It’s officially Barbenheimer week, so expect the online discourse to be dominated by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, two of this year’s most hotly anticipated movies. They’re both releasing in theaters this week, and the packed theatrical slate for the week also includes one of this summer’s brand new big screen horror movies.
Here’s all the new horror releasing July 18– July 23, 2023!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
First up, a pair of notorious YouTubers make a killer comeback in SCREAMBOX Exclusive Shoky & Morthy: Last Big Thing, which is NOW STREAMING on SCREAMBOX.
The Czech film balances laughs and thrills like Tucker and Dale vs Evil while channeling the absurdity of Dumb and Dumber with a modern twist.
In the film, Shoky and Morthy are best friends and successful YouTubers, but their fame is slowly beginning to fade. While Morthy would like to quit, Shoky comes up with ideas for making their videos more interesting – and bloodier. In the end, they set out for one “last big thing” that will save their YouTube channel and their disintegrating friendship.
Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.
Also available today, the New Year’s Eve-themed slasher movie Time’s Up was released on VOD outlets, coming courtesy of director L.C. Holt and Dark Sky Films.
Damian Maffei (The Strangers Prey at Night, Haunt), Hannah Fierman (V/H/S and Siren), L.C. Holt (You’re Next, V/H/S/2), Kamarra Cole (Balboa Blvd.), Kate A. Kiddo (On Location), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Jonathan Tiersten (Sleepaway Camp), Dave Sheridan (Scary Movie, The Devil’s Rejects) and Chaney Morrow (Wrong Turn) star.
“On New Year’s Eve, a group of teachers at an idyllic Maine high school find themselves stalked by an assailant bent on revealing their darkest secrets. By midnight…heads will roll.”
The final new release for Tuesday, July 18 is What the Waters Left Behind: Scars, directed by Nicolas Onetti. The film is a sequel to 2017’s What the Waters Left Behind.
The plot for the brand new sequel centers on an Anglo-American indie rock band that winds up stranded in Epecuén, where their internal conflicts and the bad luck of their tour quickly lose importance before the hell that awaits them.
Shooting of What the Waters Left Behind: Scars took place in the atmospheric village of Epecuén, Argentina, the tourist resort near Buenos Aires that sat underwater for 25 years after a dam broke in 1985. The waters then receded several years ago and the ruins of Epecuén emerged exposing a bleak and deserted landscape. The residents never returned.
From first time feature film director Samuel Bodin, creator of Netflix’s “Marianne,” Lionsgate’s new movie Cobweb continues the Summer of Horror on Friday, July 21.
Lizzy Caplan (“Castle Rock”) and Antony Starr (“The Boys”) star in the rated “R” horror movie (violence and language) as parents who seemingly can’t be trusted.
“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 (Lizzy Caplan and Antony Starr) could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trust. And for a child, what could be more frightening than that?”
Cleopatra Coleman and Woody Norman also star.
Chris Thomas Devlin wrote the film, which will be produced by Roy Lee through his Vertigo Entertainment banner, and by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver, through Point Grey. Andrew Childs and Josh Fagen will executive produce.
Shudder is celebrating the shark horror movie this summer with brand new Shudder Original Documentary Sharksploitation, which is swimming our way on Friday, July 21.
In the wake of blockbuster classic Jaws, a new subgenre was born. This new documentary explores the weird, wild cinematic legacy of sharks on film and the world’s undying fascination.
The film features multiple interviews including of Roger Corman, producer of Sharktopus and Dinoshark; Joe Dante, who directed Corman’s Piranha; Carl Gottlieb, writer of Jaws 1, 2 and 3; Johannes Roberts, director of 47 Meters Down, and Mario Van Pebbles, who starred in Jaws the Revenge, along with marine and environmental conservation advocate Wendy Benchley, who was married to late Jaws, author Peter Benchley.
Stephen Scarlata (Jodorowsky’s Dune) directed Sharksploitation for Shudder.
Fathom Events, Raven Banner Releasing and Swissploitation Films just presented the theatrical premiere of the “modern grindhouse epic” Mad Heidi, which came to theaters nationwide for a special one-night-only engagement on Wednesday, June 21. Mad Heidi now comes home to Blu-ray, Digital HD and VOD outlets on Friday, July 21.
This wicked odyssey of blood and cheese puts a new spin on the classic tale of “Heidi,” finding our heroine (Alice Lucy) all grown-up and living an idyllic life in the Swiss Alps with her beloved grandfather (David Schofield) far above an increasingly-dystopian landscape presided over by Our Very Swiss Leader (Casper Van Dien) – a ruthless dictator bent on world domination through dairy.
But when her goat-herding lover (Kel Matsena) is brutally murdered by government thugs for distributing illegal cheese, Heidi embarks on a wild quest for vengeance that will bring her toe-to-toe against fierce female prison inmates, cheese-fueled Swiss super-soldiers, ninja nuns, and more, as she fights to take down the tyrannical regime and restore freedom to Switzerland.
Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein directed Mad Heidi.
A town knows its secrets. A town knows how to hide them, too. Dwight H. Little, who directed Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Phantom of the Opera (1989), and an episode of “Freddy’s Nightmares,” is back in the director’s chair for Natty Knocks, a brand new movie starring horror icons Robert Englund, Bill Moseley, and Danielle Harris.
Vertical will release Natty Knocks day-and-date on Friday, July 21.
The film is set on Halloween Eve…
“A small-town babysitter and the kids she is looking after struggle to survive a serial killer named Abner Honeywell.”
Charlotte Fountain-Jardim (“Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Thomas Robie (Insidious: The Last Key), Noen Perez (“Grace and Frankie”) and Jason James Richter (Free Willy) also star.
Benjamin Olson wrote the screenplay for Natty Knocks.
Neil LaBute (The Wicker Man, House of Darkness) is back with the action-thriller Fear the Night from Quiver Distribution, which stars Maggie Q and will hit VOD on Friday.
It’s more action than horror, but it’s worth a mention here nonetheless.
Fear the Night follows Iraqi war veteran Tess (Maggie Q) as she prepares for her sister’s bachelorette party. As the festivities unfold, the party is abruptly interrupted by a group of home invaders who quickly take the house under siege looking for a hidden fortune.
Surrounded by the frightened party-goers, Tess soon discovers that the ruthless attackers are hellbent on not leaving any witnesses. Tess strikes back, and the special ops expert takes matters into her own hands.
Kat Foster, Travis Hammer, and Gia Crovatin also star.
