Editorials
Fatal Frame: Chilling Thai Horror Film ‘Shutter’ Turns 15
Considered Thailand’s response to the early aughts J-horror craze, Shutter made a massive splash at the box office in its native country in 2004. When Shutter premiered the following year in North America on April 23, its terrifying reputation had preceded it, and rumblings of an American remake were already underway. Despite sharing the recurring J-horror staple of a long-haired vengeance-seeking female spirit in white, this particular supernatural tale offered originality in the form of unreliable narrators and grim moral complexities. Shutter delivered a compelling character-centric story that’s unafraid to go full throttle on well-executed scares.
The feature debut by Parkpoom Wongpoom and Banjong Pisanthanakun, the plot revolves around photographer Tun (Ananda Everingham) and his girlfriend Jane (Natthaweeranuch Thongmee). They’re a happy couple in love, but they open up the doors to supernatural torment when a distracted Jane accidentally runs a woman over while driving home from a friend’s wedding. Tun, who’d been drinking, convinces Jane to flee, leaving the woman alone in the middle of the road. Subsequently, strange images begin showing up in Tun’s photography, and spooky things start happening to the couple. The obvious is that their wrong-doing prompted justice and punishment from beyond the grave, but the narrative takes its time unraveling shocking truths.
It’s the story’s structure and character work that sets Shutter apart. Played with charm and an almost tentative sweetness, Everingham quickly sells Tun as someone morally weak but well-meaning. It’s as much Everingham’s performance as it is the central romance between Tun and Jane that sets him up as a protagonist with a rooting interest. Something that turns out to be a brilliant red herring.
Wongpoom and Pisanthanakun rely on the storytelling conventions of J-horror to lull the viewer, then they subvert them. First, with the hit and run accident as the inciting event, the apparent reason driving the revenge of the evil spirit. Then, Tun’s friends, the very ones he celebrated with at the beginning, start committing suicide. Tearful questioning by a grieving spouse in front of Jane sows the seeds of doubt. Tun harbors secrets, and it could threaten not just his relationship with Jane, but their lives.
It’s at this point that the hauntings escalate. There are the traditional ghostly scares, but Wongpoom and Pisanthanakun weave in a lot of ingenuity in the scare department, too, making full use of the photography. The ghostly Natre (Achita Sikamana) makes her presence known in professional pictures, the darkroom, and even in one clever bathroom scare that ends in welcome levity. It’s another late-night driving encounter that threatens to leave your pants soiled; Natre is one seriously pissed off ghost, for a good reason.
As with many stories of this ilk, Tun and Jane eventually trace Natre back to her hometown, to learn the truth of Natre’s fate and ensure she’s laid to rest properly in the hopes of quelling her unrest. It comes with significant reveals of Tun’s connection to Natre, as well as a climactic showdown between the living and dead. All of which would make for a solid entry in supernatural horror. But it’s during the happily-ever-after false ending that Wongpoom and Pisanthanakun finally show the rest of their hand; Tun never was the protagonist at all. He and his friends deserved everything coming to them, including Natre’s sentence for Tun. It’s a final jolt type twist and one that offers a satisfying conclusion. Justice has been served, and Natre is a curse tailor-made only for the monster that made her.
From a narrative standpoint, it gives a reprieve to the standard J-horror ghost. Sadako and Kayako spread like supernatural diseases, without discrimination. In Thailand, the belief in spirits and ghosts is quite common, and they’re often considered benevolent. There are wicked spirits, too, often stemming from horrible deaths. There’s a popular Thai saying to the effect of, “You may not believe, but never offend the spirits.” A small offering or shrine can go a long way to peaceful coexistence.
Despite a ghastly appearance and the effective way in which she terrifies, Natre is benevolent. She haunts and claims only those who harmed her directly, and their vile actions were in dire need of retribution. For Jane, there was no malintent, only truth.
The best horror movies deftly balance the scares and story. They elicit severe chills yet keep us engaged with fleshed-out characters and narrative. Shutter does both remarkably well, imbuing the tropes of a horror trend with its own culture and transforming it into something far greater.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
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