ScreamWire Daily

A24’s Backrooms premieres May 29; teaser boards audience buzz for the indie horror adaptation of Kane Parsons’ viral short, stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, producers include Peter Chernin and James Wan; projections place a $20–30M opening for this small studio release.

FirstGen has optioned Laura van den Berg’s novel The Third Hotel for a feature adaptation with Michelle Garza Cervera set to direct and Isa Mazzei adapting the screenplay; the project positions a rising Mexican horror voice with a proven genre scribe to translate the novel’s psychological-horror liminal nightmare to screen.

Coin Operated, Gary Dauberman's production outfit, has secured rights to Nat Cassidy's horror novella Rest Stop and will develop it as a feature with Dauberman producing; project moves fast off publication into adaptation.

Mubi alone financed Jane Schoenbrun’s follow-up slasher Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma after every major studio and distributor passed; the Gillian Anderson–starrer premieres at Cannes May 13 and hits U.S. theaters August 7, underscoring financing resistance to queer/trans-led genre projects despite prior indie success.

Pascal Laugier boards direct Nocturnal, a female-led vampire horror scripted by David Birke and aiming to shoot this fall in Latvia; project marks Laugier's return to provocative genre filmmaking and signals international production leverage for European-located shoots.

Hulu orders Count My Lies limited series adaptation of Sophie Stava’s bestseller to replace The Housemaid programming slot; cast includes Shailene Woodley, Kit Harington and Lindsay Lohan, produced by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger; production began April 8 and follows the $398.2M global success of The Housemaid.

Netflix greenlit an eight-episode reboot of Toho's 1960 tokusatsu The Human Vapor, with all episodes arriving July 2; the series modernizes the Ishirō Honda original for global streaming.

Roar Uthaug, director of Troll and Tomb Raider, is developing Amara, an English-language folkloric curse horror set in Thailand with writer Espen Aukan attached; project is in development and reunites the Troll creative team.

Felipe Gálvez boards an international co-production of Impunity, a political thriller adapted from Philippe Sands' book, with Ana de Armas and Sebastian Stan attached to star across Spain/Argentina/Chile/France/UK/Denmark financing territories.

$325 billion economic impact claimed since 2016; Netflix invested $135B in film and series 2016–2025, created ~425,000 jobs, and attributes major global cultural and tourism lifts to Korean titles like Kingdom and KPop Demon Hunters.

The Paranormal Activity stage adaptation sets a Broadway premiere date with performances beginning Aug. 14 and an official opening Sept. 15; Jason Blum joins the producing team as the immersive production transitions from West End and U.S. runs to a high-profile Broadway engagement, while Paramount schedules a new film installment for May 2027.

Universal Studios Orlando shutters its 36-year Horror Make-Up Show for a planned makeover; attraction will be updated to showcase modern practical-and-CGI effects and new genre-era makers after a temporary closure.

Pascal Laugier’s Nocturnal, a brutal vampire horror set in 1943, boards with David Birke reuniting with producer Saïd Ben Saïd and SBS Productions handling sales; production aims to start this fall in Latvia, marking a high-profile return from a noted extreme-horror auteur.

Thai scream queen Mim Rattanawadee Wongthong boards supernatural horror Cher as a vengeful forest spirit; Bangkok-based Benetone Films produces and Fearfolks is launching international pre-sales at Cannes with production slated to begin Q1 2027 for a 2028 release.

EFM and Frontières are launching a dedicated genre focus in 2026 to funnel more horror, fantasy, and sci‑fi projects into the European Film Market pipeline, signaling a coordinated marketplace push that could increase pre-sales and international financing opportunities for Ibero‑American and European genre filmmakers.

Nippon Connection opens June 2–7, 2026 in Frankfurt with 140+ films including seven world premieres and a strong genre slate featuring Yuriyan Retriever’s MAG MAG, Yusuke Iwasaki’s AnyMart and Ryo Fujii’s Taroman Expo Explosion; festival hosts retrospectives and expects ~100 Japanese guests.

