List curated by GRACE DETWILER
It may be August, but don’t let the summer heat scare you away! Stay in and cool off with the following new-to-streaming horror and thriller titles, as well as this month’s offerings from Redbox and Crackle. Don’t miss PASSENGERS by The Ruins’ Carter Smith and Blumhouse or the recent sensation COBWEB, from the producer behind Barbarian and It!
COBWEB
Available on digital and on-demand August 11, 2023.
Starring Lizzy Caplan, Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman, Antony Starr
Written by Chris Thomas Devlin
Directed by Samuel Bodin
Lionsgate
Genre & Synopsis: Horror. Eight-year-old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tap, tap from inside his bedroom wall – a tapping that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter’s fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trust. And for a child, what could be more frightening than that?
THE EMPTY SPACE
Available to stream on Tubi as of July 30, 2023.
Starring Valerie Alene, Rachel Olsen, Joe Sinclitico
Written and Directed by Andrew Jara
BayView Entertainment
Genre & Synopsis: Horror/Thriller. A woman goes to a support group to deal with anxiety and depression after a violent attack left her boyfriend dead. When her boyfriend seemingly returns from the dead, she will have to face her fears to find out exactly who or what has come back before she loses her grip on reality.
THE PASSENGER
Available on digital and on-demand August 4, 2023.
Starring Kyle Gallner, Johnny Berchtold, Liza Weil
Written by Jack Stanley
Directed by Carter Smith
Blumhouse | Paramount
Genre & Synopsis: Thriller. Randy is perfectly content fading into the background. But when his coworker Benson goes on a sudden and violent rampage leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Randy is forced to face his fears and confront his troubled past to survive.
RUB
Available on digital and on-demand August 1, 2023.
Starring Micah Spayer, Jennifer Figuereo, Westley Barrington Artope
Written and Directed by Christopher Fox
Entertainment Squad
Genre & Synopsis: Psychological Thriller. Meet Neal. He’s lonely, gets bullied at work, and is unlucky in love. At the suggestion of a co-worker, he decides to go to a massage parlor and in the process, his life changes in ways he never would have imagined.
CRACKLE
Retreat – 8/1
Taking an isolated break on an uninhabited island, Martin (Cillian Murphy – The Dark Knight) and Kate (Thandie Newton – 2012) are about to find that their island retreat is about to become a prison of unimaginable terror when a blood-soaked stranger (Jamie Bell – The Adventures of Tintin, The Eagle) stumbles through their door claiming an apocalyptic virus is sweeping across Europe.
The Intruders – 8/1
Every town has its secrets, as college student Rose Halshford learns when she and her dad move into a musty, old house. When Rose discovers that the previous tenant mysteriously disappeared, leaving her possessions behind, she suspects her unfriendly neighbours know more than they let on. When Rose reports strange noises coming from inside the house, no one, not even her father believes her, insisting that it’s all in her head. As Rose’s suspicions grow she begins to fear that she may be the next victim of whatever or whomever has infiltrated her new home.
Halloween – 8/1
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Vacancy 2: The First Cut – 8/1
Three young people check into the Meadow View Inn for a night’s rest, fully unaware of the inn’s sick-minded employees and their nefarious intentions.
Detention – 8/1
As a copycat killer named after a movie villain, Cinderhella, stalks the student body at Grizzly Lake High School, a group of co-eds band together to survive while serving detention.
Terrifier 2 – 8/1
After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County where he begins to target a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween.
The Cottage – 8/1
Forced into hiding after their kidnapping plan goes awry, two rival siblings, David and Peter, find themselves fighting for their sanity while they hole up in a secluded country cottage. Weighed down by a hostage who refuses to stay quiet, or tied down, they are soon held captive by their own victim. But everyone’s problems go from bad to worse when they come face-to-face with their psychotic axe-wielding neighbor.
Pumpkin Head IV: Blood Feud – 8/1
As long as they can remember, the Hatfields and the McCoys have been at each other’s throats. Reprisal after reprisal have mired their once idyllic town in a bloody cycle of violence and retribution. Yet a light shines in the midst of these families’ hatred: the forbidden love between two members of the next generation, Jodie Hatfield and Ricky McCoy. But now Jodie Hatfield and Ricky McCoy have confessed their love for one another and their families are not happy about it.
The Signal – 8/1
A horror film told in three parts, from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission that turns people into killers invades every cell phone, radio, and television.
Puppet Master: Blitzkrieg Massacre – 8/3
In an unknown dystopian future, a drifter with an unusually high tolerance to pain is held captive in a horrific hospital by The Circle of Psycho Surgeons, a clandestine crew of M.D.s (that’s medical deviants) who are experimenting with human suffering.
Deadly Dolls: Deepest Cuts – 8/3
A man is captured by a sinister being and is forced to watch death scenes from various Full Moon Features movies that involve killer dolls.
Death Heads: Brain Dead – 8/3
The third chapter in the splat-tastic horror ‘greatest hits’ film series spotlights some of the studio’s strangest and sickest sequences framed by an all-new narrative. This time, we follow the further adventures of a masochistic drifter trapped in the lair of “The Gore Collector”, a sadistic curator of carnage who has chosen the drifter to be the heir to take over his evil operation.
Killjoy’s Carnage Carivan – 8/3
Now, The Gore Collector, and his multiversal traveling companions, Molly and Tape Head, have finally uncovered the whereabouts of the Psycho Surgeons and get set to exact the bloodiest of revenge. But what does this mean for the Gore Collector himself? As he returns to where it all started – the Bunker of Blood – he will find out what this splatter-soaked road trip across a fevered nightmarescape has REALLY done to his mind AND body!
REDBOX
Splinter – 8/1
Trapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still-living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.
Terror Eyes – 8/1
Terrorized at multiple stops on a road trip to Joshua Tree, three friends realize something unexpected is pulling the strings.
Bad Milo! – 8/1
A man learns that his unusual stomach pains are being caused by a demon living in his intestines.
Marrowbone – 8/1
A young man and his three younger siblings, who have kept secret the death of their beloved mother in order to remain together, are plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live.
Roommate Wanted – 8/1
After two college students unintentionally sublease their extra bedroom to a violent escaped mental patient with multiple personalities, they find themselves battling for survival against the many faces of white male rage that manifest and threaten them in their home.
Terrfier 2 – 8/1
After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to the timid town of Miles County where he targets a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night.
Monster – 8/1
Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.
Sunset on the River Styx – 8/4
A chance meeting of two morose lovers sends them spiraling down a surreal rabbit hole. Their relationship is challenged by their pasts, their futures, their perception of time, and a vampire death cult.
V/H/S – 8/4
When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.
V/H/S/2 – 8/11
Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find a collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student’s disappearance.
V/H/S: Viral – 8/18
A Los Angeles police chase sends a fame-obsessed man on a wild ride to save his girlfriend from a cybernetic terror.
Murder Party – 8/18
A random invitation to a Halloween party leads a man into the hands of a rogue collective intent on murdering him for the sake of their art, sparking a bloodbath of mishap, mayhem and hilarity.
Monsters – 8/22
Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion, a cynical journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
