The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview

The 10 Best Horror Movies of the Year … So Far. Plus: The New Scary Movie Royalty, and ‘Obsession,’ With Curry Barker!

May 15, 2026/ 130 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan

Sean and Chris Ryan look at horror's midpoint on the way to Halloween: the YouTube-to-multiplex pipeline turning directors in their mid-20s into names, and a ranking of who runs the genre now. Then a rundown of 2026 so far, from the headliner 'Obsession' to festival pickups and 80-minute Shudder oddities. Closes with Sean's interview with Curry Barker about 'Obsession.'

22 films across 3 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

The state of horrorthe YouTube pipeline, and the genre's new royalty

Backrooms 2026

Kane Parsons' feature from his own Creepypasta/YouTube series, with Chiwetel Ejiofor attached. Sean calls it the big test of whether a YouTube fandom converts to a $35M opening.

Alpha 2025

Julia Ducournau's new one, less horror than body-psychosis drama and an AIDS parable. Sean found it dour, missing the mania of 'Raw' and 'Titane.'

Mother of Flies 2025

The Adams family's latest (Catskills DIY horror). Chris: very disgusting, very effective. On Shudder now.

Bodycam 2026

Brandon Christensen, whom Chris flags as up-and-coming. 75 minutes but stretched; 'a really good episode of Tales From the Crypt.'

The 2026 horror roundupthe year so far, movie by movie

Obsession 2026

The headliner. Curry Barker's monkey's-paw romance: a hopeless-romantic breaks a 'one wish willow' to win his crush, then pays for it. Both raved about Indy Navarrete, trapped inside her own body; darker and less funny than expected.

Hokum 2026

Damian McCarthy (Caveat, Oddity), the classical Shudder formalist. Adam Scott as a dickhead fantasy author at a haunted Irish hotel. Right structure, great whodunit, but never elevates; too tidy.

The Mummy 2026

Lee Cronin's third feature and biggest, ~$22-25M. Really an Exorcist movie about a possessed girl; incredibly gross, high-tension. Two hours 17 is the unforgivable sin, and its Egypt/West framing feels made in the '80s.

Exit 8 2025

Genki Kawamura's Japanese video-game adaptation (Neon). A man loops through an inescapable subway passage; labyrinthine dread for 75 minutes before it explains its trauma arc. The lockers full of babies got Chris.

Mārama 2026

Towa Stafford's chamber piece (XYZ): a young Maori woman sails 90 days to 1860 England to find her sister, into a nefarious host's house. Ariana Osborn is amazing; extraordinary style on a small budget.

Is God Is 2026

Aleshea Harris adapting her own Obie-winning play (Amazon, in theaters). Twin sisters scarred as children are sent by their dying mother to hunt their father. A Kill Bill revenge road movie; Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox. 'Fucking good.'

Undertone 2026

Ian Tewison (now rebooting Paranormal Activity). Shows nothing, largely without incident, but the intimate dread plays better solo with AirPods than in a theater. 80 minutes that feels like two hours.

Dolly 2026

Rod Blackhurst. The opposite of Undertone: shows everything, makes you sit in the pain. A strong malevolent villain in Fabianne Therese. Also feels padded past its 80 minutes.

Affection 2026

A good Jessica Rothe performance and a wild premise, reminiscent of Frankenheimer's 'Seconds.' The first 40 minutes grip; then at the 50-minute mark it tells you exactly what it is.

Faces of Death 2026

Daniel Goldhaber's remake, maybe Sean's favorite horror movie of the year. About our fascination with extremity and the person moderating that content; less snuff than a commentary on it. 'Goldhaber's got some juice.'

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple 2026

Chris's likely movie of the year so far, if you count it as horror. Terrifying.

Primate 2026

A quick rave: Chris 'had a ball' with it.

Send Help 2026

Another one Chris had a ball with.

Dooba Dooba 2025

Skinamarink-adjacent CCTV/security-cam horror: a babysitting job the sitter can't leave. 75 minutes, a little long, but scary when it's scary, and silly by design.

Cold Storage 2026

An '80s-feeling sci-fi/gross-out creature feature with Joe Keery. Reminded Chris of the remake of 'The Blob.' Fun.

Do Not Enter 2026

Social-media urban-explorers break into a haunted, mole-people-infested Atlantic City casino chasing hidden money. Part of horror's current run on influencers going where they shouldn't.

In conversation

Curry Barker

Obsession 2026

The Alabama-raised, YouTube-bred writer-director on the monkey's-paw idea (sparked by a Simpsons episode, not the 1902 story), directing Indy Navarrete to play 'crazy jealous girlfriend' instead of demon, keeping the lore unexplained, and choosing not to cast himself. Under $1M, acquired out of TIFF's Midnight Madness in a Neon/A24/Focus bidding war.

Curry Barker

Anything But Ghosts 2027

His next film (Focus), a buddy comedy he stars in with Cooper Tomlinson as two ghost hunters who find real ghosts. Also features Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Upcoming horror on the radar Resident Evil The Young People Clayface Other Mommy The Revenge of La Llorona Evil Dead Burn Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Leviticus Whale Fall Buddy DiggerDragonsThe Flood Soul Mate Terrifier 4 In a Violent Nature 2 Creature from the Black Lagoon The Legend of Zelda Street Fighter Mortal Kombat II

The power-ranking roll call Talk to Me Bring Her Back Longlegs The Monkey Keeper Smile The Gorge Black Phone 2 Doctor Strange The Conjuring: Last Rites M3GAN M3GAN 2.0 Companion Eden Lake The Woman in Black The Blackcoat's Daughter Raw Titane In a Violent Nature Evil Dead Rise Weapons Fear Street: Prom Queen Hellbender Where the Devil Roams Iron Lung Shelby Oaks Infested Superhost Night of the Reaper Vampires Event Horizon

Touchstones & the canon The Exorcist Halloween A Nightmare on Elm Street Carrie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Paranormal Activity The Ring Possession Terrified Speak No Evil Barbarian Midsommar Seconds Skinamarink Southbound The Blob Predator: Badlands AVP: Alien vs. Predator Mortal Kombat

Also invoked Star Wars The Substance Kill Bill: Vol. 1 Reservoir Dogs Ferris Bueller's Day Off Garden State Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Widow's BayTales from the CryptThe Twilight ZoneGoosebumpsThe Last of UsKey & PeeleMad TVWorkaholicsIt's Always Sunny in PhiladelphiaThe Whitest Kids U'KnowEastbound & DownThe Dark Tower (Flanagan series)Carrie (Flanagan series)

YouTube Milk and CerealThe ChairWarningsThat's a Bad IdeaPopcorn CultureAvaloop

Games Perfect Dark

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