Horror Highlights: DEAD MAIL, WITCHCRAFT, ARROW

DEAD MAIL: “Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thrillers and the supernatural, today released the trailer and poster for ‘80s Midwest horror thriller DEAD MAIL from directors Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy. The highly anticipated film, which made its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Festival, stars Sterling Macer Jr., John Fleck, Susan Piver, Micki Jackson, Tomas Boykin and Nick Heyman. On the heels of its immensely successful festival run which included being selected at Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness Section, Sitges Film Festival and Brooklyn Horror Fest, DEAD MAIL will make its exclusive streaming debut April 18 on Shudder as part of the streamer’s annual Halfway to Halloween celebration.

On a desolate, Midwestern county road, a bound man crawls towards a remote postal box, managing to slide a blood-stained plea-for-help message into the slot before a panicking figure closes in behind him. The note makes its way to the desk of Jasper, a seasoned ‘dead letter’ investigator at a 1980s midwestern post office. As he begins to piece together the letter’s origins, it leads him down a violent, unforeseen path to a kidnapped keyboard engineer and his eccentric business associate.

Written and directed by DeBoer and McConaghy, DEAD MAIL is produced by Zachary Weil and Brett Arndt with Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Adam Goldworm and Susan Priver as Executive Producers.”

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Fantagraphics to Publish Witchcraft By Sole Otero: “Fantagraphics is proud to announce we are publishing the newest book by Sole Otero, a “rising star of international comics” (Publishers Weekly Starred Review), on October 7th, 2025!

Told as a fractured narrative and following a sisterhood of witches from the 1700s to the present, Witchcraft is a mesmerizing mystery to piece together.

“Sole Otero’s English debut, Mothballs, was a quietly powerful graphic novel that asserted herself onto the international comics scene,” said editor Conrad Groth. “But now her newest work, Witchcraft, reveals the lofty heights of her creativity, talent, and literary ambition. It’s rich in ideas and meaning, effortlessly jumps in tone from introspective to eerie to hilariously raunchy, and showcases a stunning range of art and storytelling styles. Simply put, a powerhouse of a book that playfully pushes the comics medium forward. I am ecstatic that Sole’s books have a home at Fantagraphics.”

Sole Otero commented: “The release of Mothballs in English has been very significant for me since I’ve been reading American comics since I was a teenager. From far away I’ve dreamt about this unreachable world of graphic novels and authors and I am of course very happy to become a part of it. Witchcraft is an exercise of writing a mysterious dreamy story that gathers lots of my interests and shapes them as a horror fiction. For me it was supposed to be the challenge of building a universe where not everything needed an explanation but everything spoke about my surroundings and my country.”

Hand drawn in her playful, kinetic style, with a vibrant color palette, this experimental, eerie, and hilarious work assures Sole Otero as one of the most dynamic comics artists in South America — and everywhere.”

To learn more, visit: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/sole-otero/products/witchcraft?mc_cid=7f89ff69a3&mc_eid=bbc6c38088

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ARROW’s April SVOD Lineup Blooms with V-Cinema, Found Footage Shorts & More for Subscribers: “Arrow Video is excited to announce the April 2025 lineup of their subscription-based ARROW platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland. Enjoy a selection of new titles, from carefully cultivated curations to shorts by new talent. For serious enthusiasts, ARROW offers deep dives into the tastes of filmmakers that changed the way we see the genre.

In a profile last Halloween, the New York Times praised ARROW and noted, “Viewers with a fondness for the esoteric will be hard-pressed to find more quality bang for their streaming buck.”

The ARROW 2025 lineup leads with the 4K launch of Anthony Waller’s debut feature Mute Witness. Now fully restored in 4K, there has never been a better opportunity to discover – or rediscover – unpredictable, nerve-shredding, tense viewing experience.

Also launching throughout April is a set of nine explosive titles representing some of the best the Japanese crime film has to offer.

Filled with action, thrills and double-crosses, the V-Cinema essentials is an electrifying compendium of gems from the Japanese video underworld.

On April 4, start your dive into ARROW with Found Footage (UK/US/CA/IRE).

