Week of December 8-14:
The Activated Man
Release: Theatrical (Limited)
As Ors Gabriel struggles with the grief from losing his best friend and beloved dog to cancer, the trauma brings on strange visions only Ors can see. While he questions whether his mind has fractured or if it’s actually real, a mysterious rise in murder-suicides takes hold of the city, and Ors becomes haunted by images of a shadowy figure known as ‘The Fedora Man’. Through torments and terror, Ors must face his fears and confront ‘The Fedora Man’ as he uncovers dark secrets from his past, while finally embracing who he really is, and what he is meant to do.
Deus Irae
Release: Screambox
Father Javier lives a fractured existence: on one side, he assists families who claim to have witnessed miracles, and on the other he is part of a trio of excommunicated priests who hunt the possessed down to exorcize them under their own terms: with Bibles, fire and shotguns.
Heretic
Release: Premium VOD
Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
The Man in the White Van
Release: Theatrical (Limited)
In 1975 Florida, a series of violent disappearances go unnoticed, and young Annie (Madison Wolfe) is targeted by an ominous white van that stalks her every move. As the menace escalates, her parents dismiss her fears, and Annie is soon plunged into a terrifying nightmare that shatters her world.
Mudbrick
Release: On Demand
PAUL’s return to his Serbian roots unearths a broken-down family home held hostage by secrets. As he confronts his estranged brother JAKOV, a chilling web of runes, totems, and whispered names ensnares him in a sinister dance with Slavic folklore. Unraveling a past woven with dark rituals and tragic choices, Paul discovers that the decaying walls harbor not just memories but a cyclical curse. Faced with the malevolent god VELES and the consequences of a desperate pact, he must navigate a treacherous path of familial tragedy, chilling revelations, and a fiery reckoning that echoes through the ages.
What Lurks Beneath
Release: On Demand
The crew of USS Titan find themselves on the brink of World War 3 with Russia when a stowaway appears in one of their torpedo tubes. Captain Banks fears she may be Russian, but she’s something far more dangerous.
Abruptio
Down-trodden Les Hackel wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating him.
The Block Island Sound
Ecological and cosmic horror haunt the isolated Block Island Sound in this NETFLIX horror stunner! Synapse Films now brings the terrifying vision of the McManus Brothers to home video on the 4K UHD Blu-ray format with exciting special features! Something terrifying is happening off the coast of Block Island. A strange force is thriving, influencing residents and wildlife alike. Birds are dropping out of the sky and fish are mysteriously washing up on shore. As some residents are suffering from inexplicable emotional collapse, Harry Lynch (Chris Sheffield) watches with dread as his father grows increasingly forgetful, confused and angry. Very, very angry! His sister Audry (Michaela McManus), whose work in marine biology will soon prove invaluable, returns to town with her daughter and leads them all towards chilling revelations that will affect her family in unimaginable ways.
The Cat And The Canary
Twenty years after the death of millionaire Cyrus West, his surviving relatives are called together in a decaying mansion on the Hudson River. There, they gather to hear West’s lawyer Roger Crosby (Tully Marshall) read his last will and testament and discover that West has left everything to his niece Annabelle (Laura La Plante). That is, at least, on the condition that she is judged to be legally sane. As the family settles in for the evening, tensions rise when they are informed that a murderer nicknamed the Cat has escaped from a nearby asylum and is suspected to be somewhere on the grounds. Crosby soon disappears in mysterious circumstances, which proves to be just the first in a series of horrifying events that will punctuate a long, dark night of terror – during which Annabelle’s sanity will be called into question again and again.
Creatures
A group of astronomy students get more than they bargained for after finding an injured alien who is being targeted by a group of bloodthirsty CREATURES!
Crust
A depressed has-been child actor and owner of a dingy laundromat, becomes powerfully vengeful when his collection of lone socks transforms into a protective, cute, murderous monster named Crust.
Cursed in Baja
Pirelli, an ex-lawman, travels to Mexico searching for the heir to a Los Angeles fortune, while confronting his own complicated past. But what he finds in Baja challenges him to the core.
Dariuss
The loss of a young girl… Her family…devastated. A remote house in the quiet English countryside of Essex… …each member of the family is affected and deals with such pain and loss differently. What such terrible tragedy can cause to an ordinary middle-class family is unbelievable. A hand camera, a woman, high heels, hair scalps and a child. An unspeakable, sickening and perverse cinematographic voyage of BLOOD and MADNESS… …like never seen before !!!
The Escapees
Between the dystopian paranoia of The Night of the Hunted and the visceral excesses of The Living Dead Girl, director Jean Rollin takes a surreal detour into the Parisian demi-monde with The Escapees (Les Echappées, also known as Les Paumées du petit matin). When two young women, the wayward Michelle (Laurence Dubas) and the withdrawn Marie (Christiane Coppé), escape from an asylum, they find themselves drifting through a nightmarish world of burlesque troupes, lascivious sailors, and hardened criminals. After a violent confrontation, the police close in…
Ghost Game
A couple’s internet challenge goes tragically wrong as they venture into a haunted house filled with unhappy forces of evil.
The Giant Spider Invasion 4K
The #8 release in the Dark Force 4K ULTRA HD Platinum series is this 1975 cult classic, hilariously cheesy throwback to the giant-monster flicks craze of the 50s! In “The Giant Spider Invasion”, giant arachnids from outer space begin to invade Earth after a huge black hole appears in a farmer’s field outside a small town in Wisconsin. A NASA scientist deduces the invasion is the result of some sort of intergalactic gateway and devises a plan to stop the huge, hairy, creeping crawlers from devouring the local population.
