A Grab Bag of Horror News, 26 Jan to 1 Feb 2025

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

Bite-Sized Horror News

Horror Book Bits

Dark Horse Comics has cancelled Gaiman’s Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume.
David Lynch will posthumously receive the Writers Guild of America’s Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.
Scott Snyder’s serial killer horror comic Dungeon is getting a movie adaptation.
New documentary series First Word on Horror releases exclusively on Substack on 7 February 2025. The series features “bestselling horror authors talking about their lives, the writing process, and the fears that make us human”. The first season features Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Mariana Enriquez, Elizabeth Hand, and Laird Barron.

Horror Movie Morsels

Damien Leone says, “The script for Terrifier 4 is in the works … I will finally reveal Art’s origin.”
Sony has pushed the release date for Insidious 6 out by a year, to 21 August 2026.
Matthew Lillard will be back for Scream 7.
Ryū Murakami’s 1997 Japanese horror novel Audition is getting another movie adaptation, this time being written and directed by the Danish Tafdrup brothers. The previous Japanese movie was released in 1999 and was included in The Guardian’s 2010 list of 25 best horror movies of all time.
Body horror movie Together premiered at Sundance and Neon acquired the worldwide rights to it.
Netflix’s 2025 horror movies releases include Fear Street: Prom Queen (Summer 2025) and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (November 2025).
The musical adaptation of 1987’s vampire movie The Lost Boys opens on Broadway in Spring 2026 at the Palace Theatre.
2019 witch horror movie The Wretched is getting a sequel.
1998 sci-fi horror movie The Faculty is getting a remake.

Horror TV Treats

The Duffers confirm that Stranger Things season 5 will be 8 episodes, but they describe them as being “…like eight blockbuster movies.”
Netflix’s 2025 release video has the following shows slated for release this year: Stranger Things S5, Wednesday S2, Monster S3, Black Mirror S7, Squid Game S3, and Haunted Hotel Shows that didn’t make the 2025 list include The Watcher S2 and Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen S1.
There’ll be no third season of The Sandman.
The 1994 The Stand miniseries is screening in full at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, on 8 Feb 2025 and director Mick Garris will be there.

Horror Podcast Pieces

In Episode 265, The Kingcast had a great discussion with Stephen King about his next novel, adaptations of his work, Mike Flanagan, and other interesting topics.

Horror Game Goodies

Season 5 content for MultiVersus arrives on 4 February 2025, but the online features will shut down for good on 30 May 2025.

Horror Music Munchies

John Carpenter Lost Themes: 10th Anniversary Expanded Edition will be released on 9 May 2025, and includes 2 previously unreleased tracks: ‘Cruisin’ with Mr. Scratch’ and ‘Dominator’. Carpenter will also perform, and be joined by Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, at 4 concerts at the Belasco Theatre in LA (24 and 25 Oct, 31 Oct, 1 Nov 2025).

“The weird thing about houses is that they almost always look like nothing is happening inside of them, even though they contain most of our lives.”
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Writing Horror

Some places accepting submissions

Wrath anthology (Bona Books)
Pays: 8 cents per word
Looking for: Fantasy, science-fiction, and horror short stories that embrace punk and queer rage.
Submissions close 31 May 2025

Afrofuturism short stories (Flame Tree Publishing)
Pays: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence per word for reprints
Looking for: Gothic fantasy stories that express “notions of Black identity, agency and freedom through art, creative works and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life”.

Baynam Books
Pays: 70% royalties
Looking for: Novels, novellas, novelettes, short story collections – horror (all sub-genres including extreme/splatterpunk), romance, science fiction, erotica, poetry, young adult fiction, and fully illustrated children’s books.

“You know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon ... everything's different.”
Bill Watterson

Trailer Horror

A taste of things to come.

Horror TV Trailers

Alien: Earth. Sci-fi horror. When a space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat. Hulu, 2025

Horror Movie Trailers

Ash, trailer 2. Space horror. Riya awakens on a planet to find her crew slaughtered. When a man arrives to rescue her, an ordeal of psychological and physical terror ensues while they decide if they can trust each other. Cinema, 21 Mar 2025

A Blind Bargain. Psychological horror. A desperate young man strikes a dark deal with an unhinged doctor, offering his mother as a subject for the physician’s twisted experiments. A reimagining of the 1922 Lon Chaney silent movie. Release date TBA

Locked. Psychological horror. When Eddie breaks into a luxury SUV, he steps into a deadly trap set by a self-proclaimed vigilante delivering his own brand of twisted justice. With no means of escape, Eddie fights to survive in a ride where escape is an illusion, survival is a nightmare, and justice shifts into high gear. Cinema, 21 Mar 2025

The Shrouds. Supernatural horror. After the death of his wife, Karsh invents a revolutionary technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds. When multiple graves, including his wife’s, are desecrated, he sets out to track down the perpetrators. Cinema, 25 Apr 2025

Sinners, trailer 2. Supernatural horror. Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. Cinema, 18 Apr 2025

Troll2. Creature horror. When a powerful new troll is awakened, chaos spreads across Norway, thrusting Nora, Andreas, and Captain Kris into their most dangerous mission yet. To stop the creature’s rampage, they must make new allies, new weapons, and dive into ancient Norwegian history for answers. Netflix, 2025

Horror Game Trailers

Don’t Get Got. Monster horror. Don’t blink. Don’t make a sound. Don’t trust your friends. Don’t run out of batteries. Steam early access available now

Who Are You!? Sci-fi horror. Ray Roswell lost his wife 20 years ago, and now his only daughter has gone missing. Ray embarks on a physical journey to find her and also confronts the emotional and psychological trauma of his past. Release date TBA

Withering Realms. Supernatural horror. A ghost and her doll guardian explore the mysterious town of Penwyll and the sprawling graveyards, tombs, caves and rotting estates that surround it. Steam early access, Fall 2025

“I'm not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours.”
Lewis Carroll

A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week

6 horror books this week. Themes: Psychological, ghosts, creature, haunted house, and serial killer horror

See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 26 Jan to 1 Feb 2025

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.”
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week

8 horror movies this week. Themes: Psychological, slasher, vampire, cult, monster, and folk horror

See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 26 Jan to 1 Feb 2025

“I'm not so weird to me.”
Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

What We Were Thinking About this Week

13 Gothic Horror Book Recommendations
The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden (novel)
The Collector by Laura Kat Young (novel)
Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates (collection)
Turning Copyright on Its Head: The UK’s Proposed AI Copyright Exception by Victoria Strauss (Writer Beware)

“Yesterday's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why.”
Hunter S. Thompson, The Curse of Lono

And Now For Something Completely Different

TheOdd1sOut 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.