Fearsome Fiction

A Grab Bag of Horror News, 31 Aug to 6 Sep 2025

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

Table of Contents

Bite-Sized Horror News

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  • Condolences to family, friends, and fans of author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Yarbro wrote under several pseudonyms, and was known particularly for her Saint-Germain historic vampire series. She was well recognised in the horror community, including being named a World Horror Association Grand Master and an International Horror Guild Living Legend. She received the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award, World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the Transylvanian Society of Dracula Knightly Order of the Brasov Citadel. RIP.
  • Condolences to family, friends, and fans of Canadian First Nations actor Graham Greene. Greene’s horror movie credits include The Green Mile, Clearcut, Antlers, and Twilight: New Moon. He also appeared in episodes of horror series The Last of Us, The Outer Limits, and Riverdale. RIP.
  • Condolences to family, friends, and fans of writer actor producer Scott Spiegel. Speigel co-wrote Evil Dead II (1987)¸ Intruder (1989), and From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999). He also directed and produced the Hostel RIP.

Horror Book Bits

Horror Movie Morsels

Horror TV Treats

Horror Music Moments

Horror Festival Fare

  • Beyond Fest and American Cinematheque have partnered up to celebrate Guillermo del Toro in Está Vivo: The Gods and Monsters of Guillermo del Toro. The event (23 Sep to 8 Oct 2025) features 12 of Toro’s movies and Toro will be there for 4 curated blocks of programming to share his personal stories, dreams, and nightmares.
  • Popcorn Frightsannual Wicked Weekend is screening 6 movies from 25 to 28 Sep 2025 in Fort Lauderdale. The event starts off with Sisu: Road to Revenge and rounds out with V/H/S/Halloween.

“To learn what we fear is to learn who we are. Horror defies our boundaries and illuminates our souls.”

Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Writing Horror

When AI Becomes a Weapon: The Rise of Sophisticated Book Marketing Scams by Tod Newman

Small Town Horror: Writing About Queer Fear in Smaller, Isolated Communities by Eric LaRocca

Some places accepting submissions

Crepuscular Magazine
Pays: 10 cents per word
Looking for: Microfiction (up to 250 words) exploring places, characters, and questions buried in the gray areas between this and that, here and there, night and day, alive and dead, evil and good, feminine and masculine, up and down, real and unreal.

Story Unlikely
Pays: 8 cents per word for new stories, 2 cents per word for reprints
Looking for: Stories that cross genres, experiment, and push the boundaries of literature while maintaining the utmost quality in literary technique and storytelling.
Submissions close: 30 Sep 2025

Upcoming submission calls

The Orange & Bee
Pays: 8 cents per word for short fiction, $80 for flash fiction, $50 for poems
Looking for: Original works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction that engage in a significant way with the long history of fairy tales
Submissions open 1 Oct and close 14 Oct 2025

“Where there is no imagination, there is no horror.”

Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

Trailer Horror

A taste of things to come.

Horror TV Trailers

Marvel Zombies. Animated zombie horror. After the Avengers are overtaken by a zombie plague, a desperate group of survivors discover the key to bringing an end to the super-powered undead, racing across a dystopian landscape and risking life and limb to save their world. Disney+, 24 Sep 2025

Monster: The Ed Gein Story. True crime serial killer horror. In the 1950s, Gein haunted the frozen fields of rural Wisconsin, killing multiple women. His crimes went on to inspire multiple classic horror films, including The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Netflix, 3 Oct 2025

Talamasca: The Secret Order. Dark fantasy horror. A secretive society tracks supernatural beings such as witches, vampires, and werewolves. AMC, AMC+, 26 Oct 2025

Horror Movie Trailers

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Zombie apocalypse horror. The infected are no longer the greatest threat to survival – the inhumanity of the survivors can be stranger and more terrifying. Cinema, 16 Jan 2026

Black Phone 2, trailer 2. Supernatural horror. As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, his sister begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp. Cinema, 17 Oct 2025

Shell. Comedy horror. Desperate to reclaim her career, once-beloved actress Samantha Lake is drawn into the glamorous world of wellness mogul Zoe Shannon, only to uncover a monstrous truth beneath its flawless surface. VOD, 3 Oct 2025

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror. Horror documentary. Tracks the making of the iconic cult classic, from its beginnings as a stage show up to its entry into the hallowed halls of cinema history. Cinema, 26 Sep 2025

The Yeti. Creature horror. In the remote wilds of northern Alaska, a famed adventurer and an oil tycoon vanish. Their children set out on a desperate rescue mission only to discover that something far older and more dangerous than the Arctic itself has awakened. Premieres at Toronto International Film Festival

Horror Game Trailers

Dreadout 3. Supernatural horror. Follow Linda, as Keeper of the Dark, down an interdimensional rabbit hole to find the source of a dark, unseen power threatening the balance of light and darkness. Release date TBA

Macabre. Survival horror. Trapped inside a collapsing time rift, you and your squad must scavenge, sneak, and survive against a relentless predator that learns from your every move. Steam early access, 29 Sep 2025

Walker. Creature horror. Work as a crew to hunt sinister monsters in a giant cargo transporter known as a Walker. Capture abnormal entities to earn cash, make use of traps, and do what needs to be done to ensure survival and protect the Walker. Release date TBA

“As a child there’s a horror in discovering the limitations of the ones you love.”

Mark Lawrence, King of Thorns

A Selection of Horror Books Released this Week

12 horror books this week. Themes: Supernatural, psychological, ghosts, haunted house, dark fantasy, slasher, and non-fiction horror

See: A Selection of Horror Books Released, 31 Aug to 6 Sep 2025

“Imagination, of course, can open any door – turn the key and let terror walk right in.”

Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

A Selection of Horror Movies Released this Week

5 horror movies this week. Themes: Supernatural, isolation, and clown slasher horror

See: A Selection of Horror Movies Released, 31 Aug to 6 Sep 2025

“Strange as it may seem, horror loses its power to frighten when repeated too often.”

Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released this Week

1 horror TV show this week. Theme: Supernatural horror

See: A Selection of Horror TV Shows Released, 31 Aug to 6 Sep 2025

“Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950’s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.”

Chuck Palahniuk

What We Were Thinking About this Week

This week’s horror book recommendations

Theme: Haunted house horror

Haunted: Perron Manor by Lee Mountford
“Back, after all these years. Back to the Devil’s House.”

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
“You have a gift, the voices told her.”

The Exorcist’s House by Nick Roberts
“The old man turned to face his home. One of his eyes twitched, and his palms began to clam up.”

The House of Long Shadows by Ambrose Ibsen
“Have you ever, as they say, slept the sleep of the dead? I have.”

The Suffering by MJ Mars
“Trick-or-treat! So, what’s it like living in the Victorian murder house?”

The Nightmare Room by Chris Sorenson
“The boy woke to the sound of his own screams.”

The Third Floor by C. Dennis Moore
“Even with a streetlamp in front of their house, it was dark.”

“It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.”

Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Horror Fun

4-panel comic from Optipess comic on Instagram. 1: A man is kneeling by a demon summoning circle, praying, 'Dear Satan. Please grant me the gift of true love.' 2: Satan appears. 3: Satan and the man are holding hands with a red love heart above their hands. 4: The man is old and sitting on a couch with a can of beer and a TV remote, while Satan is in the background wearing an apron and ironing clothes.


Optipess comic on Instagram

Published: 6 September 2025

Horror Book of the Week

These Familiar Walls

Horror Movie of the Week

The Cure

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