A Scottish survival horror that found itself in limbo in the UK for nearly two years following its 2023 cinema release, after its distributor went into liquidation taking rights to the film with it, is finally returning to major UK streaming platforms under the ownership of its makers following a surge of online support for film maker Ryan Hendrick.
Mercy Falls, which is set in the Scottish Highlands and stars two-time BAFTA-winning Actress Lauren Lyle (Outlander / Something in the Water), was described by The Guardian as a “Scottish Predator” on its initial UK-wide cinema release in 2023. It also later released as a Tubi Original in North America and Canada.
Things went suspiciously quiet soon after, however: “In the summer of 2023 we signed a deal with a distributor Bingo Films, the newly established UK arm of 108 Media to release the survival horror film Mercy Falls. The deal was to release the film in the UK, Ireland and Japan. In November 2023 the film was released in the UK & Ireland via a third party distributor,” the film’s Glasgow director and Magic Monkey Films chief Ryan Hendrick explained.
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“In early 2024 it was announced in the trade press that Bingo Films / 108 Media had entered administration. We received no prior warning [and] at no point did we receive any reporting.”
The film, Hendrick claims, was then sold on to an “undisclosed third party,” while attempts by the film’s sales agent to terminate the agreement as per the distribution contract went unacknowledged by the distributors and administrators alike. No reports were provided, and although the film periodically surfaced on some streaming services, Hendrick noted that “We have no idea where these funds are going.”
Ironically, Hendrick’s previous feature was 2020’s Sylvester McCoy and Clare Grogan-starring festive romcom Lost at Christmas, and after a viral post on LinkedIn last year drew attention to Mercy Falls’ plight, the Christmas magic seems to have struck again.
Posting to the social media platform over the holiday, Hendrick announced: “After almost two years of reclaiming our rights and searching for a new home for Mercy Falls in the UK, the film is finally available on UK streaming again.
“We chose to go with Filmhub partly because of their transparency and open approach to analytics and reporting. It also gives me direct control over the film’s availability, with the ability to see how it’s performing across multiple platforms on a daily basis.
“The industry is clearly in a state of flux, and the old models of film financing and distribution are changing fast. Many still clinging to those models are struggling to keep up — taking fewer risks while simultaneously devaluing filmmakers’ rights and worth. That was never going to be a sustainable strategy; it’s more like a temporary bandage that was never going to hold.
“It feels like things are coming to a head, and I suspect the next 12 months will bring some unconventional — but much-needed — restructuring if the industry is to survive. To quote Christopher Nolan: ‘Batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.’”
Hendrick also noted that since 2026 arrived, Mercy Falls’ performance insights have continued to rise, while as an unexpected bonus glitch a metadata error at Prime led to the film being tagged with two Golden Globe nominations on it for 72 hours.
He concluded: “Thank you again to everyone who has supported this project, especially during the difficult periods. We have our film back, its reaching audiences and we are in the driving seat.”
Mercy Falls is now available to rent, stream or buy on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and Relay and is due on Youtube Movies “any day.” The film is also available on DVD and Blu-ray across North America and Canada, distributed by Random Media and available on Amazon.com.
