A Grab Bag of Horror News, 25 to 31 Aug 2024

A selection of things that caught our attention in the world of horror this week

Bite-Sized Horror News

Horror Book Bits

Lightspeed magazine is offering a free three-month subscription to anyone who’s interested in science fiction and fantasy. No credit card needed. No strings attached.
Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, New Hampshire, is running their Local Horror Author Showcase event on Saturday, 12 October 2024. Meet a bunch of horror authors, have horror-themed mocktails, and mingle with likeminded people.
Three-Lobed Burning Eye is running their first-ever Kickstarter campaign. They’ve been around for 25 years and are a digital literary magazine of horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction.

Horror Movie Morsels

Someone has submitted a Product Idea for a Beetlejuice Lego set.
Wolf Creek:Legacy will be the third movie in the serial killer franchise. This time, Mick Taylor will be hunting a family of American tourists in Australia’s outback.
Found, coming in October, is a new streaming channel that will focus on found footage horror movies. It will be free with ads or ad-free with subscription.
Grady Hendrix is hosting a 2-night movie event at The Mahoning Drive-In Theater, in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, on 6 and 7 September 2024. Three movies each night will be presented on original 35mm, with each one preceded by themed trailers. There’ll also be merch, vendors, raffles, live DJs, and snack bar treats.
Funko has released a bunch of new horror movie and TV-themed POP! figures for Halloween.
Smile 2’s final runtime is 2 hour and 12 minutes (including credits).
John Asher will be directing new creature feature movie, Bigfoot.

Horror TV Treats

Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger novels will be adapted for TV.
Katja Herbers is still holding out hope that Evil might get another season on Paramount+ after Stephen King mentioned on social media that he liked the show.
Dead Boy Detectives has been cancelled after just one season on Netflix.
The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs has been renewed for a 7th season on Shudder.

Horror Podcast Pieces

The first episode of The Scares That Shaped Us features Clay McLeod Chapman talking about his chosen formative horror story, Session 9.

Horror Game Goodies

Are you brave enough to play the board game OUIJA: Beetlejuice? “Summon the spirits by saying ‘Beetlejuice’ three times and get answers to all of your burning questions!”
Control and Alan Wake might be getting movie and television adaptations.

Horror Festival Fare

Halloween Horror Nights will include Late Night with Chucky, a live talk show where Chucky will answer your questions in real time.
The Dead Northern Film Festival is on from 27 to 29 September 2024 in York, England. Tickets are available and you can check out the schedule now.

“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”
Kurt Vonnegut

Writing Horror

Reminder that applications close on 5 September if you want to attend Pedro Iniguez’s October writing workshop for Palabras del Pueblo.
The 8th Annual /r/Horror Screenplay Challenge is open for entries.

Some places accepting submissions

River Folk Books
Pays: $100
Looking for: Technology-based horror shorts
Submissions close on 30 September 2024
Unréal anthology (AE)
Pays: 12 cents CAD per word or $50 CAD per poem
Looking for: Stories and poems in French or English with fantastical or speculative elements set on the island of Montréal
Submissions close: 15 November 2024
Pretend You Don’t See Her anthology (Kandisha Press)
Pays: Royalties
Looking for: Stories from women authors about the ‘invisible woman’; the one you barely notice until the moment she reveals her true self underneath that unremarkable form
Submissions close: 15 December 2024

Upcoming submission calls

The Joining: Scenes of Wedding Terror (edited by Jacob Steven Mohr)
Pays: 2 cents per word
Looking for: 2,500 to 5,000 words concerning the rite of matrimony
Submissions open on 1 January 2025 and close on 1 March 2025

“I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul.”
Bram Stoker, Dracula

Trailer Horror

A taste of things to come.

Horror Movie Trailers

Apartment 7A. Supernatural horror. A struggling, young dancer suffers a devastating injury and finds herself drawn in by dark forces when a peculiar, well-connected, older couple promises her a shot at fame. Paramount+, VOD, 27 September 2024
Beezel. Witch horror. Over six decades, three unwitting guests of a cursed New England home stumble upon a sinister secret dwelling beneath its floors: an eternal witch with an insatiable thirst for the souls of the living. VOD, 24 September 2024
Die Alone. Zombie apocalypse horror. Lost in a world reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, a young man with amnesia teams up with an eccentric survivalist to find his missing girlfriend. VOD, 18 October 2024
Lord of Wolves. Werewolf horror. When his housemate dies under mysterious circumstances, Nic inherits a mysterious pyramid-shaped contraption left at the scene and unwittingly summons a cult of wolf-people who dwell in the dark underbelly of London. VOD, 20 September 2024
Never Let Go trailer 2. Psychological horror. As an evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, a mother and her twin sons stay connected at all times, clinging to one another, urging each other to never let go. When one of the boys questions whether the evil is real, the ties that bind them together are severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival. Cinema, 20 September 2024
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. Slasher horror. Wendy sets out to rescue her brother from the evil Peter Pan. Release date TBA.
Screamboat. Slasher horror. A late-night ferry ride turns deadly when a mischievous mouse begins a rampage, targeting unsuspecting passengers. Release date TBA.
Terrifier 3. Slasher horror. After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns. Cinema, 11 October 2024
V/H/S/Beyond. Anthology horror. 6 bloodcurdling tapes unleash horror in a sci-fi-inspired hellscape, pushing the boundaries of fear and suspense. Shudder, 4 October 2024
The Wait. Spanish psychological horror. A hunting estate keeper takes a bribe from a veteran hunter. Weeks later, his whole life falls apart. What looked like the opportunity of a lifetime, turns into a macabre descent to hell when he finds out that his misfortune might not be entirely by chance. VOD, 4 October 2024

Horror Game Trailers

Backrooms Media. Co-op liminal spaces horror. Navigate eerie environments filled with lurking horrors. Team up to face the terror of the endless backrooms together and try to escape. Steam early release, 10 September 2024
The Forever Winter. Co-op survival horror. Loot the dead to survive under the shadow of gargantuan war machines locked in a never-ending conflict. Steam early access, 24 September 2024

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
Alfred Hitchcock

A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week

13 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, cosmic, sci-fi, splatterpunk, shark, and apocalypse horror

See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 25 to 31 Aug 2024

“I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.”
Stephen King

A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week

10 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, revenge, sci-fi, AI, animal, and space horror

See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 25 to 31 Aug 2024

“I have cultivated my hysteria with pleasure and terror.”
Charles Baudelaire

A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released this Week

1 horror TV show this week. Themes: Reality horror

See: A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released, 25 to 31 Aug 2024

“Imagination, of course, can open any door - turn the key and let terror walk right in.”
Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

What We Were Thinking About this Week

13 Translated Women-Authored Horror Book Recommendations
Painted Surfaces by Guan Un (flash fiction, Nightmare Magazine)
Devil’s Acre by Stuart Arther (short story, Weird Horror Magazine)
Swan Song by Robert McCammon (novel)

“It is not wise to find symbols in everything that one sees. It makes life too full of terrors.”
Oscar Wilde, Salome: A Tragedy in One Act

And Now For Something Completely Different

Sarah Anderson Comics on Instagram

Horror-Themed Shopping

See the FearSome Fiction shop for horror designs available on a wide variety of T-shirts, tanks, sweatshirts, and hoodies, as well as bags, notebooks, phone cases, pillows, duvets, blankets, bath mats, and more.