This year's horror films, series and games, scored on whether they'll last, with where to watch each one tonight. Most of it won't last. The line under each one says why.
20 horror releases from 2026 scored ·5 scored 75 or more ·1 KeeperNext update October 2685 or more out of 100 is a Keeper, and 75 to 84 is Worth it. How it's scored
For Halloween night
Picked from the scores below: the best film you can stream, the best one still in theaters, the best series and the best game.
Scored 75 to 84: good, without quite the staying power a Keeper shows.
Film · Worth it84Worth it
Obsession
Peacock, and still in some theaters · 1h 48mOne point short of Keeper. It cost about $750,000, made more in its second and third weekends than its first, and reached $519 million.See the score
Critics33/40
Critic score 93. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience18/20
Audience score 94. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record8/15
Barker's first feature. Before it he made sketch comedy on YouTube and a horror short, The Chair, that passed 10 million views.
Staying power25/25
Made for about $750,000, it earned more in its second weekend than its first, more again in its third, and reached $519 million worldwide, fifth among horror films before adjusting for inflation.
Hulu, Disney+ · 1h 53mTwo points short of worth-it: 92% from critics and $94 million worldwide, but nothing yet that says people keep coming back to it.See the score
Critics31/40
Critic score 92. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience14/20
Audience score 86. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record15/15
Raimi made Evil Dead, Drag Me to Hell and the original Spider-Man trilogy, and this is his return to small, nasty horror-comedy.
Staying power13/25
It opened at number one with $19.1 million and made $94 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, a solid result for an original R-rated film.
Netflix · 1h 50mThe best-reviewed film in the series (91%), but it grossed $58.5 million against a $63 million budget. Easy to catch up on now.See the score
Critics30/40
Critic score 91. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience15/20
Audience score 88. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record13/15
Alex Garland wrote it, as he wrote 28 Days Later, and DaCosta's Candyman made her the first Black woman director to open a film at number one.
Staying power10/25
It is the best-reviewed film in the series, but it grossed $58.5 million worldwide against a $63 million budget.
Rent or buy · 1h 47m90% from critics, 82% from audiences, and a small run at $25 million. Rent it if you liked Oddity, McCarthy's last one.See the score
Critics29/40
Critic score 90. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience11/20
Audience score 82. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record12/15
McCarthy's third horror feature, after Caveat (2020) and Oddity (2024).
Staying power11/25
It opened fifth with $6.4 million and has made $25 million worldwide on a $5 million budget.
Rent or buy, some theaters · 1h 52mCritics love it (93%) and it won the Queer Palm at Cannes, but audiences are cooler (79%). It came out to rent on October 2.See the score
Critics33/40
Critic score 93. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience10/20
Audience score 79. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record11/15
Schoenbrun's third feature, after We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow.
Staying power9/25
It won the Queer Palm at Cannes, but in a limited release it has grossed $8.6 million against a $10 million budget.
HBO Max · 1h 50mThe year's second-biggest horror hit at $402.5 million. Critics (86%) liked it more than the people who bought tickets (74%).See the score
Critics23/40
Critic score 86. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience7/20
Audience score 74. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record8/15
Parsons' first feature, adapted from the Backrooms web series he started on YouTube in 2022.
Staying power21/25
It opened to $81.5 million in the US and has grossed $402.5 million worldwide, A24's biggest film ever, though it fell 70% in its second weekend.
PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PCFrom the team behind the first two Little Nightmares. It sold a million, but reviews settled at 80 and players at 7.9.See the score
Critics14/40
Critic score 80. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience10/20
Audience score 79. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record12/15
Tarsier made the first two Little Nightmares games and worked on LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway Unfolded.
Staying power16/25
Embracer reported it sold over one million copies and called it something to build on for the long term.
Hulu, Disney+ · 1h 48mAudiences had more fun (88%) than critics (75%), but it opened fourth and made $43 million.See the score
Critics7/40
Critic score 75. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience15/20
Audience score 88. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record13/15
The pair, half of Radio Silence, made Ready or Not, Abigail, Scream (2022) and Scream VI.
Staying power11/25
It opened fourth with $9.1 million and made $43 million worldwide on a $14 million budget, then went to number one on iTunes and Amazon when it reached streaming.
Rent or buy · 1h 54mThe biggest Scream yet at the box office, $214 million, with 30% from critics.See the score
Critics0/40
Critic score 30. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience7/20
Audience score 73. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record12/15
Williamson wrote the first Scream in 1996 and directs this one, the seventh in the series.
Staying power18/25
It opened to $63.6 million, the best start in the series, and grossed $214 million worldwide, though it fell 74% in its second weekend. Scream 8 is in development.
PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PCA rebuild of the 2003 PlayStation 2 game. Reviews were mixed (74), and on Steam it never passed 4,000 players at once.See the score
Critics6/40
Critic score 74. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience10/20
Audience score 80. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record11/15
Team Ninja, the Koei Tecmo studio behind Ninja Gaiden and Nioh, rebuilt Tecmo's 2003 PlayStation 2 original.
Staying power7/25
Its Steam peak was 3,976 players at once, and in September it averaged about 73.
Netflix · 8 episodesCritics split (Metacritic 65) and so did viewers (63%). The Duffer brothers produce it.See the score
Critics0/40
Critic score 65. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience2/20
Audience score 63. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record9/15
Boston's first show as creator. She wrote for Brand New Cherry Flavor, Hunters and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, and the Duffer brothers produce.
Staying power11/25
It opened second on Netflix's English TV list with 4.5 million views, a slow start next to other horror series there, and we found no word of a second season.
PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PCSupermassive's space horror. Players gave it 5.6 out of 10, and the studio cut up to 75 jobs three months after launch.See the score
Critics3/40
Critic score 72. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience0/20
Audience score 56. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record11/15
Supermassive made Until Dawn and The Quarry. This is the fifth game in its Dark Pictures series.
Staying power4/25
It peaked at 3,021 players at once on Steam, and in August Supermassive said it would cut up to 75 jobs.
Where to watch comes from each title's Rotten Tomatoes page, or Metacritic for games, read October 3. Streaming deals change, so check before you settle in.
Hear about the next Keeper.
One short email when something new makes the list: an album to play, a game to buy, a film to watch, a book to read, tech worth buying, a thing that lasts. Nothing else.
How the score works
Albums, games, films, shows and books
Critics, 40. The published aggregate from Metacritic, OpenCritic, Album of the Year or Rotten Tomatoes. For books, Book Marks grades every major review rave, positive, mixed or pan; we read those as 100, 75, 50 and 25 and take the average. Almost everything reviewed lands between 70 and 98, so a 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40.
Audience, 20. What people who paid for it say, from user scores, Steam reviews and, for books, the Goodreads average times 20. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20.
Track record, 15. Whether the people who made it have made things that lasted before. Debuts start lower on purpose.
Staying power, 25. What happens after launch week: chart runs, players who stick around, renewals, sales that keep going, prize shortlists.
A Keeper is our bet on what lasts. Some releases show it right away: the reviews, the players and the people behind them all point the same way, the way they did for Elden Ring. For albums, games, films, shows and books, 85 or above is a Keeper and 75 to 84 is worth your time. Things and tech need 80. We score everything again as time goes by, and a Keeper that fades loses the label. Nobody pays to be here or pays for a score. Every score links to where its numbers came from. Each one has a link to find it on Amazon, and as an Amazon Associate, Keepers earns from qualifying purchases.
Series · Keeper
91Keeper
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84Worth it
Game · Worth it
83Worth it
Film · Worth it
82Worth it
Series · Worth it
80Worth it
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