Prime Video & Paramount Pictures

SC Films launches worldwide sales on Cotton Eye Joe as the folklore slasher starts shooting in Illinois; Bill Moseley and Sean Gunn lead Nick Merola’s bloody cat-and-mouse horror about a desert-road refuge turning into a serial-killer trap.

Tongal teams with Savanah Moss on a feature adaptation of Jeff the Killer, extending the creepypasta-to-screen lane that A24’s Backrooms helped legitimize.

Blumhouse has optioned Puppet Master for a remake, with Charles Band retaining the existing films and merchandise. The reboot could also seed a series, but no director, cast, or production date is locked.

Alex Phillips’ psychotronic noir horror Rough on Rats, inspired by Chicago serial killer Tillie Klimek, has locked its cast as the feature moves further into the production pipeline.

Midsummer Scream cleared 50,000 attendees and is moving to the Anaheim Convention Center for 2027; Season’s Screamings returns to Long Beach as the event splits into summer and winter horror convention anchors.

Anonymous Content adds Adrian Chiarella after Neon’s seven-figure pickup of his queer horror debut Leviticus; the Sundance title has already played SXSW and Sydney, keeping Chiarella hot on the genre market.

Amazon MGM Studios orders an eight-episode horror-thriller series based on Skybound comic Stillwater for Prime Video in 240+ territories; Greg Berlanti and Carly Wray board, with Warner Bros. Television and Berlanti Productions producing.

Freestyle Digital Media has locked North American VOD, DVD, cable and satellite rights to psychological horror thriller DEMENTIUM for an Aug. 18 rollout. Mark Wilson Sunderland directs and co-writes; the film was negotiated directly with the filmmakers and Zac Reeder’s Lucky 27 Media.

Alief takes worldwide sales rights to Snapshot ahead of Edinburgh and Frightfest bows; the Victorian ghost-hunting thriller is already lined up for a multi-territory financing footprint with Germany, India and Canada aboard as minority co-producers/financiers.

Paramount has locked a summer 2027 theatrical launch for Parker Finn’s Possession remake, keeping the Smile filmmaker on the board for another wide horror release.

Specialty box office posted a strong frame as slashers, chef titles, Girl Scouts pics and CatVideoFest all opened well. The horror lane again proved durable alongside the week’s broader indie breakout titles.

Paramount+ Australia has wrapped the six-part Who The Hell Is Hamish? in Queensland; the Hoodlum/CBS Studios true-crime series is backed by Screen Australia and state/local incentives, with Paramount Global Content Distribution handling worldwide sales. The project centers on a fraudster whose alleged scam left more than $70 million in losses.

TIFF tacks 11 titles onto its 293-film 2026 lineup, including The Liberation, Wild Horse Nine, Bucking Fastard, and Trees Are Watching. Ghobadi’s Trees Are Watching lands as a Centrepiece world premiere, keeping genre in the mix for buyers and press.

27.5 million views in three days put The Last House atop Netflix’s English film chart and overall ranking; the streamer also logged strong true-crime and TV titles across the week.

IndiePix Unlimited sets a Sept. 4 exclusive streaming launch for Radik Ashimov’s Burning; the village-set horror leans into grief, folklore and curse mythology. The title adds another micro-distributor pickup to the indie genre slate.

Scott Free and Amazon team on a Prime Video adaptation of Holly Black’s Folk of the Air novels; Ridley Scott’s banner widens from sci-fi into fantasy TV.

Paramount pulled the Friday the 13th reboot weeks before cameras, sending the Jason franchise back into development limbo. The cancellation kills one of the studio’s highest-profile horror IP revivals before production start.

Critical Reflex, Dread XP and Black Lantern Collective face fresh scrutiny over harassment allegations tied to Rita Lebedeva and Ted Hentschke; the companies have not issued public statements, and the piece tracks whether any internal accountability followed.

Rob Riggle boards supernatural horror Nickels as a ghost-tormented entrepreneur; Spencer King directs from Tim Tuchrello’s script.

Five-episode limited series is already in production at M.A.S. Productions, with Catherine Nadal hosting unscripted psychic readings alongside Acey Slade, Don Jamieson, Felissa Rose, Lloyd Kaufman, and Fred Vogel. The team is eyeing distribution, sponsorship, and financing partners to scale beyond the initial run.

Marc J. Morgan’s Crazy Bones opens in select theaters Aug. 13; the indie slasher leans on practical-effects kills and has a Q1 2027 target release after a Beverly Hills cast-and-crew screening. Writer Thommy Hutson and producer Christopher Gaida are steering a very old-school grindhouse play.

2.5 billion views put Apex atop Netflix’s global charts; Baltasar Kormákur’s survival thriller, starring Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton, debuted Apr. 24 and is now one of the streamer’s biggest releases of 2026.

Hulu keeps Ryan Coogler’s ‘X-Files’ reboot moving; Chris Carter’s long-gestating movie version is back in circulation as the franchise gets another push toward production.

Bahman Ghobadi’s Trees Are Watching lands a world premiere in TIFF Centrepiece; Eva Green stars in a psychological/supernatural horror tale about a haunted hometown, twin memories and a possibly possessed chair.

Alan Wake II has topped 3 million units across PC and consoles; Remedy says the survival-horror sequel turned profitable in February, cementing one of the strongest recent genre game performances.