Shudder releases official trailer for horror film “The Cycle” starring Deborah Ann Woll — streaming from October 23

Horror platform Shudder has released the official trailer for “The Cycle,” the newest horror film by director Jordan Downey, known for “The Head Hunter” and a segment of the anthology “V/H/S/Beyond,” as ComingSoon reports. Starring is Deborah Ann Woll, known as Karen Page in “Daredevil” and Jessica Hamby in “True Blood,” who plays Meg, a forensic anthropologist who wakes in the middle of the night to a strange noise in her forest home — and finds herself drawn into an investigation that will shatter every certainty of her life.

The story begins when the body of a man missing for thirty-six years is discovered at the scene of a macabre crime — and the victim turns out to be Meg’s father, whom she has not seen since she was a child. As she tries to uncover his dark past, her investigation turns from a conventional criminal mystery into a supernatural nightmare, with chilling imagery and encounters the trailer deliberately keeps vague. Downey wrote the screenplay with his longtime collaborator Kevin Stewart, and alongside Woll the cast also includes Jeffrey Donovan of “Burn Notice,” Will Hochman, Jack Doolan and Carl W. Crudup.

But the film’s strongest seal comes from the king of horror himself: according to Bloody Disgusting, the trailer features an endorsement from Stephen King, who calls “The Cycle” a blend of “The Thing” with “The Silence of the Lambs” and “a terrific fright flick.” “Masters of Horror” director Mick Garris describes it as “an exaggerated celebration of practical effects.” Downey has called the film a love letter to King himself, who he says shaped every aspect of it as a cinema devotee. The film earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from the first ten critics’ reviews, following its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026.

With a runtime of 111 minutes, “The Cycle” will begin streaming exclusively on Shudder on October 23, 2026 — just in time for the Halloween season. It is Deborah Ann Woll’s first genuine leading horror role, and genre fans are anticipating it as one of the fall’s most important titles for the platform.