Somehow, 2026 is already halfway over. Around this time is when I decide to lock in and get going on building up how many films I’ve watched this year. In terms of new releases, that just means getting out to the theater more often, but for the older ones, it can be digging around to find anything that may be interesting on any given streaming service or video store. If you’re anything like me, I hope these five horror films give you a good direction to go for some less expected or obvious picks.
Bug (2007)
As anyone who’s seen The Exorcist or any other of his films would know, William Friedkin was a monster behind the camera. He’s one of those directors that every time you see one of his films, it makes you think, “Damn! I gotta watch more of his movies!” Bug is no exception. It primarily centers itself around two primary characters: Agnes (played unflinchingly by Ashley Judd), a lonely and poor waitress living in a small motel room in rural Oklahoma, and Peter (Michael Shannon’s brilliant breakout performance), a mysterious and quiet veteran who strikes up a relationship with Agnes. At first, it sets Agnes up in an empathetic way, and trapped in a terrible mental state, receiving mysterious and silent phone calls and wallowing in her own misery due to tragic events in her past. As her former abusive husband gets out of prison, she’s threatened with even more dire emotional circumstances…that is, until the quiet and kind Peter enters her life. Their relationship blossoms quickly. They seem to complement each other perfectly, but unfortunately, as you can imagine, that does not last long. It transforms into a true psychological nightmare as paranoia utterly consumes them. It plunges you deep into a void where the last thing you’ll get is certainty. What Friedkin decides to show you, or more importantly, what not to show you, is both masterful and disquieting. Eventually, psychological barriers are torn down, relationships are broken, and true blood is shed. It isolates, degrades, and victimizes the characters on a tightrope so thin that it both sheds horrifying light on the extremity of paranoia while also keeping consistent empathy for the main duo. The final 20 to 25 minutes will floor you, and it has stuck in my mind for days since I first watched it.
Watch it on the Roku Channel, Hoopla, Starz
Cannibal Mukbang (2023)
I know the kind of eyerolls and expectations a title like Cannibal Mukbang evokes. I went into it in a similar state of mind; I thought it would either be a movie so “self-aware” or “tongue-in-cheek” that it would be lazy not to do much else or just be too low-budget to be of much quality, resulting in something more boring or trashy. I am here to tell you that not only do those assessments not represent the movie, but it truly exceeded all expectations I had for it. While not as good, part of this genuinely reminded me of a prototype version of Obsession. It follows a shy and aimless guy named Mark who, after having a meet-cute (via being run over with her car) with Ash, proceeds to strike up a relationship with her. It more closely follows the structure and progression of a rom-com than a traditional horror film. The rom-com trope it riffs on is the shy main character getting used to his newfound partner’s weird quirk, only to find his own self-confidence along the way through learning to live a little and accept out-of-the-box lifestyles. In this case, that weird quirk ends up being hunting down bad men, killing them, and eating them to create mukbang internet content (for the uninitiated – it means content centered around eating on camera). That trope in no way spoils the movie, by the way. Quite the contrary – the arcs of the characters and how they progress all quite surprised me in the third act. It’s bloody, funny, and way better than I ever could’ve imagined it ever being. I hope writer/director Aimee Kugee and actors April Consalo and Nate Wise receive more flowers and book consistent work. They’re all considerable talents, and I’d be sad to never see anything from them again.
Watch it on Prime Video, Philo, Tubi, AMC+, The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, Fawesome
Ravenous (1999)
Saying this movie blew me away would be an understatement. When I covered The Wind recently, I mentioned how much I crave more western horror. The two genres have so many great stylistic and thematic similarities, as well as differences to make it such a unique and creative viewing experience, no matter if it’s good or bad. And with Ravenous, it feels like I stumbled upon the holy grail. Boyd (Guy Pearce) is an army general who, after an act of cowardice that unintentionally results in a great victory, is sent to a far-off fort in California in hopes of being completely done away with. There, he meets a quirky cast of characters, and for a while it seems like it may not be that bad…until a man turns up outside of camp, and what a story he brings with him. One of desperation, dehumanization, betrayal, and cannibalism. Robert Carlyle, who plays Colqhoun, the newly found man, gives perhaps one of the greatest horror performances in the ’90s. His character runs from deeply tragic to mysterious, animalistic, and even more surprising places as the narrative goes on. The story gradually strips the characters of their civility and their ties with higher living and propriety, leaving them, and us as an audience, with nothing but our base instincts. It then uses its brilliant and intense climax to ask what we are once reduced to our rawest and most barbaric selves? Can we be moral beings? Does it even fully apply anymore? It all comes together perfectly in its last blood- and snow-soaked 20 minutes of tension and emotional payoff.
