Hard to believe, but December is nearly upon us, and that means we have a brand new batch of Digital and VOD releases to look forward to over the next few weeks. And for those of you looking to indulge in some non-holiday cinematic delights next month, there seems to be quite a variety of films hitting VOD and other digital platforms to keep you cozy inside your home, away from the brutality of winter and its harsh elements.
December’s releases kick off on the 1st with Somebody’s Darling, and December 5th is one of the busiest days of the month with six different titles making their digital bow: The Gatehouse, The Doll Master, Apocalypse Road, Flashburn, K-SHOP, and The White King. Then, just a few days later, IFC Midnight is releasing the psychological thriller Kaleidoscope, and on December 12th, both The Cutlass and Flatliners (2017) come home.
IFC Midnight has given the survival horror flick Desolation a December 15th digital release, and the month wraps up with undoubtedly the two biggest titles to get a digital release during December: Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of IT (12/19) and Denis Villenueve’s Blade Runner 2049 (12/26).
Somebody’s Darling (UFOClub Creative) – December 1st
A brooding mysterious fraternity president becomes obsessed with a coed despite having it all in his privileged existence. What begins as a hopeful romance twists into obsession, and he risks his social standing in his pursuit of her heart. It seems that a positive change of character might bloom as he drifts away from the misogynistic, hedonist ways of his frat brothers.
But a dark secret seems to cloak it all, and glimpses of truth surface in his surreal visions and dreams. Huge and horrible revelations mark the violent finale of this retro-styled, psychological, horror drama touching upon current issues of date rape culture, southern history, and privilege.
Apocalypse Road (Wild Eye Releasing) – December 5th
Following a post-apocalyptic event, two sisters are hunted down and separated by a gang of ruthless killers intent on creating their own twisted form of law and order. The sisters must fight through this new, dangerous world to stay alive in the hopes of being reunited, and escaping to freedom.
The Doll Master (Cinedigm) – December 5th
When Norman's nightmares become reality, he must overcome his fears and confront the demonic forces that have possessed Hugo, his prize Doll.
Flashburn (Level 33 Entertainment) – December 5th
Wes Nolan wakes up in an abandoned warehouse with a case of amnesia. He has been kidnapped by someone named "Lazarus" who has him held captive in order to obtain the cure for an Ebola outbreak. Wes was a virologist and microbiologist who was working to engineer a bacteria protein carrier to attack the Ebola before it could destroy human cells. Instead of destroying the Ebola, Wes' protein mutated the virus into something much more potent. Now Wes must try to regain his memory and discover what really happened to him so that he can find a cure to the disease that’s wiping out much of the human population.
The Gatehouse (Uncork’d Entertainment) – December 5th
Jack is a struggling writer recovering from the death of his wife. His daughter, 10-Year-Old Eternity, loves digging for treasure in the forest behind her house. In a coincidental turn of fate, Jack agrees to undertake a writing project about the ‘legend of the black flowers’ at the same time that Eternity discovers a mysterious object in the woods, and the forest wants it back. They’ve unlocked an ancient curse and must now fight for survival.
K-SHOP (Breaking Glass Pictures) – December 5th
After his father is killed in an altercation with drunken thugs, Salah's world is plunged into darkness. Forced into running the family kebab shop alone, Salah struggles to manage the increasingly rowdy nightlife. When a fight with an angry customer goes fatally wrong, he finds himself with a dead body on his hands. Having no faith in the authorities, Salah disposes of the body in the one place he knows best: the kebabs. As the shop's gullible customers devour the new recipe, Salah develops a taste for the kill and seizes the opportunity to turn vigilante, seeking vengeance for the abusive drunkards plaguing the streets.
The White King (Omnibus Entertainment) – December 5th
Combining elements of George Orwell's 1984 with J. G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun, and featuring themes similarly explored in the current hit series "A Handmaid's Tale" and "The Man in the High Castle," THE WHITE KING, the debut feature film from co-directors Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel, is a sci-fi drama set in a dystopian future. Based on the internationally acclaimed, award winning novel by György Dragomán, the stark genre film called "eerily prescient given the current state of political affairs" (WOW247) stars Jonathan Pryce ("Game of Thrones"), Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song), Greta Scacchi ("War & Peace"), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The BFG), Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter series), Ross Partridge ("Stranger Things") and newcomer Lorenzo Allchurch.
Djata (Allchurch) is a care-free twelve-year-old growing up in "The Homeland," a totalitarian state shut off from the outside world. Filled with Big Brother-like surveillance cameras and propaganda posters, the agrarian community at first seems peaceful and orderly, kept safe by an enormous statue dominating the landscape. But when Djata's father, Peter (Partridge) is whisked away to a deadly work camp, the young boy and his mother, Hannah (Deyn) are labeled traitors and forced to navigate a world of propaganda, abuse and secret police. Before his father was taken away, however, he passed a secret to Djata that could change everything.
Kaleidoscope (IFC Midnight) – December 8th
This intense, twisty thriller unfolds in the darkest corners of a man’s mind. Recently released from prison, mild-mannered Carl (Toby Jones) quietly attempts to move on with his life. Just as he embarks on his first date in 15 years, Carl’s fresh start is shattered by the sudden reappearance of his domineering mother (Anne Reid), whose presence awakens within him a deep-seated trauma. What unfolds is a brain-warping puzzle as reality and illusion, past and present collide and explode in violence. The debut feature from Rupert Jones is a provocative psychological mystery that asks: is it possible to escape our past?
The Cutlass (Wild Eye Releasing) – December 12th
A young tourist is abducted from her family into the jungles of Trinidad by a dangerous, armed sociopath. While the authorities and her family attempt to find her with no success, she is forced to mentally and physically outmaneuver her captor in an effort to stay alive and escape to safety.
Flatliners (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) – December 12th
Five medical students, hoping to gain insight into the mystery of what lies beyond the confines of life, embark on a daring and dangerous experiment. By stopping their hearts for short periods of time, each triggers a near-death experience. As the investigation becomes more and more perilous, they are forced to confront the sins of their pasts, as well as contend with the supernatural consequences of trespassing to the other side.
Desolation (IFC Midnight) – December 15th
After the death of her husband, Abby (Jaimi Page), her son, Sam (Toby Nichols) and best friend, Jen (Alyshia Ochse), venture into the forests of upstate NY on a camping trip, only to find themselves in danger from a mysterious hiker (Claude Duhamel) with malicious intentions. As the trio attempts to navigate the vast wilderness in search of safety, they find themselves the hunted prey in a deranged killer’s terrifying game and the only way to survive is to kill - or be killed.
Friend Request (Lionsgate) – December 19th
Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is a popular college student who lives her college life to the fullest and gladly shares it with her 800 Facebook friends. But when she accepts a friend request from her mysterious classmate Marina (Liesl Ahlers), she unwittingly sets a terrible curse in motion. The dead girl’s impenetrable profile begins to drive Laura into isolation. It takes control of Laura’s virtual world and her real life as well. One after another, her closest friends die horrendous deaths, leaving Laura with only a few days to solve the enigma of this haunting curse to save the few friends she has left, as well as her own life.
IT (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) – December 19th
When children in town begin to disappear, a group of young kids is faced with their biggest fears as they square off against evil clown, Pennywise. Based on the Stephen King novel.
Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) – December 26th
A new blade runner unearths a secret that could plunge what's left of society into chaos and leads him on a quest to find a former LAPD blade runner who's been missing for 30 years.
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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