5 International Horror Movies We Can’t Wait To Watch This May

Folk horror fans, rise up! Straight out of the Netherlands, Heresy (aka Witte Wieven) dropped on Shudder on May 1.
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Set in a medieval Dutch village, Heresy follows a young woman (Anneke Sluiters) caught between her faith, the fanatical townsfolk, and the dark forces lurking in the surrounding woods. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Didier Konings, whose impressive resume includes visual effects work on horror films like The Conjuring 2, as well as concept art for Stranger Things, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and multiple Marvel movies. Does that mean we’re in for a visual treat? You’ll have to head on over to Shudder to find out!

After the eerie Caveat and the darkly funny Oddity, horror hounds have been eagerly waiting to see what writer-director Damian McCarthy would conjure up next. The wait is finally over: following its buzzy SXSW debut back in March, Hokum officially hit theaters on May 1.
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Adam Scott (Krampus, The Monkey, Hellraiser: Bloodline if you’re nasty) stars in the film as Ohm Bauman, a cynical novelist who travels to Ireland to stay at the remote hotel where his late parents honeymooned. Naturally, the hotel is said to be haunted, and Ohm is quickly drawn into a disturbing mystery involving a missing member of staff and a witchy secret in the Honeymoon Suite.
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Hokum has been at the top of my watchlist for quite some time now, so I’m going to avoid spoilers until I see it. Once I do, I’ll be checking out Fango’s interview with McCarthy—and you should, too!

Sometimes, the name of a film alone is enough to draw me in. Writer-director Parish Malfitano’s Salt Along the Tongue has earned that honor this month, with the incredible poster sealing the deal.
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Incorporating elements of the filmmakers’ Italian heritage, Salt Along the Tongue centers on Mattia (Laneikka Denne), a teenager forced to move in with her estranged aunt after her mother dies suddenly. But mommy isn’t gone yet: using food as a gateway, she possesses Mattia—both to reconcile with her sister, and to protect her daughter from the same grim fate that befell her.
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If you’re as intrigued as I am, you can get a taste of Salt Along the Tongue on VOD platforms as of May 1.

From salty to sweet, the deliciously sapphic Saccharine arrives in select theaters on May 22 ahead of its Shudder release this July.
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Saccharine was written and directed by Natalie Erika James, whose previous credits include the haunting dementia allegory Relic and stylish Rosemary’s Baby sequel Apartment 7A. In the director’s latest nightmare, a lovelorn medical student (Midori Francis) takes part in a strange weight loss craze involving eating human ashes—with predictably messed-up results. Expect an intimate look at one woman’s struggle with body image (and plenty of body horror in the process).

Inspired by the Indonesian folktale Malin Kundang, a cautionary tale about why you shouldn’t act ungrateful toward your mother, folk horror sMothered starts streaming on Shudder on May 29.
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Kevin Rahardjo and Rafki Hidayat make their feature directorial debut with sMothered, with Hidayat co-writing the script alongside Aline Djayasukmana and Joko Anwar (Satan’s Slaves, Impetigore). The film follows Alif (Rio Dewanto), a renowned micro painter who, after surviving a terrible accident, returns home with fractured memories. An elderly woman claims to be his mother, but the haunting truth may be rooted in the legend of Malin Kundang.
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Those are just a few of the exciting new horror titles coming to a screen near you this May. If you still find yourself bereft of something to watch, be sure to bookmark this list of 41 horror movies that you can stream for free this month—and check back in June for more new nightmares from all around the world.