In January 2026, American life sometimes resembles an episode of “The Munsters.” The U.S. is a twisted, backwards, spooky sitcom land these days — a bizarro world where treating every fresh horror like it’s “good” news doesn’t always make logical sense but nevertheless feels essential to staying sane and “in character.” A ghoulish mask can be as comforting as a warm cup of spider stew when you live in a haunted house, and with so many reasons to form an angry mob right now, there’s no reason you shouldn’t stop and shine your neck bolts whenever and wherever you can.
That’s what makes this woefully weird time for people such an oddly good window for horror movies to thrive. Upcoming displays of cinematic freaks and frights promise as much escapism as they do confrontation, and by the looks of things, they’re less shock-driven and have a warmer embrace for more carefully engineered unease. If 2025 flirted with cuteness, romance, and franchise reassurance, the next 12 months appear poised to lean back into dread and uncertainty. These films don’t just want to scare you; they want to see what you’ll pretend to ignore.
From “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” to “Insidious 6,” major franchise installments are still sprinkled throughout the year. But there’s a noticeable tension running through the slate ahead that draws out a sense of nostalgia and rupture. Studio safety nets are ripping, and independent risk-taking may be the scariest, smartest way out. We’re still waiting on even vague timelines for plenty of smaller projects — including Ben Sottak’s “The Hallowarrior” with Milly Shapiro; David Prior’s “The Boy in the Iron Box” for Netflix; writer/director Adrian Chiarella’s debut feature “Leviticus,” premiering at the last Sundance in Park City, Utah; Larry Fessenden’s secretly shot “Trauma”; and “Nightborn,” Hanna Bergholm’s first movie since “Hatching,” among others.
As a matter of content, ghosts and demons remain, of course, but spirits are increasingly paired with scripts about families collapsing under real-world pressure while society’s systems rot and collapse. The strange relief of recognizable monsters and the pure terror of problems with no shape make the future enticingly chaotic, projecting a horror scene that’s less interested in mincing metaphors than in extracting a reaction. Whether you’re barely surviving or still forcing a smile, do yourself a favor and use your nightmares to escape. Not away from reality entirely, but into challenges that feel more containable.
Everyone knows the horror lover’s life revolves around October, so we’ve selected a whopping 31 scary movies to keep an eye on in 2026. They’re all expected to reach audiences soon, and 10 already ranked among IndieWire’s 46 Most-Anticipated Movies overall. Listed in calendar order, happy haunting!
With editorial contributions by Kate Erbland, Ryan Lattanzio, Elaina Patton, and Sarah Shachat.
“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” (January 16, Sony Pictures)
Image Credit: Sony Pictures
Maybe franchise filmmaking is good? Just six months after Danny Boyle’s much-anticipated (and totally worth the wait) “28 Years Later” arrived, here comes Nia DaCosta’s snappy follow-up, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.” If the ending of Boyle’s film (hello, Jack O’Connell, you wonderful weirdo) made you hungry for more, the “Hedda” filmmaker is here to deliver, promising to take us further and deeper into a world besieged by baddies who want more than just your blood. Tasty! —KE
“Night Patrol” (January 16, RLJE Films/Shudder)
Image Credit: Shudder
A ring of corrupt cops, who are also vampires, abuse their power and hunt by night in this outrageous, self-aware concept from director Ryan Prows, RLJE Films, and Shudder. Co-written by the filmmaker, Shaye Ogbonna, Tim Cairo, and Jake Gibson, “Night Patrol” manages to introduce the wacky cross-genre concept and still feel genuinely scary in the trailer — even as one officer puts silver grill fangs in his mouth. The pounding horror-comedy pairs pulpy provocation with real menace as an LAPD officer uncovers the evil task force. The stacked cast runs from star Jermaine Fowler and scream king Justin Long to experimental artist Flying Lotus and rapper YG. —AF
“Return to Silent Hill” (January 23, Cineverse)
Image Credit: Cineverse
Christopher Gans returns to the franchise he helped define more than 20 years ago, after directing the wonderfully divisive “Silent Hill” film adaptation in 2003. He’s facing an unusually stacked challenge today, competing as much with his past performance as he is the new sequel’s playable inspiration. Konami’s beloved “Silent Hill 2” is recontextualized for gamers by a critically acclaimed remake that just hit consoles in 2024.
