Bite-sized horror news
Vale
- Condolences to family, friends, and fans of filmmaker Jeremiah Kipp. Kipp’s horror movie directorial legacy includes The Mortuary Assistant (2026), The Geechee Witch: A Boo Hag Story (2024), Slapface (2021), Black Wake (2018), The Sadist (2015), The Pod (2006), and Pickup (2016). RIP.
Horror book bits
- Hammer Films has bought the rights to the complete literary works of Susan Hill and plans to adapt them for film, television, and theatre.
- Stephen King says that Mike Flanagan is the best adaptor of his work and he hinted that “he might be doing something else that’s really special”. My guess is that all roads lead to the Dark Tower.
- The Kickstarter for James Aquilone’s Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters comic series launches soon.
Horror movie morsels
- The Mummy 4 is officially called The Mummy: Book of the Dead and is still slated for release on 15 Oct 2026.
- Rumor is that Tim Burton and Kazuo Ishiguro might be teaming up on a new movie and that it may be set in post-WW2 Japan.
- Brian Duffield says he’s “not doing a new Alien movie” but he “helped out [writing] for a couple of weeks”.
- Despite being 4 years since the announcement of a DC Swamp Thing movie, it’s still happening with Peter Safran saying, “the script is being written as we speak”.
- George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is getting a vertical microdrama adaptation.
- Blumhouse-Atomic Monster have paid a 7-figure sum for the worldwide rights, excluding Latin America and India, to micro-budget horror movie Play House.
- Willem Dafoe’s character in Werwulf is based on a real historical person.
- A Special Day is a 4-minute found footage horror short filmed entirely on VHS-C tape. Watch it on YouTube.
- From 18 to 22 Oct, registered fans can watch the 50 short films selected for the Ripcord Halloween Film Festival and vote to help select the top 10. The winning film gets $100,000 with the remaining 9 sharing another $100,000.
- The Fall franchise is getting a 3rd movie with filming planned to begin in 2027.
- The Jennifer’s Body 2 script is finished and Diablo Cody says, “The vibe going into this one is so different because everyone gets it.”
- Jason Paul Collum says his 3 upcoming Witchcraft movies – Witchcraft XIX: Our Father, Witchcraft XX: 40 Years Later, and Witchcraft XXI: Brotherhood of Saints – have their own themes but with a through-line.
- The Science of Scare Project’s 2026 top 20 scariest movies of all time has Sinister in number 1 position, Host in number 2, and Skinamarink in number 3.
Horror TV treats
- The full first episode of Carrie is available on YouTube if you’d like to try before you buy.
- Ryan Coogler’s pilot episode of The X-Files has been picked up by Hulu for a full series.
- Although a second season of Crystal Lake hasn’t been announced, Brad Kaleb Kane says he does “have ideas for Season 2 in mind”.
- Apparently, in IT: Welcome to Derry, Season 2, we’ll see “a different kind of Pennywise … the way you’ve never seen that character before”, which isn’t completely surprising since season 2 is set in 1935.
- Nicolas Cage and Antonio Banderas will be the detectives in True Detective, Season 5 which will be set in Jamaica Bay, New York.
- As well as The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror XXXVII, this year we’re also getting Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening, a second episode with a horror theme which premieres on Fox on 18 Oct and available on Hulu on 19 Oct.
- Zombie series Z Nation is making a comeback with a new sequel series, Z Nation: Resurrection set several years after the original series.
- 16 new episodes of A Haunting have been ordered for delivery in Sep 2027.
- The first 3 seasons of From will stream on Netflix from 19 Oct 2026.
Horror podcast pieces
- Trevor Henderson’s Mayfair Watchers Society podcast is getting a movie adaptation.
- Ethan Hawke hosts the 9-episode supernatural podcast Midnight Radio which premieres on 22 Oct 2026. New episodes will be released every Thursday.
Horror game goodies
- Fears To Fatham is getting movie and TV series adaptations.
- Konami is already thinking about the second and third waves of Silent Hill.
