If you’re anything like us, you’re already counting the days until Halloween—so thankfully, Shudder is back with its annual Halfway to Halloween celebration, packing April with killer content, spine-tingling premieres, and some long-awaited originals. Whether you’re into paranormal investigations, exorcism horrors, folk legends, or dead-letter mysteries, there’s something for every horror fan to sink their teeth into.
Let’s break down the offerings keeping the spooky spirit alive all month long on horror’s home turf.
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825 FOREST ROAD
Streaming April 4
From Hell House LLC mastermind Stephen Cognetti, 825 Forest Road marks his chilling step outside the found footage format—and it’s giving old-school ghost story vibes. The film follows Chuck Wilson, a man rebuilding his life after tragedy, only to find his new home sits at the center of decades-old paranormal chaos. With a ghost tied to an address that may not even exist, the race is on to uncover Helen Foster’s haunted history before she claims more lives. Bonus: Cognetti gets a full spotlight this month with a double feature Watch Party on April 11 featuring this film and his Hell House LLC Director’s Cut.
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SHADOW OF GOD
Streaming April 11
Director Michael Peterson taps into the holy horror genre with this unsettling exorcism tale. When Vatican exorcists start dying mysteriously, Father Mason Harper returns home—only to discover that his estranged father may be possessed… not by a demon, but by something sacred. It’s an eerie spin on religious horror that flirts with blasphemy and biblical catastrophe. File this under: Do not watch alone.
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DEAD MAIL
Streaming April 18
Easily one of the most intriguing loglines of the month, Dead Mail from directors Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy mixes ’80s aesthetics, investigative noir, and Midwestern dread. When a bloody plea lands at a post office’s dead letter desk, a jaded investigator gets pulled into a dark rabbit hole involving a kidnapped engineer, eccentric tech dreams, and someone—or something—chasing the truth. It premieres alongside Glorious for the “Trapped” Watch Party double feature on April 18.
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FRÉWAKA
Streaming April 25
The first-ever Irish language horror film makes its Shudder debut, courtesy of Aislinn Clarke (The Devil’s Doorway). Fréwaka centers on Shoo, a caregiver whose new assignment in a remote village pulls her into the fears and rituals of a woman haunted by the Na Sídhe. Atmospheric, emotional, and rooted in generational trauma, this folk horror gem will chill you straight to the bone.
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THE LAST DRIVE-IN with Joe Bob Briggs
Season 7 Premieres April 4
What’s April on Shudder without Joe Bob and Darcy? The Last Drive-In returns with a new season, dropping new double features the first Friday of every month. You can catch each new episode LIVE on Shudder TV with on-demand debuts Sundays. And if that’s not enough, every Friday is now a party—with themed watch nights all month long:
• April 4: Season 7 Premiere (films TBA)
• April 11: Stephen Cognetti Night (825 Forest Road + Hell House LLC Director’s Cut)
• April 18: “Trapped” Double (Dead Mail + Glorious)
• April 25: The Movies That Made Shudder (Revenge + One Cut of the Dead)
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From haunted houses to haunted letters, from Irish folklore to VHS scares, Shudder’s Halfway to Halloween lineup proves they never wait until October to bring the fear. Get ready for a month full of new obsessions and unshakable nightmares—because Halloween starts early around here.
Stay tuned to HMU for reviews, watch party coverage, and more horror goodness all month long.
April 1
the victim of a rapist. This
April Fool’s Day
Nine colleges students staying at a friend’s remote island mansion begin to fall victim to an unseen murderer over the April Fool’s Day weekend, but nothing is as it seems.
Rawhead Rex
An ancient creature called Rawhead is awakened from its slumber near an Irish village and goes on a rampage killing anyone in sight.
she becomes
Halloween H20
Laurie Strode, now the dean of a Northern California private school with an assumed name, must battle the Shape one last time, as the life of her own son hangs in the balance.
he becomes
Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers
Six years after Michael Myers last terrorized Haddonfield, he returns there in pursuit of his niece, Jamie Lloyd, who has escaped with her newborn child, for which Michael and a mysterious cult have sinister plans.
she becomes
Halloween: Resurrection
Three years after he last terrorized his sister, Michael Myers confronts her again, before traveling to Haddonfield to deal with the cast and crew of a reality show which is being broadcast from his old home.
13 Ghosts (1960)
A family inherits a house with 12 ghosts who want a 13th.
he becomes
Fright Night (1985)
A teenager believes that a newcomer in his neighborhood is a vampire. He turns to an actor in a television hosted horror movie show for help to deal with the undead.
Repulsion (1965)
A withdrawn manicurist who disapproves of her sister’s boyfriend sinks into depression and experiences horrific visions of violence.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
A group of teenagers get into a car crash in the Texas woods on prom night and then wander into an old farmhouse that is home to Leatherface and his insane family of cannibalistic psychopaths.
Crimson Peak
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathe, bleeds – and remembers.
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
When the unburied dead return to life and seek human victim, seven refugees shelter in a house in the Pennsylvanian countryside.
Land of the Dead
The living dead have taken over the world, and the last humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they come to grips with the situation.
Unfriended
A group of online chatroom friends find themselves haunted by a mysterious, supernatural force using the account of their dead friend.
s
April 5
Intruder (2019)
A young married couple buy a beautiful house on several acres of land, only to find out that the man they bought it from refuses to let go of the property.
April 7
A Cat in the Brain
A horror film director is stalked by a mad psychiatrist/serial killer bent on killing people to model the killings after the director’s gory death scenes from his movies.
City of the Living Dead
A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.
Manhattan Baby
An archaeologist opens an Egyptian tomb and accidentally releases an evil spirit. His young daughter becomes possessed by the freed entity and, upon arrival back in New York, the gory murders begin.
The Beyond
A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where, following a series of supernatural “accidents,” she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to hell.
The Black Cat
A professor with the psychic ability to communicate with the dead uses his powers on his pet cat in order to take vengeance upon his enemies.
The New York Ripper
A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.
April 14
Chain Reaction (2006)
A group of convicts and a doctor seek refuge from the authorities in a lodge deep in the wood, but their weird inhabitants are not friendly.
Hands
April 21
Psychomania
An amiable, psychopathic leader of a violent teen motorbike gang is spurred by his mother, a Satan-worshipping spiritual medium, into committing suicide and returning to life as an “undead.”
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