Shudder’s annual Halfway to Halloween celebration returns in April with a monthlong programming lineup celebrating the halfway point to our favorite day of the year. The 2025 lineup includes a killer selection of new original films and series, including retro thriller “Dead Mail,” exorcist horror “Shadow of God,” Irish-language folk horror “Fréwaka,” “825 Forest Road,” from the creator of the “Hell House LLC” franchise, and more!
Films
825 Forest Road
The celebration kicks off on April 4 with the arrival of “825 Forest Road.” Directed by Stephen Cognetti, the film centers on Chuck Wilson, who, after a family tragedy, moves to the town of Ashland Falls with his wife Maria and little sister Elizabeth to start a new life. But he quickly discovers that the town has a dark secret. The ghost of Helen Foster, a woman who committed suicide back in the ’40s, has terrorized residents for decades. Finding Helen’s old home is key to ending the hauntings, but the address they have doesn’t match any of the town’s existing streets. When Chuck realizes his family might be in danger of Helen’s wrath, he takes it upon himself to locate 825 Forest Road before it’s too late.
Shadow of God
On April 11, Shudder will debut the original film, “Shadow of God.” Directed by Michael Peterson (“Knuckleball”), the film follows Father Mason Harper, who, after several of his fellow Vatican exorcists are simultaneously killed, returns to his childhood home to spend time with a childhood friend while he awaits orders from the Church. However, this small town holds dark secrets about Mason’s past and the religious organization once run by his father, Angus. Thought dead, Angus reappears, forcing a reunion between father and son. But Angus is different now, and before long, Mason suspects he’s possessed, not by the devil, but by something… holy. When Mason attempts to exorcise the presence from his father, he sets off a chain of events that may end in a cataclysm of biblical proportions, testing everything he holds sacred.
Dead Mail
April 18 marks the arrival of “Dead Mail,” a retro thriller from directors Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy, who also co-directed the 2020 thriller “BAB.” “Dead Mail” follows Jasper, a seasoned ‘dead letter’ investigator at a 1980s midwestern post office. When a blood-stained plea-for-help message deposited in a remote postal box makes its way to his desk, he begins to piece together the letter’s origins, leading him down a violent, unforeseen path to a kidnapped keyboard engineer and his eccentric business associate.
Fréwaka
Rounding out this year’s Halfway to Halloween original film lineup is “Fréwaka.” Available on Shudder beginning on April 25, this Irish folk horror from Aislinn Clarke (“The Devil’s Doorway”) follows home care worker Shoo, who is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman who fears the neighbors as much as she fears the Na Sídhe — sinister entities who she believes abducted her decades before. As the two develop a strangely deep connection, Shoo is consumed by the older woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, eventually confronting the horrors from her own past.
Halfway to Halloween Watch Parties
Fans can tune in to Shudder TV every Friday night at 9 PM ET for new premieres and curated double features. The fun kicks off on April 4 with a new season seven episode of “The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs,” featuring a yet-to-be-announced double feature. Other watch parties in April include:
- Friday, April 11: Spotlight on Stephen Cognetti Watch Party – “825 Forest Road” and “Hell House LLC” Director’s Cut
- Friday, April 18: Trapped Watch Party – “Dead Mail” and “Glorious”
- Friday, April 25: The Movies That Made Shudder Watch Party– “Revenge” and One Cut of the Dead”
New Titles to the Shudder Library
The Halfway to Halloween celebration brings with it over 20 additional horror titles to the Shudder library, debuting throughout the month of April. Check out the full lineup below:
April 1
- April Fools Day
- Rawhead Rex
- Halloween H20
- Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers
- Halloween: Resurrection
- 13 Ghosts (1960)
- Fright Night (1985)
- Repulsion (1965)
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
- Crimson Peak
- Night of the Living Dead (1990)
- Land of the Dead
- Unfriended
April 5
- Intruder (2019)
April 7
- A Cat in the Brain
- City of the Living Dead
- Manhattan Baby
- The Beyond
- The Black Cat
- The New York Ripper
April 14
- Chain Reaction (2006)
April 21
- Psychomania
