Shudder buyers and horror makers talk business at Fantastic Fest
After “Obsession” and “Backrooms” shook the box office in 2026, the conversation in Austin turned to how horror gets made and sold.
Variety moderated a panel at Fantastic Fest on fear, fandom and the future of the genre, focused on the business of getting scared, according to Variety. Horror is selling. The panel asked what comes next.
The buyers were in the room. Emily Gotto, Shudder’s senior vice-president of acquisitions and production, appeared alongside Nick Lazo, its senior vice-president of development and production, and Angel Melanson, its director of programming. Shudder is a streaming service devoted to horror, so acquisitions means buying finished films and production means backing new ones.
The makers were there too. Director Jordan Downey discussed “The Cycle,” which debuted at Fantastic Fest, and his earlier work directing a segment for Shudder’s “V/H/S/Beyond.” Toby Poser took part as a member of the Adams Family filmmaking team. The panel also touched on “The Glorious Dead,” which played at the festival and was recently announced as a Shudder acquisition.
The setting matters for general moviegoers. Fantastic Fest is an eight-day genre festival held at the Alamo Drafthouse South in Austin, according to Fantastic Fest. It mixes premieres with live events, parties and industry meetings where smaller films find distributors who can put them in cinemas or on streaming.
This year’s edition also handed out prizes and tried something new. “Ghost in the Cell” won Best Picture and Nikias Chryssos won Best Director for “Bloody Tennis,” with Whitney Fuller and Heidi Wong among the Horror Features jurors, according to Variety. The 2026 programme introduced the inaugural Fantastic Pitches contest for new ideas, according to No FilmSchool.
For fans, this means the path is short. A premiere in Austin in September can become a streaming acquisition by the same week. That is why a business panel draws a crowd at a festival built on screams.
