While there may be a serious lack of theatrical horror coming our way this Halloween season, fear not genre fans, as we have over 15 different horror and sci-fi titles making their way onto smaller screens this October, which should help take the sting off a bit. Several great films I happened to catch earlier on this year at various festivals – The Greasy Strangler, In A Valley of Violence and Under the Shadow – are all making their VOD debuts this month, and you also have the remastered version of Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm and the series final sequel, Phantasm: Ravager, to look forward to as well.
Other notable VOD releases for October 2016 include The Windmill, The Unspoken, ClownTown, Fear, Inc., Vampyres, Halloweed, and Goddess of Love from Jon Knautz (The Shrine, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer).
ClownTown (ITN Distribution) – October 4th
CLOWNTOWN tells the story of a group of friends who get stranded in a seemingly abandoned town and find themselves stalked by a gang of violent psychopaths dressed as clowns. It is loosely inspired by the clowns who terrorized Bakersfield, CA in 2014.
Phantasm: Ravager (Well Go USA Entertainment) – October 4th
Phantasm: Ravager is an all-new film that brings one of cinema’s longest-running franchises (36 years!) without a reboot to a close, with Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) and Reggie (Reggie Banister) teaming up to confront the dimension-hopping Tall Man (Angus Scrimm, in his final role) once and for all.
Phantasm: Remastered (Well Go USA Entertainment) – October 4th
The remastered original classic that started it all, in which two brothers discover their local mortuary hides a legion of hooded killer dwarfs, a flying drill-ball, and the demonic mortician who enslaves the souls of the damned.
Goddess of Love (Terror Films) – October 7th
Venus (Alexis Kendra), a lonely, eccentric woman, meets Brian (Woody Naismith), the man of her dreams. A sexually fueled, passionate relationship begins. But as time progresses, that wonderful honeymoon phase changes into something hellish. Brian breaks things off when his old fling, Christine (Elizabeth Sandy), comes back into his life. Completely destroyed, Venus begins a downward spiral into madness as she acts out her twisted fantasies of love and revenge.
The Greasy Strangler (SpectreVision) – October 7th
This Los Angeles–set tale follows Big Ronnie, a man who runs a disco walking tour along with his browbeaten son, Brayden. When a sexy, alluring woman named Janet comes to take the tour, it begins a competition between father and son for her attentions. It also brings about the appearance of an oily, slimy, inhuman maniac who stalks the streets at night and strangles the innocent—soon dubbed “the Greasy Strangler.”
Flush your expectations down the toilet, because you have never seen a slasher film or a father-son comedy like this before. Writer/Director Jim Hosking has made an outrageously off-kilter feature film debut that is equal parts disgusting, offensive, and manically entertaining. Featuring performances by Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, and Elizabeth De Razzo that are destined for cult status, The Greasy Strangler also enlists a dream team of talent behind the camera, including a deliriously fun score by Andrew Hung of Fuck Buttons and a few of the most prominent genre film producers from across the globe including Theo Brooks, Tim League, Ben Wheatley, Andrew Starke, Ant Timpson, Josh C. Waller, Daniel Noah, and Elijah Wood.
Under the Shadow (Vertical Entertainment/XYZ Films) – October 7th
Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her family live amid the chaos of the Iran-Iraq war, a period known as The War of the Cities. Accused of subversion by the post-Revolution government and blacklisted from medical college, she falls into a state of malaise. With Tehran under the constant threat of aerial bombardment, her husband (Bobby Naderi) is drafted and sent to the frontlines by the army, leaving Shideh all alone to protect their young daughter, Dorsa (Avin Manshadi). Soon after he leaves, a missile hits their apartment building and while failing to explode, a neighbor dies under mysterious circumstances and Dorsa’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic.
Shideh finds herself slowly drawn into the ensuing turmoil, struggling to cling onto what is real and what is not. Searching for answers, she learns from a superstitious neighbor that the cursed missile might have brought with it Djinn – malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits that travel on the wind. Convinced that a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess Dorsa, Shideh has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.
Phantom of the Theatre (Well Go USA Entertainment) – October 11th
A haunted theatre, filled with the vengeful spirits of a tragically-trapped performance troupe murdered in a fire 13 years ago, waits for the once-grand palatial playhouse to re-open with a new show ... and bring in new victims.. Starring Ruby Lin, Simon Yam, and Tony Yang.
