It is a golden age for horror aficionados in many ways, with several dedicated streaming services catering to fans and producing original movies, including Shudder and Screambox. Plus, mainstream services are churning out a reliable supply of fright-fests. Many films nonetheless begin their journey in film festivals or theaters, including several of the most anticipated releases of the season.
“Sharks on the loose! In a category 5 storm!” Thus shouts marine scientist Dale Edwards (Djimon Hounsou) in the trailer for the upcoming Netflix film, a line that tells you more or less everything you need to know about the plot of what looks like an unabashed B-horror caper. When a catastrophic hurricane strikes a coastal town, Edwards and a motley crew who refused to evacuate, including pregnant Lisa Fields (Phoebe Dynevor) and Dale’s reclusive daughter, Dakota (Whitney Peak), must fight for survival not just against rising waters but also a gaggle of homicidal sharks washed in by the storm surge. While “Thrash” is unlikely to be honored at the Oscars, it looks like “pure pressure-cooker mayhem, a disaster thriller sharpened into a creature feature,” said Alex Miller at The Playlist. (April 10 on Netflix)
‘Hokum’
HOKUM - Official Trailer - In Theaters May 1 - YouTube
Shudder’s “Oddity” was one of the breakout horror hits of 2024, making director Damian McCarthy’s follow-up one of the year’s most eagerly awaited releases. The buzz around “Hokum” has been building based in part on a typically clever marketing campaign from its distributor, Neon, which released a brief but terrifying teaser trailer in December 2025.
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The film stars Adam Scott as Ohm Bauman, an entitled, hard-drinking American novelist who wants to scatter his parents’ ashes at the remote Irish hotel where they honeymooned. When the property’s bartender, Fiona (Florence Ordesh), disappears after telling him the honeymoon suite is haunted, all hell breaks loose. McCarthy delivers a “good old-fashioned ghost story, the kind you’d tell over a campfire to scare children,” said Katie Rife at IndieWire. (in theaters May 1)
Another film sporting copious prerelease industry buzz, “Obsession” is the debut studio feature from sketch comedian-turned-director Curry Barker, perhaps following in former The Whitest Kids U’ Know jokester Zach Cregger’s (“Barbarian”) footsteps. Bear (Michael Johnston) is a lovelorn music store clerk who stumbles on an object that grants wishes and makes his friend and co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette) fall for him — at last.
Elated at first, Bear’s happiness is cut short when it becomes clear that Nikki is no longer herself and has been transformed into something terrifyingly sinister. An “insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel,” this “simple, well-trodden concept transforms into a shocking and unsettling descent into abject horror in Barker’s capable hands,” said Meagan Navarro at Bloody Disgusting. (in theaters May 15)
In A24’s upcoming “Backrooms,” Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) is a therapist searching for her patient (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who has vanished into some kind of alternate dimension. That space seems to consist of a labyrinthine maze of strange, unsettling and nonsensical rooms underneath a furniture store.
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The concept is inspired by the internet “creepypasta” sensation — itself based on a 2003 picture of a Wisconsin HobbyTown store undergoing renovations. “Backrooms” is helmed by Kane Parsons, whose web series of found footage horror shorts acquired a devoted cult internet following. The film is built around this “expanse of extradimensional space of unknown size,” said Esquire, and its power comes from the “uncanny valley of everyday places left silent and empty.” (in theaters May 29)
The upcoming film from Paolo Strippoli, co-director of the underrated 2021 chiller “A Classic Horror Story,” revolves around Remis, a seemingly tranquil Italian mountain town, to which high school fitness teacher Sergio (Michele Riondino) moves after an undisclosed tragedy. He soon discovers the source of the town’s serenity, a boy named Matteo Corbin (Giulio Feltri), whose hugs take your pain away.
Rejuvenated, Sergio can’t resist wondering what Matteo does with the pain and takes an interest in the lonely, mysterious boy, something no one else in the town seems interested in. Part coming-out drama and part horror, this is a “moody, menacing film that rejects trite trauma metaphors in favor of an old-fashioned folk horror story,” said Alex Kaan at Phantasmag. (May 29 on Shudder)
David Faris is a professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of "It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics." He's a frequent contributor to Newsweek and Slate, and his work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Republic and The Nation, among others.
