Shudder has acquired The Glorious Dead, the new apocalyptic horror film from the Adams Family, and plans to release it in 2027. Fangoria broke the news on September 19, during the film’s run at Fantastic Fest. No exact date has been set.
It is the fourth time the streamer has picked up one of the family’s films, after Hellbender, Hell Hole and Mother of Flies. Toby Poser, who co-directed with John Adams, put it simply to Fangoria: “Nothing feels better for this family than being welcomed back into our greater Shudder fam!”
A Sheriff, a Deputy and a Very Bad Day
Poser plays Sheriff Deb, and her daughter Zelda Adams plays her deputy, Mikey. The two wake up to a small town that has quietly stopped working: people are disappearing, blood is running from the taps, creatures are moving through the woods and the dead are coming back. Judith Roberts, John Adams and Lulu Adams round out the cast.
Poser described it to Fangoria during a set visit earlier this year as a story in which “a small-town sheriff and her deputy wake up and experience an escalatingly very, very, very, very, very bad day.” John Adams went bigger: “It’s about waking up in America in 2026, and feeling like it’s not exactly what you thought it was.”
Where It Has Been
The film world premiered at Fantasia in July, played FrightFest in London in August and had its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest. Yellow Veil Pictures handles sales, and first took it to buyers at the Frontières showcase in Cannes back in May.
The reviews have followed the family’s usual pattern: strange, specific and hard to compare to anything else. Bloody Disgusting called it “intimate cosmic horror” out of Fantastic Fest, and Dread Central’s FrightFest review flagged the obvious Fargo echo of a female sheriff holding a snowbound town together while it comes apart.
Why Shudder Keeps Coming Back
The Adams Family is the most self-contained operation in horror. John Adams, Toby Poser and their daughters Zelda and Lulu write, direct, star in and score their films, the music coming from their own band, H6llB6nd6r, and they make them at home in upstate New York on budgets most productions spend on catering. Hellbender put them on the map in 2021, and Mother of Flies picked up two Fangoria Chainsaw Award nominations this year, including Best Lead Performance for Poser.
Shudder has now come back for that formula four times running. When a date lands, it will show up on our Shudder guide.
