The holidays take a grisly turn in the upcoming horror comedy Better Watch Out, and the new UK poster for the film displays a deadly twist on holiday decorating. In today's Horror Highlights, we also have home media release details for another holiday horror film, Red Christmas (starring Dee Wallace), as well as the new thriller House by the Lake, featuring a creepy character known as the Fish Man.

Better Watch Out UK Poster: Universal Pictures will release Better Watch Out in the UK on December 8th, and Well Go USA will release Better Watch Out in US theaters and on VOD beginning October 6th. In case you missed it, read our own Heather Wixson's Fantasia review of the film, as well as her interview with filmmaker Chris Peckover.

"The sadistic horror comedy begins on a quiet suburban street during the holiday season, a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from strangers breaking into the house, only to discover that this is far from a normal home invasion. Featuring a superb young cast including Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould (the stars of M.Night Shyamalan’s smash hit The Visit), and Pan’s Levi Miller who is on sensational form; as well as Family Guy’s Patrick Warburton, and Candyman’s Virginia Madsen."

Written and directed by Chris Peckover from a story by Zack Kahn, Better Watch Out stars Levi Miller, Ed Oxenbould, Olivia DeJonge, Dacre Montgomery, Virginia Madsen, and Patrick Warburton.

Red band trailer:

Red Christmas Home Media Release Details: Press Release: "Philadelphia, PA - Artsploitation has delivered the ultimate stocking stuffer with the home video release of the Australian horror film Red Christmas. Veteran television director and actor Craig Anderson makes his feature debut with Red Christmas, combining the banal horror of family gatherings with the issues of abortion, feminism, ethics, religion and privacy, with a blood-splattered twist on what happens when secrets refuse to stay dead. Following a theatrical rollout across the United States, Red Christmas will be available nationwide October 17th on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Vudu and more.

Genre icon Dee Wallace (The Hills Have Eyes, The Howling, E.T., Cujo, Critters) stars in a critically acclaimed role as the stressed-out mother of a squabbling family, gathered together in a remote Outback estate on Christmas Eve. Their petty dramas threaten to blacken the holiday until a mysterious and deformed stranger appears at the door seeking bloody vengeance.

Dee Wallace headlines as Diane, a matriarch presiding over the gathering of her squabbling grown children on Christmas Day. Tensions give way to terror when a deformed stranger appears at the door with vengeance on his mind. Diane must protect her family as limbs are severed and secrets are brought into the light.

The Blu-ray (SRP $22.99) and DVD (SRP $17.99) releases of Red Christmas will exclusively include a feature-length commentary with writer-director Craig Anderson, interviews with Dee Wallace, Gerald Odwyer and Craig Anderson, bloopers and more."

---------

House by the Lake: Press Release: Los Angeles, CA-- Random Media turns a picturesque retreat into a destination of terror in House by the Lake. Starring James Callis ("Battlestar Galactica", the Bridget Jones series), Anne Dudek ("Covert Affairs", "Big Love") and Amiah Miller (War for the Planet of the Apes, Lights Out) as a family on the edge, House by the Lake will debut nationwide on Cable VOD, Digital HD and DVD on October 10th.

House by the Lake is the latest stint in the director's chair by veteran genre scribe Adam Gierasch (Night of the Demons, Tales of Halloween, Fractured, Autopsy), with a script by newcomer Josh Burnell. Natasha Bassett (Hail Caesar!) and Michael Bowen ("Lost", "Breaking Bad") round out the main cast as the family's nanny and the unsettling man down the beach, respectively.

A struggling couple, Scott and Karen, pack up their troubled young daughter and head to a picturesque lake house to reconnect and put their problems behind them. As Emma spends time with her new nanny, the little girl begins fixating on an imaginary friend she calls the Fish Man. Karen's fear of the strange man down the beach, Emma's fear of the water and her recurring sleepwalking continue to raise tensions in the house and drive a wedge between Scott and Karen until one night Emma disappears. When she's found breathing underwater in the tub, Emma insists she's been with the Fish Man. And he's coming back for her.

The MOD physical release of House by the Lake (SRP $19.95) will be available from all major online retailers."

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.