Shudder has acquired distribution rights to HALLOWARRIOR, the feature debut from writer-director Ben Sottak. The deal covers North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, with the film set to premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 10, 2026, before arriving on the platform this fall.
The film stars Milly Shapiro, Ajani Russell, AJ Bowen, and Shannyn Sossamon. The story centers on Pumpkin (Shapiro), the last known survivor of a global plague, navigating a desolate world on Halloween night. Her routine scavenging is disrupted when a group of raiders, led by Thalia (Sossamon), arrives, forcing Pumpkin into a fight for survival using whatever resources she has on hand.
Sottak, whose previous work includes commercial directing and festival-screened short films, makes his feature debut with HALLOWARRIOR. The project is produced by Emmajane Hoffman and Sottak for Strange Aeons, alongside Gabriel Rosenstein for The Spitting Image, and Danielle Benedict and Jake Casey for The Dazey Phase. Executive producers include Alec Ring and Sossamon.
In a statement, Sottak described the film as a tribute to horror and Halloween, while Shudder’s acquisitions team pointed to the film’s alignment with the platform’s focus on genre storytelling. The acquisition deal was negotiated by Adam Koehler for Shudder with Isadora Johnson for Cinetic on behalf of the filmmakers.
Following its Tribeca debut, HALLOWARRIOR is scheduled to stream on Shudder later this year.
