A Grab Bag of Horror News, 13 to 19 Jul 2025

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

Bite-Sized Horror News

Horror Book Bits

The novelization of summer camp horror movie Sleepaway Camp comes out at the end of Aug 2025.
Although not yet released, Christmas-themed comic Yuletide is getting a movie adaptation. The comic will be out in Oct 2025 and is about “ancient Norse creatures let loose on an idyllic Northeastern town”.
Bret Easton Ellis’s serial killer novel The Shards is getting a TV series adaptation.
The End Times is an upcoming series by Benjamin Percy done in the guise of a post-apocalyptic newspaper. A new edition will release every month from Nov 2025 into 2026. One of the voices in the paper will be Stephen King’s, writing as a fictional character living in the post-apocalyptic world. Pre-orders are available for subscriptions of the physical edition (limited to 500 subscriptions and only ships to the US) and the digital edition. There will be an eventual omnibus edition that will include every issue in an oversized book format.

Horror Movie Morsels

A new Amityville movie will look at the “real-life paranormal story” behind the Amityville Horror film franchise.
Fundraising is underway for a short movie based on Edgar Allan Poe’s story Imp of the Perverse. The script has been written by Domenic Migliore and Bill Oberst Jr and will premiere at the 2025 Dark Art and Oddities Con, 15-16 Nov 2025, in Illinois.
Scream Factory says they’ve found long-lost film elements from George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, and they’re working on a new restoration for a 4K Ultra HD release to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the movie.
James Gunn says that upcoming DC movie Clayface is “a complete horror film”.
Other Mommy is the title of the movie adaptation of Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House.
James DeMonaco says the script for a 6th Purge movie has been handed to Jason Blum.
NEON is running a ‘Together Proposal Contest’ from 17 Jul to 3 Aug 2025. The winner gets a $15,000 Vegas Wedding Weekend. To enter post a video on Instagram of you proposing to your significant other inside or outside a movie theater and include the caption “TOGETHER Forever” along with the hashtag #Neon_Contest and tag @TOGETHER.Movie.
For its 15th anniversary, psychological horror movie Black Swan is being remastered for IMAX and exclusive screenings will be held at select IMAX theaters in the US and Canada on 21 and 24 Aug 2025.
The unrated version of The Toxic Avenger will screen all day at San Diego Comic-Con on 24 Jul 2024.
It looks like Robert Englund will be getting his Hollywood Walk of Fame star on 31 Oct 2025.
According to the latest poster for Weapons, “the most harmless things can hurt you”.
Zach Eggers says he’s “not trying to be completely obedient to the games” in his upcoming Resident Evil

Horror TV Treats

Actor Callum Vinson, who played Henry Collins in 7 episodes of Chucky, has been cast as the new Jason Voorhees in the upcoming Crystal Lake series. The series will focus on Jason’s mother, Pamela, so Vinson will be a “recurring guest star”.
The Walking Dead: Dead City has been renewed for Season 3.
Netflix is working on an untitled series based in Canada’s Newfoundland about a sea creature that terrorizes a remote seaside town.
The Last of Us received 16 Emmy nominations.

“After all, reading is arguably a far more creative and imaginative process than writing; when the reader creates emotion in their head, or the colors of the sky during the setting sun, or the smell of a warm summer's breeze on their face, they should reserve as much praise for themselves as they do for the writer - perhaps more.”
Jasper Fforde, The Well of Lost Plots

Writing Horror

Applications for the Horror Writers Association Scholarship Program are open until 1 Aug 2025. Each Scholarship is worth $2500, except for the Poetry Scholarship ($1250), and may be spent on approved writing education over the two years following the granting of the scholarship.

Some places accepting submissions

Uncharted Magazine
Pays: $200
Looking for: Thriller/mystery/horror stories that keep us up at night

Best Served Cold anthology (Flame Tree Publishing)
Pays: 8 cents/6 pence per word
Theme: Crime and revenge
Submissions close: 27 Jul 2025

Unseen Agreements anthology (Beaches and Trails Publishing)
Pays: $50 CAD
Looking for: Stories that explore hidden bargains, mysterious contracts, and eerie agreements
Submissions close: 15 Aug 2025

Common Bonds 2 anthology
Pays: 8 cents per word
Looking for: Horror with clear SFF elements/settings with a clear aromantic MC and a non-romantic relationship
Submissions close: 15 Aug 2025

Upcoming submission calls

Fascination anthology (Tyche Books)
Pays: $50 CAD + paperback copy
Looking for: Nature-fueled magic, witches and dark fae, creepy cottages, haunted homesteads and bespelled woods.
Submissions open 5 Aug and close 3 Sep 2025

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot

Trailer Horror

A taste of things to come.

