I get a ton of emails about exciting upcoming horror projects and, while I’m unable to showcase them all individually, I’m absolutely thrilled to share them ROUND-UP STYLE! So, without further ado, here are the new & upcoming horror creations from the HorrorFam.com inbox!
None of the creators below have paid to be featured here — because we believe that lacking a marketing budget shouldn’t equate to a lack of eyes on your project. That said, I haven’t I had the chance to experience every creation personally. I do my best to make sure each entry is horror-related and take it in good faith that each creator has represented themselves and their projects honestly.
If you love indie horror and want to support our continued ability to showcase small creators free-of-charge, please consider becoming a Patron, streaming a horror film using our JustWatch affiliate buttons, and/or turning off your ad blocker to see if any of three ads on this page catch your interest. Thank you! ♥
Note: Since October is both our and other horror creators BIGGEST month, I accepted double the submissions! They’ve been split into two posts. There will be a link to the other half of the entries near the bottom of this post – be sure to check ’em out! 🙂
This article includes our JustWatch, BookShop, Fanatical, and/or Amazon affiliate links.
October 2026 Feature Length Indie Horror Films
The Atlas Field
The Atlas Field is the newest film from Sid Lucero. It’s a psychological horror drama about two brothers travelling to an isolated mountain village and along the way their shared memories, along with phenomena being poked at by a sinister group of scientists lurking in the mountains, begin to alter reality in terrifying ways.
If you’re in Italy, you can watch The Atlas Field NOW via streaming or by buying the DVD or digital release from SidLucero.com
If you reside elsewhere, hang tight. They’re working on it. In the meantime, they’d love for you to check out the trailer for The Atlas Field and, if you’re interested, keep an eye out for streaming updates on their Instagram page.
Boneless
The next submission also comes from Italy! Director Dario Bagatin’s indie horror film Boneless premiered in 2023 overseas, but they’re happy to announce that it’s now FINALLY available to stream in the USA! And they also have a worldwide DVD release via Wild Eye Releasing.
From their email, Boneless is about: “During a quiet business trip to Venice, an ordinary couple decides to offer a ride to a mysterious hitchhiker. But after taking a wrong turn, their journey suddenly takes them into a completely different reality—one where an intergalactic war between humans and aliens is raging. What begins as a desperate struggle for survival soon becomes something much bigger: a fight for the survival of an entire planet; and ultimately Earth itself.”
Where to stream Dario Bagatin’s Boneless:
Beyond the Gateway
This entry came from Johnny McConville, the director of Beyond the Gateway.
Johnny said: “Beyond the Gateway is an indie supernatural horror feature beginning its release rollout now. The production story is the hook: we shot TWO feature films simultaneously in seven days for roughly $7,000 total. Beyond the Gateway is the first one releasing.”
Beyond the Gateway arrived on Fandango at Home last week, is out on Plex TODAY, and has a Tubi release date of October 14th with more streaming platforms to come. You can also watch the trailer on YouTube.
If you’d like to keep up with when/where Beyond the Gateway will be streaming, follow @BeyondTheGatewayMovie on Instagram! They’re also sharing fun behind-the-scenes stuff from their wacky seven days of filming.
Dark Hollow
This email came from Kethryn Cavender, social media manager and friend of the Dark Hollow production team.
Kethryn said: “Dark Hollow is a human-made independent Southern Gothic creature feature written and directed by West Virginia-raised filmmaker Daniel Byers and released by Brainstorm Media. When a nightmarish monster emerges from an Appalachian coal mine, a young mother has to hunt it down to protect her home and save her family.”
“The production filmed for three days underground in a real Beckley, West Virginia coal mine and used more than 330 visual-effects shots alongside practical creature work,” said Kethryn, adding, “The story draws on Daniel’s West Virginia upbringing and the pressures mining places on families, land, and community.”
Dark Hollow is available to rent NOW on multiple streaming platforms (see below) and they’re planning to have screenings in West Virginia throughout October. Also, be sure to check out the trailer for Beyond the Gateway (longtime readers know I love a good, practical “guy in a rubber suit” monster in my creature features! Very nice).
