The Best Horror Movies And TV Of 2026 So Far

Every couple of years, the rest of the media world discovers horror. “Remembers” might be a better word for it, given the cyclical nature of the phenomenon, but the coverage always has a hint of disbelief to it as it reports on the latest horror movie (or movies) to break records at the box office. But fans of the genre know that horror has always been a place where independent creators can thrive.

The two titles that have dominated headlines so far in 2026 — Curry Barker’s Obsession and Kane Parson’s Backrooms — both feature on Inverse’s list of the best horror films and TV shows of the year so far. But those aren’t the only electrifying displays of originality on display here. Even the sequels on our list put fresh new spins on their respective franchises, proving that horror continues to be the most exciting genre out there.

10. Leviticus

Once the stuff of whispers and innuendo, queer horror has blossomed into its own subgenre in recent years. This Australian riff on the concept completely avoids the camp factor built into many queer horror movies, instead building a dark visual metaphor that effectively conveys the terror of being closeted in a small town. Although the monster — an unstoppable shape-shifting demon that takes the form of whatever its victims desire most — is undoubtedly scary, the real horror here comes from the way religious parents abandon their gay children in the name of fitting in. Grisly, sobering, and artfully made, Leviticus is a powerful example of horror as a vessel for empathy. — Katie Rife

9. Widow’s Bay

During its slow ascendancy to sleeper-hit status, Widow’s Bay has earned a lot of comparisons to other TV classics like Twin Peaks, Atlanta, Parks and Rec, and Lost. But nothing comes close to capturing this lighting-in-a-bottle show. Created by Katie Dippold of that Babadook tweet fame, and executive-produced by Atlanta’s Hiro Murai, Widow’s Bay follows Matthew Rhys’ hapless mayor Tom Loftis as he attempts to turn the isolated island town of Widow’s Bay into a tourist hot spot — if only the superstitious locals would comply. But the centuries-old curse turns out to be very real, putting a real damper on Tom’s plans to make Widow’s Bay the “next Martha’s Vineyard.” Widow’s Bay walks a terrific tonal tightrope, hopping between dry workplace comedy, campy horror, and creepy, surreal thrills. It’s what makes it one of the best shows of the year. — Hoai-Tran Bui

8. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

The first Ready or Not was a shotgun blast of a movie with a fairly unique take on the classic “death games” subgenre. So how could a sequel offer something worthwhile? The answer, apparently, is to take the John Wick: Chapter 2 route. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a massive expansion of the film’s world, complete with an eccentric ensemble of hapless elites, even more exhilarating set pieces, and another grueling scream-queen performance by Samara Weaving, this time accompanied by an appropriately insufferable Kathryn Newton as her estranged sister. It’s a Looney Tunes adaptation of The Most Dangerous Game. What more could you want? — Chrishaun Baker

7. Faces of Death

Given that the series it’s based on is remembered more for its shock value than its artistic merit, Faces of Death is a far more thoughtful, and even political, film than it needed to be. The snuff-movie aesthetics are designed to make viewers uncomfortable, and the film’s villain, played by a slithering Dacre Montgomery, is supposed to be an extremely off-putting man. Both are effective, creating a suitably unsettling base for this modern exploitation movie’s sharp and intelligent exploration of how 24/7 online access to images of real violence is destroying our ability to trust each other, both on an interpersonal and a societal level. — Katie Rife

6. Backrooms

Backrooms is, for better or worse, the herald of a new era of studio horror, replacing the didactic allegories of the mid- to late 2010s with the formless, suffocating atmosphere of the internet’s beloved “liminal horror.” Kane Parsons’ debut is an ambitious and unnerving exploration of a yellow-wallpaper labyrinth of memory and self-perception, as well as a ’90s period piece that intentionally evokes the uncanny wrongness of so many lazy attempts to replicate the cultural artifacts of the past. Ironically for a movie so fascinated with horrific, thoughtless regurgitation, it also marks the arrival of a fresh new perspective. — Chrishaun Baker

5. Mother Mary

Pop phantasmagoria has never felt so haunting as in David Lowery’s Mother Mary. Though its promo claimed to shun both, it is both a ghost story and a love story, just in a roundabout way. When a pop icon (Anne Hathaway) reconnects with the designer (Michaela Coel) who built her aesthetic from the ground up, hoping for reconciliation and a new dress to herald her comeback, it’s hard to ignore the hate and the hurt festering between them. It takes a supernatural touch — culminating in a kind of séance for their long-buried relationship — to start the healing process, and with an ethereal soundtrack to light the path, Lowery brilliantly splits the difference between spectacle and substance. — Lyvie Scott

4. Obsession

With Obsession, Curry Barker managed to transmute the waking nightmares of a generation of anxious-avoidants into a morality fable that’s as inescapable as the consequences of “nice guy” Bear’s (Michael Johnston) dangerously shortsighted wish. Seriously, you can’t run or hide from this movie — it’s been dissected and praised endlessly by a wave of primarily younger viewers, many of whom immediately empathize with the loss of autonomy experienced by Nikki (Inde Navarrette) as she degenerates into a terrifyingly inhuman simulacrum of the “perfect girlfriend,” courtesy of Navarrette’s remarkably versatile performance. It’s a Twilight Zone premise for Gen Z that has given YouTube video essayists enough material to last for decades. — Chrishaun Baker

3. Hokum

Damian McCarthy’s films are precision engineered to make viewers jump and giggle in their seats. The Irish director’s latest cinematic campfire story is his biggest yet in terms of budget and star power, featuring Adam Scott in a rare dramatic role as an alcoholic novelist whose attempts to find a missing bartender at a haunted hotel in the Irish countryside send him down a dark and deadly rabbit hole. That’s meant somewhat literally, as an ominous rabbit-man and a dumbwaiter into the void both factor into what comes next. Ratcheting up almost unbearable tension before releasing it in cathartic bursts, Hokum is the most well-crafted horror movie of 2026 so far. — Katie Rife

2. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

The gonzo, unexpectedly kinetic final scene of last year’s 28 Years Later was a hard-to-follow curveball pitch that nobody saw coming, but Nia DaCosta’s follow-up The Bone Temple cracks it right out of the park. The sequel uses the tracksuited Power Rangers antics promised by the previous film as a Trojan horse, smuggling in ideas about the nightmarish endpoint of unchecked religious dogma and blind nostalgia for a regressive past. It’s a legacy sequel unafraid to wrestle with the frightening ways the world has changed since the original, filtered primarily through some career-best work from Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell. — Chrishaun Baker

1. Send Help

Sam Raimi makes live-action cartoons, and Send Help is no exception. Buoyed by career-best work from screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, Raimi’s latest satirical horror film is a claws-out revenge fantasy for downtrodden office workers sick of being exploited by idiots. The tactics that underappreciated corporate analyst Linda (Rachel McAdams) uses to keep her failson boss Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) in check after they get stranded on a desert island together are, let’s say, controversial. But even when the film gets grisly, Raimi maintains a sense of demented good fun, up to and including a pitch-black twist in the final act. — Katie Rife