Horror TV Trailers

Alien: Earth, trailer 2. Sci-fi horror. When a deep space research vessel crash-lands on Earth, a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat. Hulu, 12 Aug 2025

Stranger Things, Season 5. Paranormal horror. The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and everyone is united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming, and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. Netflix., 26 Non 2025

Horror Movie Trailers

The A-Frame. Sci-fi horror. A quantum physicist develops a machine that creates a tunnel to a subatomic universe. In his quest to prove the machine’s efficacy, he inadvertently discovers a radical treatment for cancer. But with all experiments, things can, and sometimes, go horribly wrong. VOD, 5 Aug 2025

Bait. Creature horror. When the Herring family wake up in a basement after a car accident, the only thing scarier than not knowing how they got there, is realizing that they’re not alone. VOD, 22 Jul 2025

Birthrite. Supernatural horror. A couple expecting their first child move to a new town hoping for a fresh start, but are confronted by a darkness that threatens to claim their unborn child. VOD, 8 Aug 2025

Die’ced: Reloaded. Halloween slasher horror. A notorious killer escapes from an asylum on Halloween night, and his scarecrow-masked rampage turns 1980s Seattle into a blood-soaked nightmare. VOD, 12 Aug 2025

Kill Giggles. Clown horror. Tommy won’t stop until he has killed every clown on earth. When he falls for Eve, life takes a wonderful turn and life seems worth living again, until he discovers his new girlfriend’s father is the most terrifying clown of all. VOD, 26 Aug 2025

The Occupant. Isolation horror. Abby, a guilt-ridden engineering geologist in transit from her remote assignment, survives a helicopter crash and tries to escape the harsh environment. But she is not alone. Release date TBA

Pig Hill. Survival horror. Carrie is haunted by a series of unexplained disappearances. As she investigates, she becomes entangled in the local lore of the ‘pig people’, uncovering a terrifying truth hidden in generations of myth. Release date TBA

River of Blood. Cannibal horror. A jungle kayak adventure descends into terror when a group of friends becomes the target of a bloodthirsty tribe. VOD, 1 Aug 2025

Your Host. Serial killer horror. Four friends must escape a serial killer’s sadistic game show before his amusements kill them. Release date TBA

Horror Game Trailers

Dying Light: The Beast. Zombie horror. Explore the region of Castor Woods with Bober the Beaver leading the tour. Fight the undead amongst the scenic views and lush greenery. Releases 22 Aug 2025

Misery. Post-apocalypse horror. Gather resources and survive amidst the radioactive decay. Build a bunker, craft weapons, and fight off enemies from strange anomalies to straight up monsters. Releases 23 Oct 2025

Slackjaw. Escape room horror. Inspired by true events. As the latest prey of a deranged serial killer, use your wits and resources to survive. Explore, uncover secrets, and plan your escape… but be quiet. Releases 8 Aug 2025

“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week

11 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, ghost, witch, cosmic, zombie, western, summer camp slasher, cult, and serial killer horror

See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 13 to 19 Jul 2025

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week

12 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, slasher, folk, sci-fi, and zombie horror

See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 13 to 19 Jul 2025

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
William Shakespeare, The Tempest

A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released this Week

2 horror TV shows this week. Themes: Psychological and small town horror

See: A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released, 13 to 19 Jul 2025

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..”
John Milton, Paradise Lost

What We Were Thinking About this Week

13 Jungle Horror Book Recommendations

Swan Song by Robert McCammon (novel)

The Girl in the Leaves by Robert Scott (true-crime nonfiction)

I Don’t Care About AI and You Can’t Make Me by Tim Waggoner (article)

This week’s book recommendations

No theme this week. Just good books.

Bazumel by Chris Bonner – Supernatural horror
“Why do you want to see a man that lives among the dead?”

The Missing Boatman by Keith C. Blackmore – Supernatural horror
“Miracles are happening. Pray to God they stop.”

Trapped by J.A. Konrath – Island camping horror
“They were watching. They were watching from behind the trees.”

Where the Chill Waits by T. Chris Martindale – Creature horror
“There were dark places in the forest.”

Now is the Time of Monsters by A.G. Mock – Serial killer horror
“It wasn’t ghosts and goblins she was afraid of, it was people. They were the real monsters.”

The Birds of the Air by L.H. Arthur – Dark fantasy horror
“The man stayed where he was, smiling in a way that looked almost friendly, but not quite.”

The Keep by F. Paul Wilson – Cosmic horror
“Request immediate relocation. Something is murdering my men.”

“I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.”
Edgar Allan Poe

And Now For Something Completely Different

Luke McGarry 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.