Editorials
Blood In the Bleak Midwinter: The Satanic Horror of February
There’s something distinctly February-coded about Satanic Horror.
The shortest month of the year may be dominated by a romantic holiday, but the days themselves feel icy and cold. The twinkling lights of Christmas have long since gone out, and we’re so far away from spring that it often feels as if the sun never fully fills the sky. We find ourselves trapped in wintery isolation where dangerous secrets threaten to take root. Satanic horror adds color to this frozen world with the blood-red passion of sinister devotion. While most modern members of the Church of Satan simply reject Christian doctrine in favor of indulgence and self-possession, demonic killers in cinema are known for their unbridled depravity, unleashing bloody violence on a frozen world.
Producer Gavin Polone’s feature directorial debut, Psycho Killer, perfectly encapsulates this strange dichotomy with a hellish murderer stalking his victims through the barren streets of a snowy hell. Penned by the screenwriter of Se7en and Sleepy Hollow, Andrew Kevin Walker is no stranger to this horrific juxtaposition. His stories are filled with grimy and picturesque violence that adds gruesome color to a desolate world. Psycho Killer is no exception. The horror begins as an unsuspecting member of highway patrol is murdered on the side of a snowy road in front of his wife and fellow officer. Now Jane Archer (Georgina Campbell) must hunt down this larger-than-life villain while struggling with the trauma of her sudden loss.
We follow Jane on a harrowing quest to catch the masked man known as Psycho Killer (James Preston Rogers) and end a series of elaborate kills designed to honor his dark lord. All the while, a haunting voice is fanning the flames. The epitome of debauchery and excess, Mr. Pendleton (Malcolm McDowell) broadcasts his satanism, pushing Psycho Killer forward in violence.
James Preston Rogers as Psycho Killer in 20th Century Studios’ PSYCHO KILLER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Polone paints both sides of this harrowing story in stark contrast. Devastated by her husband’s death, Jane’s life becomes a series of bleary days plagued by memories of that frozen road where she watched a killer take her husband’s life. She begins drowning her pain in this investigation, and we fear what waits for her on the other side. Meanwhile, her nemesis practically bathes in blood. Often shown in a dark, crimson light, this sadist in a radioactive mask views his victims as inhuman tools to destroy in honor of his dark savior. Decorating his crime scenes with pentagrams scrawled in his victims’ blood, Polone evokes Valentine’s Day iconography twisted into symbols of pain.
This nihilistic atmosphere mirrors another icy horror film also set in the winter snow. Osgood Perkins’ 2024 shocker Longlegs opens with a child playing outside in heavy drifts. The “almost birthday girl” is approached by a strangely jovial man who ominously references his “friend downstairs.” We will learn that this pale-faced stranger is a serial killer named Dale Kobble (Nicolas Cage), known to the world as Longlegs.
For decades, the devilish dollmaker has been murdering entire families with a nearly undetectable MO. Each targeted family has one thing in common: a 9-year-old daughter born on the 14th day of any month. Aided by a reluctant assistant, Kobble creates a life-sized replica of the child that is then delivered to the family’s home. But these figurines are much more than artificial playmates. Inside the doll’s intricate head is an orb designed to emit low-level frequencies that destabilize the family home. The fathers become overwhelmed with diabolical whispers that slowly push them to unthinkable acts of violence.
Nicolas Cage as Longlegs
Like the infamous Psycho Killer, Longlegs does not have a motive for his crimes other than a deep devotion to Satan. His reverence for “the man downstairs” becomes a double entendre for both hell and a basement workshop in which Kobble crafts his deadly gifts. Lee investigates this killer in the brutality of an Oregon winter, constantly shielding herself from the cold while struggling to connect with her unstable mother. Meanwhile, Kobble completes his meticulous work in a murky room lit only with neon red light, as if he were crafting these dolls in hell itself. Both killers have dedicated their entire lives to the service of their master’s plan to bring an approximation of hell to Earth. Each act, regardless of its gruesomeness, becomes a loving sacrifice designed to showcase their all-consuming devotion.
Though the film pushed Perkins to new levels of fame, Longlegs is not his first foray into the world of satanic horror. His 2015 debut, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, leans into the unsettling dichotomy of wintery isolation and passionate pain. Originally titled February, the film also unfolds in dual timelines as we follow a killer and her prey. When Kat (Kiernan Shipka) and Rose (Lucy Boynton) are both left behind at their posh boarding school over midwinter break, they sense an ominous presence on the mostly deserted campus. A dark figure approaches Kat in her dreams, predicting her parents’ grisly deaths. This “blackcoat” steps into the devastating void, nudging the traumatized teen toward violent acts.
Meanwhile, Rose hopes to see blood of her own as she prepares to tell her boyfriend she may be pregnant. The two struggle to coexist in this icy and deserted campus, searching in vain for a small bit of comfort. It seems February’s icy loneliness is what drives Kat into Satan’s arms. A mysterious phone call from her dark companion kicks off a violent murder spree. She not only slaughters the two nuns tasked with her care, but stabs and decapitates Rose herself. Using a pillowcase stained with her victims’ blood, she drags their severed heads into a subterranean boiler room where she vigorously prostrates herself in deference to her new patriarch. She’s finally found some semblance of warmth in the furnace’s hellish, red glow.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
The story plays out in a parallel timeline as a mysterious young woman named Joan (Emma Roberts) hitches a ride to the troubled boarding school. She manages to befriend a grieving father named Bill (James Remar), who attempts to take her under his wing and fill the void in his own bleak life. But Joan’s devotion to Satan proves stronger than his optimistic support, and Bill realizes he’s walked into a trap. Stranded on the icy road, he and his wife become Satan’s latest sacrifice. Like Psycho Killer and Longlegs, The Blackcoat’s Daughter explores the dangerous paths we take to erase the desolate pain of loneliness.
At some point in our lives, we’ve all tried and failed to secure love. Perhaps we’ve been rejected on Valentine’s Day, struggled through an uncomfortable birthday, or tried to recover from a sudden loss. However, it’s our tolerance to life’s miseries that builds our stress tolerance and resistance to pain. Though admittedly, this resilience feels more difficult in February when we just want to warm up with those we love. Polone and Perkins lean into the month’s iconography with nightmares that bloom in the absence of love.
Rather than a crimson token of affection or sentimental valentine, the blood these three killers spill represents the fire of satanic violence. Kat, Kobble, and the mysterious Psycho Killer all wind up bathed in the blood-red glow of satanic devotion, a heat born in the icy heart of February.
Longlegs
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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