Happy (almost) May readers! Hard to believe we’ve almost hit the halfway point of 2018 already, but here we are, with another great crop of VOD and digital releases to keep you busy over the next few weeks. May’s digital releases kick off with a variety of titles on the 1st, including Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell, Dead List, Cartel 2045, Primal Rage, and The Unwilling, and just a few days later, both Altered Perception and Gehenna: Where Death Lives make their arrivals.
May 8th is the day when fans can head back to Wakanda for Black Panther’s digital bow, and on May 11th, genre fans should definitely check out both Terminal and Revenge (which blew this writer away at last year’s Fantastic Fest). Both The Manor and Island Zero hit various platforms on the 15th, and if you missed it in theaters, Annihilation makes its digital bow on the 22nd. Other films arriving the same day include The Strangers: Prey at Night, Eli Roth’s Death Wish remake, A Taste of Phobia, and the new Scooby-Doo offshoot, Daphne & Velma, and May’s digital releases wrap up with Feral from IFC Midnight on the 25th and They Remain on the 29th.
Cartel 2045 (Uncork’d Entertainment) – May 1st
The year is 2045, the continuing drug war has caused havoc between The United States and Mexico. Gear Side International, a robotics engineering company on the brink of bankruptcy, sells off their technology to the Cartel on the black market. With the advanced military robotics technology in the wrong hands the cartel uses it to their advantage; replacing their enforcers, hit men, and soldiers.
Dead List (High Octane Pictures) – May 1st
Calvin is competing with five other actors -- Zander, Scott, Kush, Jason and Bob -- for a major movie role. Stopping at nothing to win the role of a lifetime, he uses a demonic book to curse his fellow actors, with each actor being killed off in their own separate unique and terrifying chapter.
Primal Rage (Blue Fox Entertainment) – May 1st
PRIMAL RAGE follows Ashley (Casey Gagliardi) and Max Carr (Andrew Joseph Montgomery) as they, lost deep in the forest, are stalked by a terrifying creature that just might be Bigfoot. Soon, they find themselves embroiled in a strange land of Native American myth and legend turned all too real. Hopelessly trying to survive, with a handful of unsavory locals, they must fight against the monster in a desperate battle of life or death.
Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) – May 1st
Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and his son Travis Welker (Jamie Kennedy) find themselves up to their ears in Graboids and Ass-Blasters when they head to Canada to investigate a series of deadly giant worm attacks. Arriving at a remote research facility in the arctic tundra, Burt begins to suspect that Graboids are secretly being weaponized, but before he can prove his theory, he is sidelined by Graboid venom. With just 48 hours to live, the only hope is to create an antidote from fresh venom — but to do that, someone will have to figure out how to milk a Graboid!
The Unwilling (Vision Films) – May 1st
David Harris (David Lipper) is normal in almost every way, but has to fight through a crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder, brought on by his abusive father during his childhood. His OCD forces him to repeat movements and phrases and confines him to the safety of his home. Following his father’s death, David’s estranged relatives arrive to hear the reading of the will in anticipation for their piece of the fortune. They are surprised by the delivery of a “Lovecraft” style antique box instead. The box takes hold of their inner most desires one by one and entices the dangerous behavior that ensues. Will they last through the night or be wishing they never gave into temptation?
Altered Perception (SKD/Cinedigm) – May 4th
When the government attempts to produce a designer drug aimed at correcting the false perceptions that people develop during trauma and stress, the implications are deadly. Advertised as a cure for socio-political tensions, four couples volunteer, but end up with far more than they bargained for as their past and present are examined while taking variations of the new drug. However, this causes them to doubt their own memory, perceptions - and even their own sanity in this thriller in the vein of Disturbing Behavior and The Faculty.
Gehenna: Where Death Lives (Uncork’d Entertainment) – May 4th
Encompassing horror, suspense and a twist that will blow your mind, Gehenna fixes on five people who enter a hidden bunker from WW2, and realize it's way more than a bunker. Some fates are MUCH worse than death.
Black Panther (Marvel) – May 8th
When young King T'Challa is drawn into conflict with an old foe that puts his homeland Wakanda and the entire world at risk, he must release Black Panther's full power to save them.
House of Evil (Breaking Glass Pictures) – May 11th
Based on true events, HOUSE OF EVIL follows a young couple who, in the 1970s, move into a large, remote house in the countryside with hopes of starting a family. However, it's not long before they are menaced by ghosts and a darker demonic presence.
Revenge (Shudder/NEON) – May 11th
Jen (fearlessly embodied by Matilda Lutz, Rings) is enjoying a romantic getaway with her wealthy boyfriend which is suddenly disrupted when his sleazy friends arrive for an unannounced hunting trip. Tension mounts in the house until the situation abruptly––and viciously––intensifies, culminating in a shocking act that leaves Jen left for dead. Unfortunately for her assailants, Jen survives and reemerges with a relentless, wrathful intent: revenge.
A white-knuckle tale of transgression and transformation, REVENGE gloriously blurs the lines of vengeance and survival while simultaneously delivering a ferocious dissection of gender and genre.
Terminal (RLJE Films) – May 11th
In the dark heart of a sprawling, anonymous city, Terminal follows the twisting tales of two assassins carrying out a sinister mission, a teacher battling a fatal illness, an enigmatic janitor and a curious waitress leading a dangerous double life. Murderous consequences unravel in the dead of night as their lives all intertwine at the hands of a mysterious criminal mastermind hell-bent on revenge.
