Bite-Sized Horror News
Vale
- Condolences to family, friends, and fans of makeup artist Michele Burke. Burke’s horror makeup credits include Terror Train (1980), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), and Interview with the Vampire (1994). RIP.
Horror Book Bits
- Penguin is releasing a Frankenstein Netflix tie-in edition on 28 Oct. The new edition includes an introduction by Guillermo del Toro and cover art inspired by del Toro’s movie poster.
- Darkspeculative fiction zine Apex Magazine launched its 2026 Kickstarter with the goal of funding 4 issues, plus an additional 2 through stretch goals.
Horror Movie Morsels
- Director Hugh Welchman says his next project will be a ‘painted animation’ horror movie, tentatively titled Cave of Dreams, based on Spanish artist Francisco Goya and his dark paintings.
- Guillermo del Toro will be on hand on 31 Oct 2025 for a Q&A at a screening of Frankenstein in IMAX at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.
- NEON has released a new Shelby Oaks poster that includes the names of all 14,720 backers of the crown-funding campaign.
- NEON and Bloody Disgusting are presenting free early screenings of Shelby Oaks on 8 Oct 2025 in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Orlando, and San Francisco.
- The Blair Witch Project actor Michael C. Williams is posting videos on Instagram throughout October detailing the production of the movie and character notes.
- Former WWE pro wrestler Braun Strowman wants to play Jason Voorhees in the next Friday the 13th movie.
- The Terror Within (1989), The Haunting (1992), and Battle Queen 2020 (2001) have all been optioned for ‘reimaginings’.
- The Strangers: Chapter 2 had the lowest opening weekend in the franchise’s history, not to mention pretty poor reviews.
- Dogs of War will be based in the same world as Beast of War and will be about a WW2 British commando squad who discover dark things lurking in a Nazi-infested forest.
- Final Destination 7 is in the works.
Horror TV Treats
- Disney+ has ordered Afterlife with Archie, a new series based on the Archie comics where Riverdale is “an apocalyptic, nightmare-fueled hellscape overrun with zombies”.
- Greg Nicotero shared a clip of an Army of Darkness Deadite captain ‘tribute zombie’ that didn’t make the cut for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.
- Seasons 1 to 3 of the original Goosebumps series are streaming for free on the Scholastic streaming app.
Horror Game Goodies
- Silent Hill f sold more than 1 million copies on its first day.
- Dead by Daylight’s latest crossover is with Nyaight of the Living Cat.
Horror Festival Fare
- The 16th Telluride Horror Show returns to Colorado from 10 to 12 Oct 2025, with 20 features, 33 shorts, and 6 guest authors (Daniel Kraus, Grady Hendrix, Jeremy Robert Jonson, Paul Tremblay, Sarah Langan, and Stephen Graham Jones).
- Nightmares Film Festival is back for its 10th year, running from 16 to 19 Oct 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. The festival will screen 18 feature length movies and 130 shorts, as well as offering craft workshops and panels.
“First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Writing Horror
Some places accepting submissions
Anomaly
Pays: 8 cents per word
Looking for: Dark and disruptive science fiction stories that have strong emotional resonance under 300 words
Submissions close: 7 Oct 2025
Strange Pilgrims
Pays: $200 long fiction, $50 flash fiction
Looking for: Short stories, Essays/Narrative nonfiction, Flash fiction, Flash CNF
Submissions close: 30 Nov 2025
Upcoming submission calls
The Deadlands (Psychopomp)
Pays: 10 cents per word
Looking for: Fiction that concerns itself with death, but also everything death may involve
Submissions open on 1 Dec 2025
Story Unlikely Annual Short Story Contest
Prizes: $3,000 first place, $1,000 second place, $750 third place, $250 reprint category
Looking for: Good stories with no restrictions on genre
Submissions open 14 Oct 2025 and close 14 Jan 2026
It Came From the Trailer Park, Vol 6, anthology (Three Ravens Publishing)
Pays: Percentage of sales
Looking for: Creature features with an Exiled/Outcast/Alien Prisoner twist
Submissions open 1 May 2026 and close 1 July 2026
“You had to run with a night like this, so the sadness could not hurt.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Trailer Horror
A taste of things to come.
