THE WEEKLY SHIVER

FRESH CUTS 🩸

• Glen Powell stalking the Texas Chain Saw Massacre reboot? Word is he’s in early talks with JT Mollner—producer Roy Lee says there’s “some validity” to the whispers… but no contract’s signed yet, so keep your eyes peeled.

• “Bring Her Back” just hit UK screens July 25, 2025. Danny & Michael Philippou’s follow-up to “Talk to Me” drips with folk-horror dread—Sally Hawkins leads this brooding nightmare that feels like the woods themselves are watching.

• “The Black Phone 2” trailer terrorized the internet June 2, 2025. Ethan Hawke’s Grabber returns to haunt a remote winter camp with fresh supernatural twists that’ll chill you to the bone.

CREATOR SPOTLIGHT 👁️
Josh Stolberg—the mastermind behind Saw X—turns influencer culture into pure horror with Skillhouse. He says the Saw traps taught him how to fuse emotional stakes with deadly ingenuity. “As a father, putting a kid in jeopardy for the first time in Saw X made that ending hit different,” he admits. Next up? TV versions of The Spellman Files and a comedy-horror called Man-Witch, proving he’s no one-trick slasher pony.

DEEP DIVE 🔪

Influencer Horror: When Likes Turn Lethal

From cursed chatrooms to livestream death traps, social-media scares have evolved into a subgenre that bets your subscriber count on survival.

• 2014: Unfriended taught us screenlife terror—ghostly vengeance via video chats and chat logs, tapping every cyberbullying fear.

• 2022: Deadstream livestreamed trauma, forcing a disgraced streamer to survive a haunted house for viewers’ clout.

• 2025: Skillhouse traps ten influencers in a brutal popularity contest—likes become literal fight-to-the-death stakes.

Clout’s never been this deadly.

HORROR HISTORY 👻

26 Years of The Blair Witch Project (July 30, 1999)

When Myrick & Sánchez unleashed their low-budget nightmare on July 30, 1999, viewers thought it was real—and that raw terror redefined found footage.

• Found-Footage Pioneer: Debuted at Sundance as a pseudo-doc, spawning Unfriended and Deadstream.

• Viral Marketing Masterclass: Faux police reports, mockumentaries, and a site that blurred fact and fiction, birthing modern ARGs.

• Indie Triumph: Grossed $248 M on a sub-$1 M budget—proof that horror can pay off big.

Even now, its whisper-quiet dread still echoes in every shadow.

MONSTER MANUAL 🧟

The Grabber

The supernatural child-abductor from The Black Phone series returns more menacing than ever.

• 2004: Joe Hill’s story first unveiled the Grabber’s masked terror.

• 2021: Scott Derrickson’s film gave him life—and a folklore edge.

• 2025: The new trailer shows his demonic power turned up to eleven—haunting dreams and snow-bound camps to punish the guilty.

He’s our worst nightmares made flesh—and they never die.

WHAT TO WATCH 📺

NEW RELEASES

• Shaman (Aug 8, 2025): Tribal rituals awaken ancient spirits in the backwoods. (Theaters)

• Witchboard (Aug 15, 2025): A cursed Ouija board drags suburban nightmares into daylight. (Theaters)

• Hell House LLC: Lineage (Aug 20, 2025): The final found-footage chapter unleashes new horrors. (Theaters)

HIDDEN GEMS

• My Daughter Is a Zombie (Aug 7, 2025): Corpse-child comedy with twisted family feels. (Theaters)

• Strange Harvest (Aug 8, 2025): Harvest-festival folklore turned bone-chilling anthologies. (Theaters)

LEAVING SOON

• Psycho (1960): Hitchcock’s shower-scene masterpiece exits Netflix today—don’t miss it.

READING LIST 📚

NEW RELEASES

• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Three timelines. One academic secret. Folk horror at its finest.

• Red Rabbit Ghost by Jen Julian: A coming-of-age nightmare where town secrets come alive.

CLASSIC REVISITED

• Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897): The epistolary vampire tale that birthed legend—still seduces and terrifies over a century later.

GAME OVER 🎮
Friday the 13th Reborn
At Comic-Con 2025, Horror Inc. announced a single-player Jason Voorhees game—no more cat-and-mouse multiplayer. Just pure slasher tension driven by atmosphere, not escape.

HORROR HAPPENINGS 🎭

• CreepyCon 2025 (Knoxville, Aug 1–3): Panels with rising indie terrors and the Creepy Carnival Night.

• Monsterama 2025 (Atlanta, Aug 8–10): Creature-effects workshops and retro screenings for monster devotees.

FINAL THOUGHT 💀
In a world where every moment is livestreamed, horror mirrors our digital obsessions—where attention is currency and the scariest monster might just be your own feed. Stay vigilant… and remember, in horror, you’re only as safe as your next scroll.