Genre fans should get excited, as March’s VOD releases are a stellar bunch and should keep you busy through the entire month. Things kick off with Mike Mendez’s Don’t Kill It and The Institute, which was co-directed by James Franco. March 7th is a busy day, with five VOD releases—Bloodrunners, Devil in the Dark, Galaxy of Horrors, Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word, and The Lesson—and both Elle and The Devil’s Candy make their digital debuts the following week.
Prevenge rounds out March’s digital releases, as it has been exclusively picked up by the fine folks at Shudder, and other notable VOD releases for the month include Lavender (which expands from its exclusive DISH premiere in February), Passengers, Atomica, House on Willow Street, and The Bye Bye Man.
Don’t Kill It (Archstone Distribution) – March 3rd
An ancient evil is unleashed in a small Mississippi town, leaving a trail of death and destruction as it passes from host to host. The only hope of survival lies with a grizzled demon hunter (Dolph Lundgren) who has faced this terror before. Together with a reluctant FBI agent (Kristina Klebe), he has to figure out how to destroy a demon with the ability to possess its killer.
The Institute (Momentum Pictures) – March 3rd
Subjected to bizarre and increasingly violent pseudo-scientific experiments in personality modification, brainwashing and mind control, Isabel Porter must escape the clutches of the Rosewood Institute and exact her revenge, or else be forever lost.
Lavender (AMBI Media Group) – March 3rd
When a photographer (Abbie Cornish) suffers severe memory loss after a traumatic accident, strange clues amongst her photos suggest she may be responsible for the deaths of family members she never knew she had. Justin Long plays a psychiatrist who helps her recover lost memories.
Bloodrunners (Speakeasy Pictures/IMPULSE-FX) – March 7th
Bloodrunners combines the action of crime dramas with the otherworldly gore of vampire legends. Michael McFadden (The Networker) headlines as a cop living large on looking the other way as booze flows through his protectorate. When he discovers that Chesterfield, the owner of the latest speakeasy has a thirst for warm blood as well as cold hard cash, he must find a way to save his town before it dries up.
By 1933, Prohibition has proven a booming enterprise, where average citizens break the law, hide in the shadows and operate at night. The new world order has even lined the pockets of corrupt cops like Jack Malone (McFadden). He collects a 'luxury tax' from every bootlegger and scofflaw in the small town he has sworn to protect. While shaking down the newest speakeasy in the local underground, Jack and his men uncover a clan of vampires hell-bent on taking over the town. Now Chesterfield (Ice-T), an ancient vampire, and his horde must hide their secret at any cost. The bloody result leaves several bodies and innocent townsfolk taken as lambs to await the slaughter. With nowhere else to turn, Jack joins forces with a busboy and a crazy preacher to save the town and make a final stand against Chesterfield and his vampires.
Devil in the Dark (Momentum Pictures) – March 7th
When estranged brothers Adam and Clint attempt to reconnect over a week-long hunting trip in remote British Columbia, they find the tables turned by a mysterious presence lurking in the forest. Convinced that they are now besieged by a supernatural presence, the siblings begrudgingly agree on only one thing: they will have to put aside their differences and work together if they plan on making it out these dark woods alive.
Galaxy of Horrors (Uncork’d Entertainment) – March 7th
Trapped in a damaged cryogenic pod, a man is forced to watch a series of horrific science-fiction tales while his life support systems run out. Featuring eight intense stories of the unknown and otherworldly, equally wonderful and terrifying. Curated from Rue Morgue & Unstable Ground's Little Terrors Festival.
Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word (Momentum Pictures) – March 7th
Based on a true story, a nun was murdered in her convent bedroom in Amarillo, Texas on Halloween 1981. The police arrested a young man, Johnny Frank Garrett, who always maintained his innocence but he was found guilty and sentenced to death. On the night of his execution, he wrote a curse letter condemning the people and their families who helped send him to his demise. Shortly after Garrett's death, members of the community start mysteriously dying. One of the jurors takes it upon himself to break the curse when his son is suddenly struck with a life-threatening illness.
The Lesson (Scream Factory) – March 7th
Fin (Evan Bendall), a lone teen from a broken family, gets caught up in the wrong crowd of delinquent kids in this chilling horror film filled with white-knuckle suspense. When Fin and his friend, Joel (Rory Coltart) act up in class, their English teacher (Robert Hands) decides to teach them a lesson they will never forget.
Passengers (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) – March 7th
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star in a high-stakes adventure about two passengers, Aurora and Jim, onboard a spaceship transporting them to a new life on another planet. The trip takes a deadly turn when their hibernation pods mysteriously wake them 90 years before they reach their destination. As they try to unravel the mystery behind the malfunction, they discover that the ship itself is in grave danger. With the lives of 5,000 sleeping passengers at stake, only Jim and Aurora can save them all.
