A Grab Bag of Horror News, 10 to 16 Aug 2025

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

Bite-Sized Horror News

Horror Book Bits

Brian Keene and Christopher Golden talked to podcast The Scares That’s Shaped Us about their upcoming anthology The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand.

Horror Movie Morsels

A prequel for Weapons is on the cards after the movie hit the box office running, grossing over $81 million within its first week.
The release date for Stephen King’s The Running Man has been pushed back a week to 14 Nov 2025.
World War Z is one of the movie franchises said to be a priority for Paramount.
The Conjuring: Last Rites has been rated R for bloody/violent content and terror.
American Psycho (the musical) has a new script and revised score for its run in Houston, Texas, 2-14 Sep 2025.
Amazon MGM is rebooting the animated Addams Family movie franchise.
An Indiegogo campaign has been launched for Jack-O 2: Blood Moon Rising, a sequel to 1995’s Halloween slasher Jack-O.

Horror TV Treats

Halloween Baking Championship and Halloween Wars are returning for 2025 on Food Network.
The Crystal Lake TV series is filming in Blairtown, New Jersey, the original location of Friday the 13th.

Horror Game Goodies

Have you got your copy of Sudden Acts of Horror, the Horror Writers Association’s official party board game? Teams create fake horror novel titles on the spot to score points and win a mini Bram Stoker Award®.

Horror Festival Fare

Night Frights LA Film Festival is a new all-day event happening in Los Angeles on 20 Sep 2025.
Fantastic Fest (18-25 Sep 2025) released its final wave of movie scheduling for its 20th anniversary.

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”
Edgar Allen Poe

Writing Horror

Bartz v Anthropic: Find Out if You May Be Part of This Class Action by Victoria Strauss (Writer Beware)

10 Reasons Your Book Got Rejected (The House of Shadows & Ink YouTube channel)

Some places accepting submissions

Creepy podcast
Pays: One-time narration rights at 2 cents per word, maximum $100
Looking for: Halloween-themed female and gender-neutral stories
Submissions close: When all spots are filled

Novellas and novelettes (Augur Press)
Pays: Advance on royalties
Looking for: Lush worlds, complex characters, riveting relationships, incisive commentary, impeccable craft
Submissions close: 31 Aug 2025

Other fantasy anthology (Bannister Press)
Pays: 8 cents CAD per word
Looking for: Speculative fiction that leaves the reader thinking about the story long after closing the book.
Submissions close: 31 Aug 2025

Open writing contests

October Oddities microfiction contest (Cat Eye Press)
Prizes: $15, $10, $5
Theme: Stories under 500 words about strange and/or unusual items
Submissions close: 31 Aug 2025

Indie Writing Competition (Your Paper Quest)
Prizes: $100 for the winner and $25 for 4 runners-up
Theme: Boats (500 – 1000 words)
Submissions close 9 Sep 2025

“From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.”
H.P. Lovecraft, Tales of H.P. Lovecraft

Trailer Horror

A taste of things to come.

Horror TV Trailers

Guts & Glory. Reality TV horror. Unscripted series where players undergo immersive horror experiences. Shudder, 9 Sep 2025

Haunted Hotel, Season 1. Animated ghost horror. A single mother of two struggles to run a haunted hotel with the help of her estranged brother, who is now one of the ghosts haunting the hotel. Netflix, 19 Sep 2025

Wednesday, Season 2, Part 2. Comedy horror. Guess who’s back. Netflix, 2 Sep 2025

Horror Movie Trailers

Blockhead. Psychological horror. A failing novelist thinks his muse appears to him in the form of a drunk, psychotic decorator. As his novel takes shape, his life spirals and erupts into violent chaos. FrightFest, 23 Aug 2025

Don’t Follow Me. Spanish supernatural horror. Carla moves into an abandoned apartment with the goal of becoming a social media influencer by faking hauntings, but she accidentally invokes a real malevolent entity. Release date TBA

Hidden in the Dark. Supernatural horror. Maya can feel emotions and past events embedded in places and objects. Filled with guilt over her inability to locate a missing girl, she agrees to an experimental treatment but becomes trapped in a sinister facility. Release date TBA