Killin’ Time
Members of the true-crime podcast, Killin’ Time, set out for a weekend in the Adirondacks to investigate the scene of the infamous Darien Cross cult killings from a decade ago. It was rumored that there was one survivor, who killed Darien, but his body disappeared, leaving no trace and was never recovered. The group has also brought along Ariella, the sister of the sole-survivor of the killings, for the adventure and fun. While the podcasters are there looking for good material for their podcast, Ariella is there to look for answers. However, the group is not alone in the woods; Mistress Morgan and her two evil bunnies have an agenda of their own and it is pure evil. As members of a coven, the women seek to resurrect Darien Cross so that he can continue his path of terror and destruction.
The Last Video Store
When her estranged father passes, twenty-something Nyla is tasked with the thing she hates the most – cleaning up his mess. Left behind are a collection of VHS tapes, and with them, the burden of returning them to “Blaster Video” a time capsule to an era in which cover art and a catchy movie title were king, run by Kevin, a human encyclopedia of VHS history and a friend of her father. Amongst the returns is an unknown tape, a movie not even Kevin has heard of. Was this the last movie Nyla’s father watched before he died? The mystery is too much to resist. But when Kevin and Nyla press play, they unwittingly activate a long-dormant curse and a series of classic cinematic villains are plucked from B-movie heaven and hell to be unleashed into the store itself!
The Maker Of Monsters
Legendary cult icon George Stover headlines a great cast in James Ian Mair’s old-fashioned monster film The Maker of Monsters. Depraved scientist Dr. Simon Vanard (Mark Dessauer) falls madly in love with the beautiful Lilly Struthers (Katie Harbridge), who shares a strong resemblance to his deceased wife. Upon realizing of Vanard’s intentions to marry Lilly, her fiance Derek Raines (James Ian Mair) attempts to thwart Vanard’s plans but falls victim to his fiendish experiments, which turn him into a hideous beast. Now, Derek must fight the urge to feast on human flesh in his quest to save Lilly from Vanard’s evil schemes.
Mother Mortis
When deranged and sadistic serial killer MOTHER MORTIS (played by JAY ADDAMZ) and his satanic cult embark on a rampage of torture, death and bizarre rituals in a bid to summon an interdimensional demon to devour this universe, only a rag-tag group of survivors can save us from destruction! Led by none other than NOMI LUCIEN (played by HOLLY LAURA PLATT), the sister of MOTHER MORTIS, our unlikely band of misfits will try to put a stop to MOTHER MORTIS and his murderous reign of death, depravity and terror.
Quadrant
Developed by scientists Harry and Meg, the Quadrant helmet allows your mind to transport you into a world where all your phobias and nightmares are real, while also granting you the strength to defeat them, liberating you from their control forever. But the Quadrant experiment is about to go horribly wrong. When Erin, a young girl who’s obsessed with Jack the Ripper uses the device to actually BECOME the Ripper, she unleashes a reign of terror, first in her mind in an AI version of old London created by the Quadrant, and then in reality, where she now stalks the contemporary city streets, seeking out victims for her blade. The only way to stop this savage new Ripper is for an even more vicious killer to enter the artificial Qudrant-verse and bring her down. What ensues is a brutal, bloody battle, murderer against murderer, both in this world and the surreal, dangerous, synthetic world of Quadrant.
Requiem for a Vampire
Jean Rollin continues his unique exploration of the vampire genre with Requiem for a Vampire (Requiem pour un vampire), featuring a cast of Rollin regulars including Marie-Pierre Castel, Mirelle Dargent and Louise Dhour. When Marie (Castel) and Michelle (Dargent), two enigmatic women travelling through the countryside in clown costumes, stumble across a mysterious château, they uncover a sadistic vampire sect, the leader of which offers them eternal life to continue his bloodline.
Silent Night, Deadly Night: 40th Anniversary Edition 4K
Silent Night, Deadly Night is the heartwarming story of little Billy Chapman who was traumatized by his parents’ Christmas Eve murder, then brutalized by sadistic orphanage nuns. But when grown-up Billy is to dress as jolly St. Nick, he goes on a yuletide rampage to “punish the naughty!” Santa Claus is coming to town…and this time he’s got an axe! Robert Brian Wilson and Scream Queen Linnea Quigley star in this jaw-dropping horror classic that a nation of angry mothers still cannot stop!
The Soul Eater
Chief Inspector Elisabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen) is sent to the remote mountain village of Roquenoir to investigate a gruesome double murder. At the same time, Gendarmerie Captain Franck de Rolan (Paul Hamy) arrives in the small community to investigate the abduction of several local children. There is nothing to suggest a connection between the cases. But then Guardiano and de Rolan come across the ancient legend of the Soul Eater…
The Tourists
A group of friends sets out for a laid-back getaway in a secluded forest town, but what starts as an idyllic escape quickly twists into something sinister. Drawn by curiosity, they stumble upon a peculiar street horror show put on by the locals. This Circus of Horror promises thrills, but soon proves to be more than just theatrics it’s a window into the town’s darkest secrets and deep-seated grudges. As the friends navigate strange encounters and unsettling monologues from the townsfolk, they realize they’re not just spectators they’re the stars of a chilling game. The locals, who see them as trespassers, subject the group to a nightmarish performance that forces them to confront not only their deepest fears, but also the hidden cost of their intrusion into this untouched wilderness.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2
Deep within the 100-Acre-Wood, a destructive rage grows as Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Owl, and Tigger find their home and their lives endangered after Christopher Robin revealed their existence. Not wanting to live in the shadows any longer, the group decides to take the fight to the town of Ashdown, home of Christopher Robin, leaving a bloody trail of death and mayhem in their wake. Winnie and his savage friends will show everyone that they are deadlier, stronger and smarter than anyone could ever imagine and get their revenge on Christopher Robin, once and for all.