A Grab Bag of Horror News, 16 to 22 Mar 2025

A selection of things that caught our attention in the world of horror this week

Bite-Sized Horror News

Vale

Condolences to family, friends, and fans of screenwriter/director Alistair Legrand. He co-wrote The Diabolical (2015) and Clinical (2017) and directed both movies. A website has been created for those who knew him to submit memories to be shared at a memorial service. A GoFundMe has also been set up on behalf of his wife, Shelley. RIP.
Condolences to family, friends, and fans of actor Wings Hauser. Hauser’s horror movies included Tales from the Hood, Mutant, Pale Blood, and The Carpenter. He also appeared in an episode of Freddy’s Nightmares. RIP.

Horror Book Bits

The AuthorCon V Official Programming Schedule is finalized. The event is on next weekend (28 to 30 March 2025) in Williamsburg, VA, and it’s not too late to get tickets or to sign up for the Gross Out Contest.
Amazon is publishing The Shivers collection, with short stories, available to purchase individually, from Joe Hill (Jackknife), Grady Hendrix (The Blanks), Stephen Graham Jones (The Indigo Room), Catriona Ward (Night and Day in Misery), and Owen King (Letter Slot). The collection releases on 15 Apr 2025.
Susan McCauley’s YA Ghost Hunter novels are being adapted into a TV series.
Reddit/nosleep story ‘I pretended to be a missing girl so I could rob her family’ is being adapted into a movie.
Stephen Graham Jones’s novella Mapping the Interior is getting a new edition on 29 Apr 2025.

Horror Movie Morsels

John Carpenter will receive his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star on 3 April 2025. The event will stream live on the Walk of Fame website.
Short movie Stakeout is being adapted into a full-length feature as possibly the first in a franchise about detectives tracking a serial killer in a world with a hidden vampire epidemic.
Should we expect new stuff from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise? With horror so hot right now, there’s interest.
Cloverfield is getting a new sequel but, apart from knowing it will be a direct sequel to the first movie, everything else about it is still secret.
Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk, and Fred Hechinger are touring Hell of a Summer before it officially releases on 4 Apr 2025. They’ll be in Phoenix on 24 Mar, Austin on 25 Mar, Nashville on 27 Mar, and Atlanta on 28 Mar. Bloody Disgusting is also presenting early screenings in Chicago and Dallas on 24 Mar.
If you go to see Ash, you’ll be treated to an exclusive new Clown in a Cornfield trailer.

Horror TV Treats

Jenny Ortega said Wednesday, Season 2, will include “a whole episode based off of slashers” as well as “a lot of horror references”. She also said she doesn’t yet know if there’ll be a Season 3.

Horror Festival Fare

Salem Horror Fest, 30 Apr to 4 May 2025, announced its first wave of movies.
The Overlook Film Festival, 3 to 6 Apr 2025, announced its full schedule.

“My alma mater was books, a good library.... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”
Malcolm X

Writing Horror

Some places accepting submissions

Medieval horror novel proposals (Sentinel Creatives)
Pays: $2,000 advance + 25% royalties
Looking for: Pitches for original weird tales set in the medieval period that explore the human (and inhuman) experience through the lens of horror
Submissions close: 30 Apr 2025

Upcoming submission calls

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores
Pays: 8 cents per word for new fiction, 2 cents per word for reprints
Looking for: Science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form from around the world
Submissions open 1st and 2nd day of every month

Women of the Weird West anthology (Brigids Gate Press)
Pays: 10 cents per word for stories, $50 per poem, $50 per drabble
Looking for: original Weird West stories generally set in what approximates the “Old West” location and timeframe (North America circa late 1800s) with a strong speculative element, such as horror, fantasy and/or sci-fi.
Submissions open 1 Apr and close 30 Apr 2025

Goblins & Galaxies Magazine
Pays: 3 cents per word
Looking for: Sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories under 6,000 words
Submissions open 7 May and close 14 May 2025

“We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel... is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.”
Ursula K. LeGuin

Trailer Horror

A taste of things to come.

