Bite-sized horror news
Vale
- Condolences to family, friends, and fans of actor Tim Curry. There are too many roles across many genres to mention, but a sampling of his horror credits includes The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), It (1990), Addams Family Reunion (1998), Scary Movie 2 (2001), and Stream (2024). RIP.
Horror book bits
- Stephen King’s Lovecraftian short story Crouch End is getting a 6-part series adaptation for Prime Video.
- Nick Cutter’s The Troop is getting a movie adaptation.
- Richard Kelly’s The Philosophy of Time Travel, releasing on 16 Dec 2026, is a sequel to the 2001 Donnie Darko movie. Kelly plans to “adapt the novel into an animated/motion-capture movie and then continue with a live-action sequel”.
- Caroline Kepnes is writing and directing an 8-part series adaptation of her psychological horror short story The Attentionist. The series will be launched on YouTube.
- The HWA controversies continue.
Horror movie morsels
- Ridley Scott confirmed that the Alien: Covenant sequel is in development. He also thinks Alien: Romulus was “OK” but “it needs some help”.
- The 2000 cult anime movie Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust will screen in US cinemas in 2027.
- In the lead-up to the Halloween game release, AMC theaters are screening the original Halloween trilogy on consecutive nights next week: 4 Sep – Halloween, 5 Sep – Halloween II, 6 Sep – Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
- M. Night Shyamalan has nervously started his own YouTube channel so he and his fans can “reflect and get to know each other”. He says it scares him but “when I’m scared, it usually feels like I’m doing something right”.
- Congratulations to the Popcorn Frights 2026 award winners including Drag (Jury Prize for Best Feature Film) and Colony (Audience Award for Best Feature Film).
Horror TV treats
- A new, as yet unnamed, Netflix series built around Roald Dahl’s short stories for adults is in production. It’s not clear which stories are being used, but the underlying series story is about a couple stranded in an old seaside town who navigate adaptations of Dahl’s stories to escape their fate.
- Serial killer series Furious is getting a 2nd season.
Horror game goodies
- The Poppy Playtime developers are working on Escape from Playtime, a new co-op survival horror game set in the Poppy Playtime universe.
- Trick or Treat Studios has released an updated edition of its Camp Grizzly board game.
Horror festival fare
- Registration is open for HitchCon 26 (online international Alfred Hitchcock conference, 3–4 Oct 2026). Use the earlybird code MAGIC26 to get 20% off. The theme for this year is Hitchcockian Wizardry: Myth, Magic & the Macabre and there’ll be a special session devoted to the late David Lynch.
- During this year’s Halloween Horror Festival (26 Sep to 8 Nov 2026), Movie Park Germany will have a Jason Universe haunted house that will include 14 scenes plus a preshow.
“That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.”
― Kelly Marcel & Sue Smith
Writing horror
Production Companies, Literary Agents, Foreign Languages: AI-Driven Scams Continue to Morph by Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware
Some places accepting submissions
Worlds Beyond: Poetry and Fiction Literary Contest – Washington Writers’ Publishing House
Prizes: $100 winner/$50 runner-up in each category
Looking for: 750 words of literary speculative, sci-fi, fantasy, or horror that takes us beyond ordinary or beyond this world
Submissions close: 15 Sep 2026
Book Worms #12 Halloween Edition – Occult Horror
Pays: 8 cents per word
Looking for: Stories that explore the fear of what’s hidden, what’s forbidden, and what might be waiting just beyond the veil of what we think we know
Submissions close: 1 Oct 2026
Story Unlikely magazine
Pays: 8 cents per word ($350 cap or $700 cap for members at Writer Level)
Looking for: Prose that elicits emotion: make us laugh or cry, think or consider, anything on the edge or in between
Submissions close: 14 Oct 2026
Hobbyhorse Magazine, Issue 1
Pays: 2 cents per word for originals 0-3500 words, 1 cent per word for reprints 0-3500 words, $70 for originals 3500-5000 words, $35 for reprints 3500-5000 words
Theme: Obsession
Submissions close: 30 Nov 2026
Upcoming submission calls
The Rotting Leaf
Pays: 6 cents per word (min $30) + copy of annual anthology
Looking for: Eco-fiction (broadly defined), Eco-Horror, Eco-Gothic/Antigothic, Haunted/Unhaunted Landscapes, Transcorporeality, Eco-Surrealism/Existentialism/Absurdism, Complex/Flawed characters, Interiority
Submissions open 1 Sep and close 7 Sep 2026 or when 50 submissions are received
“I don’t wanna write as long as I live, I’ll live as long as I can write.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock
Trailer horror
A taste of things to come.