The release renewed interest in the horror series as much as it heightened expectations for the movie. But if an afternoon wandering through Silent Hill teaches you anything, it’s that grieving widow James Sunderland (Jeremy Irvine) won’t back down from a fight… even when he maybe, definitely, absolutely should. Distributed by Cineverse, “Return to Silent Hill” also features music from the original games’ composer, Akira Yamaoka, and, yes, a practically done Pyramid Head. —AF
“Dooba Dooba” (January 23, Dark Sky Films)
Image Credit: Dark Sky Films
A queasy found-footage effort told through nanny cams, Ehrland Hollingsworth’s analog horror breakout wields domestic surveillance videos like a perverse, invasive weapon. Traumatized 16-year-old Monroe (Betsy Sligh) tees off with her increasingly unnerved babysitter (Amna Vegha) in the film’s acutely uncomfortable trailer. From Dark Sky Films, the promo features some fairly standard, strobe-heavy, occult-adjacent nightmare fuel, but it’s also got the stunted adolescent sitting at her family’s kitchen table — smiling and daring her sweet caretaker to, “Punch me like you’ve always wanted to.” The eerie similarities to “Fight Club” don’t stop there, with Monroe battling extreme hallucinations after the death of her brother years before. Everyone in the awkward girl’s house announces themselves on loop as a result. Down hallways, upstairs, around corners, through doors, cooing “dooba, dooba…” all the way. —AF
“Mother of Flies” (January 23, Shudder)
Image Credit: Shudder
Winner of Fantasia Fest’s Cheval Noir for Best Film, “Mother of Flies” confirms the Adams Family as the next great dynasty of lo-fi horror filmmakers. Zelda Adams, John Adams, and Toby Poser draw from their real-life experiences to spin a supernatural fable about cancer, grief, and the promise of a reprieve from death — all set in the Catskills. It’s got a DIY feel by design that’s devastating in effect, and the result is one of 2026’s most quietly unnerving releases. “Mother of Flies” is also a fascinating litmus test for Shudder audiences, not so much “elevating” the horror genre as it is shifting the conversation sideways for an endearing impact that suits the streaming service nicely. —AF
“Send Help” (January 30, 20th Century)
Image Credit: 20th Century Studios
If “Cast Away” had stranded Tom Hanks with the CEO of FedEx instead of a volleyball named Wilson, it might’ve looked something like “Send Help.” Directed by Sam Raimi, this upcoming survival thriller traps a beleaguered assistant (a blood-soaked Rachel McAdams) on a deserted island with her shithead, executive-level boss (Dylan O’Brien). Smashing together the captive sadism of “Misery” and the cruel workplace dread of “Succession,” the two-hander sees Raimi mining for fresh terror in the commonplace horror of micromanagement. Misery loves company, just not like this. —AF
“The Strangers: Chapter 3” (February 6, Lionsgate)
Image Credit: Lionsgate
What made “The Strangers” so divisive in 2008, and later legendary within home-invasion horror, wasn’t just its brutality. Like “Funny Games” and “Speak No Evil,” Bryan Bertino’s chilling script enraged audiences with its shrugging, violent finale — one that not only denied its victims justice but refused to dilute viewers’ experience of evil. The franchise flirted with a greater sense of catharsis when Scarecrow, Pin-Up Girl, and Dollface donned their masks again in 2018 for the far poppier sequel, “The Strangers: Prey at Night,” directed by Johannes Roberts. But as filmmaker Renny Harlin closes out the standalone trilogy he started at Lionsgate in 2024, the question stands for star Madelaine Petsch: Who will win in “Chapter 3,” a woman with nothing to lose or the senselessness that started it all? —AF
“Honey Bunch” (February 13, Shudder)
Image Credit: Shudder
Recalling the antiseptic dread of Gore Verbinski’s “A Cure for Wellness” but rooted in the lush green inferno of the Ontario woods, “Honey Bunch” is a marriage thriller that curdles into a dark fairytale marked by exquisite applications of emotional body horror. Directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, the Shudder-bound Canadian film stars Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie as spouses who might not be on the same side in their battle against memory loss. —AF
“Psycho Killer” (February 20, 20th Century)
Image Credit: 20th Century
There’s credibility built into any serial killer script written by Andrew Kevin Walker (“Seven”), and 20th Century Studios’ “Psycho Killer” is leaning hard into its author’s wheelhouse after the story spent nearly two decades stuck in development. Directed by Gavin Polone in his debut feature, the upcoming crime film’s metallic, Antichrist-centered trailer pulses with a distant bass and muffled emergency siren that sounds like it’s piped in from Hell. That’s fitting considering actress Georgina Campbell, who proved in Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian” that she can sell even the wildest cross-genre nightmares, stars as a Kansas highway patrol officer hunting the sadistic murderer who killed her husband. —AF
“Scream 7” (February 26, Paramount Pictures)
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
Are we excited for “Scream 7,” or just bracing for its impact? The legendary slasher series returns with star Neve Campbell back as Sidney Prescott (yes, despite earlier contract disputes) for a seventh installment already mired in behind-the-scenes controversy. Directed by original “Scream” screenwriter Kevin Williamson, the new film finds our grown-up final girl facing down a new Ghostface killer when someone targets her daughter (Isabel May). With Courteney Cox, Jasmin Savoy Brown, David Arquette, and other familiar faces returning for a February 27 release, the question isn’t just who the murderer is — but if the “Scream” legacy will survive this latest sequel. —AF
“The Bride!” (March 6, Warner Bros.)
