Horror Industry News — Saturday, August 22, 2026

Insidious: Out of the Further is tracking a roughly $23M opening off $3M in previews as the franchise tops $740M worldwide; Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is the breakout watch after a $907K run on 54 screens and a jump to 500+ theaters.

Jang Jae-hyun’s occult horror Vampir starts shooting this month with Yoo Ah-in, Lee Sung-min and Lee Jun-hyuk; the Korea-set feature is targeting a 2028 release.

Jason Blum hosts a special Aug. 26 Broadway performance while Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Paramount Pictures keep Paranormal Activity moving as a live-stage brand extension. The play opens Aug. 25 on a strictly limited 20-week run; the franchise’s eighth feature is also being produced for theaters next summer.

Lionsgate is reviving Leprechaun with Saw vets Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan on script and Oren Koules producing. The cult horror-comedy franchise is back in development after a six-year gap since Leprechaun Returns.

Raven Banner sets a one-night U.S. theatrical event for Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon on Sept. 29 via Alamo Drafthouse and Fantastic Fest Presents, then rolls the sequel out digitally Oct. 13 in the U.S., Canada and U.K. before Blu-ray and 4K later in October.

Level 33 sets an exclusive U.S./Canada theatrical run for Laszlo Illes’ fairy-tale slasher Ever After, with an Oct. 27 On Demand follow-up. The 125-minute indie leans on practical creature effects and a genre-heavy ensemble led by Mark Sheppard, Bonnie Aarons, Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder and Malcolm McDowell.

Netflix's supernatural horror series Pagans casts Steven Yeun as widower Gus; Joshua Zetumer, Drew Goddard and Victor LaValle steer the project, with filming in New York set for Oct. 26 through Apr. 13, 2027.

£60,000 debut feature The Brook lands a FrightFest premiere while Paul Stainforth says distributor talks are underway. The 93-minute mystery-thriller-horror leans on local folklore and a time-slip video camera hook, making it a microbudget sales play.

Exterior shell work on Blumhouse’s Stanley Film Center wraps in December; the horror museum and events space is targeting an early 2028 opening at Estes Park’s Stanley Hotel. The project adds a branded genre destination tied to one of horror’s most recognizable landmarks.

Yeon Sang-ho's Colony heads to U.S. theaters on Aug. 28 via Well Go USA, with the biotech-conference virus premise pushing the Train to Busan filmmaker back into zombie creature territory.

Hammer’s Ithaqua gets its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest on Aug. 29 ahead of a later UK cinema rollout; Casey Walker’s Canadian wilderness horror stars Luke Hemsworth, Kevin Durand and Michael Pitt.

Wired Productions locks a publishing deal with Thailand-based WereBuff Studio for debut horror adventure Kumarn: The Wandering Spirit, a Thai folklore title headed to PC via Steam and Epic Games Store in 2027.

LAPD is now on the Fortitude theft dispute as Simon Afram pushes a $105 million suit against Netflix over the disappearance of a $45 million Nicolas Cage WWII thriller from the streamer’s Hollywood office. The case adds defamation and breach claims after Netflix called Afram’s demands extortionist and said it does not own the rights to the film.

David Hackl is set to direct neo-noir thriller Solar Storm for Pelican Pictures, with Trigger Films anchoring the financing through U.K. tax credit and GAP. Principal photography is targeted for winter 2026 in Bulgaria on an approximately €15 million budget.

Peacock gives Dungeon Crawler Carl a straight-to-series order and taps Eric Heisserer to co-showrun with Chris Yost; Jeff Hays joins as the voice of Princess Donut on the Fuzzy Door/Universal TV adaptation of Matt Dinniman's 14M-copy sci-fantasy bestseller.

Netflix greenlights a new Getaway remake; Philip Barantini boards to direct and Peter Craig is scripting. The Jim Thompson property is back in play 54 years after Peckinpah’s original, with cast still unannounced.

HBO Max and DC Studios have greenlit The People V. Gorilla Grodd, with Skyler Gisondo back as Jimmy Olsen; the comedy series pushes the DC TV slate deeper into character-driven spinoff territory.

Mike Flanagan’s eight-episode Carrie miniseries premieres October 7, 2026, on Prime Video, with all episodes dropping globally in 240+ territories. Summer H. Howell stars alongside Samantha Sloyan, Matthew Lillard and Amber Midthunder.

A24’s Primetime heads to Venice before its late-September rollout; Chris Hansen says the studio tried to make him sign away rights to attend a screening, a claim A24 denies.

Netflix's Australian mystery thriller Outback adds cast from Squid Game and The Umbrella Academy around Ryu Jun Yeol, widening the streamer’s genre package.

Bad Wolf is shooting Netflix’s The Lords' Day around Westminster this weekend, turning Parliament and the Thames into a controlled siege set. Michael Dobbs’s novel is being adapted as a UK political thriller series.

Meghan Markle is circling a role in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen for a possible Season 3, but Netflix has not renewed the series yet. Any move would extend her first-look relationship with the streamer while keeping the show’s UK production base in play.

Letterboxd’s Video Store is turning curated audience buzz into a real distribution lane, with titles like “It Ends” and “Lemonade Blessing” landing outside the traditional festival-to-distributor funnel.

The Shallows is surging on Netflix, turning Sony’s lean shark thriller into another SVOD winner years after theatrical release. Jaume Collet-Serra’s Blake Lively vehicle is again proving that compact creature features can travel on streaming.

4K-restored Der Fan lands a one-week theatrical re-release at Metrograph; the 1982 cult horror thriller returns to New York on a limited engagement.

Netflix has teamed with Alan Ritchson’s Dancing Skeleton on an untitled MotoGP heist thriller, with Chris Morgan aboard to help shape the package. MotoGP has signed on to support production and authenticity, giving the film direct access to the championship’s machinery, riders and circuits.

Vertical sets Benjamin Finkel's feature-debut horror film Family for VOD and digital Sept. 25; the SXSW Midnighter winner finally gets a release after a long festival run.

Tubi FrightFest opens with Abner Pastoll's Nervous, a Korean-UK co-production from February Films and Story Robot; the world premiere is followed by stops at MOTELX and Fantasy Filmfest.

BOOM! and DC have solicited Swamp Thing Is Killing the Children #1 for Dec. 2, 2026; James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera are launching a 64-page Slaughterverse crossover that folds Swamp Thing into the Erica Slaughter mythos.