While shooting a documentary in the woods at midnight (don’t ask) we stumbled across a strange sack hidden among a tangle of roots. Back at ARROW HQ, we soon discovered that the mysterious bag was full of tapes containing found footage films, each scarier than the last.

Join us as we film ourselves going through the tapes, discovering the fates of those who have been caught on camera forever, never stopping shooting, recording it all, and learning all we can from this frightening… Found Footage.

Titles Include: Ghost Light, Kolobos, Grave Encounters.

The April 4 spooks continue with a pair of trios (one feature length, one shorts) that light some of the best of the found footage genre.

Ghost Light (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Disgruntled actor shouts “Macbeth” on an empty stage and unwittingly unleashes the play’s legendary curse on his fellow Shakespearean troupe… with unfortunate consequences. All’s well that ends well, but not for everyone.

Grave Encounters (US): A reality TV show crew film inside an abandoned mental hospital, where unexplained phenomena was reported. They quickly realize that the building is not only haunted, but it has no intention of ever letting them leave.

Grave Encounters 2 (US): Tortured by the ghosts of the demonized insane asylum that killed the crew of GRAVE ENCOUNTERS, film students fight to escape death as their own paranormal investigation goes terribly wrong in this horrifying sequel.

For those that want to be chilled in a hurry, ARROW offers:

Rejected (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): In Rejected, a short horror parody, three twisted tales of macabre horror unfold, all linked by an antiquated digital camera from 1997. The tales intertwine, creating a narrative that is both terrifying and hilariously absurd.

FROM.BEYOND (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): A kaleidoscopic vision portraying mankind’s first meeting with alien life, told through faux archival footage combined with practical FX, miniatures and old school in-camera trickery. Winner of the prestigious Méliès D’or in 2023.

They Called Me David (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): David was created in a lab, a strange being of immense power. But they are also just a lonely child, searching for their father.

ARROW’s April schedule includes a selection films from legendary Japanese studio Toei’s direct to video classics V-Cinema. These explosive titles represent some of the best the Japanese crime film has to offer, kicking off April 7.

Burning Dog (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Inspired by true events, Burning Dog is an action-packed heist film where a group of thieves plot to rob twenty million dollars from a US military base in Okinawa, but rising tensions in the group threaten to put the plan in jeopardy.

Carlos (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Veteran manga artist Kazuhiro Kiuchi (Be-Bop High School) takes the helm for Carlos, in which a Brazilian-Japanese petty criminal sees an opportunity to play rival yakuza gangs against each other, but bites off much more than he can chew.

April 11 brings a foursome of films all about how consequences always catch up…with interest.

Capsules (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): After experimenting with mysterious substances, four chem students find themselves addicted in the worst way possible: they’ll die unless they take more.

The Cold (The Game) (US): Three bored millionaires gather nine people at an old mansion to play “The Game”… if they can meet and conquer their fears and they’ll receive a million dollars in cash. But all is not as it seems!

The Demons of Ludlow (US): The population of a small, quiet town prepares to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of its founding, but the town of Ludlow has a very dark past and when a piano arrives at auction, the ghosts of its past return to seek retribution.

The Visitants (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Aliens chase a teenager who stole one of their ray guns.

Also on April 11, take a walk through the ARROW catalog guided by the hand of film critic and author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Selects (UK/US/CA/IRE): Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an award-winning film critic and author of ten books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema, including 1000 Women in Horror, 1895 – 2018 (2020), The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema (2021), Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (2011/2021), Eyes Without Faces: Masks in Horror Cinema (2019), Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality (2014), and her latest book, The Cinema Coven: Witches, Witchcraft and Women’s Filmmaking (2024).

“Raiding the Arrow archives is the cinephile equivalent of being a kid in a candy store! From classic beats to deeper cuts, I’ve primarily selected titles that tie into the subjects I’ve written about in my books, with a couple of personal favourites thrown in for good measure – enjoy, sickos!”.

Titles Include: Mirror Mirror, Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times.

On April 14, enjoy the next serving of V-Cinema with Crime Hunter and Danger Point.

Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Fast-paced and action-packed, Crime Hunter sees detective “Joker” Kawamura out for revenge against the men who gunned down his partner. Along the way he teams up with Lily, a gun-toting nun looking to get back 5 million dollars that was stolen from her church.

Danger Point: The Road to Hell (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Show Aikawa and Jo Shishido are united once again in Danger Point: The Road to Hell, this time as a duo of contract killers whose fragile partnership is tested when their most recent hit starts to have unforeseen consequences.

On April 18, discover what happens when you venture where you shouldn’t.

Squeal (US/ CAN): Lost in a remote part of Eastern Europe, Sam is a foreigner searching for his biological father when a minor road accident leads to a chance meeting with a pig farmer’s daughter, who captures him, making him a slave on the farm.

Xtro 3 (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Marines travel to a deserted island to diffuse bombs, only to be terrorized by a deadly alien creature.

Hide and Go Shriek (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): A group of teens decide to spend the night at a furniture store the father of one of them owns. A homeless ex-con security guard is staying the night too. During the night, someone with a taste for cross-dressing breaks in and begins to pick off the teens one by one during a game of hide and seek. The killer changes clothes with each victim, male or female, when stalking the next one.

Hide & Seek (US): Sung-soo has everything that a man would want, but he suffers from insomnia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. When his estranged brother disappears, Sung-soo visits the shabby apartment complex where he’d been living and soon, strange things start to happen. Sung-soo’s house keys disappear, someone tries to break in when only his children are at home. Mysterious whispers are heard, terrifying the entire family. With his family quivering in fear, Sung-soo’s compulsiveness and nightmares get worse.

The V-Cinema onslaught continues April 21.

Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes The Bullet (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet pairs rising star Show Aikawa with veteran actor Jo Shishido (Branded to Kill). Junko (Aikawa) is a wannabe yakuza who gets more than he bargained for when tasked with avenging the murder of a fellow gang member, or face the consequences for betrayal.

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): The sequel to one of the most iconic Japanese franchises of all time, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat sees a female assassin hired to infiltrate a women’s prison and search for The Scorpion, a legendary rebellious prisoner hiding in the bowels of the prison.

On April 25, subscribers in every territory can enjoy the 30th anniversary of Mute Witness (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN), making its 4K debut on ARROW!

Director Anthony Waller (The Piper, An American Werewolf in Paris) combines cat-and-mouse suspense with classic intrigue in Mute Witness, an updated take on the Hitchcockian thriller in which the only witness to a brutal crime can neither speak nor cry out in terror.

Billy Hughes (Marina Sudina) is a mute special effects artist working on a low budget American slasher movie being shot in Russia. Accidentally locked in the studio late one night, she stumbles upon two men shooting what appears to be a snuff film. Having borne witness to their victim’s final moments, Billy desperately flees – but this is only the start of a protracted night of terror, drawing her and her friends into a tangled web of intrigue, involving the KGB, the Moscow police… and a mysterious crime kingpin known as “The Reaper”.

ARROW’s April schedule concludes April 28 with three explosive V-Cinema offerings.

Stranger (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): In Shunichi Nagasaki’s unbearably tense thriller Stranger, a late-night taxi driver is stalked by the unseen driver of an SUV, who just might have a connection to the taxi driver’s criminal past.

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Immortal exploitation director Teruo Ishii (Horrors of Malformed Men) turns his camera to hard-boiled crime with The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses, in which a man on the edge remorselessly hunts down those responsible for his wife’s death, killed in the crossfire of a yakuza turf war.

XX: Beautiful Hunter (UK/ IRE/ US/ CAN): Assassin and femme fatale Shion rebels against the fanatical religious order who prepared her from birth to be the perfect killer in XX: Beautiful Hunter, a whirlwind of romance and violence from legendary Roman Porno director Masaru Konuma.

ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV & iOS devices, Samsung TVs, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com.

With a slickly designed and user-friendly interface, and an unparalleled roster of quality content from westerns to giallo to Asian cinema, trailers, Midnight Movies, filmmaker picks and much, much more, ARROW is the place to go for the very best in on-demand entertainment.”