{"id":467174,"date":"2026-02-11T03:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T03:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467174\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T03:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T03:19:10","slug":"february-2026-has-scream-dracula-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467174\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2026 Has ‘Scream,’ ‘Dracula’ & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWelcome to Horror Explorer, a curated column showcasing the month\u2019s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky worth checking out. I\u2019m William Earl, the executive digital director of Variety and the publication\u2019s resident horror enthusiast. Please drop me a line at wearl@variety.com<\/a> if there\u2019s something I should check out for next month\u2019s missive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\tMarquee Madness<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Cold
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9 STUDIOCANAL SAS \u00a9 Reiner Bajo\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDracula\u201d (In theaters Feb. 6 via Vertical) \u2014 Luc Besson directs this romantic spin on the classic vampire tale, with Caleb Landry Jones as the titular bloodsucker and Christoph Waltz as his legendary archrival Van Helsing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Strangers \u2013 Chapter 3\u201d (In theaters Feb. 6 via Lionsgate) \u2014 The last chapter of the Renny Harlin-helmed \u201cStrangers\u201d trilogy stars Madelaine Petsch as the increasingly formidable final girl. <\/p>\n

\u201cCold Storage\u201d (In theaters Feb. 13 via Samuel Goldwyn Films) \u2014 A starry cast \u2014 including Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery, Vanessa Redgrave, Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson \u2014 leads this horror comedy about a deadly fungus escaping a military base. A-list screenwriter David Koepp adapted his own novel for this genre mash-up. <\/p>\n

\u201cPsycho Killer\u201d (In theaters Feb. 20 via 20th Century Studios) \u2014 Producer Gavin Polone\u2019s feature directorial debut stars Georgina Campbell and Malcolm McDowell. The story centers on an officer who pursues a serial killer who killed her husband. <\/p>\n

\u201cScream 7\u201d (In theaters Feb. 27 via Paramount Pictures) \u2014 Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox topline another installment of the long-running series, with original film writer Kevin Williamson in the director\u2019s seat this time. Expect several other alumni to drop by this chapter, too. <\/p>\n

\tOff the Beaten Path<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Honey
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Cat People\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhistle\u201d (In theaters Feb. 6 via Independent Film Company and Shudder) \u2014 Dafne Keen leads this supernatural tale about an Aztec death whistle that dooms whoever blows in it. Corin Hardy, who directed the 2015 indie \u201cThe Hallow\u201d and \u201cConjuring\u201d spinoff \u201cThe Nun,\u201d helms the film. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mortuary Assistant\u201d (Debuting on Shudder on Feb. 13) \u2014 Willa Holland and Paul Sparks star in this video game adaptation directed by Jeremiah Kipp. The logline? A young woman takes the night shift at a mortuary and spooky things start happening. <\/p>\n

\u201cHoney Bunch\u201d (Debuting on Shudder on Feb. 13) \u2014 Real-life filmmaker couple Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie \u2014 whose recent film \u201cDead Lover\u201d has been a festival favorite \u2014star as a husband and wife rebuilding their relationship after she wakes up from a coma and disturbing memories emerge during intensive treatment. <\/p>\n

\tBloodcurdling Books<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Trad
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Crooked Lane Books\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTrad Wife\u201d by Saratoga Schaefer (Releasing on Feb. 10 via Crooked Lane Books) \u2014 The much-discussed Instagram trend gets the \u201cRosemary\u2019s Baby\u201d treatment as an influencer looks to dark magic to keep her too-good-to-be-true lifestyle alive. A page-turning follow-up to Schaefer\u2019s \u201cSerial Killer Support Group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDollface\u201d by Lindy Ryan (Releasing on Feb. 24 via Minotaur Books) \u2014 Ryan\u2019s suburban slasher pits gossipy PTA moms against a slasher, making for a juicy, irreverent and bloody twist on the genre.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNight of the Mannequins\u201d by Stephen Graham Jones (Releasing on Feb. 24 via Tor Nightfire) \u2014 One of Jones\u2019 novellas gets republished, and this love letter to \u201880s slashers is a tight and spooky volume that gets great mileage out of childhood fears.<\/p>\n

\tKiller Series<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"THE
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Elizabeth Morris\/PEACOCK\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe \u2018Burbs\u201d (Debuting on Peacock on Feb. 8) \u2014 This series adaptation of the cult favorite Joe Dante movie stars Keke Palmer as she moves to the suburbs and finds her neighbors engaged in some dark secrets. Paula Pell, Mark Proksch and Justin Kirk are among the cast\u2019s comedic ringers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to Horror Explorer, a curated column showcasing the month\u2019s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,39717,75,30624,165622,337,35927],"class_list":{"0":"post-467174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dracula","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-horror-explorer","13":"tag-joe-keery","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-scream"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}