Shudder has announced today that they’ve acquired the lo-fi ’80s Midwest horror thriller Dead Mail from directors Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy. The news comes with a Spring release date as part of Shudder’s Halfway-to-Halloween celebrations.

Dead Mail is set to premiere on Shudder on April 18, 2025.

In the film, “On a desolate, Midwestern county road, a bound man crawls towards a remote postal box, managing to slide a blood-stained plea-for-help message into the slot before a panicking figure closes in behind him. The note makes its way to the desk of Jasper, a seasoned ‘dead letter’ investigator at a 1980s midwestern post office. As he begins to piece together the letter’s origins, it leads him down a violent, unforeseen path to a kidnapped keyboard engineer and his eccentric business associate.”

Sterling Macer Jr., John Fleck, Susan Piver, Micki Jackson, Tomas Boykin, and Nick Heyman star.

DeBoer and McConaghy said, “When we started this film, we certainly had no idea it would end up somewhere as legitimate and boundary-pushing as Shudder.  We’re beyond excited to be included alongside so many fantastic films, and as a bonus, our midwestern extended family will finally have an excuse to start their Shudder 7-day free trials.”

In my review of SXSW, I wrote, “Dead Mail builds to a deeply satisfying conclusion, with supporting players Susan Priver and Micki Jackson driving up the intensity in a final confrontation when the stakes are at their most dire. Its horror components are light, but for genre fans looking for something off the beaten path with an impressive craft on display and challenging ideas, Dead Mail is worth opening.”

The gritty analog style in Dead Mail lends a period authenticity. DeBoer and McConaghy previously detailed to Bloody Disgusting the dead letter mail details that make this particular psychological thriller grounded in reality.

Look for this unique psychological thriller to arrive on Shudder soon.