better — make it about vampires.

Abigail

#2. Ready or Not

This film put Radio Silence on the map. While not as successful at the box office as some of their other films, Ready or Not proved that the team could step outside their limited anthology space and create a fun, thrilling, and bloody adventure-length film.

Ready or Not

#3. Scream (2022)

While Scream will always be a polarizing franchise, this prequel, sequel, reboot — however you want to label it showed just how much Radio Silence knew the source material. It wasn’t lazy or cash-grabby, just a good time with legendary characters we love and new ones who grew on us.

Scream (2022)

#4 Southbound (The Way Out)

Radio Silence tosses their found footage modus operandi for this anthology film. Responsible for the bookend stories, they create a terrifying world in their segment titled The Way Out, which involves strange floating beings and some sort of time loop. It’s kind of the first time we see their work without a shaky cam. If we were to rank this entire film, it would remain at this position on the list.

Southbound

#5. V/H/S (10/31/98)

The film that started it all for Radio Silence. Or should we say the segment that started it all. Even though this isn’t feature-length what they managed to do with the time they had was very good. Their chapter was titled 10/31/98, a found-footage short involving a group of friends who crash what they think is a staged exorcism only to learn not to assume things on Halloween night.

V/H/S

#6. Scream VI

Cranking up the action, moving to the big city and letting Ghostface use a shotgun, Scream VI turned the franchise on its head. Like their first one, this film played with canon and managed to win over a lot of fans in its direction, but alienated others for coloring too far outside the lines of Wes Craven’s beloved series. If any sequel was showing how the trope was going stale it was Scream VI, but it managed to squeeze some fresh blood out of this nearly three-decade mainstay.

Scream VI

#7. Devil’s Due

Fairly underrated, this, Radio Silence’s first feature-length film, is a sampler of things they took from V/H/S. It was filmed in an omnipresent found footage style, showcasing a form of possession, and features clueless men. Since this was their first bonafide major studio job it’s a wonderful touchstone to see how far they have come with their storytelling.

Devil’s Due

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