(Photo by Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection. The Strangers: Chapter 3)
Best New Horror Movies of 2026
The latest:Send Help bloodied up the box office, and thrilled critics and audiences alike to become the number one horror film of the year! Also joining the list is this weekend’s Dracula and The Strangers: Chapter 3.
Hallelujah, it’s raining corpses! These films will absolutely drench you in buckets of blood, with enough frights to make you pee your pants (we recommend wearing diapers). Primate started us off at the beginning of 2026, proving chimpanzees are just as crazy about disemboweling teenagers as they are about eating bananas. Later in the year, Maggie Gyllenhaal will electrify us with her take on Frankenstein in The Bride!, Blumhouse will wake up the dead in Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, and Robert Eggers will wipe his hands of vampires to try out werewolves in Werwulf.
We start the list with Certified Fresh films (these movies have maintained a high Tomatometer score after enough critics reviews), followed by the hair-raising Fresh movies (these are rated at least 60%), and then concluding with the dastardly Rotten. But they’re all worth checking out, even if you only can with one eye open. — Bryce Marrero
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 [More]
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 [More]
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 [More]
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 [More]
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 [More]
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