A24's Hereditary Star Marks First Movie In 8 Years With Shudder's New Horror Releasing This October

Reid Chavis /© A24 /Courtesy Everett Collection Published Aug 15, 2026, 12:28 PM EDT Dan Zinski is a freelance scribe currently contributing to ScreenRant as a movie and TV news writer. He previously wrote for FanSided, The Viking Age and Lightly Buzzed. Sign in to your ScreenRant account A breakout horror star of 2018 is making a long-delayed return to the genre. Milly Shapiro blew some minds as Charlie Graham in Ari Aster’s terrifying psychological thriller Hereditary, becoming a budding horror icon thanks to her unsettling performance as a disturbed young girl. But the award-winning actor chose not to follow up on her apparent star-making turn with another film project, instead focusing on a music career, as well as stage and television work. Now eight years after garnering huge buzz for her movie debut, Shapiro is back in the feature film horror game, starring in Shudder’s Halloween-themed post-apocalyptic chiller Hallowarrior, which has just set a release date of October 16 (via Bloody Disgusting). The Hereditary star this time plays a character named Pumpkin, described as “the last girl on earth and sole survivor of a humanity-ending plague” whom we meet while she’s in the process of scavenging for Halloween supplies. “Pumpkin’s lonely holiday ritual is interrupted by the arrival of a savage gang of raiders at her doorstep,” reads the Hallowarrior synopsis (indicating that Pumpkin is not in fact the sole survivor of the plague). “Outnumbered and armed with candy, wit, and weapons, Pumpkin must ferociously fight back to survive the night,” the summary teases. Shapiro’s Hallowarrior director Ben Sottak sang the praises of distribution partner Shudder while also shining a light on his lead actor, saying in a statement, “Hallowarrior is a love letter to horror and Halloween, and I am thrilled that the film has found its home with a distributor whose brand is synonymous with both. It’s an honor to have Hallowarrior join the Shudder family, and a treat to introduce their audience to this fun, scary, gory film along with its badass lead, Pumpkin, played by the incredible Milly Shapiro.” Ajani Russell (Betty), AJ Bowen (You’re Next), and Shannyn Sossamon (Sinister 2) join the Hereditary star in the movie’s cast. Writer-director Sottak is making his feature film debut, expanding his short movie Scavenger into a full-length work. Though Hallowarrior star Shapiro has been absent from the big screen ever since Hereditary, she has been active in the horror genre on the television side, starring in the Peacock series Hysteria!, about which ScreenRant in a January 2025 article said, “It’s a very funny show despite its dark themes, and Shapiro’s character is one of the standout members of the talented ensemble cast.” Hallowarrior debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in summer 2026 having already been picked up by Shudder and IFC.