Hulu Has Three of the Year's Best-Reviewed Horror Movies. Netflix Has One. Here Is Where to Stream 2026's Best Scares Before Halloween.

Halloween is 13 days away, and 2026 has been a ridiculous year for horror. A movie made for a reported $750,000 passed $500 million worldwide. A 20-year-old YouTuber's first feature grossed about $400 million. Sam Raimi made his first horror film since 2009. The hard part is finding where the good stuff lives.

So we took the 11 horror movies of 2026 that critics rated highest on Rotten Tomatoes, every one at 86 percent or better, and tracked down where each one is right now. The answer is lopsided. Hulu has three of them. Netflix has one. Four of the 11 are not on any subscription service, and the best-reviewed of the lot is still only in theaters.

The 11 best-reviewed horror movies of 2026, and where they are

1. Resident Evil: 96 percent. In theaters only.
2. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma: 94 percent. MUBI.
3. Obsession: 93 percent. Peacock.
4. Leviticus: 93 percent. Rent or buy.
5. It Ends: 93 percent. Rent or buy.
6. Send Help: 92 percent. Hulu.
7. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple: 91 percent. Netflix.
8. Hokum: 90 percent. Hulu.
9. Buddy: 88 percent. Rent or buy.
10. We Bury the Dead: 87 percent. Hulu.
11. Backrooms: 86 percent. HBO Max.

Scores are Rotten Tomatoes readings as of October 18, with ties listed by review count. The Hulu titles also stream inside Disney+.

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Hulu: the one subscription to have this month

Send Help (92 percent)

Sam Raimi's first horror film as a director since Drag Me to Hell in 2009. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien play co-workers who barely tolerate each other until a plane crash leaves them the only survivors on a deserted island, and the office pecking order starts to flip. It is a survival thriller with a mean sense of humor and an R rating for strong bloody violence, and the easiest party pick here.

Hokum (90 percent)

Damian McCarthy (Caveat, Oddity) sends Adam Scott to a remote Irish inn, where his character, a novelist, has come to scatter his parents' ashes. The staff swear a witch haunts the honeymoon suite. It landed on Hulu on October 10, the most recent of these to reach a subscription service, and it is our pick for the best haunted-house movie of the year.

We Bury the Dead (87 percent)

Daisy Ridley plays Ava, who searches for her missing husband after a military disaster brings the dead back to life. Know one thing going in: critics are at 87 percent, but verified audiences are at 45, the widest gap on this list.

Hulu also has Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (75 percent), with Samara Weaving back as Grace, which makes four fresh 2026 horror movies on one service.

One apiece on Peacock, Netflix, HBO Max and MUBI

Obsession (93 percent), Peacock

The horror story of the year, on screen and off. Curry Barker made it for a reported $750,000, Focus Features bought it, and it became the first original movie of the 2020s to pass $500 million worldwide. Michael Johnston plays a hopeless romantic who breaks a mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win over his crush (Inde Navarrette) and gets exactly what he asked for.

It has been on Peacock since July 17, and under Universal's deal with Netflix it is reported to move to Netflix on November 17. For Halloween, Peacock is the place.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (91 percent), Netflix

The only top-11 horror movie on Netflix. Nia DaCosta directs the second film in the new 28 Years Later series from Alex Garland's script, taking over from Danny Boyle. Ralph Fiennes is back as Dr. Kelson, and Jack O'Connell's Sir Jimmy Crystal becomes young Spike's (Alfie Williams) nightmare. If you skipped 2025's 28 Years Later, watch that first.

Backrooms (86 percent), HBO Max

Kane Parsons was 20 when A24 released his feature version of the viral YouTube series. It is a mood piece set in an endless maze of fluorescent office rooms, not a puzzle box with answers, which helps explain its B-minus CinemaScore. Our full review says stream it anyway.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (94 percent), MUBI

Jane Schoenbrun's follow-up to I Saw the TV Glow premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in May. Hannah Einbinder plays a director hired to revive a faded slasher franchise, and Gillian Anderson is the reclusive star of the original. It has streamed exclusively on MUBI since October 2. If you have never tried MUBI, this is the month.

Worth the rental

Three of the top 11 have left theaters but have not reached a subscription service. All run under 100 minutes.

• Leviticus (93 percent). Adrian Chiarella's Sundance horror film follows two teenage boys hunted by an entity that takes the form of the person each one desires most, which is each other. Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Mia Wasikowska star.
• It Ends (93 percent). Alexander Ullom's debut puts a carload of recent grads in a Jeep Cherokee on a late-night food run that turns onto a two-lane road with no end. On digital since September 15.
• Buddy (88 percent). Casper Kelly, who made the cult Adult Swim short Too Many Cooks, casts Keegan-Michael Key as the voice of Buddy, a singing orange unicorn who holds his TV show's cast hostage and gets steadily more unhinged. It came to digital on Tuesday.

The best of the year is still in theaters

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil is the best-reviewed horror movie of 2026 at 96 percent, and verified audiences give it 90. It opened to $60 million on September 18, a franchise record, and had made $138.7 million domestic through October 11, when it was still No. 3 in its fourth weekend. There is no confirmed digital date yet, and as a Sony release its eventual subscription home is Netflix. For Halloween, it is a theater trip. Our preview has the background.

New this Friday, October 23: Clayface, DC's R-rated body horror movie. Here is what to expect.

A notch lower, and what to skip

HBO Max has two more fresh ones just below the top 11: Undertone (74 percent), Ian Tuason's chiller about a paranormal podcast host haunted by recordings mysteriously sent her way, and Sébastien Vaniček's Evil Dead Burn (70 percent), in which a widow's in-laws turn into demons one by one.

Skip, or at least lower expectations: Lee Cronin's The Mummy sits at 45 percent on HBO Max, though audiences were kinder at 71. Netflix's Thrash is at 45. Scream 7 landed at 30, and Other Mommy, still in theaters, is at 17.

Build your Halloween list

A plan for the next two weeks: a Hulu double bill of Send Help and Hokum, then Obsession on Peacock, Camp Miasma the weekend before Halloween, and Resident Evil in a theater while it is still there.

Then rank them. On Shortlist you pick between two movies at a time and the app builds your ranking, so you find out whether Obsession really beats The Bone Temple for you, not for the critics. Share the list and see where your friends disagree. Going classic instead? Start with our Halloween movies ranked and Scream movies ranked tier lists, and our October streaming guide has the rest of the month.

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