Where to watch Daniel Byer’s Beyond the Gateway:
City of Masks
Imagine The Phantom of the Opera, but the Phantom is a woman named Eve and the setting is contemporary London instead of old-timey Paris. The film you just imagined exists and it’s called City of Masks!
City of Masks is landing in UK and Irish cinemas on October 30th, right on time for Halloween. If you’d like to book advanced tickets or watch the trailer, head to CityOfMasksMovie.co.uk
Mittens
The email I got for Mittens did such a perfect job explaining everything that I’m just going to copy/paste it verbatim: “My name is Oliver Ricketts, and I’m one of the producers and the cinematographer of an upcoming independent horror film called Mittens. I wanted to reach out because I think the film could be a great fit for HorrorFam and your coverage of indie horror.
Mittens was written and directed by Louis Rocky Bacigalupo and stars Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens as our primary villain, Country Stuart — a seemingly wholesome, Mr. Rogers-esque television personality with a much darker supernatural side.
The film also stars Arina Bacigalupo (Cursed Hearse), Bridget Rose Perrotta (Hell House LLC), Zoe Hudson Travers (Mermaids), and Cassadee Pope, winner of The Voice and lead singer of Hey Monday. The film was produced by Oliver Ricketts, Sam Jacobs, and Paul Travers.
We’ve just released the official poster, and our first official trailer is expected shortly.
We’ve also done something a little unusual with Kellin’s character as part of the rollout. Country Stuart has his own working phone number, and horror fans can actually call, hear from the character, and leave him a voicemail: 850-7-STUART / (850) 778-8278
I thought that interactive element in particular might be something HorrorFam readers would have fun with.”
Okay! It’s me (Lauren) again. I called Country Stuart’s number and, although I didn’t leave a message, I can vouch that it works. (Though, a tip: don’t have your volume too high if you’re wearing headphones). Once you’re done calling Stuart, you can come back online and keep up with Mittens updates on their official Instagram @MittensLives.
Horror ‘Double Feature Fridays’
I’m going to keep this short since Pluto is a pretty big streaming service and doesn’t really need MY help (you already knew about them, right??), but I got a super nice email from one of their representatives asking for a small inclusion in my Roundup because they’re holding a neat little event each Friday in October. Their reasoning that it would be a good fit is because they are, indeed, featuring smaller indie horror films! They’re pairing “big name”/mainstream horror films with smaller indie productions. And many of the indie horror films are making their DEBUT via these double-features. I thought that was really rad!
Here’s some more information about the technical stuff directly from Sam at Pluto’s email: “New Double Feature Fridays pairings premiere every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Pluto TV Spotlight before joining the Double Feature Fridays collection on demand. The weekly series continues through the end of 2026 with more movie pairings spanning genres, stars and themes.”
October 2026 Indie Horror Short Films
Mimic
Juan Morales reached out about his indie horror thriller short film MIMIC!
“MIMIC explores the value of individual life in the face of despair, illness, and systems that promise relief through surrender,” said Juan. “It’s a project I care deeply about because it’s based off my own lived experience with my autoimmune disorder, and we’re working to build an audience and raise the support needed to bring the film to life.”
If you’d like to help fund the production of MIMIC, check out their Kickstarter page. It’s open for contributions NOW and the campaign ends on October 11th. As of this writing, they’re 2/3 of the way to their goal so they just need a liiiiiiiiiiiittle more. But, as you probably know, Kickstarter is “all or NOTHING” (they need to reach their full funding goal or they get zero donations), so time is running out FAST. Act now if you’re gonna!
Juan Morales also wanted HorrorFam.com readers to know that “You can also follow me on Instagram for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and more from MIMIC.”
The Cat and the Hatchet
This submission came from Kaleb Carmichael, a producer of The Cat and the Hatchet.
“The Cat and the Hatchet is produced by Kaleb Carmichael and Mark Ricci and directed by Cameron Dodd, with production from Six Side Studios and Prime Capitol,” said Kaleb. “The Cat and the Hatchet is a twisted horror parody of The Cat in the Hat. The film follows two siblings, Ellie and Connor, whose boring day takes a terrifying turn when Scratches the Cat shows up at their house. What begins as a strange and unexpected visit quickly becomes a nightmare as Scratches reveals a twisted sense of humor that is far more sinister than anything Ellie and Connor could have imagined. Scratches the Cat, our central horror villain, played by actor Mark Ricci.”
