Horror Highlights: HOTEL BARCELONA, Joe Bob’s Spooktacular, NEON’S Next Wave of Horror

SWERY and SUDA51's slasher fever dream HOTEL BARCELONA launches September 2025: "Publisher CULT Games and developer White Owls Inc are thrilled to announce HOTEL BARCELONA - the surreal, bloodsoaked sidescrolling roguelite from legendary Japanese creators SWERY (Deadly Premonition) and SUDA51 (No More Heroes, Romeo is a Dead Man) - releases September 2025.

Hot off a smash-hit Steam Next Fest, where "the brutal, fun, and stylish roguelike HOTEL BARCELONA caught my eye more than any other" (PCGamesN), the game will be playable at BitSummit, the iconic games festival in Kyoto - taking place July 18th to 20th, 2025. Press and creators can go hands-on with the game and even meet its creative team, including the eccentric genius SWERY himself…

Part action, part roguelite, all fever dream. HOTEL BARCELONA is a sidescrolling slasher by two of Japan's most iconic cult game creators, SUDA51 (No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw, Romeo is a Dead Man) and SWERY (Deadly Premonition, The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories, D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die).

You are Justine, a fresh-faced federal marshal who wakes up with a serial killer in her head and a blade in her hand. Trapped in a twisted hotel inspired by iconic horror movie subgenres, you must fight, die, die again, and maybe - just maybe - defeat the Seven Slasher Killers out for blood. Your blood, to be precise.

So check in, WIPE 'EM OUT! Every kill makes you stronger in this re-invented roguelike where death isn't the end - it's just the start. Keep up the carnage and be rewarded with the devastating power of Dr. Carnival, the primeval monster possessing your brain. Exact vengeance on gnarly opponents with the Slasher Phantoms, an army of spirits who mimic your actions from previous runs. And supercharge your arsenal with almost 100 weapons to unlock and game-changing upgrades to uncover.

The demo for HOTEL BARCELONA is playable at BitSummit The 13th: Summer of Yōkai, Japan's largest indie game festival. Running July 18th to 20th at Miyako Messe in Kyoto, attendees can experience the opening section of the game, including its brutal first boss Jacob - a baseball-obsessed serial killer rumoured to strike every few years at the hotel's nearby baseball field. There's also opportunity to meet developers from White Owls Inc as well as game director Hidetaka "SWERY" Suehiro.

HOTEL BARCELONA slaughters its way onto Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in September 2025. Wishlist the game on Steam now!"

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Joe Bob’s Spooktacular Announced: "Joe Bob’s Spooktacular, a dusk-to-dawn Halloween-night party, will haunt the already haunted Texas Theatre in Dallas this year, bringing back the William Castle spook-show traditions of the fifties and sixties as Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Girl, hosts of “The Last Drive-In” on Shudder, stage their annual gathering of what they call “the Mutant Family.”

“We’ve done four years of Jamborees at drive-ins in Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Nevada,” said Briggs, “but this year we wanted to do something a little more intimate and a lot more scary.”

The all-night event will feature “five and a half movies,” according to Briggs, plus an old-fashioned spook show hosted by the skeleton-faced Professor Morte, the creation of Shane Morton, who has staged the Silver Scream Spook Show in Atlanta for 18 years and doubles as the Production Designer for “The Last Drive-In.” Morton will be turning the historic Texas Theatre into a haunted environment, inside and out, in an attempt to agitate the ghost of Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested at the theatre in 1963 while trying to kill a police officer, and whose last words before being handcuffed were “Well, it’s all over now.” Supposedly his angry ghost has inhabited the theatre ever since, with a disembodied voice that can be heard in the projection booth and one of the rear staircases, repeating “It’s all over now . . .”

“Are you ready to get the yell scared out of you?” said Morton. “I promise magic, monsters and mayhem, and everyone in the audience will have a chance to win a dead body.”

