With winter still in full swing, most genre fans are looking for entertainment alternatives they can enjoy from the comfort of their own homes, and February certainly has you covered, because we have over 20 films making their way to various VOD and digital streaming platforms this month.
The indie horror hybrid The Campus kicks things off on the 1st, and the very next day, Tragedy Girls (one of my very favorite films of 2017) finally comes home courtesy of Gunpowder & Sky. Undoubtedly two of the biggest sequels making their digital bows in February are Victor Crowley (February 6th) and Hellraiser: Judgment (February 13th), and Netflix is also keeping busy with a pair of exclusive releases: The Ritual from David Bruckner on the 9th and Duncan Jones’ Mute on the 23rd.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is bringing home a pair of terror-filled treats on February 6th—House of Demons and Keep Watching—and IFC Midnight is set to release The Housemaid on February 16th. Other notable VOD and Digital releases for February 2018 include Bad Apples, Looking Glass, Inoperable, Hangman, Still/Born, The Lodgers, and Like Me (which blew me away when I watched it during the 2017 SXSW Film Festival).
The Campus (Gas Money Pictures) – February 1st **Exclusively on Amazon Instant**
Robert dies after breaking his deal with the Devil, bringing his daughter home for the funeral. Rachel arrives with the intent of ripping off the family business but soon finds herself in a never-ending cycle of terror; being brutally murdered then resurrected over and over again - each time losing another piece of her soul.
Tragedy Girls (Gunpowder & Sky) – February 2nd
Best friends Sadie and McKayla are on a mission to boost their social media fandom as amateur crime reporters hot on the trail of a deranged local serial killer. After they manage to capture the killer and secretly hold him hostage, they realize the best way to up get scoops on future victims would be to, you know, murder people themselves. As the @TragedyGirls become an overnight sensation and panic grips their small town, can their friendship survive the strain of national stardom? Will they get caught? Will their accounts get verified?
Bad Apples (Uncork’d Entertainment) – February 6th
It’s Halloween night, and two “bad apples” decide to play some wicked tricks on the one house in a suburban cul-de-sac that is not celebrating Halloween. They terrorize a young couple in their home and these tricks become increasingly more sinister as the night progresses, finally ending in a Halloween the entire neighborhood will never forget.
Curse of the Witch’s Doll (High Octane Pictures) – February 6th
Adeline Gray’s attempt to escape bombing in her home town leads her to a derelict, creepy manor in the woods. When Adeline’s young daughter goes missing during a game of hide-and-seek, a series of inexplicable events lead her to believe a haunted doll holds a vengeful soul; the soul of a murdered Witch. As Adeline’s desperate search for her daughter continues, it soon becomes clear; to have any hope of being reunited, she must defeat the curse of The Witch’s Doll.
Diverge (Gravitas Ventures) – February 6th
In the aftermath of a mysterious pandemic that’s turned cities into wastelands, a man desperately searches for a way to cure his ailing wife as she battles a deadly virus. When he is captured by a cryptic stranger, he is offered the chance to save not only his wife but the world.
House of Demons (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) – February 6th
Gwen, Matthew, Katrina, and Spencer were best friends for years, until a terrible tragedy tore them apart. Ten years later, they reunite in a rented house for a destination wedding. What they don't know is that in the late ‘60s, the house was home to a Manson Family-like cult run by Frazer, a charismatic former scientist pushing the boundaries of human consciousness. His experiments echo through time and manifest everyone's darkest fears and memories, blurring time as Frazer's cult and the present day collide over the course of one long night, where everyone must confront their darkness or be destroyed by it.
Inoperable (ITN Distribution) – February 6th
A young woman wakes up in a seemingly evacuated hospital with a hurricane approaching. She realizes the storm has awakened malevolent forces, trapping her in a time loop. She must escape the hospital before the storm passes or she will be trapped in its halls forever.
Keep Watching (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) – February 6th
A family imprisoned by intruders is forced to play a terrifying game. As the night unfolds, the game's mysterious rules become clear, and the family realizes their nightmare is being streamed live to riveted viewers all over the world, who are compelled to KEEP WATCHING...not knowing if what they're seeing is real, or staged.
Victor Crowley (Dark Sky Films) – February 6th
Set a decade after the events of the series' first three films, VICTOR CROWLEY reunites Hatchet mainstays Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th 7 -X's Jason Voorhees) and Parry Shen (Better Luck Tomorrow) for an all-new, horrifying journey into the haunted, blood-drenched bayou.
In 2007, over forty people were brutally torn to pieces in Louisiana's Honey Island Swamp. Over the past decade, lone survivor Andrew Yong's claims that local legend Victor Crowley was responsible for the horrific massacre have been met with great controversy, but when a twist of fate puts him back at the scene of the tragedy, Crowley is mistakenly resurrected, and Yong must face the bloodthirsty ghost from his past.
The Ritual (Netflix Exclusive Release) – February 9th
Reuniting after the tragic death of their best mate, four old friends from university set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness. But a wrong turn leads them into the dark and mysterious forests of Norse legend, where an ancient evil still exists and stalks them at every turn.
Still/Born (Vertical Entertainment) – February 9th
Mary, a new mother gives birth to two twins but only one of them is alive. While taking care of her remaining child, Adam, she suspects that something, a supernatural entity, has chosen her child and will stop at nothing to take it from her.
