Shudder has secured U.S. distribution rights to 'Bloody Tennis,' Nikias Chryssos' English-language horror film, ahead of its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival (Variety). The deal lands before the film has screened for a public audience, locking down the biggest single market before the festival spotlight hits.

The acquisition also came with a wave of international territory deals. Australia went to Umbrella Entertainment, the Baltics to BestFilm.eu, Italy to Plaion Pictures, Japan to Extreme Film, Poland to 9th Plan, and Scandinavia to Njutafilms. Germany will be handled by Port au Prince, with the U.S. release running through Shudder — the AMC Networks-owned streaming service focused on horror, thriller and supernatural fare.

Behind the deal structure, CAA represented Augenschein Sales on the U.S. rights, while Augenschein handled the Australian sale directly. The Playmaker Munich, which took international sales rights to the film back at the American Film Market in November 2025 (Variety), closed the remaining territories — Poland, the Baltics, Japan, Scandinavia and Italy — and is still fielding offers for the open markets.

'Bloody Tennis' follows Sophie, a young player admitted to an elite tennis academy hidden deep in Southern Europe. Once inside, she faces the brutality of her teammates and the school's sinister undercurrents — where, as the Locarno festival's own synopsis puts it, only the hungriest survive (Cineuropa; Locarno Film Festival). The film is set to screen out of competition at Locarno.

The ensemble cast spans European cinema. Sandra Guldberg Kampp, Helena Zengel, Tracy Gotoas, Lucie Zhang, Lily Taieb, Elina Löwensohn and Zlatko Burić all feature. Behind the camera, the score comes from Jim Williams, the composer behind Titane, Raw and Possessor — three films that sit firmly in the modern body-horror tradition.

Chryssos, a German film-maker whose résumé includes the Résidence du Festival de Cannes, Berlinale Talents and a UCLA masterclass, founded Kataskop Film in 2012 and made his feature debut with Der Bunker. He produced 'Bloody Tennis' through Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo of Augenschein, in co-production with Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion and German broadcaster ZDF. The shoot took place in Gran Canaria, Spain, and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with support from Film-und Medienstiftung NRW, the German Federal Film Fund and the Canary Islands' tax incentive programme.

Adam Koehler, director of acquisitions and productions at IFC Entertainment Group — Shudder's parent company — called the film "bold" and "boundary-pushing," saying Shudder was thrilled to give it a home. Sylvia Edelmann, head of sales at The Playmaker Munich, said the Locarno premiere would draw attention to the title and help close the remaining territories.

For genre audiences, that means a new horror entry with festival credentials will reach Shudder's subscriber base, with the rest of the world covered territory by territory — a model the independent film business still relies on, selling rights region by region rather than in a single global deal.