4 Can’t-Miss Global Horror Films Coming To A Screen Near You This May 

The debate about Americanized remakes of global horror films reared its head again last month when Blumhouse dropped the trailer for its English-language redo of Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil. What gets talked about less, though, is that this phenomenon also happens in reverse. 

Enter Monster, an Indonesian remake of David Charbonier and Justin Powell’s pulse-pounding 2021 film The Boy Behind the Door. Director Rako Prijanto helmed the remake, which was written by Alim Sudio and centers around two pre-teen girls kidnapped by a strange man and taken to a remote location at the top of a mountain. One, left in the trunk of the car, manages to escape. But when she realizes that her friend must be in the house with the man, she steels herself to get the other girl out alive. 

In addition to switching the gender of the main characters, Monster puts its own spin on the source material by stripping away the dialogue, with the director calling the film “non-verbal.” Find out what that means for the action when Monster creeps onto Netflix on May 16.

May 17 will be a big day for fans of Danish horror, with 1994’s Nightwatch (another film that got the English-language remake treatment) making its streaming premiere on Shudder the same day that its 30-years-later sequel, Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever, drops on the platform. 

In the original film, law student Martin (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) accepts the job of night watchman at a morgue in Copenhagen to help finance his studies, only to become the prime suspect in a series of brutal slayings. The sequel sees the return of writer-director Ole Bornedal and follows Martin’s daughter, Emma (Fanny Leander Bornedal), who takes a night watch job at the very same mortuary in the hopes of finding out what happened to her parents there all those years ago. 

To say much more might give away the ending of Nightwatch, and I’m not here to spoil your double feature. But if you want to take a peek under the sheet, you can check out the trailer here.

“After death, there is only hell,” reveals the striking trailer for Pandemonium, a French-language vision of the afterlife from writer-director Quarxx.

According to Arrow Video, Pandemonium “takes the viewer on a chilling journey as three interconnected stories unravel in this macabre exploration of tales depicting fallen souls.” At the heart of that journey is Nathan (Hugo Dillon), an ordinary man who finds himself trapped in a hellish void after dying in a road accident, forced to confront his past and experience the pain of other tortured souls as he descends deeper into the depths of hell.

Is there any escaping the torment, or is that really all there is for eternity? Discover the answer to that bleak question when Pandemonium arrives on the ARROW streaming platform on May 27. If you’re a fan of physical media, you can also snag the film on Blu-ray in the US from May 28.

After making a splash at Sundance earlier this year, Canadian slasher In a Violent Nature allows viewers to follow in the footsteps of an undead killer. 

That killer is Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a 60-year-old crime who is resurrected after a locket is removed from the collapsed fire tower that entombs him. Hellbent on getting the locket back, Johnny cuts his way through the group of teens who took it, leaving a trail of gore in his wake. 

In a Violent Nature was written and directed by Chris Nash and slashes into theaters on May 31. If you’ve yet to catch the unsettling trailer, go ahead—treat yourself.

That just about does it for May. Check back next month for more horror highlights from around the globe! If you're looking for more horror movies to add to your watchlist, check out our 30 best horror movies streaming this month.