It’s the first full week of October 2026, but the month has already provided a whole bunch of fresh nightmares in both theaters and on Digital outlets at home. Just five days deep into the month, in fact, a whopping SEVEN new horror movies have already been released!
Here are all the new horror movies released in October 2026 so far.
It’s going to be a jam-packed month for new horror. Buckle up…
Are you looking to scratch that found footage fix with a brand new nightmare this Halloween season? Shudder has you covered with Infirmary, now streaming only on Shudder.
In the found footage film, “A guard vanished on his first night at an old psych hospital in 2023. His bodycam footage shows unexplainable incidents that continue to baffle investigators.”
Paul Syre, Mark Anthony Williams and Danielle Kennedy star in Infirmary.
Nicholas Pineda directed the found footage horror movie.
Infirmary is premiering as part of Shudder’s Season of Screams this Halloween season, which features a supersized lineup of new film releases, series, specials, screening events, and live watch parties on Shudder TV. The four-month celebration takes horror fans from spooky season through the holidays, filling your watchlists with great horror in the process.
Shudder’s Season of Screams features highly anticipated premieres every Friday through the end of the year, including Parasomnia; a new installment in the popular V/H/S franchise, V/H/S/Mixtape; the found footage breakout hit Infirmary; body horror thriller Bloody Tennis; supernatural nightmare The Cycle; the Milly Shapiro-led Hallowarrior; a new season of The Creep Tapes; the 2026 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards; and a new Halloween special, Joe Bob’s Halloween House Party.
Based on Colleen Hoover‘s best-selling 2018 novel, the seductive psychological thriller Verity hit theaters and premium formats over the weekend courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.
Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson star.
Verity follows renowned author Verity Crawford (Hathaway) and Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), a struggling writer who relocates to the remote Crawford estate to ghostwrite for Verity.
After Lowen uncovers what appears to be Verity’s chilling autobiographical notes, she wrestles with the disturbing and twisted confessions about Verity’s husband and finds it hard to separate fiction from reality, manipulation from attraction, and opportunity from obsession.
Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordova, and Brady Wagner round out the cast. Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) directs from a script by Nick Antosca (“Hannibal,” Antlers).
Producers include Showalter & Jordana Mollick for Semi-Formal Productions, Antosca & Alex Hedlund for Eat the Cat, Hathaway for Somewhere Pictures, Hoover for Heartbones Entertainment, and Stacey Sher for Shiny Penny. Johnson executive produces with Kerry Orent and Lauren Levine.
Verity is Rated R for “sexual content, some nudity, language, violence, and bloody images.”
Indonesian horror master Joko Anwar (Satan’s Slaves, Impetigore) is back with horror comedy Ghost in the Cell, and the film is now playing only in theaters from Well GO USA.
The film is set in a high-security prison ruled by feuding gangs and a tyrannical warden.
“The arrival of a new inmate kicks off a series of mysterious gruesome murders that leave its victims on morbid display. The hapless inmates trapped in the prison must overcome their rivalries to unmask an invisible, otherworldly enemy. No one is safe as the cells cage in the horrors and a ghost roams the prison with murderous intent.”
Joko Anwar writes and directs Ghost in the Cell.
Abimana Aryasatya, Almanzo Konoralma, Aming Sugandhi, Arswendy Bening Swara, Bront Palarae, and Dimas Danang Suryonegoro star in the Indonesian film.
“We’re thrilled to bring Ghost in the Cell to North America,” said Well Go USA CEO Doris Pfardrescher. “As longtime fans of Joko Anwar, having previously released his film Gundala, we’ve seen firsthand how strongly his work resonates with audiences here. Ghost in the Cell is an absolute blast – it’s wildly entertaining and deliciously gory in all the right ways.”
Director Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn, V/H/S/85, Silent Night, Deadly Night) unleashes a terrifying legend deep within the jungle in Beware Boiúna, now playing only in theaters.
In the Lionsgate horror film, “Deep in the Amazon, a medical mission spirals into a fight for survival when Boiúna, a colossal ancient predator, awakens to reclaim her domain. In the jungle where nature holds absolute power, she decides who lives and who dies.”
Kiana Madeira (Fear Street), Jessica Rothe (River), and Logan Marshall-Green (Upgrade) star. Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn) wrote the film, with story by McElroy and Tony Giglio.
The production waded deep into the Amazon to film the feature, too, requiring an animal wrangler to keep the cast and crew safe from potential poisonous and venomous wildlife.
Read more about Beware Boiúna in our first look interview.
The Blair Witch Project co-creator Eduardo Sanchez and producer Gregg Hale return to their found footage horror roots with The Influencer Project, now playing in theaters.
Beauty and fashion influencer Chiara King stars in the found footage movie, based on true events.
In the film, “Influencer Chiara King travels to Copenhagen with a documentary crew promising an unfiltered look behind the glamorous business of online fame. But as the cameras and her devoted fans follow her every move, someone else is watching too. When an obsessive stalker begins closing in, the documentary mutates into something far more terrifying, blurring the line between content and evidence, follower and predator, fact and fiction.”
Mike Nybroe makes his feature directorial debut on the project, which is a co-production between Hades Films and Denmark’s Point Neuf. Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale produce alongside Nybroe, Alex Hertzberg, and Ahmet Zappa (son of musician Frank Zappa).
“30 years ago, fear was a supernatural force in the woods. Today, it’s with you constantly, in social media — the possibility of opening up your life to strangers who wish you harm. What could be more terrifying?” Sanchez and Hale said in a recent statement.
Deepfake videos lead to chaos and death in the sci-fi horror thriller Appofeniacs, a dark horror satire centered around AI from acclaimed music video director Chris Marrs Piliero.
Appofeniacs is now playing in select theaters nationwide.
In Appofeniacs, “when Duke goes on a frenzy of reckless deepfake creations, his callous disregard of consequences shows how, with a few clicks on a phone, anyone can create a deceiving video of an unsuspecting victim and ruin their life…or end it.”
Aaron Holliday (Cocaine Bear), Jermaine Fowler (The Blackening), Will Brandt, Paige Searcy, Simran Jehani, Harley Bronwyn, Michael Abbott Jr. (The Dark and the Wicked), and Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) star in the genre film.
Trace Thurman wrote in his review, “Appofeniacs is a pleasant surprise and a strong debut for Piliero, even if it does fall into the occasional style-over-substance trapping. It nails the thrills, though, and weaves the narrative threads together with enough confidence to make Piliero a creator to look out for.” Thurman also teases a hefty body count in this bloody horror thriller.
And finally, French horror film Her Will Be Done is now available on Digital.
In the movie from director Julia Kowalski, “Nawojka, 20, dreams of escaping her harsh life working at the family farm. Under the influence of Sandra, the liberated woman next door, Naw experiences trance-like episodes and strange powers, just like her dead mother before her.”
Her attraction to a local outcast awakens a legacy of witchcraft, desire, and destruction.
Maria Wróbel, Roxane Mesquida, and Jean-Baptiste Durand star.
