By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The Italian horror feature will debut on the streamer next year.
Shudder has announced its acquisition of North American, UK and Irish rights to THE HOLY BOY, which world-premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival and had its North American bow at Fantastic Fest, where it won the Next Wave Best Director Award and the Audience Award. It next screens at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival on Tuesday, October 21 at 9:30 p.m.
Directed by Paolo Strippoli from a script he wrote with Jacopo Del Giudice and Milo Tissone, it stars Michele Riondino, Giulio Feltri, Paolo Pierobon, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Sergio Romano, Anna Bellato, Sandra Toffolatti and Roberto Citran. The synopsis: “THE HOLY BOY follows Sergio [Riondino], a teacher tormented by his past who is transferred to Remis, a secluded village known as the happiest town in Italy. But Sergio soon discovers that behind the town’s joyful facade lies a disturbing secret: Each week, the villagers gather to hug Matteo [Feltri], an introverted 15-year-old whose embrace can free one of all pain and sorrow. As Sergio uncovers that the village’s devotion to Matteo is far from benevolent, his attempt to rescue the boy known as the Angel of Remis ignites the community’s vengeful nature.”
“Shudder is a guiding light in visionary genre cinema, and I am beyond thrilled they will bring THE HOLY BOY to a wider, passionate audience,” says Strippoli. “The film explores our relationship with pain–the shortcuts we take to avoid it, and the way in which pain itself makes us fully human. We imagined a town that does not exist but could, and a ritual that does not exist but could: an uncanny embrace that takes away all suffering. Soon, new audiences will embrace THE HOLY BOY, and discover its terrifying consequences.”
“We were blown away by THE HOLY BOY,” says Shudder’s Sam Zimmerman. “Paolo Strippoli crafts an eerie and provocative horror film, one that builds to an astonishing finish. We knew instantly this belonged with Shudder.”
