MONTH IN REVIEW: MAY 2026

It's not always easy to keep track of the world of horror day-to-day. So here's a round up of what's happened last month and a glimpse of what we can expect in the coming weeks...

I don’t think it’s unfair to say that 2026 hasn’t been the most inspiring year for horror so far. It’s not that everything we’ve been served up has been bad — far from it. But it does feel as though most genre releases this year have landed somewhere in the middle. There were high hopes for films like Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, The Bride, Ready or Not Here I Come and Scream 7, but all of them have been fairly average, if we're being honest. Thankfully, May has gone some way towards changing that.

First up was Hokum, a film about an American author (Andy Scott) who visits a remote hotel in rural Ireland to scatter the ashes of his parents, who once honeymooned there. He becomes increasingly obsessed with stories of a witch said to haunt the now-sealed honeymoon suite. Creepy shenanigans ensue. This is Irish director Damian McCarthy’s biggest-budget movie to date and probably his best too (although both Oddity and Caveat are excellent in their own right). Scott is terrific as the grumpy lead and, while there’s a nice streak of black comedy running through it, the film is genuinely frightening at times. A properly ghoulish folk horror that will have you squirming in your seat. It performed well too, taking $24m at the box office - not bad for a film that cost just $5m to make.

Mortal Kombat 2 was next up on the big screen and, although it’s not quite the leap forward many were hoping for, it is still an improvement on its predecessor and delivers good, solid, disposable fun. It remains one of the better video game adaptations around, that’s for sure. It’s taken over $120m too, which isn’t bad going.

Curry Barker’s Obsession was a film surrounded by a fair amount of hype. The twentysomething YouTuber’s first feature, Milk and Serial, suggested there was some real potential there and, sure enough, Obsession delivers on it. The synopsis is built around a classic Monkey’s Paw setup. A lonely young man makes a throwaway wish that the girl he has a crush on would reciprocate his feelings and... well, let’s just say it doesn’t go to plan. This is really good stuff. Barker folds social awkwardness into a familiar wish-gone-wrong premise and shines a light on toxic relationships in the process. It’s genuinely funny in places but mostly deeply unsettling, with definite Hereditary and Talk to Me vibes. Inde Navarrette is outstanding too - both as the likeable, playful pre-wish Nikki and, especially, the unhinged post-wish version. This has also been a huge commercial success, taking $114m at the box office so far. Barker reportedly made it for around $1m, which makes it even more impressive.

Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada was also released and, although there’s less horror and more mystery and drama on offer here, it’s still worth a mention. You either connect with Jenkin’s style or you don’t. If you liked Enys Men, then this will be a bit of a treat. The film follows a mysterious boat that returns to a Cornish village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew in the hope of finding better fortune, but after a single voyage they find themselves transported back in time and mistaken for the original crew. It’s weird, hypnotic, haunting and, arguably, Jenkin’s best film to date.

It’s a shame that Passenger didn’t quite live up to the hype, though. The trailers certainly whetted the appetite and the fact that André Øvredal was at the helm only raised expectations further. Although it’s decent enough and still worth checking out, it felt like a bit of a comedown after Obsession and Hokum. There are a handful of excellent scares and it looks every bit as good as you’d expect an Øvredal film to look, but it’s no The Autopsy of Jane Doe. It’s done reasonably well financially, taking $20m so far.

And finally, we had Backrooms. We haven’t published our review just yet, but it’s all written up and we can confirm that it’s another horror high point of the year. The film has its roots in creepypasta (no, this isn’t an ominous-looking bowl of rigatoni - look it up) and plays with the idea of reality glitching in the same way computer games do. A24 handed directing duties to 21-year-old Kane Parsons, better known as Kanepixels, who made a series of horror shorts on the subject a few years ago. Produced by the likes of James Wan and Osgood Perkins, and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, this is a confident blend of the surreal and the terrifying. You don’t need to know the backstory or get bogged down in the metaphysics of it all. Just go and see it. It’s reportedly A24’s biggest opening ever and made $38m on its first day alone. Madness. Believe the hype.

Looking ahead to June, we probably need to temper our expectations a little, especially when it comes to theatrical releases. Arriving on the 5th is Chum, released on VOD. This one sounds a little like Dangerous Animals in that it follows a small group of friends on a yacht who find themselves trapped between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer. Alice Eve is in it, which is always a bonus — and besides, who doesn’t love a shark movie?

The same day also brings Devil in the Dust to Paramount Plus. This horror-western stars Guy Pearce, DeWanda Wise and Bill Pullman, and follows a grieving doctor who agrees to escort a recently freed slave and her young daughter across the lawless American West. There’s just one problem: everything the little girl touches appears to die. The trio embark on a cross-country journey to seek help from a faith healer while trying to survive supernatural phenomena and violent pursuers. Without a doubt, the biggest release of the month is Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day - which is released on the 10th. It's not strictly horror, more science fiction thriller but it sees the director return to extraterrestrial subject matter and the trailer looks horror adjacent at the very least. David Koepp (Jurassic Park) has written the screenplay and John Williams has come out of retirement to do the score. He's 94!! The casting of Emily Blunt, Colin Firth and Colman Domingo adds an extra layer of quality to proceedings (if you needed it).