Island Zero (Freestyle Digital Media) – May 15th
Inhabitants of a fishing island off the coast of Maine find themselves mysteriously cut off from the outside world after the ferry suddenly stops coming. All the phones have gone dead and every boat sent to the mainland fails to return. When dead bodies turn up along the water's edge, the hardy band of survivors must find out who, or what, is killing them.
The Manor (Lionsgate) – May 15th
Still haunted by the demons of a childhood tragedy, Amy (Christina Robinson) checks out of an asylum on her eighteenth birthday. But things get weird when Amy’s mother takes her to a rustic resort to visit her strange, sadistic relatives. When hunters and religious fanatics join the party, Amy can no longer tell fantasy from reality, watching helplessly as the blood spills anew. This shocking horror-thriller also stars Kevin Nash and Rachel True.
Annihilation (Paramount Home Media Distribution) – May 22nd
Biologist and former soldier Lena (Academy Award® winner* Natalie Portman) is shocked when her missing husband (Oscar Isaac) comes home near death from a top-secret mission into The Shimmer, a mysterious quarantine zone no one has ever returned from. Now, Lena and her elite team must enter a beautiful, deadly world of mutated landscapes and creatures, to discover how to stop the growing phenomenon that threatens all life on Earth. The film also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny.
Daphne & Velma (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) – May 22nd
State of the art robots and high-tech gadgets are common sights at Ridge Valley High, an innovative center of learning for some of the brightest minds in the country, including new transfer student, the bright & optimistic Daphne Blake (Sarah Jeffery) who is excited to finally go to school with her online bestie, the whip-smart & analytical Velma Dinkley (Sarah Gilman). But not everything is as innocent as it seems as mysterious disappearances begin to plague the top-performing students on campus. Once cheery and full of life, kids now appear in a “zombiefied” state - lifeless and shells of themselves. Can Daphne and Velma learn to work together and save the students, or will they become the next victims? Get ready for thrills and laughs as we follow the first adventures of Mystery Inc.’s fierce female duo.
Death Wish (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) – May 22nd
Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city’s violence as it’s rushed into his ER – until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family’s assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media’s attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel…or a grim reaper. Fury and fate collide in the intense action-thriller Death Wish.
Soft Matter (Wild Eye Releasing) – May 22nd
Jim Hickcox’s feature debut tells of two graffiti artists that break into an abandoned, reportedly haunted research facility in hopes of creating an art installation, but stumble upon a team of demented researchers who are in the process of resurrecting an ancient sea creature - who they now must fight in order to not become their next experiment.
The Strangers: Prey at Night (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) – May 22nd
A family’s road trip takes a dangerous turn when they arrive at a secluded mobile home park to stay with relatives and find it mysteriously deserted. Under the cover of darkness, three masked psychopaths pay them a visit to test the family’s every limit as they struggle to survive. Johannes Roberts, whose shark diving thriller 47 Meters Down was a smash hit, directs this horror film featuring Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men”), Bailee Madison (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), Martin Henderson (The Ring), and Lewis Pullman (Battle of the Sexes).
A Taste of Phobia (Artsploitation Films) – May 22nd
Of the multitude of fears, A Taste of Phobia delves into some of the weirdest and wildest, each with its own bloody twist. Presenting 14 unnerving segments, featured phobias include caetophobia (fear of hairs), henophobia (fear of young virgin girls), coprophobia (fear of feces), mysophobia (fear of contamination and germs), mazeophobia (fear of being lost), astrophobia (fear of celestial objects), mageirocophobia (fear of cooking) and oneirophobia (fear of dreams).
Feral (IFC Midnight) – May 25th
Your best friend has just been infected with a horrifying virus that will soon turn her into a rabid, rampaging cannibal-zombie. Do you: a) try to save her? or b) kill her before she kills you? That’s the nightmarish scenario six students find themselves facing when their celebratory camping trip goes terrifyingly wrong. One by one, each falls victim to the “feral” disease, until only Alice (Scout Taylor-Compton, Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN) and Jules (Olivia Luccardi, IT FOLLOWS)—two girlfriends testing the waters of their new relationship—are left standing, armed with a shotgun and holed up in a remote cabin. They’ve got a hell of a fight before them if they hope to survive… THE WALKING DEAD’s Lew Temple costars in this grisly blend of survival thriller and contagion shocker.
They Remain (Giant Interactive/Paladin) – May 29th
Based on the 2010 short story, "-30-" by award-winning author Laird Barron, THEY REMAIN explores the evolving relationship between Keith and Jessica, two scientists who are employed by a vast, impersonal corporation to investigate an unspeakable horror that took place at the remote encampment of a mysterious cult. Working and living in a state-of-the-art, high tech environment that is completely at odds with their surroundings, they spend their days gathering physical evidence, analyzing it, and reporting on their findings.
The intensity of their work, and their extreme isolation, bring the pair closer. But, when Jessica discovers a mysterious artifact of unknown origin, the dynamic between them changes: secrets are kept, sexual tensions arise, and paranoia sets in. Keith begins to have visions and is unable to distinguish whether they are nightmares or hauntings. Having lost all sense of what is real and what is imagined, all he knows is that the horror he and Jessica have been sent to uncover—a horror that could be biological, psychological, or supernatural— now threatens his very survival.
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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