A high school student watches her world spiral into terror as those around her turn into mindless followers in “New Group,” a Japanese body horror film that lands on Shudder November 6.

Director Yûta Shimotsu transforms simple gymnastics routines into what critics call “a nightmarish dance of death.” The film stars Anna Yamada as Ai, who witnesses a cult-like mentality spread through her community.

Shimotsu, who studied mechanical engineering before moving into filmmaking, made his feature debut with “Best Wishes to All” in 2023. “New Group” screened at Fantasia International Film Festival and Sitges Film Festival before its streaming release.

Early reviews highlight the film’s blend of horror and social criticism. Rue Morgue calls it “a most entertaining slice of weirdness…braced by an underpinning of social commentary.” Bloody Disgusting labels it “an incredible, unpredictable body horror masterpiece that doubles as an indicting satire of Japan’s society.”

The 82-minute film, written by Shimotsu and Momoko Sahara, also stars Yuzu Aoki and Pierre Taki. It joins Shudder’s growing library of international horror that uses genre filmmaking to examine cultural anxieties.

A tormented teacher discovers a dark secret in a too-happy Italian village in The Holy Boy, Paolo Strippoli’s new folk horror film coming to Shudder on November 27th.

The film follows Sergio, a teacher transferred to Remis, a secluded town known as the happiest place in Italy. He finds out why. Every week, villagers gather to hug Matteo, a 15-year-old whose embrace can supposedly erase pain and sorrow. When Sergio realizes the town’s devotion to the boy isn’t as benevolent as it looks, his attempt to rescue him backfires hard.

The Holy Boy won the Audience Award and New Wave Best Director at Fantastic Fest and played the Venice Film Festival and BFI London. Variety called it “a clever, creepy Italian chiller” that uses horror to investigate “the dangers of displaced grief.” Dread Central said Strippoli’s film “reaches straight through the chest to grab hold of your heart and squeeze it dry.”

Strippoli previously directed A Classic Horror Story for Netflix and won Best Director at Taormina Film Fest for it. He’s got another horror film, The Spiral, coming later this year.

The Holy Boy stars Michele Riondino and Giulio Feltri. It’s written by Strippoli, Jacopo Del Giudice, and Milo Tissone.

Two bloodied survivors stumble into an isolated English cottage during a mysterious war. What happens next is anything but ordinary.

“Littermates” opens November 6 as a Drafthouse Exclusive, landing in Alamo theaters across New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and more cities for a one-week run. The 88-minute absurdist horror film comes with serious festival credentials, taking home the Competition Feature Audience Award at DWF 2026 and the Jury Prize at Manchester Film Festival 2026.

The story follows Liam and Mel, disoriented and unable to speak, as they’re taken in by Chester, an enigmatic caretaker who feeds them, bathes them, and teaches them language again. Inside Chester’s controlled world, they earn “nifties” for good behavior, cash them in for karaoke and hot tub time. But as sirens and smoke press closer, Mel grows curious about the locked gate and the woods beyond.

Scott Tinkham and Michael Woloson wrote and directed. Tinkham’s previous short premiered at SXSW 2025. Woloson, a Las Vegas native now based in LA, brings precise visual storytelling honed as a cinematographer.

The cast includes Joey Bader, Kaylee McGregor, and Oliver Woolf, all of whom also produced.

For indie horror fans tired of the same jump scares, this one’s built different.

Larry Fessenden is uniting his classic monsters for what may be his final film.

Dark Sky Films just announced that *Trauma, or Monsters All* hits theaters November 4th. The film opens at IFC Center in New York, followed by a Los Angeles run at Lumiere Music Hall and a nationwide VOD release on November 24th.

The new film brings together the vampire, Frankenstein’s monster, and werewolf from Fessenden’s earlier work (*Habit*, *Depraved*, *Blackout*) into a single story. French actress Laëtitia Hollard plays Cassandra, a visiting writer researching George Washington Carver in the upstate town of Talbot Falls. After she publishes an exposé on the town’s dark history, the monsters emerge and the community’s buried trauma comes flooding back.

The ensemble cast includes Aitana Doyle, Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, Barbara Crampton, James Le Gros, and Fessenden himself. The 119-minute film marks another collaboration between Dark Sky and Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix, the production house behind *The House of the Devil*, *The Innkeepers*, and *Stake Land*.

“I’ve spent my career reimagining classic monsters because they reveal something deeply human about us,” Fessenden said. The film reportedly blends gothic horror with social commentary, tackling themes of memory, guilt, and identity.

IFC Center is also running a seven-film Fessenden retrospective starting October 28th in honor of Glass Eye Pix’s 40th anniversary.

This matters because Fessenden has championed independent horror for decades, both as a filmmaker and a producer who’s nurtured voices like Ti West, Jim Mickle, and Kelly Reichardt. If this is truly his last film, he’s going out swinging.

A messy millennial gets knocked up by an extraterrestrial, and nobody believes her.

MUM, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT, the feature debut from New Zealand directing duo THUNDERLIPS, drops on digital and VOD October 27th via XYZ Films. The film follows Mary, an underachieving twentysomething who accidentally becomes alien-pregnant and has to navigate skeptical doctors, a useless baby daddy, and her oversharing mother just to survive.

The film expands on THUNDERLIPS’ 2024 short HELP, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT, with Hannah Lynch (The Rule of Jenny Pen) returning to play Mary. She’s joined by Yvette Parsons (What We Do in the Shadows), Arlo Green (Shortland Street), and Jackie van Beek, co-creator of the Australian version of The Office.

MUM, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT premiered in the Midnight section at Sundance earlier this year and earned strong reviews, currently sitting at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a wild mix of body horror and comedy that puts a millennial spin on alien invasion tropes.

For indie filmmakers working in genre, this is proof that a strong concept and fresh voice can carry a feature, even when scaling up from a short. THUNDERLIPS took a weird idea and ran with it all the way to Sundance.

An all-girl heavy metal band fights for survival against vampires, cannibals, a werewolf, and a warlock in the supernatural horror film Devour, hitting select theaters October 9 and digital platforms October 13.

The film stars Heidi Shepherd, vocalist for metal band Butcher Babies, alongside KateLynn E. Newberry, Gus Langley, and Alex Lucchesi. After a disastrous gig leaves them stranded, the band encounters a woman in danger and gets trapped in a remote town controlled by a powerful warlock. To survive until morning, they’ll have to tap into dark powers of their own.

Director Scott B. Hansen, who previously made the festival favorite Bad Candy, went heavy on practical effects. The creatures were created by Wayne Anderson, whose credits include Stranger Things, IT: Chapter One, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Anderson and the OX FX team built the film’s vampires, werewolves, and cannibals using creature suits, prosthetics, makeup, and animatronics instead of relying on digital effects.

Devour has already racked up over a dozen festival selections and won Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Vampire Feature at the Freakshow Horror Film Festival. It also got a shoutout on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast.

Hansen, who’s directed music videos for Meshuggah, Willie Nelson, and Motionless in White, brings his music roots into the film, where the band’s identity and the supernatural horror are closely intertwined. For genre fans looking for practical creature work and metal energy, this one’s a bloody ride.