The trailer for The Cat and the Hatchet is available to watch NOW on YouTube and the official release is expected extremely soon. (They’re aiming for Halloween!).
Pika Spychu
Per the email I received: “I’m Joe Corner, an independent creator and graphic designer from Mexico. I’m currently creating Pika Spychu, an original horror mystery series featuring a Detective Pikachu plush in a strange and unsettling world. Case 001: The Awakening follows Pika Spychu as he wakes up with no memory, investigates an abandoned house, and discovers that something is very wrong with the place. I created, filmed, edited, voiced, and designed the visual effects and creatures for the episode myself.”
You can watch Pika Spychu “Case 001: The Awakening” on YouTube. I must say, it was a strange (yet memorable) experience to witness a stuffed Detective Pikachu swearing and being startled by beings with Madballs-esque faces! And although nearly every aspect of this short film was executed by Joe Corner, I became an instant fan of Angelo (his cat) who makes a prominent cameo.
October 2026 Indie Horror Video Games
Residuum
This submission came from Will Nightengale, a 21-year-old solo developer from the UK, who’s hard at work on his debut horror game, RESIDUUM.
According to Will, “RESIDUUM is a first-person psychological survival horror game set inside a decaying underground research facility. The player has to explore the facility, manage limited resources and power, uncover what happened there, and survive what is hiding in the dark. It is very much inspired by Resident Evil and Buckshot Roulette.”
Check out the trailer for RESIDUUM above and then Wishlist it on Steam! It will be released on October 26th.
Possessions
Possessions is an online horror party game with asymmetric elements where “ghost” players vie for control of a “body” player to complete objectives and be the one to escape a haunted house. It’s a recipe for absolute chaos with a ghostly twist! Haha. I could definitely see my husband and his Best Bros playing Possessions after work on one of their rare free nights when they’re all feeling a bit rambunctious.
Anyway, the super tiny team at Black Knight Digital reached out to let us all know that after three years in early access, Possessions is getting ready for a major overhaul incorporating community feedback, improving network performance, making visuals more intuitive, and adding features to “enhance the core gameplay’s depth.”
They’d love for you to check out their brand new trailer (embedded above) and let them know what you think.
Also, you can download a Demo of Possessions, or buy the Early Access version, on Steam to play while you’re waiting for the updates to officially go live. They were aiming for the end of September, but are currently estimating closer to Halloween. (You can keep up with their progress in their public dev logs on Trello or follow them on X).
Hotel 13
Here’s the email I received for Hotel 13: “I’m Batuhan from Voidy Games, a small independent game studio based in TĂĽrkiye. We’re currently developing Hotel 13, a first-person, anomaly-based psychological horror game set in the repeating corridors of a hotel. Players must carefully observe their surroundings, identify subtle changes, and make the right decisions to reach Room 138.
We truly believe in the project, and the early response has been incredibly encouraging. Hotel 13 reached 800 Steam wishlists within just three days of its store page going live.
The game is scheduled to release on November 2, 2026, and a free playable version is currently available on itch.io. We would be very happy to have Hotel 13 included in your October Indie Horror Inbox Roundup.”
If you’d like to Wishlist Hotel 13 ahead of it’s release, you can do so on Steam.
Sacred Line III
Do you still have a Sega Genesis? If so, you’ll be excited to know that a brand NEW horror game has been released for your console: Sacred Line III.
Solo indie horror game developer Sasha Darko just released her Sacred Line trilogy of games (about two sisters trapped in a worn-torn Yugoslavia that’s taken over by demons summoned by an ancient cult) as physical cartridges for the Sega Genesis / Sega MegaDrive.
You can purchase this unusual set at The Retro Room. I’ve also been made aware that a Commodore 64 port will be available soon.