Horror TV trailers
City of Blood. German vampire. In the future, the privileged elite live beneath a climate-controlled dome while those outside struggle to survive in a world ravaged by heat, corruption, and crime. After years apart, sisters Bea and Phoebe are reunited and uncover a dark secret: Vampires are determined to seize political power and blood has become the city’s new currency. Disney+, Hulu, 16 Sep 2026
Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, Season 2. Animated supernatural. Something is haunting these woods. Netflix, 17 Sep 2026
Sweetpea, Season 2. Killer. Rhiannon navigates a new promotion, an irresistible rebound, and a copycat killer threatening to expose her. The kill list is mounting. Starz, TBA 2027
Horror movie trailers
The 100 Candles Game: Dark Mirror. Anthology. Three friends reunite in an abandoned house to contact a missing friend. One hundred candles are lit around an ancient mirror, and each person must tell terrifying stories before extinguishing each flame. Release date TBA
Bloody Tennis. Psychological. Sophie enters the cutthroat world of an elite tennis academy in Southern Europe, where ambition, obsession and fierce competition mask something increasingly sinister. Shudder, 25 Sep 2026
Breeder. Psychological. An eccentric poodle breeder lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. Shudder, 16 Oct 2026
Influence. Psychological. A filmmaker kidnaps a famous social media influencer and forces her into the lead role of the movie she’s desperate to make. VOD, 4 Sep 2026
Last Chance Motel. Survival. A couple’s dream wedding spirals into a bloody nightmare when they discover their secluded venue is run by a relentless bloodthirsty family with dark secrets. VOD, 6 Oct 2026
Pendulum. Psychological. As paranoia builds at a new-age retreat, a couple must determine if the group’s spiritual practices offer genuine healing or mask a terrifying truth. Cinema, 1 Jan 2027
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, US trailer. Animated comedy creature horror. When the clumsy Farmer trashes the Flock’s beloved pumpkin patch, Shaun turns Mad Scientist to fix the problem. Cinema, 18 Sep 2026
Horror game trailers
Holstin. Psychological. In an isolated 90’s Polish town, you’ve come looking for answers, but everyone seems possessed by something foul. Releases 2027
Name of the Will. Psychological. 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. Releases 2027
The Séance of Blake Manor. Supernatural. What stock do you put in the supernatural? Do ghosts exist? Can one commune with the dead? Can you find a missing person before they are murdered at the secluded Blake Manor? Releases 27 Oct 2026
Terrible Lizards. Survival. Undertake parkour against the backdrop of an old Route 66 attraction with something dark and sinister lurking below. Release date 29 Oct 2026
“I prefer to be on the side of losers, the misunderstood or lonely people rather than writing about the strong and powerful.”
― Núria Añó
A selection of horror books released this week
11 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, crime, vampire, gothic, post-apocalyptic, and middle grade horror
See: A selection of horror books released, 23 to 29 Aug 2026
“Words are just whispers until a reader brings them to life. Thank you for breathing life into my stories.”
― Nisha Joon
A selection of horror movies released this week
20 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, shark, cult, serial killer, post-apocalyptic, zombie, werewolf, survival, comedy, witch, and spider horror
See: A selection of horror movies released, 23 to 29 Aug 2026
“In a noisy world, writing is a form of listening. A way to hold still and shape the signal from the static.”
― Lawrence Nault
What we were thinking about this week
What we’ve been reading this week
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons (novel)
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson (collection)
What we’ve been recommending this week
Did you know we recommend one horror book every day of the year on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook, and Twitter?
This week’s horror book recommendations
Theme: Toy horror
Maddy by Carol Hall
“Go away. Unwanted.”
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
“Hundreds of her mom’s dolls stared at her.”
Annabelle by Ruby Jean Jensen
“Behind her the papa doll stared straight ahead, toward the woman and the little girl.”
Teddy Bears Never Die by Yeeun Cho
“All stories start with money… Even revenge costs money.”
Cubby by Jyl Glenn
“Every child needs a friend. Someone who never leaves.”
I Found Puppets Living in My Apartment Walls by Ben Farthing
“I silently begged the puppet to walk away.”
Terrors from the Toy Box by Phobica Books
“She lay on her side, the little stick-doll clasped tightly to her chest.”
“My mind is cluttered with imaginary distractions.”
― Nathaniel Connors
Horror fun
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading. Catch you on the other side.
Jayson
Psst … If you know someone who might like these emails, tell them to sign up here. It’s free.