Briggs is keeping the movie titles under wraps, per the tradition of the Shudder show, but he said that one of them is a William Castle classic that will be presented just as Castle presented it, and another one would settle for all time the critical controversy about “Halloween III” with a spirited debate followed by an audience vote. As usual, the final screening of the night will be a Halloween-themed Saturday-morning cartoon feature hosted by Darcy.

The 12-hour program will also feature a costume contest, burlesque performances, and Joe Bob’s usual commentary on Halloween-themed and rock-and-roll-themed movies, much of it programmed by Darcy, who said she was inspired by the 1991 campy slasher “Popcorn,” which lovingly sends up old-school horror-movie gimmicks.

“I’ve wanted to do a Popcorn-style horrorthon since the first time I ever saw that movie,” she said, “and now I finally get to! On actual Halloween night with my Mutant Fam! I am so hyped for this!”

Barak Epstein, manager of the Texas Theatre and long-time booster of independent and cult film, added, “Not since the days of the Texas Stadium Drive-In has there been a marathon of this caliber anywhere in Texas.” (The Texas Stadium Drive-In closed in 1982, despite vigorous protests organized by Briggs.)

Tickets for the event go on sale at noon Eastern/11 Central time on July 9 at https://thetexastheatre.com/film/joe-bobs-spooktacular-indoor-all-night-halloween-jamboree/."

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NEON’S ‘NEXT WAVE OF HORROR’ PANEL AT COMIC-CON® | DAVE FRANCO, ALISON BRIE, MICHAEL SHANKS, OSGOOD PERKINS, TATIANA MASLANY, & CHRIS STUCKMANN: "NEON, the award-winning studio and leader in the independent horror space, will host the “Next Wave of Horror” panel on Friday, July 25th at this year’s Comic-Con International. It will feature exclusive sneak footage and a discussion with cinematic horror powerhouse Osgood Perkins (Longlegs, The Monkey) and Tatiana Maslany for Keeper, Together’s writer/director Michael Shanks, stars/producers Dave Franco and Alison Brie, and Shelby Oaks’ debut feature filmmaker, Chris Stuckmann.

After revolutionizing the independent horror landscape with LONGLEGS which grossed over $100 million globally, NEON has proven to be an incredibly versatile independent distributor. With TOGETHER, SHELBY OAKS, and KEEPER, the studio will usher in a thrilling, fresh wave of horror that delivers something for every kind of scare lover.

Michael Shank’s body horror love story TOGETHER had audiences raving and squirming in their seats at Sundance and SXSW. Featuring knockout performances from Dave Franco and Alison Brie like you’ve never seen them before. TOGETHER is one of the most anticipated horror films of the year with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The story follows Tim and Millie (Franco and Brie) years into their relationship, finding themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh. TOGETHER is in theaters nationwide on July 30th.

Youtube film critic Chris Stuckmann steps into the director role with his long-awaited found footage horror film, SHELBY OAKS. After garnering an overwhelming amount of online support through a kickstarter campaign, SHELBY OAKS has gained an unprecedented following with critics calling it “one of the best horror debuts” and “creepy as all hell”. Stuckmann co-wrote the script about a woman's desperate search for her long-lost sister. She falls into obsession upon realizing that the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real. Stuckmann’s directorial debut will be in theaters October 3rd.

Scare aficionado Osgood Perkins’ collaboration with NEON continues, descending deeper into darkness with his eerie new trip, KEEPER. Starring Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland, KEEPER is an intimate tale that is dripping with Perkins’ signature dread and is slated to be in theaters this Fall. In addition to the panel, Perkins will be autographing NEON’s THE MONKEY collector figurine at the Unbox Industries booth between 12:00pm and 1:30pm PT on Friday, July 25th. Dubbed “The Bloody Variant,” this exclusive limited edition will only be available to purchase from NEON’s online shop at https://www.neonrated.com/shop and picked up during Comic-con® (July 24-27) while supplies last.

Full details for NEON’s “Next Wave of Horror” panel will be available on Comic-con’s website https://www.comic-con.org/cc/."