Horror Industry News — Wednesday, May 13, 2026

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.

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.

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.