Summer of 1986. A hot Australian night. A college acceptance worth celebrating. And a jealous cousin who decides a cruel prank is a good idea. What follows is a night of bloodshed, revenge, and very bad decisions.
Penny Lane Is Dead premieres on Shudder this Friday, August 28. Writer-director Mia’Kate Russell makes her feature debut with the project, an Ozploitation-inspired horror throwback with punk rock energy and a mean streak to match.
The setup is deceptively simple. Seventeen-year-old Penny Lane celebrates her college acceptance with her closest girlfriends. Her troubled cousin spikes their cupcakes. A thoughtless prank spirals into something far darker, and by dawn, nothing will be the same. The film is lean, visceral, and propulsive in exactly the way a great siege horror should be.
The cast includes Sophia Wright-Mendelsohn, Tahlee Fereday, Alexandra Jensen (Talk to Me), Bailey Spalding, Steve Le Marquand (Vertical Limit), Fletcher Humphrys (Wolf Creek), and Ben O’Toole (Hacksaw Ridge).
Russell said of the release- “It’s exhilarating that my feature directorial debut is being released by Shudder, one of the most fearless and bold distributors out there. The Shudder team has such a keen understanding of genre films, and are the perfect partners to unleash this powerful film with audiences.”
The film world-premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival in July, where it earned strong notices. Bloody Disgusting’s own Fantasia review called it “visceral, propulsive, and a strong debut in terms of style and energy.”
Penny Lane Is Dead streams exclusively on Shudder from August 28, 2026.
