Horror Industry News — Thursday, July 16, 2026

Record 4,300 submissions and 125 features/200 shorts underline Fantasia's pull as a genre sales engine; Mitch Davis says acquisitions out of Montreal remain strong, with A24 and Neon still eventizing theatrical releases instead of dumping titles onto streaming.

Popcorn Frights adds The End of Oak Street to its second-wave slate, led by David Robert Mitchell’s Warner Bros. cosmic-survival feature. The South Florida fest keeps stacking premiere titles around the film’s special presentation rollout.

Tubi FrightFest scales to 82 features and 24 world premieres Aug. 27-31 in London, with Abner Pastoll’s Nervous opening and Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony, Marion Le Corroller’s Species and Hammer’s Ithaqua among the headliners.

Dead Meat is launching Fresh Meat, a short-film anthology competition for horror filmmakers that will culminate in a theatrically released feature. James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca are turning their YouTube genre brand into a new development pipeline.

Alien: Earth season 2 is already filming at Pinewood after shifting production from Thailand to London; Noah Hawley says most of the season is written, the scope is bigger, and Peter Dinklage's role is part of a broader ensemble expansion.

IFC’s erotic thriller Night Nurse is drawing a strong opening in specialized box office. Sean Bean’s The Isolate Thief and Stillz’s Barrio Triste also bowed in the same frame.

Na Hong-jin’s Hope posts a $2.5m South Korea opening day on 333,915 admissions and 81.3% of the box office; the monster survival pic reportedly carries a $46m budget, has pre-sold to 200-plus territories, and Neon opens the US on Sept. 9.

Neon’s They Follow adds 10 names around returning lead Maika Monroe, with Naomi Ackie now officially aboard and David Robert Mitchell back to write-direct. Neon holds worldwide rights and is lining up a U.S. theatrical launch as the It Follows sequel expands its cast package.

Raw and New Yorker Studios are developing a limited series on the White House Farm killings with Emilia di Girolamo showrunning; the project leans on fresh evidence from Heidi Blake’s 2024 reporting and is shopping broadcasters.

Tectonic and Tanweer are building Odysseus as a Bronze Age epic series with Stranger Things alum Karl Gajdusek showrunning and Roel Reiné directing; cameras are targeted for early next year in Greece and Armenia.

Popcorn Frights stacks 14 premieres and 7 special presentations across an 11-day South Florida run; Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony opens the fest, Train to Busan gets a 10th-anniversary restoration, and Stephen Lang and Michael Ironside headline special events.

Queer Screams locks in its fourth annual Portland edition for next month and has added two VIP guests for the 2026 run; programming news only, with no sales activity attached.

Well Go USA is set to release Joko Anwar’s Ghost in the Cell after the film’s festival run, with FrightFest serving as the latest stop on the rollout. The Indonesian correctional-facility horror-comedy pairs supernatural carnage with a social-angle genre hook.

Neon opens James Gray’s Paper Tiger at NYFF on Sept. 25 ahead of a Nov. 13 theatrical launch; the Cannes-premiering crime thriller stars Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson.

Film at Lincoln Center’s Scary Movies line-up adds restorations of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Wendigo, with Casper Kelly’s Sundance favorite Buddy opening the Aug. 12-20 run. The series keeps repertory horror in the theatrical mix.

Paramount+’s Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 adds Gabriel Luna as serial killer Ray Ballard, with Krysten Ritter back and Brian Cox, Uma Thurman, and Dan Stevens already aboard. Clyde Phillips, Michael C. Hall, Paramount Television Studios, and Counterpart Studios are steering the franchise expansion.

Ronan Bennett’s Army of Shadows is a British-set, near-future authoritarian thriller series at Channel 4 and CANAL+ from StudioCanal and Two Cities Television. Paddy Considine, Kit Harington, America Ferrera and Alex Hassell are set to star.

Mario Van Belle’s vampire horror Feed lands on digital and on demand August 14, 2026; Grace Collender, Clinton Liberty, and Charlotte Bailey star in the Dearg-Due survival story.

Lionsgate sets Joshua Wagner's zombie siege pic for VOD and Digital on Aug. 25, 2026; the trailer tees up the release push.

Promise AI boards Jamie Magnus Stone for the sci-fi bunker thriller Everything Is Within Tolerance and Micho Rutare for the animated supernatural feature Ninja Punk; Hardcore 94 is already in production, signaling a broader AI-driven genre slate.

Christopher Nolan floats a future horror feature while crediting Backrooms and Obsession with proving young audiences still show up for original genre work. He also frames AI skepticism as a generational filter, but no project or deal is attached.

Frogman Returns lands at London FrightFest with new images and sequel details; Anthony Cousins is back in the director’s chair with John Karsko, while Peter Kuplowsky boards as EP. Rotting Press is already teeing up a broader Frogman/cryptid universe beyond this sequel.

Criterion bundles Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein and The Silence of the Lambs into an October release slate; Frankenstein gets the extended cut treatment and a full deluxe extras package.

Universal Orlando and Netflix are building Stranger Things: Return to Hawkins, the first full lagoon show built around a single franchise; the HHN rollout adds a new haunted house, merch, and food tie-ins around the show's final-season push.

Weapons and Obsession headline the horror field as the Critics Choice Super Awards roll out their 2026 nominations; winners land Aug. 6. Superhero, sci-fi and fantasy contenders also stack the ballot, keeping genre awards season active.

Yellow Veil Pictures sets Boorman and the Devil for a New York theatrical bow on Aug. 28 before a Sept. 4 multi-city rollout; the Exorcist II doc leans on interviews with John Boorman, Linda Blair, Karyn Kusama, Joe Dante, and Mike Flanagan.

Game Day Murders lands a July 27 premiere on ID and HBO Max; Shaquille O’Neal executive produces the six-episode true-crime series.

Warner Bros. shifts The Revenge of La Llorona from April 2027 to February 2027; the horror sequel stays on the studio's theatrical calendar.

Matt Reeves drops very early footage of Robert Pattinson back in the Batsuit as Warner Bros. resets The Batman: Part II for Feb. 18, 2028. The Vimeo clip is a camera test, not a teaser, but it confirms the sequel is rolling again.

Danny Trejo, Keith Arem and Chris Yates are launching Year of the Devil as a five-issue supernatural action-horror graphic novel, with a San Diego Comic-Con reveal and crowdfunding set for Sept. 29, 2026.

Netflix is turning Stranger Things, Squid Game and Bridgerton into a free couch co-op minigolf game for subscribers, extending the streamer’s IP-driven games push. Next Games built the title; it follows Netflix’s recent gaming release from Night School Studio with David Fincher and Zach Cregger.

Alien: Isolation 2 gets its first public playable demo at Gamescom; SEGA is staging a dedicated booth for the survival-horror sequel, but title, release date, and platforms remain under wraps.