Indie horror films are numerous, but often many of these titles get overlooked or simply never acknowledged. I love the presence of horror on the big screen. The number of films from the genre opening in large and small theaters across the globe brings me a lot of joy.
However, we can often forget about horror history. Believe it or not, Halloween (1978) was not a blockbuster film or a hit, but it eventually found a growing audience. Let’s continue to expand the horror fandom library and look at some indie horror releases set for October 2023.
15 Cameras – October 13th
When Cam and Sky bought their duplex, it seemed like the perfect investment opportunity for the young couple; a starter home, a mortgage offset by renters, and even a guest room for Sky’s sister, Carolyn. But as Sky and Cam slowly uncover hidden cameras and secrets of the duplex’s previous owner, obsession consumes their marriage and they both fall into destructive forms of voyeurism. When new tenants move in downstairs, their fixation with observing others has deadly consequences and they are forced to confront the very things they have been consumed by.
Grieve – October 6th
A man engulfed in the suffocating grip of loss finds his life fragmented. Struggling to navigate through his emotional fog, his mother suggests a retreat to her cabin – but an ancient entity that thrives on sorrow has taken root. The New England winter punctuates this love letter to creeping horror and slow cinema, like a marriage of Chantal Ackerman and Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
GRIEVE, written and directed by Robbie Smith and starring Paris Peterson and Danielle Keaton, hits digital platforms on October 6 in North America from Terror Films.
V/H/S/85 – October 6th
An ominous mixtape blends never-before-seen snuff footage with nightmarish newscasts and disturbing home video to create a surreal, analog mashup of the forgotten 80s.
Caddy Hack – October 10th (Blu-Ray on October 24th)
In the film, which Catanese wrote and directed, a struggling golf course suffers a string of caddy murders at the paws of pesticide-mutated gofers, while the greedy owner of the facility tries to cover up the carnage and an unhinged groundkeeper wages all-out war on the vicious vermin.
Jim Gordon, Jake Foy, Chrissy Cavallo, Nick Twist, Ilene Sullivan, and John Evans are among the cast of the crazy horror-comedy – best described as Caddyshack by way of Gremlins! Catanese, the cult indie director of ‘Girls Just Wanna have Blood’ and ‘Sodomaniac’, produced alongside Sara Casey, Scott Miller, Jim Gordon, Joseph Kuzemka and Rob Hauschild.
Caddy Hack premieres on digital October 10, followed by a Special Edition Blu-ray October 24
Extras include :
- Director and producer Commentary
- Outtakes and Behind the Scenes Footage
- Old Glory Holes Commercial
- Caddy Hack Rap
- Balls Deep Karaoke
- Brew Break Drinking Game
- BLU RAY exclusive – Illustrated Slipcase art
- BLU RAY exclusive – Folded poster
When Evil Lurks -October 6 in Theaters (October 27 Streaming)
When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse — its very proximity poisoning the local livestock — they attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions inadvertently trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community. Now they must outrun an encroaching evil as it corrupts and mutilates everyone it is exposed to, and enlist the aid of a wizened “cleaner,” who holds the only tools that can stop this supernatural plague.
A wildly original take on the possession film, When Evil Lurks is a shocking supernatural thriller from Argentine master of horror, writer-director Demián Rugna (Terrified).
The Haunting Lodge – October 17th
In this unscripted investigative documentary, American filmmakers Kendall and Vera are asked to film a remote hunting lodge in Georgia that has been experiencing paranormal activity for over a decade. Dan, the desperate lodge owner, is searching for answers, as the hauntings are scaring hunters away and could ruin his business.
Kendall and Vera move into the lodge to begin their investigation. Vera is the first to experience the hunter’s claims, but soon they both experience terrifying events, including being touched while they sleep. They call upon psychic medium Jill Morris to help them solve the case, and she reveals that the haunting is the work of an intelligent entity. The lodge’s dark secrets are revealed as the paranormal activity escalates at the never-before-investigated location, and the couple find themselves in over their heads when they finally capture evidence of something otherworldly.
