IFC Films & Shudder Acquire Horror Thriller ‘Azrael’ From ‘Cheap Thrills’ Helmer E.L. Katz; Samara Weaving & Nathan Stewart-Jarrett Star

EXCLUSIVE: IFC Films and Shudder have acquired North American rights to Azrael, a new action horror thriller from director E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills), which stars Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Femme). Hailing from Republic Pictures, the film will release exclusively in theaters via IFC on September 27, making its debut on AMC Networks’ genre streamer later in the year.

Written by Simon Barrett (You’re Next), Azrael takes place in a world in which no one speaks, watching as a a mysterious, devout community hunts down a young woman named Azrael (Weaving) who has escaped their imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, she is to be sacrificed to pacify an evil which resides deep within the surrounding wilderness — but Azrael will stop at nothing to ensure her own freedom and survival.

Billed as a gritty, relentless parable of sacrifice and salvation, the film world premiered at SXSW 2024 and is set to make its Canadian premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival in August.

Azrael is produced by Dan Kagan (Longlegs, Significant Other), Dave Caplan (Longlegs, Babylon) and Barrett. C2 Motion Picture Group fully financed the film, for which North Five Six will handle ongoing international sales.

“AZRAEL is a chilling, heart pounding experience that will grab at your senses start to finish,” said Shudder’s SVP of Acquisitions and Production, Emily Gotto. “We are thrilled to work with these bold and innovative filmmakers to bring E.L. Katz’s distinct vision to theaters, and to Shudder, later this year.”

Added Katz, “I couldn’t be more thrilled to have AZRAEL released by our good friends at Shudder/IFC. Their support of wild, uncompromising genre films is unparalleled. We are so excited to invite all horror fans along for this mysterious, gruesome, hellish, Samara Weaving ass kicking marathon.”

Best known for directing the darkly comedic thriller Cheap Thrills, starring Pat Healy, which went on to distribution through Drafthouse Films and Snoot Entertainment following its premiere at SXSW, Katz’s follow-up was the Netflix thriller Small Crimes starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Previously, he’s also directed on shows like Scream: The TV Series, Swamp Thing, Channel Zero and The Haunting of Bly Manor, also serving as co-EP on the latter two.

Gotto negotiated the deal for Katz’s latest feature for IFC Films and Shudder, with Laura Sher negotiating on behalf of Republic Pictures.