Halloweed (Screen Media Films) – October 18th
Stoner Trent, son of the Candy Corn Killer, and his best bud move to a small town to escape an evil legacy. But soon after they roll up, everything goes to pot as the bodies pile high and they must weed out suspects to smoke out the killer.
Minutes Past Midnight (Uncork’d Entertainment) – October 18th
As midnight falls, all manner of terror invades the Earth. Demons, cannibals, killers, ghosts and monsters swarm the world in these tales of the supernatural, the fantastic, and the just plain horrific. Featuring nine stories of horror.
Razors (Breaking Glass Pictures) – October 18th
While attending an intensive writing workshop held in a crumbling Victorian building, young writer Ruth Walker is challenged to write the ultimate horror movie by enigmatic screenwriting guru, Professor Richard Wise. But what are his motives? What secrets are hidden inside the ancient building? And are the knives Ruth has discovered really those used by notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper?
Ruth was told that the box of knives must never be opened, but the box goes missing and the killings begin. As the ghost of a young Victorian girl haunts Ruth and her fellow screenwriters, the Ripper of legend rises to renew his murderous spree. As bodies begin to pile up, it appears that everyone trapped in the building has a connection to the original mystery.
Vampyres (Artsploitation Films) – October 18th
A lesbian vampire couple waylay and abduct various passersby, both male and female, to hold them captive at their rural manor in the English countryside in order to kill and feed on them to satisfy their insatiable thirst for blood.
Fear, Inc. (Electric Entertainment) – October 21st
When horror movie enthusiast Joe Foster (Lucas Neff) and his girlfriend, Lindsey Gains (Caitlin Stasey), are handed a business card for such a company, Joe’s curiosity gets the best of him. As the Fear, Inc. experience seemingly begins, scares start popping up right out of Joe’s favorite horror movies, quickly turning him into a kid in a candy store. If the kid was a self righteous thirty year old and the candy store was the prop room from SAW. After a friend explains the company’s dangerous reputation, his rollercoaster of a journey goes from light hearted fun to uncomfortably realistic as things take a major turn for the worse. Joe’s sense of reality spirals out of control as he’s forced to take responsibility for his actions, no matter the cost.
In a Valley of Violence (Focus World) – October 21st
A mysterious drifter named Paul (Ethan Hawke) and his dog (YouTube sensation Jumpy) make their way towards Mexico through the barren desert of the old west. In an attempt to shorten their journey, they cut through the center of a large valley -- landing themselves in the forgotten town of Denton, a place now dubbed by locals as a "valley of violence." The once-popular mining town is nearly abandoned and controlled by a brash group of misfits -- chief among them Gilly (James Ransone), the troublemaking son of the town’s Marshal (John Travolta).
As tensions rise between Paul and Gilly, Denton’s remaining residents bear witness to an inevitable act of violence that starts a disastrous chain reaction, infecting the petty lives of all involved and quickly drags the whole town into the bloody crosshairs of revenge. Mary-Anne (Taissa Farmiga) and Ellen (Karen Gillan), two bickering sisters who run the town’s only hotel, try to find the good in both men, while desperately searching for their own salvation. Only the world-weary Marshal struggles to stop the violent hysteria, but after a gruesome discovery about Paul’s past… there is no stopping the escalation.
StalkHer (Cleopatra Films) – October 21st
Jack is pushed past the brink of his stalking obsession when he decides to break into Emily's home to take what he wants by force. However, his plans for her pain and his pleasure come unhinged when he wakes up to find himself bleeding and bound to a chair in her kitchen. For one night Jack and Emily engage in a twisted and thrilling courtship of the sexes that leads one to wonder which one of them will survive the night.
The Windmill (XLRator Media) – October 25th
A group of unsuspecting tourists awaken a mysterious evil while on a trip through the Dutch countryside.
The Unspoken (Starz Digital) – October 28th
In 1997, the close-knit Anderson family vanished from their country home without a trace without an explanation. No bodies were ever found and for 17 years the house has remained undisturbed...until now. A sinister tale of haunting and murder, THE UNSPOKEN is a refreshing twist on the horror genre just in time for Halloween.
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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