Bite-Sized Horror News
Horror Book Bits
- Congratulations to Jonathan Maberry and Lisa Morton, the recipients of the 2026 HWA Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Congratulations to all the finalists for the 2026 Locus Awards. Winners will be announced on 30 May 2026.
- The early 1980’s novelizations of a couple of John Carpenter’s movies will soon be back in print. The Fog releases on 30 Apr and Escape from New York on 30 May 2026.
- The Best of Marvel’s Vampire Tales, Volume One , releasing 18 Aug 2026, is the first of the old Vampire Tales magazines to be collected and presented in a fancy hardcover edition. Volume One contains nearly 300 pages from the first six issues of the magazine.
- Patton Oswalt will narrate the audiobook of Other Worlds Than These, the 3rd book in the Stephen King/Peter Straub The Talisman trilogy.
Horror Movie Morsels
- Director Brady Corbet says his next movie is “sort of about American mysticism and the history of the occult in America”.
- Osgood Perkins and Nicolas Cage are teaming up on a new Longlegs movie.
- Escape from New York and The Howling are both being “reimagined”.
- A new World War Z movie is on the way.
- Don Mancini says he’s writing a new Chucky movie and a separate haunted house movie.
- Apparently, the entire 3rd act of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is “being kept out of the marketing”.
- Interactive slasher horror movie Slay Day will release in over 1000 US cinemas on 12 Feb 2027. Audiences will use their smartphones to vote in real time at more than 50 decision points of the movie and decide who lives and who dies. There are over 8000 possible narrative outcomes.
- An audience member apparently fainted during the screening of Pinocchio Unstrung at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.
- Lee Cronin says he’d like to “have a swing at ol’ Freddy Krueger” but it won’t be for a while and he’s got a supernatural horror movie called Box of Bones that he’s been developing for a while.
- Weapons prequel Gladys has a release date of 8 Sep 2026 and while Zach Cregger is co-writing it, he will not be directing it.
- From 1 May to mid-Jun 2026, Outpost 512 in Tyler, TX, is hosting an art show celebrating John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Sam Raimi movies. The opening night includes a secret movie screening with attendees receiving a screen-printed poster.
- Neon and Bloody Disgusting are presenting free screenings of Hokum on 21 Apr 2026 in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix.
- Congratulations to the winners of the Overlook Film Festival Awards, including Obsession which took out the Feature Film Audience awards and Never After Dark which received the Feature Film Grand Jury prize.
Horror TV Treats
- From is getting a 5th season and it will be the final one.
- Apparently all 8 episodes of Crystal Lake are “done and dusted”, but still no release date yet.
- David Duchovny says he hasn’t read the script for the reboot of The X-Files and, when asked about whether he’ll be in it, he said, “there have been talks about certain things, but there’s nothing concrete”.
- Lee Cronin says he’s developing a new TV series with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster called Spiral that’s “set in 1980s Ireland and dripping in folklore, repression and the strangeness of the Irish countryside”.
- A live-action Phantom TV series is in the works.
- The character of Stu will not be in season 3 of Twisted Metal.
- My Fleapit, My Palace is a new semi-regular web series from Severin Films which is “an international exploration with friends, colleagues and icons through the movie theaters and moviegoing adventures of their youth”. The first episode sees David McGillivray touring London movie houses as they were then and are now.
Horror Game Goodies
- Bloodborne is getting an R-rated animated movie adaptation that will be produced by YouTuber JackSepticEye.
- Dead by Daylight: The Board Game is getting new expansion with two new characters, two new maps, and three new gameplay formats.
Horror Festival Fare
- The 2026 Tribeca Film Festival (3 to 14 Jun 2026) has 7 horror movie offerings this year.
- The opening night of the 2026 Salem Horror Fest (30 Apr to 3 May 2026) will feature a Q&A with Dee Wallace, a screening of Cujo, and a keynote address by Vincent Price’s daughter, Victoria.
“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.”
― Lloyd Alexander
Writing Horror
Some places accepting submissions
Wish You Were Here anthology (Iron Fang Press)
Pays: CAD $30 + paperback copy
Looking for: Horrifying/spooky/unsettling short stories with the theme of vacations, max 7000 words
Submissions close: 1 May 2026
The Dark Magazine
Pays: 5 cents per word for original fiction, 1 cent per word for reprints
Looking for: Horror and dark fantasy between 2000 and 6000 words
Bourbon Penn
Pays: 5 cents per word
Looking for: highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities.
Upcoming submission calls
BAM! Magazine
Pays: $50
Looking for: Pulpy short fiction between 3000 and 6000 words
Submissions open 21 Apr and close 5 May 2026
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
― Albert Einstein
Trailer Horror
A taste of things to come.
