AMC Networks' Horror Streaming Service Shudder to Launch in Canada, U.K.

The cable networks group, led by CEO Josh Sapan, will launch the genre SVOD service in late October at the start of its international rollout.

Shudder, AMC Networks' subscription video streaming service for horror fans, is set to launch in Canada and the U.K. next month to kick off its international rollout.

A spokesperson for the cable networks group on Thursday confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the international versions of Shudder, which launched in the U.S. last year, will target filmgoers looking for their fear fix in both markets in late October. The video streaming service is expected to launch with around 200 genre titles, from indie horror fare and grindhouse classics to Hollywood blockbusters.

Recent classic horror titles on the U.S. Shudder service include Mario Bava’s Shock; John Hough’s The Incubus, starring John Cassavetes and John Ireland; and Eric Walter’s My Amityville Horror. The international expansion comes as AMC Networks, the company behind such cable outlets as AMC, IFC and Sundance Channel, looks for greater digital distribution revenue for its content with new subscription VOD services.

Shudder, curated by Toronto International Film Festival programmer Colin Geddes and ex-Fangoria managing editor Sam Zimmerman, aims to get a bigger scream out of genre fans in both markets than is available from fright film titles on Netflix, Amazon and other generalist streamers.

The AMC platform has separate websites in Canada and the U.K. inviting fright fans to sign up with their emails for "exclusive, invite-only access" ahead of the fall launches.

The Canadian version of Shudder will be available to consumers for $4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year. There was no immediate word on the U.K. pricing.