Horror TV Trailers

The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2. Zombie apocalypse horror. In this city, power is everything, and no one’s backing down. AMC, AMC+, 4 May 2025

Horror Movie Trailers

Big Freaking Rat. Creature comedy horror. Ranger Brody believes looking after his teenage niece and nephew will be the biggest challenge of the summer until his brand-new campground is turned into a den of terror by a massive mutant rat. VOD, 29 Apr 2025

Dangerous Animals. Serial killer shark horror. When Zephyr is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer and held captive on his boat, she needs to escape before he carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below. Cinemas, 6 Jun 2025

The Death of Snow White. Fairy tale horror. Hunted by her evil stepmother, Snow White must overcome the horrors of the dark forest and make friends with seven murderous dwarves. VOD, 18 Apr 2025

Fréwaka. Psychological horror. A nursing student takes a placement in a remote Irish village to care for a reclusive, elderly woman who lives in fear, haunted by her experiences in a Catholic asylum. Shudder, 25 Apr 2025

Kryptic. Cosmic horror. A woman’s search for a missing cryptozoologist leads to her own riveting cosmic quest for identity. VOD, 9 May 2025

Parvulos. Mexican zombie horror. Three young brothers living in a cabin in the middle of the woods hide a dark, disturbing secret in their basement. Limited, 4 Apr 2025

River of Blood. Cannibal horror. Two young couples on a luxurious holiday at a jungle resort face a vacation gone terribly wrong. After one of them goes missing, they unwittingly wander into the perilous territory of an indigenous tribe of cannibals. Release date TBA

Rosario. Supernatural horror. After her grandmother’s sudden death, Rosario is going through her apartment and uncovers a hidden chamber filled with occult artifacts tied to dark generational rituals. Cinemas, 2 May 2025

Shadow of God. Supernatural horror. When several of his fellow Vatican exorcists are killed, Father Mason Harper returns to his childhood home, to find his supposedly dead father is back and possessed by something less than holy. Shudder, 11 Apr 2025

Together. Body horror. Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. With tensions flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh. Cinemas, 1 Aug 2025

The Toxic Avenger. Superhero horror. A janitor is transformed by a toxic accident into a new evolution of hero. Now with super-human strength and wielding a glowing mop, he races against time to save his son and stop a ruthless and power-hungry corporate tyrant bent on harnessing toxic superpowers to strengthen his polluted empire. Cinemas, 29 Aug 2025

The Ugly Stepsister. Body horror. Determined to outshine her beautiful stepsister, Elvira resorts to extreme measures to win the prince’s heart. Cinemas, 18 Apr 2025

Horror Game Trailers

Dark Mass. Underwater horror. Alice, a deep-sea explorer, and her brother uncover a long-forgotten wreck. But beneath it lies a manor lost to time, untouched by the world above, hiding a dark curse. Release date TBA

Deathground. Survival horror. Fight a desperate battle for survival against deadly AI dinosaurs. Release date TBA

I Hate This Place. Survival horror. Elena’s fight for survival begins when she unwittingly awakens a malevolent force. Releases Q4 2025

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”
W. Somerset Maugham, Books and You

A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week

8 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, vampire, ghosts, dystopian, gothic, and cult horror

See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 16 to 22 Mar 2025

“The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.”
Joseph Joubert

A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week

8 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, killer, space, slasher, and witch horror

See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 16 to 22 Mar 2025

“To live will be an awfully big adventure.”
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released this Week

3 horror TV shows this week. Themes: Folk, werewolf, and serial killer horror

See: A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released, 16 to 22 Mar 2025

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

What We Were Thinking About this Week

Swan Song by Robert McCammon (novel)

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager (novel)

The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden (novel)

“You are not just here to fill space or be a background character in someone else's movie. Consider this: nothing would be the same if you did not exist. Every place you have ever been and everyone you have ever spoken to would be different without you. We are all connected, and we are all affected by the decisions and even the existence of those around us.”
David Niven

And Now For Something Completely Different

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Horror-Themed Shopping

See the FearSome Fiction shop for horror designs available on a wide variety of T-shirts, tanks, sweatshirts, and hoodies, as well as bags, notebooks, phone cases, pillows, duvets, blankets, bath mats, and more.