Horror TV Trailers
Family Guy 2025 Halloween Special. We’re going to have a wonderful Halloween together. Hulu, 6 Oct 2025
Hazbin Hotel, Season 2. Animated musical comedy horror. Resistance, redemption… and rousing musical numbers. Prime Video, 29 Oct 2025
Horror Movie Trailers
Black Phone 2, red band trailer 3. Supernatural horror. As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, his sister begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp. Cinema, 17 Oct 2025
Bloodsuckers and the Grimoire. Supernatural horror. A college senior inherits his estranged father’s secluded home and discovers a dark reality of witchcraft, vampires, and a devil. VOD, 21 Oct 2025
The Boat. Italian psychological horror. The trip aboard a luxury yacht for three couples soon turns from an exciting experience to a terrifying nightmare. VOD, 14 Oct 2025
The Carpenter’s Son. Supernatural horror. A remote village in Egypt explodes into spiritual warfare when a carpenter, his wife and their son Jesus are targeted by supernatural forces. Cinema, 14 Nov 2025
Frankenstein, new trailer. Frankenstein horror. Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the classic tale. Netflix, 7 Nov 2025
Love is the Monster. Psychological horror. Troubled couples head to a transformative retreat in Finland, where they fall prey to a malevolent ancient goddess of love. Premieres at Screamfest 2025
Nightfall: A Paranormal Investigation. Supernatural horror. In 1988, paranormal investigators encounter a presence unlike anything they have ever faced. Release date TBA
R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead. YA horror. When his brother disappears and everyone forgets he existed, Sam must unravel the mystery before Finn is gone forever. Tubi, 17 Oct 2025
Psycho Killer. Serial killer horror. A Kansas highway patrol officer sets out to track down the sadistic serial killer who murdered her husband. Cinema, 20 Feb 2026
Shelby Oaks, trailer 2. Supernatural horror. A woman’s desperate search for her long-lost sister falls into obsession upon realizing that the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real. Cinema, 24 Oct 2025
Tenement. Cambodian supernatural horror. Sorya returns to Cambodia in a quest to find herself after her mother’s death and finds a family she has never known and an old building full of dark secrets. VOD, 24 Oct 2025
We Bury the Dead. Supernatural horror. After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don’t just rise – they hunt. Cinema, 2 Jan 2026
Horror Game Trailers
Days Without Incident. Survival horror. Your investigation has brought you to an old metalworks factory, abandoned after a series of mysterious deaths. But something’s been growing in the quiet. Releases for free on Steam, 22 Oct 2025
Deathground. Dinosaur survival horror. Play solo or team up with up to 3 others as you infiltrate abandoned facilities, now overrun and crawling with danger, to complete high-risk objectives. Early access release, 7 Oct 2025
The Lacerator. Survival horror. You are the most legendary porn star of the 1980s. Kidnapped by a crazed killer during a routine shoot, you must find your way out of The Lacerator’s mansion with your life, and ideally your limbs, intact. Releases 9 Oct 2025
She’s Leaving. Survival horror. Become a forensic analyst, read blood patterns, uncover clues, and evade a relentless serial stalker. Releases 2 Dec 2025
“One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week
20 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, haunted house, doll, movie, vampire, witch, space, and found footage horror
See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 28 Sep to 4 Oct 2025
“There are smiles and smiles; learn to tell the dark variety from the light.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week
19 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, survival, comedy, cosmic, shark, splatter, western, creature, slasher, folk, sci-fi, documentary, and found footage horror
See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 28 Sep to 4 Oct 2025
“Beware the autumn people”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released this Week
1 horror TV show this week. Themes: Serial killer horror
See: A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released, 28 Sep to 4 Oct 2025
“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
What We Were Thinking About this Week
16 Halloween Horror Book Recommendations
Shivers and Thrills: 15 Halloween Horror Anthologies and Collections Recommendations
This week’s horror book recommendations
Theme: 3 x space horrors, then Halloween horror for the month of October
Astrophobia by David Viergutz & Boris Bacic
“Nobody goes to Magna. It’s a dead planet.”
Paradise-1 by David Wellington
“The whispers wouldn’t let her go.”
Obscura by Joe Hart
“It was sad that she was almost used to a few words taking away all hope.”
The October Boys by Adam Millard
“The sound of an ice cream truck off in the distance…was how it all began.”
The Halloween Store and Other Tales of All Hallows’ Eve by Ronald Kelly
“We’re Open! Come on in… if you DARE!!”
Helloween by Duncan Ralston
“The day before Halloween was another miserable day, and the last she would spend above ground.”
Mischief Night Massacre by Jason Parent
“The world was still, maybe frozen, and it was the first time Kit noticed the cold.”
“Too late, I found you can’t wait to become perfect, you got to go out and fall down and get up with everybody else.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Horror Fun
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading. Catch you on the other side.
Jayson
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