Bite-sized horror news
Vale
- Condolences to family, friends, and fans of actor Reggie Bannister. Bannister was best known for the Phantasm movies. Other horror credits include Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990), Wishmaster (1997), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002), and Necronaut (2007) among many others. RIP.
Horror book bits
- Adam Nevill’s 2012 cult horror novel Last Days is the inspiration for Ascension, a new TV series ordered by Apple TV+.
- Tim Waggoner’s Writing in the Dark ‘how-to write horror’ book will be available as an audiobook from 29 Sep 2026.
- Congratulations to the winners of Canada’s 2026 Aurora Awards.
- Shortwave Publishing has “acquired Philip Fracassi’s complete short story library ahead of [2] upcoming film adaptations” and will publish 4 collections over the next year. The adaptations are Skeletons and Altar, both based on stories from the Behold the Void collection.
Horror movie morsels
- East Rutherford, New Jersey, is getting a real Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza restaurant in 2027 and will feature two animatronic stage shows: the Main Stage with Freddy and the Fazbear Band, and the Pirate Cove with Foxy the Pirate.
- NEON is running an It Ends – Endless Screening Challenge in which groups of 4 people will participate in a “Last Person Standing” competition in a New York cinema over a 36-hour period beginning 7pm 21 Aug and ending 7am 23 Aug 2026.
- Supernatural/slasher horror short The Babysitter Murders: Timing’s Off begins streaming on Crypt TV on 28 Aug 2026.
- Creepypasta Jeff the Killer is getting a movie adaptation.
- In movie ratings news, Buddy has been rated R for “bloody violence, some drug content and language – all involving children”.
Horror TV treats
- The complete James Coburn-hosted series of early 80’s anthology horror Darkroom, will be available on Blu-ray from 13 Oct 2026.
- John Carpenter’s wife, Sandy King, says “there’s a Carpenter-tied Amazon TV series in the works that will be announced at a later date”. No hints of what it involves.
- Netflix has ordered a straight-to-series YA supernatural romance called Sid & Zoey about 2 teenagers who are “drawn into a dark, hidden world beneath the [small] town’s picture-postcard façade”.
Horror game goodies
- Halloween: The Game will not be available in Australia in either physical or digital form as it’s been denied a rating by the Australian Classifications Board. The decision was not because of the slasher-aspect, but because of ‘the presence of a controlled substance’. However, it will be available in New Zealand but only in digital form.
- Scary Teacher is getting a movie adaptation.
- Saw: Genesis will include a new puppet. Bette is a “handmade doll whose creepy curious presence reminds you that you’re probably going to die”.
Horror music moments
- Don’t forget that The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE streams on AMC+ on 23 Aug 2026.
Horror festival fare
- Horror conventionMidsummer Scream is changing location in 2027. It will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in California from 6 to 8 Aug 2027. But Season’s Screamings will remain in Long Beach and takes place from 4 to 5 Dec 2027.
- A new Final Destination: Death’s Playground haunted maze will be part of Six Flags Magic Mountain this year. Also new this year is Wolves’ Blood, an invitation-only trek through a remote town that has been overrun with werewolves to reach the Grand Valdonian Theater for Wolves’ Blood’s first ever, live performance.
“From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, Tales of H.P. Lovecraft
Writing horror
Some places accepting submissions
Trollbreath Magazine
Pays: USD 4 cents per word for original works, 1 cent per word for reprints
Looking for: Speculative short stories up to 7500 words. Speculative fiction means science fiction, fantasy, horror, fabulism, slipstream, etc.
Submissions close: 31 Oct 2026
ErgotPays: $25
Looking for: previously unpublished fiction and hybrid work under 10k words (including excerpts and work in translation) that push out the boundary of what literary horror is and what it might become
Body Shots
Pays: $150 for works of 5,000+ words, $75 for works of 2,500–5,000 words, $35 for works of 2,500 words or fewer, $150 per photo for photography selected for the issue
Looking for: Bold, voice‑driven short fiction and striking black‑and‑white photography.
Upcoming submission calls
What Blooms in Darkness: A Lunarpunk Anthology – Android Press
Pays: 8 cents per word + contributor copy
Looking for: Stories that approach darkness in ways that shatter the stereotype of darkness as a source of fear or adversity.
Submissions open 1 Nov and close 30 Nov 2026
“At every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss.”
