A Grab Bag of Horror News, 25 to 31 May 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 actor Ed Gale. Gale played Chucky in Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, and Bride of Chucky. RIP.

Horror Book Bits

Off Limits Press closes its doors tomorrow (1 Jun 2025). Once all the physical and online retailers sell out of their books, these editions will no longer be available.

Horror Movie Morsels

Writer Guy Busick says Scream 7 is a ‘Sidney’ movie and set at least 2 years after Scream 6.
Apparently, the delay on Constantine 2 is because Keanu Reeves is not happy with the scripts.
One of the deleted scenes from Until Dawn was an encounter with a werewolf. The werewolf attack was switched to a wendigo attack in the final cut of the movie.
John Cena says he’d like to be in a horror movie, so if anyone has a part for him, hit him up.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, is running a Women Behind the Makeup and Monsters panel on 7 Jun 2025. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, or $5 for students.
Over 450 items from David Lynch’s home are going up for auction on 28 Jun 2025. Items include Lynch’s personalized director’s chair, props, signed posters, unfinished screenplays, cameras, fog machine, art, books, and clothing.

Horror TV Treats

Executive producer Mark Johnson says that the upcoming series Talamasca is not based on a single Anne Rice book because the secretive organization appears in several of her books. He describes it as a spy show with supernatural elements and thinks they could come up with another one or two series set in the Anne Rice universe, on top of the three they’ve currently got (Interview with the Vampire, Mayfair Witches, and Talamasca).
Following the end of season 2 of The Last of Us, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann say that “we haven’t seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story”.

Horror Festival Fare

Access: Horror is back on 1 Aug 2025 in New York City. The event celebrates disability and genre cinema as a “hybrid film festival and industry summit, both online and live”.
Camp Blobfest runs from 11 to 13 July 2025 at The Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville, PA. The weekend includes events and movies for fans of 1958’s The Blob.

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”
Orson Scott Card

Writing Horror

Some places accepting submissions

Deep anthology (Death’s Head Press)
Pays: 5 cents per word
Theme: Unexplored depths of our planet and the universe
Submissions close: 31 Jul 2025

Upcoming submission calls

Novels and novellas (Ruadán Books)
Pays: Payment to be negotiated
Looking for: Speculative fiction stories, dark thriller narratives, and genre-bending tales that explore the darkness within us
Submissions open 1 Jun 2025

Darkest Depth Vol. 1 comic scripts (Monstrous Books and Crystal Lake Publishing)
Pays: $15 per page
Looking for: Hard hitting horror, but not X-rated
Submissions open 13 Jun and close 31 Jul 2025

“I kept always two books in my pocket: one to read, one to write in.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

Trailer Horror

A taste of things to come.

Horror Movie Trailers

Dirty Boy. Cult horror. Raised in an oppressive cult, a reclusive schizophrenic discovers that he’s being framed by cult leaders for a series of ritualistic murders and must prove his innocence by saving their next victim and destroying the evil sect. Release date TBA

Garden of Eden. Psychological horror. The wealthy and devout Eden family lives by the word of God. They choose one lucky guest from each of their parties and give them the opportunity to change their life. But a life-changing dream for some may become a nightmare for others. VOD, 20 Jun 2025

The Home. Psychological horror. A rebellious twentysomething is sentenced to community service at a quiet retirement home. The residents on the fourth floor are strictly off-limits, said to require “special care.” As his suspicions grow and he digs deeper, he uncovers a chilling secret. Cinema, 25 Jul 2025

House on Eden. Supernatural horror. After paranormal investigators set out on their latest case, they’re rerouted to an abandoned house deep in the woods and find themselves facing a force unlike anything they’ve encountered before. Shudder, 25 Jul 2025

Jimmy and Stiggs. Psychological horror. Jimmy and Stiggs follow a down-on-his-luck filmmaker who claims he was abducted by aliens, vowing to bring them down alongside his friend. Cinema, 15 Aug 2025

Sugarcane. Psychological horror. When Phoebe goes missing, Mari takes it upon herself to find her. With an old friend’s help, they uncover a sinister website linked to the kidnapping, forcing Mari to confront her past to save Phoebe before time runs out. VOD, 13 Jun 2025

Horror Game Trailers

BrokenLore: UNFOLLOW. Psychological horror. Anne, a victim of bullying, is trapped in a surreal nightmare where she must solve a dark mystery and confront sinister creatures. Release date TBA

Deadly Delivery. VR co-op horror. Deliver parcels into haunted mines, avoid monsters, and pray you reach the quota. Team up with up to 3 other delivery goblins, survive your shift, and pay back your student loans. Release date TBA

Ghost Keeper. Ghost horror. Lead your fearsome minions against the living. Use diverse scare tactics, manage demonic creatures and harness dozens of skills. Release date TBA

“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.”
Natalie Goldberg

A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week

6 horror books this week. Themes: Psychological, ghosts, extreme, space, and western horror

See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 25 to 31 May 2025

“First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him.”
Ray Bradbury

A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week

8 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, killer, and body horror

See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 25 to 31 May 2025

“Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
David Foster Wallace

What We Were Thinking About this Week

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz (novel)

Global Biomass by Keith A. Kline (short story, Monstrous Books)

Made to be Repeated – Chilling Tales for Dark Nights podcast

This week’s horror book recommendations

Theme: Lake horror

To Those Willing to Drown by Mark Matthews
“This demon of the lake is their god…”

The Seething by Ben Monroe
“As his eyes drifted across the glittering lake water, something seemed off to him.”

Our Mother in the Lake by Abe Moss
“I love you both, and I hope to see you soon.”

Creature from the Crevasse by Michael Cole
“Something huge emerged from the surface, mostly concealed by the blast of water.”

Salvage by Duncan Ralston
“Out where it should have been too deep to stand, a man … was standing up to his ankles in the lake.”

Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi
“What do you suppose that thing is out there? Sitting on the ice?”

Lakehouse Infernal by Christine Morgan
“What happened that day at Lake Misquamicus as nowhere near all Hell breaking loose.”

“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft.”
H.G. Wells

And Now For Something Completely Different

Lemon Sandwich on Instagram

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.