Hellraiser: Judgment (Lionsgate) – February 13th
Experience a terrifying new chapter in the legendary Hellraiser series when Hellraiser: Judgment arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD, Digital, and On Demand February 13 from Lionsgate. The tenth film in the classic horror series tells the story of three detectives as they struggle to solve a horrifying murder, but instead find themselves thrust into the depths of Pinhead’s hellacious landscape. Including horror icon Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare), it was written and directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe (Hansel & Gretel).
The Housemaid (IFC Midnight) – February 16th
A forbidden passion awakens vengeful spirits within a haunted mansion in this bloodcurdling, erotic tour-de-force. Vietnam, 1953: Linh (Nhung Kate), a poor, orphaned young woman, finds employment as a housemaid in a crumbling rubber plantation presided over by the emotionally fragile French officer Sebastien Laurent (Jean-Michel Richaud). Soon, a torrid love affair develops between the two – a taboo romance that rouses the ghost of Laurent’s dead wife, who won’t rest until blood flows. Submerged in moody Gothic atmosphere, this stylish supernatural saga confronts the dark shadows of Vietnam’s colonial past while delivering heart-stopping scares.
Looking Glass (Momentum Pictures) – February 16th
In LOOKING GLASS, Ray (Nicolas Cage) must save his wife and himself from a gruesome secret connected to a motel and the strange people who visit there.
Days of Power (Gravitas Ventures) – February 20th
Days of Power through a creative allegory of indie musicians illustrates the parallels in their lives and the cruel and perilous world of puppy mills. The film follows a Swiss singer/songwriter on tour, until a quick stop finds MTG and members of her band fighting for their lives.
Like Me (Kino Lorber) – February 20th
A reckless loner (Addison Timlin, FALLEN, LITTLE SISTER) sets out on a crime spree that she broadcasts on social media. After releasing a video of herself robbing a convenience store, she amasses a huge following. While traveling along the coast, she encounters a drifter, an Internet troll, and a paint huffing outsider who are all pulled into her circle of chaos, junk food, and drugs. Robert Mockler's visually arresting debut feature, produced by indie horror veteran Larry Fessenden, takes the viewer into a world of fabricated personalities and offers a thought-provoking portrait of isolation in our increasingly digital world.
7 Guardians of the Tomb (Gravitas Ventures) – February 23rd
An innocent discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China unearths a 2000-year-old nightmare - a secret that should have remained buried. The largest Chinese-Australian co-production to date, 7 Guardians of the Tomb stars Golden Globe ® and Emmy ® winner Kelsey Grammer (“Boss,” “The Last Tycoon”), Kellan Lutz (The Legend of Hercules, Twilight) and multi-award-winning Chinese actress and singer Bingbing Li. As a team of scientists who lose a colleague in an ancient labyrinth, the motley crew must work together to recover him while trying to make the discovery of a century. In their quest they find themselves underground, battling ancient, terrifying Chinese magic and making their way through a swarm of deadly, man-eating spiders – only to uncover the secret behind the insects’ power and intelligence.
The Cured (IFC Films) – February 23rd
What happens when the undead return to life? In a world ravaged for years by a virus that turns the infected into zombie-like cannibals, a cure is at last found and the wrenching process of reintegrating the survivors back into society begins. Among the formerly afflicted is Senan (Sam Keeley), a young man haunted by the horrific acts he committed while infected. Welcomed back into the family of his widowed sister-in-law (Ellen Page), Senan attempts to restart his life—but is society ready to forgive him and those like him? Or will fear and prejudice once again tear the world apart? Pulsing with provocative parallels to our troubled times, The Cured is a smart, scary, and hauntingly human tale of guilt and redemption.
The Lodgers (Epic Pictures) – February 23rd
1920, rural Ireland. Anglo Irish twins Rachel and Edward share a strange existence in their crumbling family estate. Each midnight, the mansion is haunted by the sinister presence of “The Lodgers,” which enforce three rules upon the twins: they must be in bed by midnight, they may not permit an outsider past the threshold, and they must stay together. When troubled war veteran Sean returns to the nearby village, he is immediately drawn to the mysterious Rachel, who in turn begins to break the rules set out by The Lodgers. The consequences pull Rachel into a deadly confrontation with her brother and with the curse that haunts them.
Mute (Netflix Exclusive Release) – February 23rd
Berlin, the future, but close enough to feel familiar: In this loud, often brutal city, Leo (Alexander Skarsgård) - unable to speak from a childhood accident - searches for his missing girlfriend, the love of his life, his salvation, through dark streets, frenzied plazas, and the full spectrum of the cities shadow-dwellers. As he seeks answers, Leo finds himself mixed up with Cactus Bill (Paul Rudd) and Duck (Justin Theroux), a pair of irreverent US army surgeons on a mission all their own. This soulful sci-fi journey from filmmaker Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code, Warcraft) imagines a world of strange currencies in which echoes of love and humanity are still worth listening to.
Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight (Epic Pictures) – February 23rd
Directed by Alan Lo, Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight is the slapstick story of Lone (Michael Ning) and Yeung (Louis Cheung), a pair of eccentrics who think of themselves as heroes, particularly when a zombie outbreak caused by Lone’s favorite animated monster — a man-sized chicken monster — hits. Crowd reaction at recent screenings across the U.S. was quite favorable for this quirky Chinese zombie horror comedy.
Hangman (Lionsgate) – February 27th
Decorated homicide detective Ray Archer (Al Pacino) partners with criminal profiler Will Ruiney (Karl Urban) to catch one of the city's notoriously vicious serial killers, who is playing a twisted version of the child’s game hangman, while journalist Christi Davies (Brittany Snow) reports on the crime spree, shadowing the detectives.
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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