Horror TV Trailers
The Boroughs, teaser. Sci-fi horror. In a seemingly picturesque retirement community, a group of unlikely heroes band together to stop an otherworldly threat from stealing the one thing they don’t have: time. Netflix, 21 May 2026
The Terror: Devil in Silver. Psychological horror. Wrongfully committed to a psychiatric hospital, one man must survive patients, doctors with dark secrets, and something far more sinister. AMC+, Shudder, 7 May 2026
Horror Movie Trailers
Blood Yolk. Psychological horror. A woman investigates her twin brother’s link to a series of murders, only to uncover evidence that points back to herself. VOD, 11 Jun 2026
The Dog Stars. Post-apocalyptic horror. In a post-apocalyptic world, a virus wipes out humanity and survivors face roaming scavengers called Reapers. Cinema, 28 Aug 2026
Godzilla Minus Zero, first teaser. Creature horror. Two years after the tumultuous events of Godzilla Minus One, the Shikishima family face an all-new calamity. Cinema, 6 Nov 2026
House at the Edge of the Woods. Found footage horror. A grieving man moves into the home of his missing father and hires a documentary crew to uncover the truth of what’s really happening. VOD, 15 May 2026
Ice Cream Man. Splatter horror. An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results. Cinema, 7 Aug 2026
Insidious: Out of the Further. Supernatural horror. A young mother discovers she can travel into The Further and can bring what lives there back to the real world. Cinema, 21 Aug 2026
A Mother’s Recall. Argentinian psychological horror. A teenage orphan settles into his new home, but he begins to feel that something is profoundly wrong. Release date TBA
The Mutant. Chinese post-apocalyptic horror. After AI systems mutate and initiate a purge to erase mankind, the few survivors who remain unite and fight back. VOD, 25 Aug 2026
My Best Friend’s Dead. Supernatural horror. A woman tries to bring her soulmate back from the dead but the demon she has created follows her out into the real world. VOD, 26 May 2026
Night of the Living Dead. Zombie horror. As civilisation collapses, a small group of survivors must fight to stay alive against the growing threat of the walking dead. Release date TBA
Passenger. Supernatural horror. A young couple witnesses a gruesome highway accident and soon realize they did not leave the crash scene alone. Cinema, 22 May 2026
Salt Along the Tongue. Witch horror. Mattia is possessed by her mother’s spirit as she tries to protect her from a malevolent spirit, using food as a gateway. VOD, 1 May 2026
Sick Puppy. Psychological horror. The wife of a serial killer will do anything to protect the man she loves. VOD, 22 May 2026
The Wolf and the Lamb. Supernatural horror. A widow in 1870s Montana Territory searches for her son, the latest child to go missing from a rugged mining camp. When he returns consumed by a ravenous evil, she must choose between her love for him and an impossible sacrifice. Cinema + VOD, 24 Apr 2026
Horror Game Trailers
Name of the Will. Cult horror. You are trapped in a masked cult where pain is salvation. Every thought is tallied. Every smile is a lie. Conform for happiness or face your guilt to escape. Release date TBA
Peek. Supernatural horror. Listen to the sounds of the ritual room, track a restless spirit using sound alone, and place the correct relics to complete the exorcism. Release date TBA
When Sirens Fall Silent. Psychological horror. A troubled policewoman is drawn into a high-profile case of kidnappings and murders. Release date TBA
Whispers of the Tall Grass. Survival horror. In an abandoned industrial wasteland, hide from a relentless predator, scavenge for key items, uncover the secrets of this place, and find a way to escape. Release date TBA
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
― Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week
12 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, gothic, vampire, creature, apocalypse, and folk horror
See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 12 to 18 Apr 2026
“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”
― Stephen King, The Gunslinger
A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week
11 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, slasher, body, historical, and conspiracy horror
See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 12 to 18 Apr 2026
“Remember, darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good.”
― P.C. Cast, Betrayed
What We Were Thinking About this Week
What We’ve Been Reading This Week
The Family Plot by Megan Collins (novel)
Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi (novel)
The Midnight Shift by Jon Holt (short story)
Into the Mangrove Forest by Galman Ferguson (short story)
What We’re Recommending This Week
Did you know I recommend one horror book every day of the year on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook, and Twitter?
This week’s horror book recommendations
Theme: Art horror
Grim Portraits by Kealan Patrick Burke
“I met Calvin on the Singing Bridge outside Rosewood Park on the night of December 24th.”
Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint
“Isabelle wanted to pretend that the letter had never come…”
The Cartoonist by Sean Costello
“The pencil moved with remarkable accuracy and speed, and the drawings were of a professional quality.”
Mother is Watching by Karma Brown
“The eyes are all wrong.”
Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman
“…we find ourselves in the privileged position of being the foremost scholars of his body of work.”
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
“I notice there’s a child’s drawing on the door, a crude and unskilled portrait of a bunny rabbit.”
Collage Macabre by various
“Henri’s palette leant towards the vermilion, the garnet, the fiery.”
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven
Horror Fun
Kristian Nygård (Optipess) on Instagram
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading. Catch you on the other side.
Jayson
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