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
This year is shaping up to be a very big one for adaptations of all kinds, though not all of them are as promising, or as out of the box, as Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s punk rock reimagining of 1935’s “Bride of Frankenstein.”
The new feature, which follows Gyllenhaal’s 2021 directorial debut, “The Lost Daughter,” features a zany plot and a star-studded ensemble led by “Hamnet” star Jesse Buckley and Christian Bale. Complete with a gender-swapped mad scientist portrayed by Annette Benning and a 1930s outlaw love story at its core, “Bride!” might just be the high-energy, female-directed ode to James Whale’s classic monster movies that we’ve all been waiting for. —EP
“Dolly” (March 6, Independent Film Company/ Shudder)
Image Credit: Shudder
A “grotesque, beautiful backwoods nightmare,” “Dolly” marks director Rod Blackhurst’s leap from a haunted backyard pool in 2024’s”Night Swim” to an atypical creature-feature encased in blood and porcelain. The Shudder title centers on a young woman abducted by a “monster-like figure” who wants to raise her as its child. Starring Fabianne Therese, Seann William Scott, Ethan Suplee, and Max The Impaler, this Sitges selection signals the start of what its director called “an expansive universe.” —AF
“Undertone” (March 13, A24)
Image Credit: A24
Already building up respectable buzz ahead of its Sundance premiere is a left-of-center new horror film courtesy A24, “Undertone.” Ian Tuason writes and directs the film about a podcaster being terrorized by mysterious missives sent her way. The film stars Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, and Jeff Yung and was praised at Fantasia Fest last year for its scarily immersive aural atmosphere, with Kiri being the only character actually shown onscreen. A24 tends to be on the pulse of up-and-coming horror, the company helped bring the Philippou brothers (“Talk to Me”) and Robert Eggers (“The Witch”) to audiences for the first time — and look at them now. —RL
“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” (March 27, Searchlight Pictures)
Image Credit: Searchlight Pictures
Samara Weaving returns to the most dangerous game of hide-and-murder in this follow-up to 2019’s horror-comedy “Ready or Not.” Now it’s not just her in-laws who are gunning for her/trying to stab her. It’s all the richest families in the world. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett work from a script by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, with Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, Kevin Durand, Olivia Cheng, Nadeem Umar-Khitab, David Cronenberg, and Elijah Wood joining the cast. A trailer is available for the film, which hints at the gory fun to come. —SS
“The Mummy” (April 17, New Line/Warner Bros.)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Lee Cronin’s take on Universal’s “The Mummy” was well into post-production before the studio also confirmed “The Mummy 4,” a separate legacy sequel from Radio Silence set with original stars Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz last fall. When it comes to mummy movies, it’s the more the merrier. But Cronin deserves extra fan support for releasing his film — starring series newcomers Jack Reynor and Laia Costa — so close to the news of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s still-brewing cultural behemoth. He’ll go far delivering the same ferocious, tactile gore he put on display in “Evil Dead Rise,” and even further by foregoing that late-’90s pastiche to instead embrace the icon’s 1932 cinematic debut. —AF
“Hokum” (May 1, Neon)
Image Credit: Neon
Already in the running for scariest release of the year, Neon’s big horror movie for this spring has a teaser that will squeeze the fountain soda out of you. That makes sense coming from storied scare-master Damian McCarthy, the magician-like filmmaker behind the recent Shudder sensation “Oddity,” and his earlier hidden gem, “Caveat.” In McCarthy’s next dark fairytale, “Severance” star Adam Scott plays an author journeying to the director’s home country of Ireland to spread his parents’ ashes. Ther,e he encounters a ghostly presence and rumors of a witch. —AF
“Obsession” (May 15, Focus Features)
Image Credit: Focus Features
“Obsession” announces YouTuber Curry Barker as a genre voice the entire horror-loving world should be watching (even if this isn’t his directorial debut). A Midnight Madness standout from TIFF 2025, the film centers on a music shop clerk/hopeless romantic (Michael Johnston) who uses a novelty wishing toy to get exactly what he thinks he wants. “Is her love real?” he asks in the trailer, speaking on the phone to an oddity helpline. “Just because you chose this for her doesn’t mean it’s not real,” the operator replies. Think “The Monkey” meets “The Substance,” as Barker turns wish fulfillment into a moral trap with massive implications — and major buzz coming into the new year. —AF
