Horror Industry News — Saturday, April 4, 2026

Jordan Peele/Monkeypaw-produced supernatural sports horror Him (dir. Justin Tipping) will hit Netflix U.S. on April 19, 2026 after flopping theatrically with roughly $28M worldwide and mixed/poor critical reception — Netflix is positioned to reframe the title for streaming audiences.

Cinema United urged state attorneys general to scrutinize and potentially block the proposed $110 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, warning consolidation will reduce film output, theatrical counts and competition—citing Disney/Fox as precedent.

After failing in its $72 billion bid for Warner Bros Discovery, Netflix is doubling down on building original, culture‑defining franchises and plans to partner with legacy studios (MGM, Warner Bros) as it seeks new long‑running IP to replicate hits like Stranger Things.

A test screening for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot reportedly played well, with Cregger (co-writer/director) and Shay Hatten (co-writer) shaping an original story that adheres to game lore; produced by PlayStation Productions and Constantin Film as a reboot rather than a continuation of prior films.

Bad Robot is closing its Los Angeles creative office as J.J. Abrams relocates and the company reorganizes — the firm sold its Santa Monica HQ for $31 million, has shed staff in recent years, but retains projects in development including Abrams’ The Great Beyond (Nov. 13), David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street and a 2028 Dr. Seuss adaptation.

HBO Max has added Alien: Romulus, completing streaming availability of the nine core Alien films (plus crossovers), presenting HBO Max with a consolidated Alien catalog that may drive renewed viewership for Fede Álvarez’s survival-horror entry.

Assistants across studios and agencies are increasingly using generative AI for day-to-day tasks and story coverage — often via unsecured public tools — raising legal, labor and IP risks; studios (Disney ran an internal AI summit) are starting to formalize policies even as shadow-AI use (uploading scripts, deal terms to ChatGPT/Claude) proliferates.

Paramount chief David Ellison has pledged a combined 30 theatrical releases a year post-acquisition of Warner Bros., a plan met with industry skepticism over feasibility and theatrical impact amid mixed recent box-office returns cited for Warner titles.

NEON rolled out new images for Adrian Chiarella’s queer horror Leviticus — which premiered on the festival circuit and opens theatrically June 19, 2026 — starring Mia Wasikowska and Joe Bird; the creature manifests as the person the protagonists desire, framing homophobia as a core theme.

Toby Emmerich is pivoting Fireside—his production banner—into TV development with financing from Len Blavatnik’s Access vehicle and partner Amanda Krentzman, positioning the shingle to fill opportunities as studios pare back rich overall TV deals.

Gillian Anderson says she’s had conversations about returning to Coogler’s X‑Files reboot, has read the pilot and calls it ‘really good,’ while Danielle Deadwyler is set and Jennifer Yale and Chris Carter are attached behind the scenes.

FilmQuest, a growing genre festival focused on fantasy, sci‑fi and horror, accurately predicted the Oscars' rare two-way tie for best live-action short and is positioning itself to become an Academy-qualifying festival as it expands in Provo, Utah.

20th Century Studios will release Gavin Polone’s satanic-tinged crime thriller Psycho Killer to digital on April 7; the film (written by Andrew Kevin Walker) stars Georgina Campbell and James Preston Rogers and has received negative reviews from some genre outlets.

Dead by Daylight expands its IP with a new comic miniseries that explores The Hillbilly’s origins, hitting shelves next week and deepening franchise lore for fans and transmedia tie-ins.

Blumhouse’s horror title Unseen is slated for a March release — marketing and release timing are in motion though the excerpt contains no disclosed budget or deals; IMDb listing referenced.

Bloody Disgusting and Scotchworthy Productions' longrunning shorts series Bloody Bites returns for Season 17 on Screambox, continuing its two‑shorts-per-episode format and platform spotlight for emerging horror filmmakers.

Uncork’d Entertainment will release Happy Halloween, a teen horror mystery written and directed by Brittney Greer and starring Emma Reinagel, on April 14, 2026 across all digital platforms.

Collector’s-edition Blu‑ray review of Eli Roth Presents: Dream Eater praises the disc presentation and production ambition on a very low budget while criticizing the film’s uneven performances and disappointing finale.

A retrospective argues that The Howling (1981) offers the scariest werewolf transformation of the era — contrasting Joe Dante’s practical‑effects approach with Rick Baker’s celebrated work on An American Werewolf in London and reflecting on the 1980s werewolf renaissance.

An exclusive clip from the Estonian anthology The Black Hole shows an alien extracting human teeth; the surreal sci‑fi/cosmic horror anthology is available today on digital via Chroma.

The Chestnut Man — a six-episode Nordic noir on Netflix adapted from Søren Sveistrup's bestseller — centers on detectives Naia Thulin (Danica Ćurčić) and Mark Hess (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) hunting a killer who leaves chestnut dolls as his calling card; critics note the toy becomes a central, unsettling clue.

Sharon Stone criticized modern explicit sex scenes as 'blatant' while promoting Euphoria Season 3 and publicly reacted to news that Amazon MGM Studios (United Artists/Scott Stuber) acquired rights to reboot Basic Instinct with original writer Joe Eszterhas returning.

IndieWire profiles intimacy coordinators working across contemporary productions, clarifying misconceptions about their role and noting how they shape safety and choreography on sets — a practical piece with implications for higher‑risk scenes common in horror and genre shoots.

A24 released the first trailer for Backrooms, a liminal, found‑footage horror feature directed by viral-creator Kane Parsons starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass, setting a May 29, 2026 theatrical release and signaling A24’s continued investment in internet-origin IP adapted for mainstream horror.

Trailer for Australian survival horror Shed stars John Jarratt and is told almost entirely from the POV of a trapped 10‑year‑old girl, set on Christmas Eve — positioning it as a tense, intimate survival piece.