FOUND TV acquires found‑footage psychological feature Go to Sleep from Steven Espinoza and writer/star Chris Vander Kaay; film premieres at Recovered Reels Festival then launches globally on FOUND TV across ad‑supported and premium tiers as part of the platform’s expanding Originals slate.

Skyline Media is launching The Scourge, one of the first Vietnamese video-game-to-film horror adaptations, at Cannes with Chanh Phuong Films producing; the IP topped China’s Steam Early Access and the project marks a step toward expanding Vietnam’s genre export slate.

Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony, a new zombie thriller starring Gianna Jun, Koo Kyo-hwan and Ji Chang-wook, unveiled a Cannes teaser and is set to debut out of competition at Cannes with a U.S. release on August 28; the screenplay is by Yeon and Choi Gyu-seok and continues Yeon’s commercial horror trajectory after Train to Busan and Hellbound.

Skystone Games and RedDeer.Games greenlighted Dark Stream, a psychological-horror streaming-sim where players livestream haunted investigations on Steam later this year; title taps live-streaming-as-horror trend and could drive cross-promo with streamer culture.

Low-budget supernatural-revenge pic The Grim Rapper, starring Lamarr Mattison as a hip-hop artist returned from the dead for vengeance, is eyeing a summer streaming bow via Full Moon Features; trailer released.

Jane Schoenbrun's Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma opens Un Certain Regard; film stars Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder in a queer psychosexual slasher revival that mixes high gore with fandom satire; Mubi produces/distributes and the piece flags artist backlash over Sequoia-linked funding amid Cannes conversation.

Vampire horror Bad Blood is in production in Los Angeles; Sam Irvin directs with genre vets Barbara Crampton and Russell Todd reuniting on-screen and Michael Varrati wrote the script, signaling a cast-driven indie genre play aimed at the horror market.

Cannes titles from Spain to watch include genre entries and high-profile auteurs: Dario Argento’s new giallo The Girl With the Crystal Eyes, period-serial-killer epic The Harvester, real-time psychological thriller Don’t Hang Up and other thrillers and festival contenders with sales agents attached.

Two Miami‑Dade officers sued Artists Equity (Matt Damon & Ben Affleck’s production company) and associated filmmakers, alleging Netflix’s thriller The Rip defames them by depicting details of a 2016 drug probe and portraying them as corrupt; plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive relief plus a public retraction, while Artists Equity notes the film contains a disclaimer and denies depicting real individuals.

Curry Barker’s Obsession, a supernatural-psychological horror about a wish-driven romance gone monstrous, hits cinemas May 15; stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette and is building genre fan buzz as an impressive debut for Barker blending twisted romance and supernatural terror.

Writer-director-editor Curry Barker edited Obsession himself to lock in the film's intense psychological scares; film follows a Monkey's Paw-style love-obsession centered on Bear (Michael Johnston) and Nikki (Inde) and positions Barker as an indie auteur handling multiple creative roles.

Disney unveils VisionQuest, a new MCU series starring Paul Bettany’s Vision and bringing James Spader onscreen in a new role; the show concludes the WandaVision arc and premieres on Disney+ October 14.

SRS Cinema launches Seed&Spark crowdfunding for Debbie Does the Dead, an R‑rated 80s‑style splatter horror‑comedy from Josh Graves featuring sex‑crazed undead and over‑the‑top creature carnage; campaign funds practical effects and production costs for the indie practical‑effects slate.

Simon Rex signed to star in the thriller Don't Get Up!, playing Barry in a motel-set nightmare where a storm strands him and a rigged toilet becomes a deadly trap; production details are early-stage.

Filming wrapped on thriller 20/20 in New York starring Sarah Gadon and John Gallagher Jr.; writer-director Michael O’Shea returns after The Transfiguration with a domestic family-threat psychological thriller moving toward post-production.