Jaws Goes to the Bahamas. Horror documentary. Looks into the story behind Jaws: The Revenge and its transformation from box-office flop to beloved cult classic. Release date TBA 2027

Kraken. Norwegian creature horror. A marine biologist doing research on a fish farm in a rural community located by a fjord encounters a huge mythical monster. Release date TBA

The Last Anniversary. Psychological horror. On the eve of the apocalypse, a married couple invite their old wedding party to the now-abandoned hotel where they were wed. But the invitation holds a darker purpose. Their maid of honor vanished on their wedding night, and the couple wants answers. Mexico Macabro film festival, 23 Aug 2025

The Man in My Basement. Psychological horror. When Charles accepts a bizarre offer to rent out his basement for the summer, he finds himself on a terrifying path that locks the two men in a terrifying puzzle. Hulu, 12 Sep 2025

Rabbit Trap. Folk horror. A married couple move to a cottage in Wales to complete their new album and accidentally record a mystical sound that gradually disconnects them from reality. Cinema, 12 Sep 2025

Reset. Sci-fi horror. When his daughter is taken by an otherworldly force, a father is trapped in a surreal and terrifying dimension and must confront a monstrous entity and survive a looping cycle of torment. Release date TBA

Run. Sci-fi horror. After leaving her fiancé at the altar, Melissa joins friends at a cabin. Then one of them is found mutilated in the woods and aliens attack the nation. Cinema, 29 Aug 2025

The Witch: Revenge. Ukrainian witch horror. In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a witch seeks revenge on the Russian soldiers who killed her fiancé. Release date TBA

Horror Game Trailers

Dracula: The Hunt. Vampire horror. Explore eerie locations, gather mystical relics, and perform the counter-ritual before the vampire lord awakens. Release date TBA

Haunted Bloodlines. Psychological horror. Dark rooms whisper secrets of the past and as you explore its ever-expanding halls, you’ll soon realize that hidden horrors lurk within its walls. Release date TBA

Kumarn: The Wandering Spirit. Thai folklore horror. Explore Thai temples, shrines, graveyards, and haunted villages with Southeast Asian mythological themes. Release date TBA

Zoochosis. Creature horror. Play as a zookeeper taking stock of mutated animals in the zoo to aid in curing them or die trying. Releases 25 Aug 2025

“[Horror fiction] shows us that the control we believe we have is purely illusory, and that every moment we teeter on chaos and oblivion.”
Clive Barker

A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week

11 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, ghosts, creature, cult, and gothic horror

See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 10 to 16 Aug 2025

“Someone once asked me what I thought horror fiction did. What its purpose was…I replied that when I wrote horror fiction, I tried to take the improbable, the unimaginable, and the impossible, and make it seem not only possible—but inevitable.”
Michael McDowell

A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week

8 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, ghost, serial killer, sci-fi, splatter, and Halloween slasher horror

See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 10 to 16 Aug 2025

“The doorways into hell are mostly inside the mind.”
Frank Lambert, Xyz

A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released this Week

1 horror TV show this week. Theme: Sci-fi horror

See: A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released, 10 to 16 Aug 2025

“Write me a creature that thinks as well as a man or better than a man, but not like a man.”
John W. Campbell Jr

What We Were Thinking About this Week

13 Cabin in the Woods Horror Book Recommendations

This week’s horror book recommendations

Theme: Cabin in the Woods horror

The Wild Dark by Katherine Silva – Ghost horror
“Even in sleep, that voice called to me from the darkness.”

Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell – Supernatural horror
“Deep in the Rocky Mountains, at the top of a howling peak, sits a cabin.”

Hobbomock by Ryan C. Thomas – Supernatural horror
“Then he saw it. In the distance. Back near the pit.”

Snowblind by Michael McBride – Creature horror
“He repeats three words over and over and over in his mind. Forward. Down. Help.”

The Puller by Michael Hodges – Supernatural horror
“…be careful of what you trap up here fella. You may not like what ya catch.”

Maynard’s House by Herman Raucher – Psychological horror
“It’s a forgettin’ kind of town. Nobody much in it anymore.”

Gone to See the Riverman by Kristopher Triana – Supernatural horror
“There’s only two places anyone can find peace – the woods and the grave.”

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”
Stephen King

Horror Fun

Ryan Hudson 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.