― Paulo Coelho
Trailer horror
A taste of things to come.
Horror TV trailers
American Horror Story, Season 13 teaser. Supernatural. What terrors await the hallowed halls of 13? Prepare for a supreme surprise. FX, Hulu, 24 Sep 2026
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story. Killer. Lizzie Borden took an axe… Netflix, 17 Sep 2026
Horror movie trailers
Adorable Humans. Dutch anthology. 4 interconnected tales that are modern horror adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories. VOD, 31 Aug 2026
The Barn Part III. Creature. Determined to keep the town safe from the demonic creatures that once emerged from the cursed barn, Josh Harper has devoted his life to ensuring the monsters never return. But evil never stays buried for long. Premieres at FrightFest, 28 Aug 2026
Beware Boiúna. Snake. Deep in the Amazon, a medical mission spirals into a fight for survival when Boiúna, a colossal ancient predator, awakens to reclaim her domain. Cinema, 2 Oct 2026
Black Zombie. Documentary. Digs beneath the blood-soaked spectacle of modern horror to uncover the zombie’s buried and unsettling origins. Limited release, 11 Sep 2026
Dark Hollow. Monster. When a nightmarish monster emerges from the depths of an Appalachian coal mine, a young mother must hunt down the creature to protect her home and save her family. Cinema, 4 Sep 2026
The Devils (4K restoration, Director’s cut). Witch. In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier’s protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun’s accusation of witchcraft. Cinema, 16 Oct 2026
Gaskins: The Hitchhiker Killer. True crime serial killer. Donald “Pee-Wee” Gaskins was an American serial killer from South Carolina who stabbed, shot, drowned, and poisoned more than a dozen people. Release date TBA
Gator Face. Alligator cult. A group of friends is hunted through the Florida swamps by a savage cult that feeds its victims to alligators in the name of an ancient reptilian god. VOD, 15 Sep 2026
Night Terror. Psychological. A young woman battling an extreme case of sleep paralysis enlists the help of two documentary filmmakers. VOD, 4 Sep 2026
Tomorrow, You Pretty Ghost. Psychological. Two theater kids decide to pull off one last prank before graduation but it has grim consequences for their friend group. VOD, 25 Aug 2026
Yellow Eyes. Supernatural. A man falls under the grip of a sinister entity after uncovering a cursed idol. Screambox, 18 Aug 2026
Horror game trailers
Leviathan: Rhino. Lovecraftian. Experience the loneliness and melancholic nature of an old man wandering his small town as a giant Leviathan encroaches on the region. Release date TBA
Spirit Ritual (VR). Supernatural. Become a psychic medium and break the demonic curse threatening the life of Shu-Mei Lin. Release date TBA
Susuki Kaidan. Survival. Explore what’s left of a war-torn city on a grand journey to Kyoto. Embody Saburo on this treacherous odyssey, face the White Ghost, and engage the horrors that await. Release date TBA
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.”
― Albert Einstein
A selection of horror books released this week
16 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, gothic, sci-fi, vampire, cosmic, ghost, monster, and dark fantasy horror
See: A selection of horror books released, 9 to 15 Aug 2026
“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
A selection of horror movies released this week
11 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, witch, slasher, fantasy, technology, vampire, and monster horror
See: A selection of horror movies released, 9 to 15 Aug 2026
“The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.”
― W.H. Auden
What we were thinking about this week
What we’ve been reading this week
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver (novel)
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin (novel)
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (novel)
Black Envelope by Allison Pottern (short story, Tales from the Moonlit Path)
What we’ve been 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: Irish horror
This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud
“Father said we only borrow time to stay the reaper.”
Knock, Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson
“Look inside. It needs you.”
Hush, My Darling by Leigh Kenny
“Out here in the mountains, no one could hear her scream.”
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
“When I die, put me out with the bins.”
The Widows of Winding Gale by Kealan Patrick Burke
“As if the sea had exhaled it, the fog rose without warning…”
The Devouring by R.S. Cunningham
“Some stories aren’t told. They’re unleashed.”
Where I End by Sophie White
“At night, my mother creaks.”
“Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet.”
― W. B. Yeats
Horror fun
Wrong Hands (John Atkinson) on Instagram
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading. Catch you on the other side.
Jayson
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