Not only is IFC Midnight releasing the creature feature The Wretched on digital platforms and VOD May 1st, but the film will be crawling into limited drive-in theaters across the nation on the same day!

Written & directed by Brett and Drew Pierce (Deadheads), The Wretched follows a defiant teenage boy, struggling with his parent’s imminent divorce, who faces off with a thousand-year-old witch who is living beneath the skin of the woman next door.

For those looking for a night on the town, The Wretched is currently booked at drive-ins in California (Sacramento and Montclair), Arizona (Glendale), Florida (Ocala) and Georgia (Vidalia) as well as VOD May 1st; and others in Tennessee (Sparta) and Georgia (Jesup) on May 15th — with more drive-ins TBC.

IFC notes to Bloody Disgusting that there are 321 drive-ins nationwide that they hope to expand into as they begin to open this spring. For drive-ins, this is the first time they are playing independent first-run product in the modern era.

Keep your eyes on the official website for updates and ticketing.

For now, here’s an exclusive look at a retro drive-in ad created for the release (by Matt Desiderio) and a nasty exclusive clip that shows the witch crawling out of a dead deer.

Interestingly, IFC also notes: “Brett and Drew Pierce’s father is actually Bart Pierce, who did the stop motion effects on Evil Dead. A lot of their inspiration came from spending their early years on that set. Evil Dead also played drive-ins as a part of their first run, as it wasn’t rated and had trouble getting into regular theaters. Although this isn’t the exact case for The Wretched, other circumstances have brought this film back to the drive-in and I think it’s a beautiful silver lining during the pandemic – bringing these indie-horror films back to their natural habitat – a family tradition on many levels!”

The Wretched stars John-Paul Howard (“Hell or High Water”), Piper Curda (I Didn’t Do It), Azie Tesfai (“Supergirl”), and Kevin Bigley (Netflix’s “Upload”).

Meagan reviewed The Wretched for us at Fantasia last year, writing: “The Pierce brothers have delivered a new dark fairy tale that the midnight crowds will enjoy.”

Check out the trailer below.