Don’t Worry About The Last Drive-In. Worry about Shudder.
I intended to write a review for new Shudder release The Unheard. I couldn’t find a way to start it without getting something off my chest first. There has been a fair amount of worry regarding Shudder’s decision to split the upcoming season of The Last Drive-In into two parts. Enough that members of the show have felt compelled to try to allay fears. As Shudder released their April line-up at the same time…we need to dive in to where those fears are actually coming from.
The cost cutting at Shudder has led to a decrease in new content being added to the service (and several dedicated and talented people losing their jobs). You’ve likely noticed that the “this month on Shudder” announcements are half the length that they used to be. Recently there were grumblings about the decision to split the impending season of The Last Drive-in into two parts with a break in between. The Last Drive-In crew has spoken up to quell fans’ fears. The truth is that those fears may be misplaced regarding Joe Bob…but they’re based on something real happening with Shudder.
There actually isn’t any less content coming with this move…but don’t mistake why it’s happening. Those dwindling “this month on Shudder announcements” can now appropriate The Last Drive-In episodes over four monthly announcements. Which is something you’d feel the need to do if your service has cut its output in half. It also ensures that Joe Bob fans who subscribe only the months his show is airing will stick around for an extra payment. Without the new season spreading announcements from April through July…there’s probably some extra sad looking monthly announcements ahead.
When Shudder announced their “Halfway to Halloween” lineup it was more startling than their sparse March output. March saw 3 new releases (Spoonful of Sugar, Leave and The Unheard). The supposed celebration of the halfway point to Halloween…only has 2. The attempted cover for it was…new episodes of The Last Drive-In and The Boulet Brothers. That’s actually good news for fans of The Last Drive-In. The numbers crunchers have figured out that repurposing old content with the beloved Joe Bob treatment is cheaper than acquiring the streaming rights to new movies. With no knowledge of plans for the service…I’m guessing we won’t see the same new movie output any time soon.
April will see the release of Kids vs. Aliens (following its theatrical run and VOD release) and From Black. There is some positive buzz for the latter. The former…topped out at pretty good. We already know that future new additions Children of the Corn (2023) and Consecration are no great shakes from their theatrical (and VOD) releases. Looking at the March titles…Spoonful of Sugar was good…not great. Leave had mixed reviews. The Unheard, as I will write about soon, is also good…but not great.
You may have noticed that three of those titles have already been released in theaters and video on demand. That’s right…they’re cannibalizing the service from both ends. Not only are we seeing fewer original titles…some of the bigger ones are only hitting the service after they’ve squeezed every penny out of other avenues.
I’m sure we can all agree that we need Shudder in our lives. Cut content releases…try to push rentals and ticket sales outside of the service first…whatever. Do what you have to do to keep what has been a great curation of horror up and running. I think we can also agree that we need Shudder to be at its best with the content that it is providing.
Last year it gave us the Scare Value Best Picture winner The Innocents. It also had some great, and varied, releases like Deadstream, Flux Gourmet, Sissy, The Sadness, and Watcher. There was a slew of fun watches like Christmas Bloody Christmas, Blood Relatives, Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge, and Slash/Back. As well as notable films like Glorious, Resurrection, Speak No Evil and Satan’s Slave’s 2: Communion. Those are a lot of great reasons to subscribe to Shudder. When you add in new episodes of The Last Drive-in and countless classic horror movies added each month…you can’t beat the value Shudder provided in 2022.
The best thing that 2023 has going for it so far is that those new releases remain on the service. The quality of new releases this year (depending on your opinion of the divisive Skinamarink) looks a bit lacking. Just like the quantity of them going forward. As well as how “new” they’ll be by the time they finally arrive on Shudder. Even the additions to the classic movies catalog have seen its numbers cut back.
I am not privy to their financials…so it’s entirely possible that the previous model was unsustainable. I tend to think that they’re being punished for the failure of AMC+ (and the amount spent on their more prestige productions). But, I can’t prove that. One thing that corporate belt tighteners rarely do is leave any aspect uncut. They can’t help themselves…it’s their job to find every nickel and dime they can no matter where they find it. And if Shudder subscriptions aren’t cancelled…they’ve done their job very well.
Which brings us back to the outcry against splitting this season of The Last Drive-in. It’s not something that should be just dismissed with a hand waive or even smoothed over by the show itself. The issue comes from something deeper than this season of this show. It’s rooted in what people are seeing happen to their favorite streaming service. It’s manifested in fear of what might happen to their favorite show. Even if you can assure them that the show is not on the block…the root problem remains.
This is starting to feel less like the Shudder they fell in love with. The catalog of classic titles added each month is shrinking. The quality and quantity of new releases is as well. Some of those wait until after a theatrical run and VOD release before they even come to the service. There are cracks in the foundation that were not there before the financial crackdown. This was to be expected. The breadth of issues hitting at the same time was not.
So where does that leave us? Well…Shudder has a ton of great titles available to watch right now. More than the bevy of them listed above. Would I recommend, despite everything said here, subscribing to Shudder? Yes. Because The Last Drive-In is coming back on April 21st. It cures a lot of ills. It covers a lot of cracks. I’d just recommend keeping a keen eye on those “this month on Shudder” announcements over the next 4 months. Both for quantity and quality. When season 5 ends…the proverbial duct tape will be removed. Hopefully the foundation is still in one piece.
