October 9 isn’t just another Friday. It’s the day Other Mommy hits theatres — and with it, a quiet wave of dread from three very different nightmares. The Hollywood Reporter has been talking to the authors behind the books that are now becoming films: Josh Malerman, Virginia Feito, and Daniel Kraus. Their stories? One about a family haunted by a presence that doesn’t belong in their home. Another about a diver trapped inside a whale with an hour of air left. And a third, a Victorian governess who might be the most dangerous woman in England. All of them are hitting screens this fall, not as remakes, but as adaptations of original novels that were never meant for the big screen. Yet here they are, on screen, with star power, studio backing, and a kind of horror that feels both familiar and utterly new. The real question isn’t whether these stories work on film. It’s why Hollywood suddenly decided to bet on them now. Maybe it’s because the world is tired of the same old ghosts. Or maybe it’s because the best horrors aren’t the ones we’ve seen before. They’re the ones we’ve only read about. October 9 arrives. The house will be watched. The whale will breathe. And somewhere, a governess is waiting. The adaptation journey for each book has been its own kind of survival story. Victorian Psycho, based on Feito’s 2025 novel, was nearly lost after casting shake-ups and a studio exit, yet it found its way to a Cannes premiere. Whalefall, Daniel Kraus’ 2023 novel, had a six-minute sequence screened at CinemaCon that became a sensation. And Other Mommy, originally titled Incidents Around the House by Malerman, saw its trailer become the talk of The Odyssey screenings. Each film carries a unique tone: Other Mommy leans into intimate psychological terror, Victorian Psycho blends gothic horror with dark comedy, and Whalefall delivers a visceral survival thriller with body horror at its core. Malerman, whose Bird Box was adapted into a Netflix hit starring Sandra Bullock, says he writes without thinking about film deals. “If I’m thinking about a potential movie adaptation while I’m writing a novel, that is the day that novel’s dead,” he told THR. He’s written 14 books before Bird Box was published, and he insists his approach hasn’t changed. Kraus, co-writer of The Shape of Water and Trollhunters, admits he once tried to write things that couldn’t be adapted. “what can I write that’s unadaptable?”, but now finds himself in the middle of one. Still, he stresses the importance of staying grounded in the writing itself. Feito, who wrote the screenplay for Victorian Psycho herself, says her story, like the others, feels like something you’ve seen before but can’t quite place. “They combine different inspirations or references, or they feel purely original,” she told THR. “And I think that’s refreshing for Hollywood.” In a roundtable discussion with the publication, the authors debated whose protagonist has it worst. Feito admitted she’s terrified of the ocean. Which makes Whalefall the scariest option for her. Malerman echoed that fear, recalling a jellyfish sting during a trip to Mallorca. Kraus didn’t need to be asked: “It’s the worst day one could possibly dream of. A terrible way to go.” The films arrive in quick succession, Other Mommy on October 9, Whalefall on October 16, Victorian Psycho on November 13. No sequels planned. No franchises. Just three stories, born on the page, now breathing on screen.