Horror Industry News — Friday, August 21, 2026

Steven Yeun boards Pagans as star and executive producer, locking in Netflix’s straight-to-series supernatural drama from Joshua Zetumer. Drew Goddard, Sarah Esberg, Jonathan van Tulleken and Sandra Oh are also EPs on the project.

Ron Perlman boards Amazon MGM's Seasons ahead of a September production start in Ireland; Drew Hancock's horror-thriller adapts Matt and Harrison Query's book and short story, with Lily James and Jack Reynor already attached.

Neon is front-loading Na Hong-jin’s creature epic with a Sept. 7 premium-format one-night event at 175 U.S. locations before Sept. 9 wide release; Plus M pre-sold roughly 200 territories out of Cannes and South Korea is already at $35 million.

Shudder’s Season of Screams runs Sept. 1-Dec. 31 with four months of originals, franchise returns and live watch parties; key plays include V/H/S/Mixtape, The Creep Tapes season 3, Joe Bob’s Halloween House Party and a live FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards broadcast.

$14 million US TIFF Midnight Madness acquisition for Obsession resets the ceiling for Canadian genre exports; Telefilm’s 2024 survey says horror’s “must-see in theatres” score more than doubled since 2019. Oddfellows has a first-look with Warner Bros., Chris Ferguson’s Phobos is feeding Vancouver’s horror pipeline, and projects like 4x4: The Event and Paranormal Activity 8 underscore the country’s breakout bench.

ModRetro has lined up Buddy: The Video Game, an 8-bit survival-horror adaptation of the feature BUDDY, with PlayInstinct developing and ModRetro publishing. The game extension turns the upcoming horror film into a transmedia IP play before the movie even hits theaters.

PANICK Entertainment, Compass International Pictures and Further Front are launching a Halloween comic set in the game’s 1978 continuity; Hans Rodionoff and Adam F. Goldberg write, with issue one dropping Nov. 4.

First licensed Jason Universe haunted attraction lands at 13 Thirteenth Floor venues this Halloween; Horror, Inc. and Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group are turning Friday the 13th into an interactive, choose-your-ending maze play.

Inde Navarrette boards survival horror Invertigo; Matthias Hoene directs from a Kathy Charles and Billy O'Brien script, with filming already staged across Thailand, the U.S. and the U.K.

Worldwide streaming rollout lands Sept. 18 for Tristan Reed’s found-footage slasher The Depths; Terror Films Releasing is premiering it across Tubi, Chilling, The Roku Channel and Fandango at Home.

1983-set creature feature Wekiwa rolls into production next month near Orlando, with Oscar-winning sound designer Richard L. Anderson writing and directing. Billy Zane, Kevin Chapman, and C.S. Lee board the cast.

SCREAMBOX sets an exclusive September 1 debut for the 84-minute woods-set slasher Deathwoods, from Bloody Disgusting/Cineverse with Felissa Rose among the cast.

Heretic has locked multiple international sales on Adult Supervision ahead of Fantastic Fest, while Warner Bros. Discovery has bought HBO Europe and HBO Max rights in multiple CEE territories after the theatrical run.

Concourse Media is launching world pre-sales on Parish at the TIFF market; Nicolas Cage toplines the post-apocalyptic cannibal thriller ahead of the festival circuit.

Jolt.film has locked all North American rights to Propagate Content’s SXSW true-crime doc on the 1980 Harvey’s Resort Hotel bombing, with theatrical and digital rollout set across the region. The acquisition lands ahead of the case’s 46th anniversary and pairs with an Aug. 26 Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema screening and Q&A.

Fantastic Fest unveils its selection in Austin, a key programming signal for the genre market heading into fall acquisition season. The lineup drop helps buyers and sales agents calibrate which titles will carry the strongest horror heat.

Dark Sky Films sets an August 21 theatrical-plus-digital rollout for folk horror Blood Shine; the Beverly Hills premiere was briefly interrupted after an attendee lost consciousness during a scene.

Australian horror keeps exporting because the genre travels on clean concepts, low-budget economics and festival pathways; Wolf Creek, The Babadook and Talk to Me remain the template, with Screen Australia pushing regional specificity as a commercial advantage.

Sitges lines up a strong Spanish genre slate led by psychological thriller Las hijas, survival-horror-leaning 11, vampire pic Upiro and Dracula rework La muerte de Drácula. Upiro lands a February 2027 Spanish theatrical date via Selecta Visión after a Cannes-market prize.

Sitges spotlights its 59th-edition Spanish fantastic slate, with psychological thriller Las hijas, survival horror 11 and gothic vampire tale Upiro among the titles; Selecta Visión has Upiro set for Spanish theatrical release in Feb. 2027.

Visionär Films adds Venice Critics’ Week selection The H@llow Man and Italian doc Still Too Soon to its sales slate; the dystopian Tunisia 2059 feature is already in post and heads into the autumn festival run.

Smilegate backed Colony's production; Yeon Sang-ho says a Korean graphic novel lands in weeks and he is mulling both a game sequel and a follow-up film.

Hollywood’s AI working group is going public with a framework that separates human-controlled generative workflows from uses that replace performers or writers; Kathleen Kennedy and Susan Ruskin are fronting the rollout.

Sarajevo’s CineLink awarded Emilija Gašić’s folk horror Wolf Days the €20,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, while Filip Mojzeš’ The First Week of August won the €30,000 HBO Award; Mamayi received a €20,000 Eurimages Special Award.

Fourth and final Yellowjackets season lands Nov. 20 on Paramount+ Premium Plan; Lionsgate Television produces and Paramount Global Content Distribution handles the series.

Phantasmagoria highlights 20 overlooked 2026 horror releases, including IFC/Shudder’s Forbidden Fruits with Lili Reinhart and Victoria Pedretti, Yellow Veil’s Touch Me, Dark Sky’s Māori Gothic Mārama, and IFC’s Faces of Death reboot starring Barbie Ferreira.

Georgian director Ana Urushadze is prepping third feature Fear of Butterflies, a detective story about a woman nearing 30 facing mental and physical disturbances, with mysticism and body horror. Ivo Felt’s Allfilm will co-produce; financing and a Georgian shoot remain uncertain.

Bruce Campbell confirmed his only Evil Dead Burn cameo is a wall photo of his headshot; he was not involved creatively, says Ash is done, and the Ash vs Evil Dead animated revival is dead unless another actor replaces him.

Magnolia Pictures locks Japanese horror pic Never After Dark for a U.S. theatrical rollout this Halloween season. The trailer pushes Stephen King and Scott Derrickson praise into the marketing mix ahead of release.