I’m admittedly a little confused, but I like their spirit! The Sega Genesis was my first gaming console (it was originally my mom’s and came packaged with Altered Beast, the first video game I ever played on my own, and was passed down to me when Mom upgraded to a PS1!) and I feel a sense of warm fuzzies thinking about the horror fans who still own theirs getting a brand new horror release for the system they managed to hang onto for so long. It’s very sweet 🙂
CryoDeath VR
Reef Flint, the founder of Panic Point Games, wrote to me. They started as a 14-year-old solo developer in 2020 and now have a partner (Kerag) and, together, they released CryoDeath VR on Steam in 2024. Kerag was the sole developer for the game.
Well, TODAY, the Quest port for CryoDeath is now available!
Reef said: “The port isn’t the only thing that changed. Building it meant going back through the whole game, so a lot has been fixed and a fair bit is new.”
“If you haven’t played [CryoDeath VR]: you wake as an engineer on the Evriskon, a derelict station far too big to learn, so you never come round in the same place twice,” said Reef. “It goes down rather than along, and deeper is worse.”
The World’s Shortest Horror Game
I was a teenager in the age of the internet ‘Screamer.’ Are we bringing back the ‘Screamer?’ I don’t know for sure, but it sure FEELS like it. I remember The Maze in 2004 and I’m giving the side-eye to The World’s Shortest Horror Game. Haha.
Anyway, here’s the email I got for this submission: “Hi Lauren — I’m a solo indie developer from TĂĽrkiye, and I’d love to submit my human-created game for the October Indie Horror Inbox Roundup. The World’s Shortest Horror Game is a complete one-button horror-comedy built around one terrible decision and a blind first reaction. It launches on Steam on October 22 for $0.99 and supports 31 interface languages. There is no demo because a demo would be the whole game. The public trailer contains gameplay but protects the final surprise.”
If you’re interested in playing or gifting The World’s Shortest Horror Game, you can buy it on Steam.
Note: None of the games above are currently on Fanatical (yet?!) and buying them doesn’t support HorrorFam.com financially in any way. However, if you’d like to buy some additional horror games that do support our site, you can use our link below:
Looking for October 2026 Indie Horror Books, Audio Projects, Events and More…?
October is THE BIGGEST month for horror, both for those who enjoy the genre and those who have a hand in creating it. Therefore, instead of accepting 20 indie horror submissions like I usually do, I accepted EVERY submission that hit my inbox by my 9/25 deadline and requested an October placement. (Yes, I’m exhausted; and, yes, I’ll be maintaining my sanity boundaries for all other months). This a once a year extravaganza because I know, as a year-round horror creator myself, that October is important and I wanted to help as MANY creators as I possibly could. But, all that ^ also meant splitting the entries up into two posts because there was just TOO MUCH for one entry.
One of the reasons I chose “20” as a submissions cap, other than easing my own workload, was that I have the analytics and I know from previous experiences that readers get scroll fatigue and miss the later entries if the Roundup goes on too long. “20” gets every creator seen. But with a HUGE roundup like this…? The solution was to divide them into two posts, separated by categories. Now, YOU, gentle reader, can choose which entries hit your specific interest(s) OR if you truly want to read about EVERYTHING (and I hope you do!), you can check out the second half of the October 2026 Indie Horror Inbox Roundup and read about Indie Horror Books, Audio Projects, Events, and more HERE.
Those are all of the new & upcoming horror projects that ended up in my inbox for this month! However, since the Indie Horror Inbox Roundup is now MONTHLY (instead of tri-annual), you’ll be seeing more indie horror submissions in just a few weeks. 🙂
If you’d like to have YOUR horror creation show up in the next roundup post, be sure to send me an email by no later than October 25, 2026. (Note: You can reserve a spot for a month later than November on the submission page if you’d like to plan ahead!).
Come back on November 6, 2026 for next HorrorFam.com Indie Horror Inbox Roundup! Or, come back next Friday for our usual HorrorFam.com fun ♥ Thank you again to everyone who shared their October 2026 indie horror projects with us!!
Images used were provided by their respective owners and used with their permission. As always, any vertical images that were submitted were placed over a blurred background to be made horizontal.