- Hasbro’s Fury of Dracula board game has been updated to include a quicker gameplay variant, an additional hunter character, an updated map, and never-before-seen artwork.
“Most people will tell you growing up means you stop believing in Halloween things – I’m telling you the reverse. You start to grow up when you understand that the stuff that scares you is part of the air you breathe.”
― Peter Straub
Writing horror
Signup now for Shadows & Ink’s One Night Only Writer’s Workshop, being held on Zoom on 15 Nov 2026. For just $25, Tim Waggoner, Richard Thomas, Linda D. Addison, Angela Yuriko Smith, and Mercedes M. Yardley will each give you an hour of their time.
Applications for the Linda D. Addison Speculative Poetry Fellowship open on 18 Jan 2027. Submissions will be limited to the first 50 completed applications. The fellowship awards $1000 to one BIPOC poet whose work demonstrates visionary depth, thematic strength, and artistic growth potential, recognizing the essential leadership of BIPOC poets in shaping contemporary speculative poetry.
Some places accepting submissions
Agita Magazine
Pays: USD 5 cents per word
Looking for: Weird flash fiction built around ekphrasis, the written representation of visual art
Submissions close: 17 Nov 2026
Ninth Annual Weird Christmas Flash Fiction ConThology
Pays: $35
Looking for: 350 words that’s both about Christmas (or any other winter holiday) and simultaneously weird
Submissions close: 29 Nov 2026
Deathly Delusions anthology (Tales Of Ghouls and Methamphetaminergic Hypnogogia) – Dickinson Publishing
Pays: $50, 90% royalty share split between authors
Looking for: Settings where reality can’t be trusted, Liars and cheaters, crystal meth catalyzing the formation/appearance of literal monsters, cosmic entities, and most importantly, GHOULS
Submissions close: 8 Jan 2027
Ogerog Annual 2027-28
Pays: 8 cents per word + physical copy
Looking for: Literary horror that pushes beyond strict genre boundaries while retaining a strong horror foundation
Submissions close: 4 Apr 2027
Tangled Wilderness
Pays: $240
Looking for: Content that doesn’t know where it fits in, for people that don’t know where they fit in
“Suddenly the day was gone, night came out from under each tree and spread.”
― Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree
Trailer horror
A taste of things to come.
Horror TV trailers
Bass X Machina. Animated, Steampunk. In a steampunk West overrun by outlaws, machines and supernatural forces, a father is forced to become judge, jury and executioner to protect his family. Netflix, 3 Nov 2026
The Body. Supernatural. Catholic schoolgirls experience prophetic visions after a dance-team initiation goes wrong, triggering mass hysteria throughout their town. Netflix, 11 Nov 2026
Obsess. Supernatural (Arabic). Talal begins searching for the cause and a way to escape the curse haunting him and his family. Netflix, 30 Oct 2026
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 4 [final], teaser. Zombie apocalypse. Daryl and Carol’s fight to find home reaches its last chapter. AMC+, Feb 2027
Yellowjackets, Season 4 [final], teaser. Psychological. The Yellowjackets race to bury their sins before rescue arrives, but the Wilderness has its own ideas about who gets out alive. Paramount+, 20 Nov 2026
Your Dearest, Darkest Friend with Ted Raimi. Talk show. Legends and rising stars mingle with Ted Raimi’s spooky manor’s peculiar puppet residents in a chilling talk-show experience. Screambox, 30 Oct 2026
Horror movie trailers
Brute 1986. Slasher. A glam metal band are set to begin filming their latest music video in an abandoned Western town. Unfortunately for them, the Birdy family has taken up residence nearby. Release date TBA
Godzilla Minus Zero, trailer 2. Creature. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here. Cinema, 6 Nov 2026
Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant. Sci-fi, Body, Comedy. When a millennial underachiever accidentally gets alien-pregnant, she must overcome sceptical doctors, a useless baby-daddy, and her oversharing mum to survive and reclaim her life. US release date TBA
Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas. Psychological. To win back his wife, Christmas-obsessed Ralph concocts a crazy plan to kidnap the washed-up child star of his favorite movie. Screambox, 3 Nov 2026
