Bite-Sized Horror News
Vale
- Condolences to family, friends, and fans of author Koji Suzuki. Suzuki was best known for the Ring trilogy and related works. Other horror books include eco-horror Edge, psychological horror The Shining Sea, and short story collections Dark Water and Death and the Flower, RIP.
Horror Book Bits
- Nick Cutter says the movie adaptation of The Troop is still happening and he remains “hopeful that at some point it will see the light of day”.
- John Russo’s 1978 zombie novel Return of the Living Dead is getting a movie sequel called Rebirth of the Living Dead, set for a 1 Oct 2026 release.
- Laura van den Berg’s grief horror novel The Third Hotel is getting a movie adaptation.
- Nat Cassidy’s psychological horror novella Rest Stop is getting a movie adaptation and Cassidy will adapt the screenplay.
- Christopher Golden’s upcoming supernatural horror novel Carry Me to My Grave is getting a movie adaptation from Lionsgate. The book releases on 21 Jul 2026.
- William Goldman’s puppet horror novel Magic is getting a new modern movie adaptation directed by Sam Raimi.
- H.P. Lovecraft’s Herbert West: Reanimator is getting a new movie adaptation.
- The first 3 comics in Marvel Comics’ Midnight Universe are Midnight X-Men (releases Aug 2026), Midnight Fantastic Four (releases Sep 2026), and Midnight Spider-Man (releases Oct 2026).
Horror Movie Morsels
- Kate Beckinsale will be the lead in Twilight of the Dead, the ‘final chapter’ of George A. Romero’s zombie saga which is “set on a decimated earth where the last vestiges of humanity are trapped between warring factions and an evolving undead threat”.
- The Paranormal Activity stage show is being rebranded as Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway and will have a 20-week run on Broadway beginning 14 Aug 2026.
- Production on Curry Barker’s next movie Anything But Ghosts has finished. It’s about “two con artist ghost hunters that … put on a show, until they run into a very real, very dangerous dark entity”.
- Summer camp horror movie Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is going on tour in Jun and Jul with advance screenings before its 7 Aug 2026 cinema release.
- The court case over the rights to the Scream Ghostface mask has been settled.
- Rubberhead: The Life & Monsters of Steve Johnson, a documentary about the makeup effects master, will premiere at Fantasia Film Festival.
- Patton Oswalt will executive produce In Search of Nosferatu which is about “an obsessive filmmaker and a sensorially gifted archivist who can ‘hear’ silent films searching the world for surviving copies of Nosferatu to reassemble and reinvent F.W. Murnau’s vampire classic from a multiplicity of decayed versions”.
- Zorro becomes a “scary, brutal vigilante” in They Call Him Zorro which will “draw on the original writings of Johnston McCulley … but through a horror lens”.
- The Blair Witch Project reboot is about “a family that goes on a camping trip but goes missing one by one after they hear strange noises in the forest”.
- An unofficial sequel to 2003 video game movie adaptation House of the Dead will be called 23 Years Later – The Castle of the Dead.
- KPop Demon Hunters is going on a world concert tour.
- Godzilla Minus One returns to select AMC cinemas from 22 to 28 May 2026.
Horror TV Treats
- The new Crystal Lake TV series premieres on Thu, 15 Oct 2026 on Peacock.
- All 8-episodes of Human Vapor, a reboot of 1960 Japanese movie The Human Vapor, will stream on Netflix on 2 Jul 2026.
Horror Podcast Pieces
- Bloody Disgusting/Bloody FM and Paramount Pictures have teamed up on a limited podcast series dedicated to upcoming horror movie Passengers.
Horror Game Goodies
- Vietnamese horror game The Scourge is getting a movie adaptation.
Horror Music Moments
- In the 4th single from The Vampire Lestat, Butterscotch Bitch, he pays tribute to himself.
“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”
― Bertrand Russell
Writing Horror
Some places accepting submissions
The Book of Demons anthology (Flame Tree Publishing)
Pays: 8 cents/6 pence per word
Looking for: Unique, horror-inflected, interpretation of the otherworld of demons
Submissions close: 7 Jun 2026
Side Hustle: Horror Stories for Late Capitalism anthology (Agita Publishing)
Pays: USD 5 cents per word + contributor copy
Looking for: Horror and dark science fiction stories about the extra work we do to stay afloat
Submissions close: 14 Jun 2026
The Monstrous & The Divine sapphic anthology (Scylla Publishing)
Pays: AUD 10 cents per word (max $400)
Looking for: Sapphic goddesses and monsters as you’ve not seen them before
Submissions close: 31 Jul 2026
Upcoming submission calls
The Rumpus
Pays: $500 for prose submissions and comics, $200 for poetry
Looking for: Original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds
Submissions for fiction and poetry open 1 Jun 2026, interviews reopen Sep 2026
“This was another of our fears: that Life wouldn’t turn out to be like Literature.”
― Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
Trailer Horror
A taste of things to come.
Horror TV Trailers
The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 3 teaser. Zombie apocalypse horror. When hope is running out, can they stand together? AMC+, 26 Jul 2026
Horror Movie Trailers
Backrooms, final trailer. Psychological horror. A series of disturbing home videos captures supernatural events that terrorize their witnesses. Cinema, 29 May 2026
The Dead Place. Supernatural horror. A troubled high school senior is plagued by visions of the dead. His only friend tries to help him, but a new kid pushes him to give in to the demon. Bloodstream, 1 Jun 2026
The Caged. Psychological horror. Based on a real UK home known as “The Cage,” where women were imprisoned and executed for witchcraft in the late 16th century. Release date TBA
Chum. Shark horror. A dream destination wedding. A bloodthirsty shark. A sinister fisherman. What could go wrong? Cinema, 5 Jun 2026
The Curse. French psychological horror. A young Moroccan woman who has come to study in Paris, has not left her home for several months. Agoraphobic since childhood, she survives, cloistered, locked in between her nightmares. VOD, 2 Jun 2026
The Grim Rapper. Dark fantasy horror. A rap icon murdered at the height of his fame returns from the dead three decades later after forging a dark pact with an Aztec blood demon. Release date TBA
Unholy Communion. Psychological horror. When Catholic priests begin turning up dead, a small town cop unearths buried secrets that begin to implicate an entire community. Release date TBA
Wildwood. Animated fantasy horror. After her baby brother is abducted, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel launches a rescue mission into an enchanted forest. Cinema, 23 Oct 2026
Horror Game Trailers
The Alley. Psychological horror. Traverse maze-like alleys to escape a ghost seeking revenge. Demo available now
Feed It. Psychological horror. Feed a hungry monster. Release date TBA
Flock Off! Zombie sheep horror. In 1990’s Scotland, a scientific experiment to clone sheep has gone horribly awry. Release date TBA
Open Waters. Ocean survival horror. Stranded in a small boat, navigate while coasting the waves, look out for creatures below. Release date TBA
Rock, Paper, Severed. Psychological horror. Rock, Paper, Scissors dialled up to deadly levels. Release date TBA
Sleepover. Post-apocalyptic cosmic horror. Explore a twisted and melancholic tale about the last two people on Earth. Release date TBA
“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.”
― Ben Okri
A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week
10 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, haunted house, serial killer, slasher, monster, and workplace horror
See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 10 to 16 May 2026
“I have accepted fear as part of life – specifically the fear of change… I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back….”
― Erica Jong
A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week
7 horror movies this week. Themes: Psychological, zombie, found footage, slasher, and grief horror
See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 10 to 16 May 2026
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released this Week
1 horror TV show this week. Theme: Supernatural horror
See: A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released, 10 to 16 May 2026
“… the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove
What We Were Thinking About this Week
What We’ve Been Reading This Week
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus (novel)
You by Caroline Kepnes (novel)
Dark Carnival by Ray Bradbury (collection)
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: Sport horror
Shredded edited by Eric Raglin
“Wrestling families are cursed families.”
Endurance by J.A. Konrath
“…everything about this bed and breakfast gave her the creeps…”
Play Dead by Ryan Brown
“After what he’d done, it had become a game about salvation or damnation.”
Daphne by Josh Malerman
“A question for the rim: Will Daphne kill me?”
Sudden Death Overtime by Steve Vernon
“No one noticed exactly when the long black bus stole into the parking lot of the Anchor Pub.”
Satan’s Glove by Cousin Vinny Agnello & Carolyn Rae
“I really love the game, but I just can’t seem to play it…”
Gridiron Gates of Hell edited by Loki DeWitt
“The screaming man ran down the street. In the shadows of the alley, a darkness followed him.”
“A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Children of Húrin
Horror Fun
Ryan Kramer (toonholeryan) on Instagram
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading. Catch you on the other side.
Jayson
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