The year isn’t quite over yet, but we’re already looking ahead to everything that 2026 has in store for us.
In particular, there is a bevy of exciting new horror films on the horizon. After a year that gave us Weapons and Sinners, we now have 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Werwulf to look forward to.
Watch With Us loves a good horror movie, so we’ve ranked the five horror films that we’re most excited to see in 2026.
Our picks include the new Sam Raimi movie, the Ready or Not sequel and more.
5. ‘The Bride!’ (March 6)
Yes, that’s right: we’re getting another reimagining of Frankenstein next year. But Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s The Bride! is going to be a lot different than Guillermo del Toro‘s adaptation of the classic Mary Shelley novel. In fact, The Bride! is more directly inspired by James Whale’s black-and-white The Bride of Frankenstein from 1935, a sequel to his Frankenstein from 1931.
The Bride! will, thus, be a fresh take on the Frankenstein lore, set in 1930s Chicago and starring Jessie Buckley as the titular Bride and Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster. The monster consults with Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) to create a companion for him, and they resurrect a murdered woman who brings Frankenstein’s monster both romance and police interest. The impressive cast also includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard.
4. ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ (March 27)
In 2019, Ready or Not delighted audiences as a crowd-pleasing, subversive blend of comedy and horror. Six years later, Ready or Not is getting the sequel treatment with the aptly titled Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. The plot centers on the sole survivor of the events of the first film, Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving), after thwarting her husband and his family, who were trying to kill her. However, her victory doesn’t come easily.
Now, the world’s wealthiest families are coming together to hunt Grace down — or risk losing their own fortunes. Though Grace refuses, she ultimately decides to play when she learns that her sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton), is also at risk. Here I Come has the same creatives behind it as its predecessor and features some exciting new cast additions, including Elijah Wood, David Cronenberg and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
3. ‘Werwulf’ (December 25)
Horror maestro Robert Eggers will follow up his reimagining of the classic black-and-white Nosferatu by moving on from vampires to werewolves. While the plot for Werwulf remains largely under wraps, we do know that it takes place in 13th-century England, where a menacing creature stalks the countryside and local folklore suddenly becomes all too real. The ensemble cast includes Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Ineson.
With a filmography of impressive genre pictures like The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman and, of course, Nosferatu, Eggers has yet to disappoint, and we can’t help but already be excited for what he has in store with Werwulf.
2. ‘Send Help’ (January 30)
After a forgettable stint helming a middling MCU film and over fifteen years since his last original feature, Evil Dead and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi returns to the director’s chair for Send Help. This horror-comedy stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle, who finds herself stranded on a deserted island alongside her overbearing boss, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), following a plane crash.
While it seems like the pair would need to set aside their grievances to work together and survive their circumstances, their situation ultimately becomes a battle of wills, as Linda suddenly finds herself in a position of power over her superior. In their first movie together after Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, McAdams, a criminally underrated comedy actress, and Raimi, who is still a master of comedic horror, Send Help looks like a match made in movie heaven.
1. ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ (January 16)
After this year’s critical and commercial success of 28 Years Later — the long-awaited continuation of the story started with 28 Days Later — director Nia DaCosta will helm the fourth film in the franchise that picks up where 28 Years Later left off. At the end of 28 Years Later, Spike (Alfie Williams) saved Dr. Kelson’s (Ralph Fiennes) life and left his isolated homeland, after which he ran into a gang of sweatsuit-donning renegades led by the enigmatic Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell).
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will follow Dr. Kelson as he forms a new relationship that could have world-changing consequences. Meanwhile, Spike joins Jimmy Crystal and his gang of acrobatic killers, though he may come to regret it. Ultimately, the infested are no longer humanity’s greatest threat; it’s each other. This movie bears an extremely exciting aspect: the return of Cillian Murphy in a brief climactic cameo that’s intended to set up his more significant inclusion in the planned fifth film.
