By WILLIAM J. WRIGHT
With spring in full, bloody bloom and the rough beast that is summer slouching toward us, horror heats up on streaming video and VOD this month. From modern classics and cult favorites to gnarly new releases, fear film fans have no reason to leave home, thanks to Arrow Player, Shudder and VIZIO WatchFree+.
Known for outside-the-box entertainment, premium cult streamer Arrow Player has a full slate of genre fare for May, kicking off on the 2nd with films that are “Not For Everyone.” The aptly named collection includes the notorious revenge thriller I Spit on Your Grave, the certifiably insane J-horror of Tomie, the madness of Stuart Gordon’s Lovecraftian-Gothic Full Moon fave Castle Freak and the succubus-gone-wild antics of Keola Racela’s 2019 horror comedy Porno.
If all that’s a bit too rapey, ranchy or random for your tastes, Vincenzo Natali’s cult sci-fi horror Cube comes to Arrow Player on May 9, and on May 16, the premium streamer debuts a collection of filmmaker Paul Davis‘ (creator of the An American Werewolf in London documentary, Beware The Moon) personally selected favorites. Titles include the 1971 Gothic horror classic The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave from director Emilio Miraglia and The Woman (2011).
All hell breaks loose on May 19, when James Sizemore’s acclaimed 2013 fantasy horror film The Demon’s Rook comes to Arrow Player. On May 21, The Birthday, an overlooked horror comedy gem that counts Jason Blum and Jordan Peele among its fans, makes its 4K debut. Corey Feldman finds himself drawn into a conspiracy involving a doomsday in this off-kilter first feature from Eugenio Mira.
Arrow Player closes the month on May 26 with the exclusive release of the award-winning 2024 thriller Steppenwolf. Directed by Adilkhan Yerzhanov, Steppenwolf stars Anna Starchenko as Tamara, a traumatized young woman searching for her missing son in a town consumed with violence and rioting. Desperate, she embarks on a bloody, bullet-ridden journey with a nihilistic detective (Berik Aytzhanov).
Pay streaming service Shudder, always a reliable choice for genre entertainment, packs the last full month of spring with new films, classics and original programming, including the premiere of Emilie Blichfeldt’s Ugly Stepsister, a sinister twist on the classic Cinderella story. Shudder original The Surrender, a terrifying tale of a strained mother-daughter relationship and the supernatural from director Julia Max debuts on May 23. Anime fans should mark their calendars for May 30, when Shudder presents the exclusive 40th anniversary streaming premiere of Vampire Hunter D.
Shudder will also unleash a host of horror classics from the vault this month, including City of the Dead (1960), Pieces, Cannibal Holocaust, Pontypool, The Whip and the Body and many more.
Not down for shelling out the cash for horror from a premium VOD service? VIZIO WatchFree+ has you covered with a slate of free terror titles for May. Here’s the full rundown of gratis gore:
House at the End of the Street
Cabin in the Woods
The Grudge (Takashi Shimizu’s remake starring Sarah Michelle Gellar)
Warm Bodies
Saw
Leprechaun
Evil Dead 2 (Groovy!)
The Crazies (Breck Eisner’s 2010 remake of the George A. Romero classic)
Grind House: Planet Terror
The Call
Terrifier
Terrifier 2
Mark of the Witch