A final note: This movie is also scored by Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, along with composer Michael Nyman. Absolutely wild and fun music throughout. You will notice it.
Watch it on Hoopla
Strange Harvest (2025)
This horror mockumentary seems like an extremely daunting task to pull off. We’re so familiar with the language of documentaries (and in this case, true crime docs) that without the most scrupulous of detail and dedication to that language, it would begin to feel scary or unnerving. The sense of reality must be rock-solid, and it could so easily be broken. That is the hook and the magic of what makes Strange Harvest so special. From the jump, you are introduced to two detectives who come across the brutal ritual murder of a family. Their blood had been drained from their bodies into buckets at their feet, and there is a strange symbol painted on the ceiling in their blood. The film then follows the two detectives as they parse out the clues, details, continuously discover new victims, and make connections to a series of three murders that happened 15 years prior. Actors Peter Zizzo and Terri Apple are fantastic as the two detectives, Kirby and Taylor. Both bring a sense of believability, affability, and even specific biases and imperfections that make the characters truly three-dimensional. It never feels like an abstract “police force” is chasing after the killer, but two people doing the best they can and becoming increasingly scarred as the case rolls on. The killer in this film is truly diabolical – way more unpredictable, sadistic, and flat-out mean than I ever expected him to be. The moment you think you understand him, he breaks the mould in a way that makes you completely unsure of the nature of his operation or his motive. The detail-by-detail investigation and chases are nothing short of riveting. I would never spoil the ending (it’s a doozy) but I imagine it will be divisive for many, so prepare yourself for something truly wild in the final minutes. Even if that ending won’t work for you, it is a truly impressive work of horror in a format accomplished so phenomenally that it’s hard not to recommend it.
Watch it on Hulu
Ash (2025)
Flying Lotus is a genius musician, full stop. I remember hearing the album Cosmogramma for the first time in the late 2010s, and I was truly blown away. After hearing his name associated with music for so long, imagine my surprise when I heard he was interested in being a horror filmmaker! I thought it was an interesting endeavor, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to see whatever he makes. I proceeded to mostly forget about it until a couple of years ago, when V/H/S/99 came out, and I saw his short, Ozzy’s Dungeon. It had a dedication to style that stood out even in that extremely vibey anthology. It went darker, more transgressive, and goopier than I ever could’ve expected. It made me instantly on board with him as a filmmaker, which led me to the space/horror/mystery Ash very quickly. It begins as an atmospheric slow-burn that develops into an intriguing mystery of murder and responsibility, with the future of the entire human race at stake. Eiza González’s character, Riya, wakes up with no memory and discovers everyone else on her planetary base violently murdered. Soon afterward, she is visited (or, in his words, “saved”) by Brion, played by Aaron Paul, who claims to know her, but also doesn’t always seem as friendly and trustworthy as he’s trying to make himself seem. The film unravels at a deliberate pace, and if you can get on board with it, you will be rewarded tenfold. Not only will it give you excellent lighting, moody acting by a slew of great character actors, cool worldbuilding, great set design, and surprisingly great effects, but it offers a truly bonkers final act that pays everything off. I can’t begin to tell you how fun the final 25 minutes are. I was watching this alone, absolutely glued to my seat and amped for the finale. It’s incredibly fun, and it made the already great slow-burn so much more worth it by the time the credits rolled.
Watch it on Hulu, Philo, AMC+, Hoopla, Shudder, YouTube TV
Leave a Reply