Kino Lorber Launches Free Streaming Channel for Cult Films (EXCLUSIVE)
Kino Lorber, the New York-based independent film distributor, is launching a free streaming channel dedicated to all things horror.
The platform, titled Kino Cult, will be ad-supported and will featured hundreds of hours of curated films, with new titles added monthly. It bows in the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 1, right in time for spooky season.
The channel will be available on web, mobile devices and connected TVs that have access to Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and other video-on-demand apps. Kino Cult is being developed in partnership with Giant Pictures, which is responsible for the device apps, channel distribution and ad-tech in the new venture.
From arthouse fare to haunted horror films, Kino Cult is offering a mix of recent releases and classic gems, including Ana Lily Amirpour’s black-and-white vampire film “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” the Yorgos Lanthimos absurdist comedy “Dogtooth” (pictured above), South Korean neo-noir crime thriller “Beasts Clawing at Straws” and Guy Maddin’s “The Forbidden Room.” Kino Cult will also host curated categories, such as Golden Age of Exploitation, ’60s espionage films in Crime & Suspense, ’70s and ’80s Flashback, witchcraft and devil worship in Occult. For many titles, it will be the first time they have been made available on a streaming platform.
“Kino Cult will stream the darkest thrills of visionary midnight cinema to fans at home,” says Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber. “With our vast library built over 40 years and key partner labels in many genre specialties, we have enormous potential to hyper serve genre audiences, the most passionate of all film lovers, with a selection of both new and rare films that they can’t find anywhere else, in incandescent HD. You no longer need to live in a big city with a great repertory theater to have access to the kind of curated cult gems we’re able to offer now for free!”
Before the end of the year, Kino Cult will also launch as a linear channel experience, with its free ad-supported programming running 24/7 across multiple streaming devices.
“Kino Lorber has been steadily assembling a massive library of deliciously strange cinema, and we are delighted to unveil it in one destination,” said Kino Cult curator and senior VP Bret Wood. “And this is only the beginning. Playfully curated and continually expanding, Kino Cult is a cinematic funhouse where both devoted genre fans and curious viewers will find the films they love, while getting the chance to expand their palettes toward something more exotic.”
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