This year is sure to be filled with new horror movies that send shivers down your spine, make your palms sweaty, elevate your heart rate, and fill you with overwhelming dread. Feel free to squirm in your seat, but don’t you dare look away from the ten best horror movies releasing in 2026.
10. Primate – January 9
Step aside, killer clowns; it’s time for killer monkeys to take over. In a film that’s strictly monkey business, a family is forced to play a simian survival game with deadly consequences after their pet primate contracts rabies.
9. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – January 16
In the 28 Days Later series, those who retain their humanity must contend with and redefine what it means to be human. Directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Alex Garland comes the fourth installment in the series. We’re taken back to The Bone Temple, where Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) makes a world-shattering discovery.
8. Return to Silent Hill – January 23
Love makes you do bizarre things. It’s enough to make you venture into the horrors beyond your comprehension. And that’s just what James does after receiving a letter from his long-lost love. Based on the iconic video game Silent Hill 2, Return to Silent Hill is a film decades in the making.
7. Send Help – January 30
Visionary director Sam Raimi’s (Evil Dead trilogy, Spider-Man trilogy, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) long-awaited return to the horror genre comes in the form of Send Help. Disgruntled employee (Rachel McAdams) and her slimy boss (Dylan O’Brien) are the sole survivors of a plane crash. No longer bound by workplace etiquette and isolated from the world, who knows what horrors they will unleash upon each other?
6. The Strangers: Chapter 3 – February 6
The third and final chapter in the home invasion horror trilogy comes to a harrowing conclusion as Maya (Madelaine Petsch) endures one final fight for her life.
5. Whistle – February 6
Whistle has one of the most unique premises on this list. What happens when a bunch of teenagers discover an Aztec death whistle? Nothing good, I’ll tell you that much. Dafne Keen (Logan, Deadpool & Wolverine, The Acolyte) and Sophie Nélisse (Yellowjackets, Heated Rivalry) star.
4. Scream 7 – February 27
Everyone’s favorite final girl, Neve Campbell, reprises her role as Sidney Prescott in the legendary slasher serie’s seventh film. Prescott’s brief stint of domesticity comes to an end when a brand new Ghostface threatens her and her daughter.
3. They Will Kill You – March 27
An unpredictable job market will lead you to some strange places. InThey Will Kill You, A woman (Zazie Beetz) answers a help wanted ad for a housekeeping gig. Unbeknownst to her, her new employers are deranged cultists hellbent on sacrificing her.
2. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come – March 27
Mark March 27 as a double feature day. Grace (Samara Weaving) is thrown back into another round of aristocratic atrocities. The stakes are even higher as her sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) tags along for the ride. Will the power of sisterly love be enough to fend off four homicidal families out to get the pair?
1.Hokum – May 1
Adam Scott (Severance) plays a novelist in mourning who travels to a desolate inn in Ireland to spread his parents’ ashes. Already consumed by grief, the writer must face off against an ancient witch.
The 2026 horror movie lineup should please those looking to dip their toes into the genre and even the most hardcore horror fanatics.