“Scary Movie 6” (June 12, Paramount Pictures/Dimension Films)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Can you say, “Whazzup?!” It’s been 13 years since the last “Scary Movie,” and this summer’s reboot from Paramount and Dimension Films can’t come soon enough. Directed by Michael Tiddes and written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and Keenen Ivory Wayans, the upcoming spoof reunites the original architects of the horror-comedy with stars Anna Faris and Regina Hall. After a decade-plus of elevated genre interpretations and hyper-serious film discourse, “Scary Movie 6” is poised to skewer everything from thoughtless legacy sequels to trauma porn masquerading as scream-worthy art. —AF
“Shiver” (July 3, Sony)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola, best known for the wonderfully bizarre “Dead Snow” movies out of Sundance, turns up the heat this summer with “Shiver.” Arriving just in time for peak “Jaws” repertory season on July 3, Sony’s survival horror saga is produced by Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, and it stars Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, and Djimon Hounsou among others. Around the same time last year, Sean Byrne gave shark horror his unique Australian spin with “Dangerous Animals” for Shudder. In 2026, why not let the guy famous for inventing frozen Nazi-zombies take a bite at ’em, too? —AF
“Evil Dead Burn” (July 24, Sony/Warner Bros.)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
With Lee Cronin off making his “The Mummy” for Universal, and legendary “Evil Dead” creator Sam Raimi busy stranding Rachel McAdams on an island in “Send Help,” director Sébastien Vaniček had to step in and lead the Deadites’ next standalone sequel. The French filmmaker broke out with 2023’s “Infested,” a hidden gem set in an apartment building that was frequently compared to Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rise” the same year. Pairing Vaniček and “Evil Dead” feels strangely inevitable in hindsight, but not knowing how compatible those two forces might be evokes a fear of something truly unnatural. —AF
“Insidious 6” (August 21, Sony)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Beating projections at the box office in 2023, “Insidious: The Red Door” seemed to close the book on the beleaguered Lambert family — but it still left franchise fans with plenty of questions about the blood-boiling, demonic realm known as the Further. With series scene-stealer Lin Shaye back as the psychic paranormal investigator Elise Rainier, there’s no reason the sixth “Insidious” can’t deliver even more satisfaction while exploring a hellish dimension that’s always been impervious to time. The upcoming Blumhouse and Atomic Monster sequel comes form director Jacob Chase. It’s co-written by the filmmaker and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, a frequent contributor to The Conjuring Universe. —AF
“Clayface” (September 11, DC Studios)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Veteran horror director James Watkins (“Eden Lake,” “Speak No Evil”) joins DC with the story of Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), an actor who turns to science to fix his disfigured face, and ends up one with made of, wait for it, clay! Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella, and Eddie Marsan also star in a script from Mike Flanagan (“The Life of Chuck”) and Hossein Amini (“Drive”), and, of course, overseen by DC overcaptain/executive producer James Gunn. This will be a different kind of Clayface from the one that cameos in “Birds of Prey,” but it remains to be seen just how profane Rhys Harries’ take on the monstrous character will be. The film is set to release on September 11. —SS
“Resident Evil” (September 18, Sony)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
Whether you love or hate the outcome, there’s no denying Paul W. S. Anderson made his mark on “Resident Evil” with his maximalist film adaptation in 2002. The director reimagined Capcom’s heart-racing zombie survival games as an action vehicle for Milla Jovovich, trading the source material’s characteristic dread for an ill-fitting velocity that’s so of “it’s time” we almost treasure it now. Raccoon City has endured, however improbably, and by September, the film series will have fully grafted itself onto the imagination of “Weapons” auteur Zach Cregger — signaling another bold mutation. —AF
“Other Mommy” (October 9, Universal)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
From “Host” director Rob Savage comes “Other Mommy,” a domestic nightmare that had its 2026 release repositioned from May to October. That’s not bad sign and maybe even a show of confidence as Universal moves the title’s opening weekend into prime Halloween territory. It stars Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, and Dichen Lachman in a twisted story that frames romantic strain through a child’s terror. When an 8-year-old encounters a sinister presence emerging from her closet, Savage leans in and pushes forward to introduce something far stranger than an imaginary friend. —AF
“Werwulf” (December 25, Focus Features)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection
