I live for horror films, they are my comfort food especially when the real world gets too scary. And 2026 is looking tasty as both veteran horror directors and some young bloods have promising items on the menu. (Note: Films are listed by release date rather than preference.)
1. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – January 16
Last year, 28 Years Later marked a disappointing return to the franchise, with original director Danny Boyle not finding anything fresh or compelling to say. But the one high point of the film was the section involving Ralph Fiennes and The Bone Temple. This month, Nia DaCosta (who did an inspired Candyman remake and a clever reimagining of Hedda Gabler) directs the second installment of the franchise’s new trilogy. Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson and his wicked cool memorial to death return, as well as Jack O’Connell (a standout in Sinners) and Alfie Williams as the young hero Spike.
2. A Useful Ghost – January 16
This is Thailand’s official submission for Best International Feature Film for the 98th Academy Awards. I had the opportunity to see it at the San Diego Asian Film Festival last year and it is unique. It leans more toward supernatural comedy but takes a dark turn toward the end. It actually feels like two films. The first is an oddball ghost tale romance about a wife coming back as a vacuum cleaner to be with her beloved husband. Yes, you read that right. The second story is connected to the first but turns the focus to ghosts who have been wronged by the people and corporations they worked for, and now they seek retribution.
Truly inventive and unexpected, delivering laughs as well as pathos and chills.
3. Mother of Flies – January 23
The Adams family—Toby Poser, John Adams, and Zelda Adams—has a new tale for you, Mother of Flies. Their impressive body of work includes The Deeper You Dig, Hellbender, Where the Devil Roams, and Hell Hole. Mother of Flies serves up a witchy tale involving a young woman facing life-threatening health issues and seeking out a witch in the woods for a spell to change her fate. Of course everything comes at a price.
For their latest film, family member Lulu has a more featured role than she has had in the past. The Adams family work outside the Hollywood studio system and are even on the fringes of indie cinema. Maybe that’s why they deliver inspired and clever riffs on the horror genre.
4. Return to Silent Hill – January 23
Christophe Gans gave us the intensely fun and darkly compelling Brotherhood of the Wolf back in 2001. Then he brought the video game Silent Hill to the screen in 2006. He created some intensely vivid visuals but fell short on the actual storyline. Now he returns with a second installment of the video game, and it has the potential to be a fun, surreal ride.
5. Send Help – January 30
Sam Raimi returning to directing horror is big news. The last horror feature he did was Drag Me to Hell in 2009. He did delight us with Ash Vs. the Evil Dead on TV and has produced the Evil Dead reboots, but having him back in the director’s chair for a new original horror film is something to get excited about.
Send Help gives us Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) as an abused employee who finds herself stranded on a desert island with her asshole boss, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). The tables get turned with Liddle savoring a chance for revenge. I’m sure there will be a lot of over-the-top fun as the two engage in a battle of wits and wills to see who will survive. And who doesn’t want to see their boss get their just desserts?
6. Dracula – February 6
Okay, Luc Besson is a wildly erratic filmmaker with gems like Léon: The Professional, Le Femme Nikita, and The Fifth Element, but he has also created some duds like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Now he wants to try his hand at Bram Stoker’s bloodsucking classic with Caleb Landry Jones as Vlad/Dracula, Christoph Waltz as the stand-in for Van Helsing (Besson seems to be messing with the original text), and Zoë Bleu as Elisabeta / Mina. Danny Elfman composed the score. I am cautiously hopeful.
7. The Bride! – March 6
So Maggie Gyllenhaal had never seen the 1935 classic film The Bride of Frankenstein but was inspired to revisit it after seeing a tattoo of The Bride on a man’s arm. Not sure if that is the best starting point for a film but I’m game for this radical reimagining of the story that lets The Bride have a voice and center stage.
Jessie Buckley is the Bride in what looks to be a feminist take on the horror tale by Mary Shelley. Christian Bale is on hand as Frankenstein’s Monster. Trailer looks both punky and jokey so curious to see where this goes.
8. Alpha – March 27
Julia Ducournau may only have two feature films under her belt – Raw and Titane – but they are such audacious and wildly unpredictable films that I am ravenous to see what she does next. Ducournau’s films have been fueled by body horror and I’m not sure if that will be the case for Alpha but the story appears to be set in motion by a troubled 13-year-old getting a tattoo. The trailer reveals little of what the plot actually might be but whets your appetite with crazy, intense visuals.
Along with Raimi’s return to horror, this is the horror film I am most looking forward to. Can’t wait!
9. Violent Night 2 – December 4
Violent Night was a surprisingly successful (both at the box office and with critics) horror comedy fueled by a lot of clever, holiday-inspired kills. David Harbour is back as the kickass Santa Claus in this sequel to 2022’s Christmas action thriller. Tommy Wirkola is also back to direct so that’s very promising. Not sure what holiday horrors he’ll serve up to entertain us this time but I’m eager to unwrap it.
10. Werwulf – December 25
And to end the year, here’s another highly anticipated film, Robert Eggers’ Werwulf. It promises to be a 13th-century medieval take on the werewolf legend. Although not a direct follow-up to Eggers’ Nosferatu, it feels like a spiritual sequel and even features some of the same cast—Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe. Eggers co-wrote the screenplay with Sjón, the Icelandic poet/novelist that he co-wrote The Northman with.
I have loved all of Eggers’ films (especially The Witch and The Lighthouse) and appreciate his intense attention to detail. Hoping this proves to be a perfect way to ring out 2026.
Quick Honorable Mentions: Worldbreaker (January 30) from Session 9 director Brad Anderson; Iron Lung (January 30) based on the indie horror game; Psycho Killer (February 20) from Gavin Polone and featuring Malcolm McDowell; Hunting Matthew Nichols (March 27) which serves up a “documentary” about a man who vanished while filming a Blair Witch Project-inspired investigation; Ready or Not: Here I Come (March 27) serves up a sequel to the popular horror film; Evil Dead Burn (July 24), an Evil Dead film from Infested director Sébastien Vaniček; Flowervale Street (August 14), from It Follows director David Robert Mitchell; The Backrooms (TBD), a big-screen take on Kane Parsons’ viral YouTube horror universe; and The Young People (TBD) from director Osgood Perkins.
As George A. Romero used to say, “Stay scared.”
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