Two days later there are three more releases worth keeping an eye on. Find Your Friends (Shudder) sees a fun girls’ trip to Joshua Tree descend into a nightmare, while Kraken (VOD) is a Norwegian eco-horror about a marine researcher who unwittingly awakens the Kraken — a mythical, mountain-sized monster that crushes and devours everything in its path. Then we have Scary Movie (sigh), which arrives in cinemas. It’s been a looooong time since we last had one of these and, while they were undeniably stupid, there was a certain appeal to them in their early days. The trailers for this latest update aren’t particularly inspiring, though, so expectations are low. Expect “humorous” riffs on everything from Weapons and Sinners to the new Scream films.

The Voices of Our Mother comes to Shudder on the 19th. If supernatural horror and generational trauma are your thing, this could be right up your street. It centres on four estranged siblings who reunite at their family home to care for their mother after an unexplained health scare. Old tensions quickly resurface, but things take a darker turn when they begin to suspect her condition may not be medical at all.

For something a little less oppressive, Hungry arrives on VOD on the 23rd. This has often been described as a horror take on Hungry Hungry Hippos and follows a group of holidaymakers who become lost in the Louisiana swamps and find themselves hunted by a giant killer hippo. It’s got to be worth a look, right?

Finally, for physical media fans, Send Help (4th), Return to Silent Hill (4th) and The Bride (18th) all arrive in June.

Right onto the news…

• Let's start with the sad stuff. Horror author Koji Suzuki has passed away aged 68. Widely regarded as one of the most influential writers in modern horror, Suzuki was best known as the creator of the Ring novels, which helped kickstart the global J-horror boom and inspired countless adaptations around the world.

• A reboot of the 1978 horror classic Magic has officially been confirmed. The original film starred Anthony Hopkins as a troubled ventriloquist whose dummy may or may not have had a life of its own. No major casting announcements have been made yet, but horror legend Sam Raimi is directing…

• Curry Barker just keeps popping up everywhere. Following news of his involvement with several other genre projects, Barker has now officially been tapped to direct the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. Details remain scarce, but it'll be fascinating to see what one of horror's fastest-rising filmmakers does with Leatherface and company.

• Sarah Snook is reportedly set to star in a new adaptation of The Birds. The project is based on the same source material that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's legendary 1963 thriller, although this new version will be set in Alaska!

• The infected may not be done with us yet! Danny Boyle has revealed that he hopes to film the final installment of the 28 Years Later trilogy sometime next year. While nothing has been officially locked in, it sounds like the long-term plan for the franchise is still very much alive.

• Zac Efron is set to star in a new A24 adaptation of Angel Heart. The project will reportedly reimagine the dark supernatural thriller as a television series.

• A Very Young Frankenstein series has officially been announced. Some of the creative peeps behind What We Do in the Shadows are involved and Zach Galifinakis and Cary Elwes have already been cast. Mel Brooks (of course) will be an exec producer.

• Curry Barker (him again!) has also expressed interest in developing a OneWish Willow (as seen in Obsession) anthology series. Nothing has been officially greenlit at this stage, but Barker has suggested there are plenty more stories that could be told within that universe.

• Aaron Paul is heading to the wasteland! The Breaking Bad star has officially joined the cast of Fallout Season 3, although details regarding his character are being kept firmly under wraps for now.

• The upcoming X-Files reboot (from Ryan Coogler) continues to move forward, with casting news beginning to emerge. The leads were announced weeks ago but since then Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi and Ben Foster have all signed up for guest roles!

• Crystal Lake, the long-awaited Friday the 13th prequel series, is currently expected to premiere in October 2026.

• A Quiet Place Part III has begun filming. The next instalment in John Krasinski's wildly successful post-apocalyptic horror franchise has been in development for years, so it's good to see things finally moving forward.

• And finally, Netflix's animated Ghostbusters series is still very much on the way. While a release date hasn't been announced yet, the project remains in active development and promises to bring a whole new animated chapter to the Ghostbusters universe.

Finally, a handful of trailers to mention that saw the light of day in May.

• Victorian Psycho - a dark, satirical gothic horror story frequently described as "Jane Eyre meets Patrick Bateman."  Stars Maika Monroe and Thomasin McKenzie.

• Kraken (as mentioned earlier)

• Pacifico - Billed as the largest and most ambitious sci-fi theatrical film ever made in Spanish history. The story follows a group of young travelers stranded on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. They quickly find themselves in a desperate struggle to escape an evil alien presence hidden from humanity for centuries.

• Hold the Fort – an indie horror-comedy which performed well on the festival circuit last year. The plot? First time homeowners discover that their dream home in the burbs comes with a catch: a literal portal to hell.

And that’s that! We'll be uploading a retro review of the wild 1982 film Incubus in the coming days - it's a film (and article!) worth checking out if you haven’t seen it. If you thought John Cassavettes was a creep in Rosemary’s Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Til next time!