Brimstone (Momentum Pictures) – March 10th
Brimstone is a tale of powerful womanhood and resistance set against the unforgiving cruelty of the American frontier. Wrongly accused of a crime she didn’t commit, the story follows Liz (Dakota Fanning) now turned fugitive, who is being hunted by a vengeful and diabolical Preacher (Guy Pearce.)
Ascent to Hell (Gravitas Ventures) – March 14th
“Ascent to Hell,” inspired by true events, chronicles when a realtor shows an old New York factory building to a group of would-be investors, they are unwittingly caught in its tragic and sinister history.
Elle (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) – March 14th
Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle’s life forever. When she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game - a game that may, at any moment, spiral out of control.
The Devil’s Candy (IFC Midnight) – March 17th
A not-so-average family wrestles with Satan in a house from hell in this heavy metal-charged shocker from the director of The Loved Ones. Diehard metalhead and struggling artist Jesse (Ethan Embry) moves with his wife (Shiri Appleby) and daughter (Kiara Glasco) to a middle-of-nowhere Texas town, unaware that the new house they got for an unbelievable deal comes with a grisly history. Disturbing demonic goings-on culminate with the appearance of Ray (The Walking Dead’s Pruitt Taylor Vince). He’s the home’s former resident, and he’s here to do the Devil’s bidding. The cranked-to-eleven soundtrack blasts Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, and a thunderous original score by doom rock legends Sunn O.
Mean Dreams (Vertical Entertainment) – March 17th
MEAN DREAMS follows courageous local farm boy Jonas (Josh Wiggins) and the new girl next door, Casey (Sophie Nélisse), as they embark on a journey that will change their lives forever. As young love blossoms between the two fifteen year olds, Jonas also discovers that Casey’s abusive home life has reached a new level of danger, and Jonas takes the lead in their escape by stealing a bag full of drug money from Casey’s corrupt father - local cop Wayne Caraway (Bill Paxton). With the stolen cash as their only means to a better life, Casey flees with Jonas and together, under relentless pursuit from her father, they learn the hard truth of what it will take in order to survive. In the end, Casey and Jonas are forced to make a life-altering choice from which there will be no turning back. A potent coming of age thriller, MEAN DREAMS brings together the desperation of life on the run and the beauty and wonder of first love.
Atomica (Syfy Films) – March 21st
In the near future, when communications go offline at a remote nuclear power plant isolated in the desert, a young safety inspector, Abby Dixon, is forced to fly out to bring them back online. Once inside the facility, mysterious clues and strange behaviors cause Abby to have doubts about the sanity, and perhaps identities, of the two employees onsite.
House on Willow Street (IFC Midnight) – March 23rd
The perfect kidnapping goes gruesomely awry in this shock-a-minute, supernatural wild ride. Led by the tough-as-nails Hazel (YOU'RE NEXT's Sharni Vinson), a band of desperate criminals abduct Katherine (Carlyn Burchell), the daughter of an ultra-wealthy family, for ransom. What the gang doesn't realize is that although they have Katherine's body, her soul is already in possession of a demonic force that's about to turn the tables on them. Cue a cavalcade of carnage, all building up to a totally twisted, off-the-rails finale.
Dig Two Graves (Area 23a) – March 24th
A supernatural thriller about the generational violence that plagues a small, backwoods town, set in the 1970s, DIG TWO GRAVES asks “how far would you go to save those you love?” After 13-year-old Jacqueline Mather (Samantha Isler) loses her brother in a mysterious drowning accident she is soon visited by 3 moonshiners who offer to bring her brother back to life but at a grim cost. As the dark history of her grandfather, Sheriff Waterhouse (Ted Levine) is unearthed the true intentions of the moonshiners come to light.
Prevenge (Shudder Exclusive) – March 24th
A pitch black, wryly British horror comedy from the mind of Alice Lowe (“Sightseers,” “Hot Fuzz,” “Paddington”), PREVENGE follows Ruth, a pregnant woman on a killing spree, that’s as funny as it is vicious. It's her misanthropic unborn baby dictating Ruth's actions, holding society responsible for the absence of a father. The child speaks to Ruth from the womb, coaching her to lure and ultimately kill her unsuspecting victims. Struggling with her conscience, loneliness, and a strange strain of prepartum madness, Ruth must ultimately choose between redemption and destruction at the moment of motherhood.
The Bye Bye Man (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) – March 28th
From the producer of Oculus and The Strangers comes The Bye Bye Man. When three college friends stumble upon the horrific origins of the Bye Bye Man, they discover that there is only one way to avoid his curse: don’t think it, don’t say it. But once the Bye Bye Man gets inside your head, he takes control, making you see and do the most unspeakable acts committed by man. Is there a way to survive his possession? Starring Douglas Smith (Ouija) and Carrie Anne-Moss (The Matrix), see the chilling thriller that critics are calling “a paranormal thrill ride that will echo in your nightmares” (Elizabeth Rayne, Den Of Geek).
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.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
