What to See & When: 2026 Horror Movies at a Glance

Given the incredible year the horror genre experienced in 2025, the bar has been raised high for movies scheduled for release in 2026. 

To provide a general sense of what the slaying—er, playing field looks like for 2026, I’ve rounded up a complete and comprehensive summary (director, cast, storyline) below of 35 horror films set for theatrical release this year, listed in chronological order of their North America release dates. 

So, which of the listed below 35 horror films set for release in 2026 are you most excited to see? And any early predictions on which movie will be the top performer at the box office?

Films with Confirmed Release Dates in 2026 (listed chronologically):

WE BURY THE DEAD

Release date:  January 2, 2026

Director:  Zak Hilditch

Cast:  Daisy Ridley, Brentan Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith, Matt Whelan

Storyline:  After a catastrophic miliary disaster, the dead don’t just rise – they hunt.  Ava searches for her husband, but what she finds is far more terrifying.

OBEX

Release date:  January 9, 2026

Director: Albert Birney

Cast:  Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez, Frank Mosley, Dorothy

Storyline:  Conor Marsh’s secluded life is disrupted when he plays OBEX game. His dog Sandy disappears, blurring reality and game. Conor enters the OBEX world to rescue Sandy, navigating its strange realms.

PRIMATE

Release date:  January 9, 2026

Director: Johannes Roberts

Cast:  Kevin McNally, Jessica Alexander, Johnny Sequoyah, Troy Kotsur

Storyline:  A group of friends’ tropical vacation turns into a terrifying, primal tale of horror and survival.

28 YEARS LATER:  THE BONE TEMPLE

Release date:  January 16, 2026

Director:  Nia DaCosta

Cast:  Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Emma Laird, Chi Lewis-Parry

Storyline:  As Spike is inducted into Jimmy Crystal’s gang on the mainland, Dr. Kelson makes a discovery that could alter the world.

NIGHT PATROL

Release date:  January 16, 2026

Director:   Ryan Prows

Cast:  Dermot Mulroney, Justin Long, Jermaine Fowler, CM Punk

Storyline:  An L.A. cop discovers a local task force is hiding a secret that puts the residents of his childhood neighborhood in danger.

RETURN TO SILENT HILL

Release date:  January 23, 2026

Director: Christopher Gans

Cast:  Jeremy Irvine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Robert Strange, Evie Templeton

Storyline:  When a man receives a mysterious letter from his lost love, he is drawn to Silent Hill, a once familiar town now consumed by darkness.

SEND HELP

Release date:  January 30, 2026

Director:  Sam Raimi

Cast:  Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Bruce Campbell, Dennis Haysbert

Storyline:  Two colleagues become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. On the island, they must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it’s a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive.

FEBRUARY

THE STRANGERS:  CHAPTER 3

Release date:  February 6, 2026

Director:  Renny Harlin

Cast:  Madelaine Petsch, Richard Brake, Rachel Shenton, Gabriel Basso

Storyline:  In the Strangers finale, survivors face new threats from masked strangers. Secrets emerge, jeopardizing their lives as the line between reality and peril blurs in their battle for survival.

DRACULA:  A LOVE TALE

Release date:  February 6, 2026

Director: Luc Besson

Cast:  Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu, Guillaume de Tonquédec

Storyline:  When a 15th-century prince denounces God after the loss of his wife, he inherits an eternal curse: he becomes Dracula. Condemned to wander the centuries, he defies fate and death, guided by a single hope – to be reunited with his lost love.

GALE:  YELLOW BRICK ROAD

Release date:  February 11, 2026

Director:  Daniel Alexander

Cast:  Hassan Taj, Chloë Crump, Laura Kay Bailey, Karen Swan

Storyline:  Dorothy, now an elderly woman haunted by her past, tries to warn her granddaughter Emily before dark forces pull her into Oz, a once familiar land now twisted by horrors.

BROKEN BIRD

Release date:  February 13, 2026

Director:  Joanne Mitchell

Cast:  James Fleet, Rebecca Calder, Jay Taylor, Sacharissa Claxton

Storyline: Sybil works at an undertaker’s. It’s a lonely job, with few perks so she takes solace where she can.

MIMICS

Release date:  February 13, 2026

Director:  Kristoffer Polaha

Cast:  Kristoffer Polaha, Moriah, Stephen Tobolowsky, Chris Parnell

Storyline:  Down-on-his-luck impressionist Sam Reinhold makes a pact with Fergus, a wicked, strings-attached puppet-that holds the promise to propel Sam to stardom, unleashing a nightmare that threatens the safety of those he holds dear.

THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT

Release date:  February 13, 2026

Director:  Jeremiah Kipp

Cast:  Paul Sparks, Willa Holland, Mark Steger, Shelly Gibson

Storyline:  The film follows Rebecca Owens, a mortuary science graduate who takes a night job at River Fields Mortuary. What begins as a routine job soon turns sinister as she faces terrifying supernatural forces.

PSYCHO KILLER

Release date:  February 20, 2026

Director:  Gavin Polone

Cast:  Malcolm McDowell, Georgina Campbell, John B. Lowe, Logan Miller

Storyline:  A police officer tracks a killer after her husband, a highway patrolman, becomes one of his victims.

THIS IS NOT A TEST

Release date:  February 20, 2026

Director: Adam MacDonald

Cast:  Olivia Holt, Luke Macfarlane, Froy Gutierrez, Chloe Avakian

Storyline:  The movie follows Sloane and four other students who take shelter in their high school during a zombie outbreak.

