Best New Horror Movies of 2026

Critics Consensus: Putting director Sam Raimi's penchant for diabolical mayhem to great use, Send Help doesn't need any assistance in thrills thanks to a very game Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien along with a viciously clever script.

Synopsis: In "Send Help," two colleagues become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. On the island, they must overcome past... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert

Directed By: Sam Raimi

Critics Consensus: A direct continuation of 28 Years Later that ups the gore while deepening the dread, The Bone Temple is finely adorned by Nia DaCosta's unnerving direction as well as Ralph Fiennes and Jack O'Connell's inspired performances.

Synopsis: Expanding upon the world created by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland in 28 Years Later -- but turning that world on its head -- Nia... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Alfie Williams, Jack O'Connell, Erin Kellyman

Directed By: Nia DaCosta

Critics Consensus: Anchored by Daisy Ridley's magnetic performance and a grimly inventive premise, We Bury the Dead keenly uses familiar zombie tropes as a framework to deliver a beautifully shot, emotionally resonant meditation on loss and grief.

Synopsis: After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don't just rise -- they hunt. The military insists they are harmless and slow-moving, offering hope to grieving... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Matt Whelan, Mark Coles Smith

Directed By: Zak Hilditch

Critics Consensus: That's one bad ape, and Primate is one lean, mean, effective chiller.

Synopsis: In PRIMATE, a group of friends' tropical vacation turns into a terrifying, primal tale of horror and survival.

Starring: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant

Directed By: Johannes Roberts

Critics Consensus: Whistle doesn't blow it when it comes to milking some memorable frights from its nifty conceit, although this horror flick could've dared to be more original beyond its main hook.

Synopsis: A misfit group of unwitting high school students stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle. They discover that blowing the whistle and... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Percy Hynes White, Nick Frost

Directed By: Corin Hardy

Critics Consensus: A claustrophobic video game adaptation that can veer into just plain stifling, Iron Lung is more interesting for its production than its story, but it conjures enough atmosphere to announce Mark Edward Fischbach as a filmmaker to watch.

Synopsis: The stars are gone. The planets have disappeared. Only individuals aboard space stations or starships were left to give the end a name -- The... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Mark Edward Fischbach, Caroline Kaplan, Troy Baker, Elsie Lovelock

Directed By: Mark Edward Fischbach

Critics Consensus: Night Patrol boasts a killer premise and committed performances, but Ryan Prows' scattershot direction and an overstuffed screenplay undercut its cinematic prowess.

Synopsis: An LAPD officer must put aside his differences with the area's street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harboring a horrific... View Full Synopsis

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

Directed By: Ryan Prows

Critics Consensus: Buoyed by Caleb Landry Jones' haunting lead performance and Danny Elfman's lush score, Dracula reimagines the classic vampire myth as an emotionally charged gothic romance, yet its inconsistent tone holds it back from genre-defining greatness.

Synopsis: When a 15th-century prince (Caleb Landry Jones) witnesses the brutal murder of his wife (Zoë Bleu), he renounces God and damns heaven itself. Cursed with... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu Sidel, Matilda De Angelis

Directed By: Luc Besson

Critics Consensus: Larded up with too much blubber and not enough bite to justify the tedium, this disappointing survival thriller is beached upon arrival.

Synopsis: Hold your breath as you witness revenge rise from the deep. After a life-shattering tragedy, Trish tries to comfort her best friend, Maddie, by taking... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Virginia Gardner, Melanie Jarnson, Mitchell Hope, Isaac Crawley

Directed By: Jo-Anne Brechin

Critics Consensus: A dismal conclusion to a trilogy that had already exhausted The Strangers' appeal from the jump, this final chapter goes to show that familiarity can breed contempt.

Synopsis: In the final film of The Strangers trilogy, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) faces the masked killers one last time in a brutal, full-circle reckoning of survival... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath, Richard Brake

Directed By: Renny Harlin

Critics Consensus: Qu'est-ce que c'est? Better run, run, run, run, run, run, run away.

Synopsis: Following the brutal murder of her husband, a Kansas highway patrol officer (Georgina Campbell) sets out on a journey to track down the perpetrator. As... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Georgina Campbell, James Preston Rogers, Grace Dove, Logan Miller

Directed By: Gavin Polone