River. Survival. Three siblings are stuck with no service, no way off the water, and a faceless killer waiting on shore. Cinema, 15 Jan 2027
R.L. Stine’s The Babysitter. Psychological. 16yo Jenny takes a babysitting job despite a prowler terrorizing girls across town. When threatening phone calls begin, Jenny grows suspicious of everyone around her. Tubi, 2027
Shiver: Slaying All Night. Christmas slasher. This Christmas, the slopes run red. Nobody is safe. And Vincent is just getting started. Releases 2027
The Third Parent, teaser. Psychological. Amidst a 4th of July celebration, Tommy Taffy disguises himself as a human to infiltrate a suburban neighborhood and impose authoritarian rule over an unsuspecting family. Cinema, 22 Jan 2027
Trauma Or, Monsters All. Psychological. An aspiring author writes an article for the local paper about her small town’s dark history, prompting unwanted speculation on what monsters may lie within. Limited release, 4 Nov 2026
Zona Merah: Dead City. Zombie (Indonesian). A deadly virus spreads across the city of Rimbalaya, turning infected people into the living dead. US release date TBA
Horror game trailers
4 Penny Coffins. Social deduction. Seek out evidence, discern lies from truth, and find the murderer before it’s too late. Releases 27 Oct 2026
Jiaohun. Psychological. In a small Chinese town during the 1990s, gradually uncover the mystery behind the downfall of Fairy Town. Releases 2027
Mark of the Ram. Cult. An ordinary housewife’s life is turned upside down after she is kidnapped by a sinister cult. Release date TBA
Sker: The Bleeding Veil. Psychological. New locations to explore, enemies to face, and secrets to make sense of. Release date TBA
There are No Ghosts at the Grand. Lovecraftian. Inherit a crumbling English hotel and restore it by day, while battling ghosts by night. Release date TBA
“For some of us, Halloween is everyday.”
― Tim Burton, Tim Burton
A selection of horror books released this week
11 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, folk, and Christmas cult horror
See: A selection of horror books released, 11 to 17 Oct 2026
“But the truth is, ghosts are everywhere. In the bread aisle at your grocery store, in the middle of you grandmother’s garden, in the front seat on your bus. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
― Victoria Schwab, City of Ghosts
A selection of horror movies released this week
17 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, survival, slasher, found footage, creature, zombie, werewolf, cannibal, vampire, spider, monster, body, post-apocalypse, cursed object, and Halloween horror
See: A selection of horror movies released, 11 to 17 Oct 2026
“Nothing lifts my spirit like a scarecrow in the front yard.”
― Damien Echols, Life After Death
A selection of horror TV shows released this week
3 horror TV shows this week. Themes: Supernatural and true crime horror
See: A selection of horror TV shows released, 11 to 17 Oct 2026
“One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight … And that was the October week when they grew up overnight, and were never so young any more…”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
What we were thinking about this week
What we’ve been reading this week
Something I Keep Upstairs by J.D. Barker (novel)
The Buried City by Boris Bacic (novel)
The Returned by Jason Mott (novel)
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: Halloween horror
October by Gregory Bastianelli
“A little magic was in the air. He could feel it all around.”
Horrorween by Al Sarrantonio
“The more he delved into the character of Samhain, the more frightening the Celtic Lord of Death became.”
October Dreams II by Richard Chizmar & Robert Morrish (editors)
“Is it possible that Mr. Dark’s carnival…never really existed?”
Scream Ride by D.I. Russell
“This has been a test simulation of the new Nearly Departed interactive attraction, scheduled for this Halloween…”
Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night by Stephanie Rose (editor)
“Take Only Two Or The Bunny Man Will Get You.”
Terrifier 2 by Tim Waggoner
“Being a coroner was never a laugh fest, but today had been especially grim.”
The Pumpkin Club by J. Boote & Lesley A. Camphouse
“No ghosts or monsters live there. However, all of that is about to change.”
“Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve.”
― Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree
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.
