Shudder & Locarno Film Festival

Locarno Pro is building its 2026 industry program around the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery consolidation and the AI/data pressure reshaping indie cinema. The fest is using the merger as a live case study for how power concentration and platform economics are changing the European sales and production ecosystem.

Shudder takes U.S. rights to Bloody Tennis as Nikias Chryssos’ English-language horror film lands a stacked international sales rollout ahead of its Locarno world premiere. Territory deals are also set across Australia, the Baltics, Italy, Japan, Poland, and Scandinavia, with production backed by German and Spanish incentives.

Production wraps on the indie supernatural feature, adding Travis Fimmel and Natasha Lyonne to the ensemble.

V/H/S/MIXTAPE cranks the signature found-footage horror up with a new anthology where music and sound become the source of terror. Shudder has locked V/H/S/MIXTAPE for an October 9, 2026 streaming launch; the ninth franchise entry ropes in Ernest Dickerson, RZA, David Moreau, Renee Zhan, Flying Lotus, Tobias Forge, and GWAR

Saban Films picks up North American rights to Jeffrey Scott Collins’ witchcraft horror The Caged; Tamzin Merchant, Edmund Kingsley, Raffiella Chapman, and Callen Carter lead the cast.

Orion Pictures lands North American rights to Kumail Nanjiani’s werewolf horror-comedy; Nanjiani directs and stars in his feature debut.

Nightborn takes Fantasia’s Cheval Noir for Best Film and No Rest for the Wicked wins Best Director at the fest’s 30th edition in Montreal. Ferine, Sleep No More and Mancave also picked up awards, while Her Private Hell opened and Freaks Part II closed the festival.

UK premiere lands at Tubi FrightFest on Aug. 30 after a Portland Horror Film Festival win; Chris Schwab’s Los Angeles-set Dracula reimagining updates Bram Stoker’s vampire tale for a low-budget indie run.

World premiere at FrightFest 2026 in London Aug. 27-31; Brett and Jason Butler’s Canadian dark-satire thriller Starsuckers follows a couple whose celebrity getaway turns into murder and psychological manipulation, with release plans to follow the festival launch.

Neon’s ‘Her Private Hell’ collapses 90% in week two, down to $50K and a $358 per-theater average after losing 500 screens. Coda: MUBI backs Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Maniac Cop’ remake, with an early-2027 shoot now in view.

Shudder and AMC+ set The Creep Tapes Season 3 for Sept. 15, 2026; the six-episode run opens with a two-episode drop and adds Katie Siegel, Chris Gethard, and Ora Duplass to the guest roster.

An Exorcist II documentary hits theaters this August, reframing John Boorman’s infamous 1977 sequel as a horror-history package for a limited theatrical rollout. The release turns one of Warner Bros.’ most notorious franchise misfires into fresh cult-programming inventory.

Zach Cregger, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley teased updates on Resident Evil, Star Trek and Mayday at SDCC. See Collider’s report!

Freeform launches Somebody Knows Something on Aug. 10 with next-day streaming on Hulu; Ample Entertainment and ABC News Studios are pairing a Kara Chamberlain-hosted true-crime format with a public-tip callout. The rollout gives Disney’s linear and streaming sides a coordinated nonfiction push.

Mary Holland boards DC Studios’ Jimmy Olsen/Gorilla Grodd series as female lead Sandra; the HBO Max project from Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault is still targeting a late-2026 shoot.

Freestyle Digital Media grabs North American VOD/DVD/cable/satellite rights to Blood Magick for an Aug. 11, 2026 release; Micah Delhauer writes/directs the witch-versus-monsters survival horror from Conduit Inc. and the Delhauer brothers.

July 20, 2026 U.S. digital rollout on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Roku, Fawesome, Apple TV and Fandango; Greenway Entertainment’s supernatural thriller stars Julian Glover and Patsy Kensit, with Steven M. Smith directing and writing.

Aaron Truss’s Indiegogo feature Employee of the Dead stars Dani Harmer (Tracy Beaker), Ellie Raé Winstone, Paul Casar, Nick Helm, Nicholas Vince and Sean Cronin; it follows a supermarket worker making a zombie film during night shifts.

Eckhart Schmidt’s 1982 German cannibal horror cult film Der Fan will receive its first U.S. theatrical release beginning August 28 at New York’s Metrograph, distributed by Fun City Editions.