Hard to believe that July is already upon us, but before we all take off for some summer shenanigans over this long holiday weekend, here’s a look at all the great VOD titles coming our way this month, including one of my favorite films I’ve seen in 2016, Mickey Keating’s brilliant Carnage Park, which is being released by IFC Midnight.
Marauders, the latest from Steven C. Miller (The Aggression Scale, Silent Night) is also making its VOD premiere on July 1st, along with Magnet Releasing's Satanic, and Gravitas Ventures wants us to indulge in some Bachelor Games on July 8th. The haunting and beautiful Japanese animated film, Belladonna of Sadness—something all genre fans should experience at least once in their lifetimes (it’s amazing)—arrives on VOD on July 12th, and the revenge thriller Angels and Outlaws will be released on July 15th.
Other notable VOD titles for July include All Girls Weekend and Viral, premiering exclusively on Digital HD on July 29th before officially making its way to VOD platforms on August 2nd.
Carnage Park (IFC Midnight) – July 1st
This pure-pulp thrill ride jumps between past and present as it pieces together the puzzle of a shocking crime. It’s 1978 and a bank robbery gone wrong leaves Vivian (The Last Exorcism’s Ashley Bell) the hostage of two criminals on the run. But things go from bad to off-the-rails berserk when she and her captors wind up on the sun-baked desert outpost of a deranged ex-military sniper (Pat Healy), who ensnares them in his deadly game of cat and mouse. Rising horror auteur Mickey Keating (Pod, Darling) directs this gritty, grisly homage to the glory days of grindhouse cinema.
Satanic (Magnet Releasing) – July 1st
SATANIC follows a van full of young, college-aged coeds who are visiting old Satanic Panic-era sites in Los Angeles. They end up following the creepy owner of an occult store home, only to find themselves saving a suspicious girl from an apparent human sacrifice. Only this “victim” turns out to be much more dangerous than the cult from which she escaped.
Marauders (Lionsgate Premiere) – July 1st
When a bank is hit by a brutal heist, all evidence points to the owner (Bruce Willis) and his high-powered clients. But as a group of FBI agents (Christopher Meloni, Dave Bautista and Adrian Grenier) dig deeper into the case - and the deadly heists continue - it becomes clear that a larger conspiracy is at play.
Bachelor Games (Gravitas Ventures) – July 8th
When five friends embark on a bachelor weekend in Argentina, everyone expects the usual hedonistic business. They do not expect to find themselves stranded, wounded, and hunted through the Andes. But that's just what happens when an elaborate scheme for revenge goes horribly awry.
The Hangover meets The Hills Have Eyes with a Shyamalan-esque twist, BACHELOR GAMES stars a bright young cast led by Charlie Bewley (Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, Nashville, forthcoming The Lake with J.K. Simmons), Jack Gordon (Fishtank, Northern Soul with Steve Coogan) and Jack Doolan (Ricky Gervais' Cemetery Junction, Cockneys Vs. Zombies).
All Girls Weekend (Uncork’d Entertainment) – July 12th
Childhood friends try to rekindle their friendship during a weekend in the mountains. Soon the women get lost and now, alone and hungry, they must battle the elements, each other, and an unforeseen force that is determined to stop them from leaving.
Belladonna of Sadness (SpectreVision) – July 12th
One of the great lost masterpieces of Japanese animation, newly restored in 4k for this first-ever U.S. release. BELLADONNA OF SADNESS follows the mad and sensual tale of Jeanne, an innocent young woman who makes a pact with the devil (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai, from Akira Kurosawa's RAN). Filled with explicit Egon Schiele-inspired eroticism, the film is a swirling, psychedelic light-show of medieval tarot-card imagery replete with horned demons, haunted forests and La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Extremely transgressive and not for the easily offended, BELLADONNA is fueled by a mind-blowing Japanese psych rock soundtrack by noted avant-garde jazz composer Masahiko Satoh.
Outlaws and Angels (Momentum Pictures) – July 15th
When Outlaws on the lam invade the home of an unsuspecting, seemingly innocent, frontier family to hide out for the night, an unexpected game of cat and mouse ensues, leading to seduction, role reversal, and ultimately, bloody revenge.
Viral (Anchor Bay Entertainment/Radius-TWC/Dimension Films) – Exclusively on Digital HD beginning July 29th
Teenaged sisters Emma (Sofia Black-D’Elia) and Stacey (Analeigh Tipton) live a normal life, until their small suburban neighborhood is stricken with a mysterious parasitic virus. As the disease rapidly spreads throughout the town, the two band together to barricade themselves from infection. But it may already be too late – when the virus enters their home, the sisters are faced with an impossible choice: protect each other, or survive the virus.
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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