Horror Industry News — Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Paramount revives a horror classic under its new genre push; the Freddy Krueger franchise is back in active development for a fresh feature launch.

Vertigo Releasing has landed UK-Ireland rights to Taratoa Stappard’s Māori gothic horror Mārama from MPI Media Group; an autumn theatrical release follows a festival run through Toronto, Fantastic Fest and Sitges.

Frontières' 2026 co-production market hits a record 136 feature submissions and 58 shorts-to-features entries as Fantasia expands its genre-financing footprint. Lineup highlights include Thai folk horror Cher, zombie comedy Cold Feet, psych thriller Third Wheel and Filipino vampire project My Missing Half, with multiple titles already carrying awards or sales momentum.

Keith Carradine boards J.J. Abrams-produced creature feature Skeletons, joining Brie Larson in a modern creature-horror take told through a young boy’s discovery.

Fort Solis is moving from game to feature as a sci-fi horror adaptation; the project is now on the board with no buyer or cast attached yet.

A24’s Onslaught has landed an R from the MPA for strong bloody violence, gore, sexual material, nudity and language ahead of its Sept. 4 theatrical release, locking in the movie’s hard-R horror positioning.

AMC+ sets The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE for streaming on Aug. 23, extending the Anne Rice franchise with companion concert content after the Beacon Theatre performance.

Horror Island and Scream Queer ink a Dagon Films partnership that can funnel standout 2026 selections into collector’s Blu-ray releases, extending festival titles into physical distribution and cult-genre retail beyond the circuit.

570,000 advance tickets and a 67.1% reservation rate put Na Hong-jin's HOPE atop Korea's 2026 release slate; the Cannes competition title is turning an SF/action play into a tentpole-style domestic launch.

Alternativa launches a sales arm to place Global South titles with broadcasters and streamers; Avital Lavi will run the unit, which fronts minimum guarantees, covers localization and opens with a 10-film slate spanning Cannes and Alternativa festival titles.

French companies SCoT(T) and The Project are boarding Gro(ceries) as the horror-comedy heads into Frontières, strengthening the U.K. package ahead of a Q1 2027 shoot. The team is already in early talks on casting, finance, sales and distribution.

Alief boards world sales on psychological horror Godhead ahead of its Fantasia premiere; Mark H. Rapaport's sophomore feature stars Al Warren, Sarah Coffey, Kimball Farley and Luke Speakman, with Kinematics and Free & Clear among producers.

Altitude lines up Pinocchio: Unstrung for UK cinemas July 24 after its Raindance premiere; Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Twisted Childhood Universe entry casts Robert Englund and Richard Brake in a grisly Pinocchio rework.

SkyShowtime has a six-episode Spanish true-crime limited series in production, adapting the podcast The Two Deaths of Javier Ardines with Javier Gutiérrez, María Vázquez and Isak Férriz aboard; K 2000 and 100 Balas produce.

Warner Bros. locks Chris Ferguson’s Oddfellows into a first-look pact for Clockwork, pairing the Vancouver shop with WB Pictures and New Line on modestly budgeted theatrical plays. The producer’s horror track record includes Longlegs, The Monkey and Backrooms, which topped well over $375M worldwide.

Adam Scott, Severance writers Ezra Claytan Daniels and Eli Jorné are developing Shifter, a Hulu sci-fi series based on Koren Shadmi’s Hachette graphic novel; Daniels and Jorné will write, with Scott, Naomi Scott and Cotter exec producing.

LA Shorts International Film Festival slots Christopher Piñero’s psychological horror short after Panic Fest and Chattanooga; Aaron Dominguez headlines the Puerto Rican filmmaker’s survival-paranoia piece.

Simple Town's Fantasia-bound Big Break blends meta horror comedy with a killer-in-the-woods premise; the sketch group stars as fictionalized versions of themselves in a feature about career jealousy, reunion pressure and ambition gone feral.

CapCut and Moonmax commission 10 AI-native shorts for Raindance, with each film conceived, built and finished inside CapCut Video Studio; the project is a clean read on AI tooling moving into festival-backed production.

Fantasia world premiere frames Rubberhead as a biopic on effects legend Steve Johnson; Nick Taylor says the doc tracks the monster maker’s career through archival footage rather than fan-service.

Jeff Barker’s psychological horror short Medium Rare starts production in Los Angeles later this summer, with Dane Cook and Lesley Ann Warren starring. LD Entertainment’s Mehrodod Heydari, Mammoth Pictures and World’s Fair Pictures are among the producers.

Universal is still not financing Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert's Darkman remake, forcing the project to seek outside capital; Adam Schindler and Brian Netto remain attached to direct. Evil Dead Burn has crossed $26 million worldwide.

Samuel Felinton’s Camera Roll leans into FOIA-style redacted surveillance; the found-footage horror-thriller shot in West Virginia with an emerging local/student crew and keeps its stalking premise locked inside declassified footage.

Steve Buscemi boards FX and Hulu’s Far Cry series, the first live-action TV take on Ubisoft’s game franchise. Noah Hawley and Rob Mac executive produce the anthology, with the series set to stream on Hulu and Disney+ internationally.

Well Go USA is rolling Train to Busan back into U.S. and Canadian theaters on Aug. 14 in 4K for its 10th anniversary. The re-release is timed alongside Yeon Sang-ho’s new zombie film Colony, which opens Aug. 28.

Italian horror-thriller Ferine is set for its international premiere at Fantasia on July 22; Andrea Corsini’s feature debut stars Carolyn Bracken and Caroline Goodall. The project came through Frontières development channels in Cannes and Montreal before landing its festival bow.

Locarno books the world premiere for Rebekah McKendry’s vampire revenge pic Sundown; Olwen Fouéré and Carolyn Bracken headline the family-blood-feud horror feature.