SCREAM 7

Release date:  February 27, 2026

Director:  Kevin Williamson

Cast:  Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown

Storyline: When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the town where Sidney Prescott has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter becomes the next target.

MARCH

THE BRIDE!

Release date:  March 6, 2026

Director:  Maggie Gyllenhaal

Cast:  Jessie Buckley, Jake Gyllenhaal, Christian Bale, Annette Bening

Storyline:  In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.

UNDERTONE

Release date:  March 13, 2026

Director: Ian Tuason

Cast:  Nina Kiri, Kris Holden-Ried, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas

Storyline:  A podcast host covering spooky content moves in to care for her dying mother. When sent recordings of a pregnant couple’s paranormal encounters, she discovers their story parallels hers, each tape pushing her toward madness.

ALPHA

Release date:  March 27, 2026

Director:  Julia Ducournau

Cast:  Tahar Rahim, Golshifteh Farahani, Melissa Boros, Emma Mackey

Storyline:   Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old lives with her single mom.  Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.

HUNTING MATTHEW NICHOLS

Release date:  March 27, 2026

Director:  Markian Tarasiuk

Cast:  Markian Tarasiuk, Christine Willes, Miranda MacDougall, Jay Hindle

Storyline: Twenty-three years after her brother vanished, a filmmaker investigates his disappearance. Uncovering evidence, she suspects he may still be alive, fueling her quest to unravel the mystery.

THEY WILL KILL YOU

Release date:  March 27, 2026

Director:  Kirill Sokolov

Cast:  Patricia Arquette, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Zazie Beetz

Storyline:  A woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC high-rise, unaware of the building’s history of disappearances. She soon realizes the community is shrouded in mystery.

READY OR NOT:  HERE I COME

Release date:  March 27, 2026

Directors:  Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett    

Cast:  Elijah Wood, Samara Weaving, Shawn Hatosy, Kevin Durand

Storyline:  After surviving one deadly game, Grace and her sister Faith must now outrun four rival families competing for a powerful throne – winner takes all.

MAY

HOKUM

Release date:  May 1, 2026

Director:  Damian McCarthy    

Cast:  Adam Scott, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh

Storyline:  A horror writer visits an Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, unaware the property is said to be haunted by a witch.

OBSESSION

Release date:  May 15, 2026

Director:  Curry Barker

Cast:  Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless

Storyline:  After breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

JUNE

PINOCCHIO:  UNSTRUNG

Release date:  June 4, 2026

Director:  Rhys Frake-Waterfield

Cast:  Robert Englund, Richard Brake, Cameron Bell, Jessica Balmer

Storyline:  A dark reimagining of Pinocchio, this unsettling tale explores the eerie nature of the iconic puppet, blurring reality and fantasy.

SCARY MOVIE 6

Release date:  June 12, 2026

Director:  Michael Tiddes

Cast:  Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Anna Faris, Chris Elliott

Storyline:  Plot currently unknown.

JULY

EVIL DEAD BURN

Release date:  July 24, 2026

Director:  Sebastien Vanicek

Cast:  Luciane Buchanan, Hunter Doohan, Souheila Yacoub, Erroll Shand

Storyline:  Plot currently unknown.

AUGUST

FLOWERVALE STREET

Release date: August 14, 2026

Director:  David Robert Mitchell

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Christian Convery, Chris Coy

Storyline: A family in the 80s start to notice bizarre happenings in their neighborhood.

INSIDIOUS:  THE BLEEDING WORLD

Release date:  August 21, 2026

Director:  Jacob Chase

Cast:  Sam Spruell, Lin Shaye, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Brandon Perea

Storyline:  Plot currently unknown.

SEPTEMBER

CLAYFACE

Release date:  September 11, 2026

Director:  James Watkins

Cast: Naomi Ackie, Eddie Marsan, Max Minghella, Tom Rhys Harries

Storyline:  A shape-shifting creature made of magical clay haunts Gotham City, alternating between villain and ally of Batman. Multiple tragic figures have taken on the Clayface mantle over the years.

RESIDENT EVIL

Release date:  September 18, 2026

Director:  Zach Cregger

Cast:  Paul Walter Hauser, Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis

Storyline:  Follows a hapless courier tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.

OCTOBER

TERRIFIER 4

Release date:  October 1, 2026

Director:  Damien Leone

Cast:  David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam

Storyline:  Plot currently unknown.

OTHER MOMMY

Release date:  October 9, 2026

Director:  Rob Savage

Cast:  Karen Allen, Jessica Chastain, Dichen Lachman, Jay Duplass

Storyline:  Bela, an 8-year-old girl living in a home with marital problems, confronts a sinister entity that comes out of her closet. The presence, whom she calls “Other Mommy,” becomes increasingly threatening to her and her family.

UNTITLED JORDAN PEELE MOVIE

Release date:  October 23, 2026

Director:  Jordan Peele

Cast:  T.B.D.

Storyline:  Plot currently unknown.

DECEMBER

WERWULF

Release date:  December 25, 2026

Director:  Robert Eggers

Cast:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Lily-Rose Depp

Storyline:  In medieval Britain, a mysterious creature stalks the foggy countryside, transforming local folklore into terrifying reality as villagers face an ancient supernatural threat.

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