After spending the past holiday season without a Robert Eggers’ creature feature to warm the bones, the good news is that this yuletide will be full of fresh horrors. Like his 2024 “Nosferatu” adaptation, the filmmaker’s newest folklore-inspired film, “Werwulf,” will release on Christmas Day, giving less traditional moviegoers something to come out for. The film will see Eggers — who teamed up with his “The Northman” co-writer Sjón on the script — once again direct regular collaborators Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Willem Dafoe. While the details are still being kept under wraps, the film is said to be set in 13th-century England, which guarantees a medieval flair and, since it’s Eggers, its actors attempting at least one archaic dialect. —EP
“Forbidden Fruits” (2026, Shudder)
Image Credit: Shudder
A mall-set coven movie with a cast this stacked practically arrives halfway to queer cult status, and Shudder feels like the perfect perch to help “Forbidden Fruits” go all the way over the top. Directed and written by Meredith Alloway in her feature debut, this upcoming horror-comedy imagines a witchy femme cult run by an Apple Store employee operating beneath the fluorescent hum of the retail center at night. Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Chamberlain, and Gabrielle Union orbit a cutting drama about performative sisterhood and bloodshed that feels equally inspired by Ryan Murphy’s “Scream Queens” as by Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring” — but even sleeker and timelier. —AF
“Ice Cream Man” (2026, Horror Section)
Image Credit: Horror Section
Eli Roth’s Horror Section is churning out fresh genre movies at a steady clip, and the “Hostel” director’s upcoming remake of 1995’s “Ice Cream Man” signals an exciting return to the sticky, mean-spirited corner of ’80s and ‘90s video-store horror his particular brand seems made to preserve. Reworking the core idea for this cult favorite originally starring Clint Howard, Roth will tackle the tale of a traumatized dessert vendor who uses sugar as a delivery system for violence. Also from the Horror Section in 2026, “Stiletto” is a slasher set in a strip club. Starring Gigi Gustin — and teasing scary temptation from a different, more adult angle — it’s one of several low-budget flicks coming from the brand this year. —AF
“The Serpent’s Skin” (Early 2026, Dark Star Pictures)
Image Credit: Dark Star Pictures
If you didn’t know Australian filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay turned 21 last year, you’d never guess it from the confidence of her sixth feature, “The Serpent’s Skin.” This witchy, girl-on-girl (and sometimes guy!) Fantasia entry filters romance through the director’s clear “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Charmed” inspirations to conjure up an enchanting, melancholy vision of desire in bleeding neon. Funny, feral, and earnest, the fantasy cements Maio Mackay as a singular genre voice. Up next, she’s at work on a sci-fi horror film titled “Our Effed Up World,” with Jane Schoenbrun producing, also for Dark Star. —AF
“Roqia” (2026, Watermelon Pictures)
Image Credit: Watermelon Pictures
Algerian filmmaker Yanis Koussim’s debut feature “Roqia” premiered in Venice’s Critics’ Week before riding that buzz across the festival circuit to Sitges, Leeds, and Thessaloniki. A slow-burn psychological thriller told across two timelines with a keen eye for the country’s history, the haunting setup juxtaposes an early-’90s car crash that leaves a man bandaged and amnesiac with the present-day decline of an aging exorcist battling Alzheimer’s against the shadows of violent extremism. Watermelon Pictures acquired the U.S. rights and is planning a theatrical release in 2026. —AF
“The Backrooms” (2026, A24)
Image Credit: Steam
Is there any liminal space more infamous or viral than Kane Parson’s “Backrooms”? For A24, the YouTuber and filmmaker takes on his own endlessly replicated nightmares as made famous through internet folklore. Parsons will have to expand the claustrophobic digital dread he used to make the eerie concept stick through his short films. But more than a meme-to-movie play, the story underlying “The Backrooms” is surprisingly complex and offers wonderfully promising material for a video game adaptation of this nature. If you need a studio that thrives on building style and atmosphere, A24 sometimes wavers but never loses the objective(s) floating in plain sight. Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, and Avan Jogia star. —AF
“The Mortuary Assistant” (2026, Shudder)
Image Credit: Shudder
Based on the cult-hit indie video game “The Mortuary Assistant,” this challenging but wisely ambitious adaptation for Shudder tasks director Jeremiah Kipp with successfully transplanting a beloved, playable scare system to the cinematic slab — without losing vital fear. It’s good work if you can get it, and actress Willa Holland stars as Rebecca Owens, a mortician working the night shift as demonic rituals and emotional possession bleed together in a funeral home run by her strange mentor. Think “Five Nights at Freddy’s” for adult embalmers with trauma, also starring Paul Sparks. —AF