David Farnor | On 29, Jan 2020

Shudder is readying for Valentine’s Day this February with a collection of romantic scares, including the profound gem Spring, but the things that will really get horror fans’ attention are the decidedly un-romantic things, including The Hills Have Eyes and new podcast discussions from the producer of Horror Noire, and – fresh from MyFrenchFilmFestival – dystopian thriller Jessica Forever. All that plus new episodes of The Dead Lands each week, here’s what’s coming soon to Shudder UK in February 2020:

Collection: Love Sick – 1st February

There’s a thin line between love and terror. Cross it on Valentine’s Day (or any day) with this lovingly curated selection of movies and series that delight in the darker side of desire, including Audition, Spring and Honeymoon.

Short: The Whistler – 1st February

Lindsey is put in charge of babysitting her younger sister Becky one night while their parents go out to dinner. Becky asks for a bedtime story and picks out a book called “The Whistler,” the story of a man who leads children to a magical place in the woods where they never have to grow up. Lindsey tells Becky that the real story is about a crazy man who lived in the town some hundred years ago who led children to their death. Unimpressed, Becky goes to bed but when Lindsey awakes, her sister is gone and she must search the woods to find her… Jennifer Nicole Stang’s short stars Karis Cameron, Baya Ipatowicz, Nelson Leis, Alison Wandzura, John Emmet Tracy and Ava Sleeth.

Podcast: Horror Noire: Uncut – 7th February

Following last year’s popular Eli Roth’s History of Horror: Uncut podcast, Shudder will once again be offering full conversations from genre icons in podcast form, this time featuring interviews from last year’s acclaimed original documentary, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. The six episode series will feature original Candyman Tony Todd; a conversation between Blacula director William Crain and Tales from the Hood actor Paula Jai Parker; a conversation between the duo of actors Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) and Keith David (The Thing); author and educator Tananarive Due (My Soul to Keep); Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present author and educator Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman; and The Craft’s Rachel True. The podcast is hosted by Horror Noire producer/co-writer Ashlee Blackwell.

All episodes of Horror Noire: Uncut will be made available on Shudder on Friday 7th February exclusively for its members. Episode 1, featuring Horror Noire producer/co-writer Ashlee Blackwell’s conversation with Tony Todd, will be made available on the same day to non-members on Apple Podcasts and other platforms, where subsequent episodes will be released twice-weekly on Mondays and Fridays.

Shudder Original: Jessica Forever – 20th February

In a visually arresting and inventive dystopian future where violent misfits reign supreme, one woman and her makeshift family of rehabilitated marauders fight for peace. Starring Aomi Muyock, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Augustin Raguenet and Lukas Ionesco, directed by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel.

Short: Catcalls – 10th February

A man cruises around late at night looking for something. He pulls in to ask two young girls for directions – only to flash them to get a cheap thrill. Unfortunately, he has picked the wrong girls. They are also out hunting tonight and they will stop at nothing to get their kill. Kate Dolan’s stars Martin O’Sullivan, Edel Murphy, Francesca Saunder and Sarah Kinlen.

The Hills Have Eyes – 10th February

In Wes Craven’s cult horror hit, a family on vacation are attacked by mutant killers in the desert. After the success of Last House on the Left, Craven served up another terrifying tale of family survival with a still-relevant Vietnam-era moral question at its core: which family deserves to live? The normal American family? Or the inbred cannibals damaged by nuclear testing designed to keep “upstanding” families safe?

Short: Blanketty – 17th February

A woman attempts to exploit the human experience to use as a dataset for a program that will generate an infinite number of scenarios through machine learning. Unfortunately, as the computer continues to fail, the people contributing to the dataset start running out of ideas. Clara Mamet stars Toks Olagundoye, Joshua Burge, Amy Okuda, John Pirruccello and Hermie Castillo.

The Dead Lands – Weekly (Thursdays)

A supernatural adventure set in a mythic Māori past, with an aesthetic that’s part Ash vs Evil Dead and part Xena: Warrior Princess. The Dead Lands features a disgraced warrior, Waka Nuku Rau (Te Kohe Tuhaka), who’s sent back to the world of the living to redeem his sins. But the world Waka returns to is ravaged by a breach between Life and the Afterlife as the spirits of the newly dead now stalk the land and hunt the living.

Waka encounters a determined young woman, Mehe (Darneen Christian), who becomes both his protégé and moral compass. Together, they navigate tribal politics, the unsettled ghosts of Ancestors and other forces both natural and supernatural, on a quest to discover who “broke the world” and how to repair it… if it’s not too late. Episodes arrive weekly on Thursdays.

 

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