Where To Find The Year’s Best Horror Movies On Streaming 

While I do love me some Christmas, I’ve always considered spooky season to be the most wonderful time of the year. Lucky for me, 2026 has been a banner year for horror movies, and we’ve still got plenty more to come out. Here’s where you can find some of the year’s best horror movies so far on streaming. 

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple 

Director Nia DaCosta kicked the year off with a bang with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Set in the immediate aftermath of 28 Years Later, the film follows 12-year-old Spike as he tries to escape a cult led by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell giving yet another fantastic performance in a horror film). Ralph Fiennes is also here giving a career-best performance as Dr. Ian Kelson, who’s trying to find a cure for the rage virus and forms an unusual bond with one of the infected. 

The Bone Temple focuses less on the zombie horror of the prior films in the series, instead looking at horrific things people do to each other in this dehumanized world. It’s filled with genuinely unsettling moments, and its big third-act set piece remains one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a movie theater this year. 

Unfortunately, a lot of people slept on this movie because it came out only a few months after 28 Years Later, which had a fairly divisive reception. While I enjoyed 28 Years Later, The Bone Temple is a superior movie in every way, in my humble opinion. Even if you haven’t seen the first film, The Bone Temple largely works as a stand-alone work. I showed it to my best friend last week who hadn’t seen 28 Years Later, and he loved it.

If you skipped this one in theaters, do yourself a favor and check it out on Netflix. It remains one of the best movies to come out this year. 

Obsession 

I can’t do a list about the year’s best horror movies and not talk about the cultural phenomenon that is Obsession. The film follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a deeply unconfident man who’s crushing on Nikki (a revelatory Inde Navarrette). After failing to ask her out on a date, Bear uses a One Wish Willow and wishes for Nikki to love him more than anyone else in the entire world. 

Darkly comic, tragic, and genuinely terrifying at points, Obsession is a thrill ride from start to finish with no shortage of twists and turns. The film has made Navarrette a household name, turned writer/director Curry Barker into one of the hottest names in horror, and for good reason. It is one of the most self-assured debut films since Get Out nearly a decade ago (can you believe it’s been that long?!)

If you missed out on Obsession while it was in theaters and want some context for all the memes it has spawned, you can currently stream it on Peacock. 

Backrooms 

We now turn to the other cultural phenomenon of the summer, Backrooms. I’m in the rare minority that actually preferred Backrooms over Obsession, but that’s just cause I like found footage, hard science-fiction, and analog horror. Backrooms combines all three of those things, while also weaving in a simple yet effective psychological drama. 

The film follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the owner of an underperforming furniture store who’s currently going through a divorce, and his therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve), who’s navigating trauma of her own. One night while at the store, Clark discovers a wall he can seemingly walk through, which takes him into a vast maze of yellow-tinted rooms. So obviously some creepiness ensues that results in Mary having to journey into the backrooms herself.

I was a fan of director Kane Parsons’s web series that the movie is based on, and I was impressed by how the film managed to expand on the story of the series while still being welcoming to new viewers. 

If you like your horror atmospheric and unsettling, give Backrooms a watch on HBO Max. 

Send Help 

Lastly, let’s talk about the year’s other incredibly slept-on horror movie. Sam Raimi is a master of horror, and he once again delivered his trademark blend of dark comedy and grotesque horror with Send Help. 

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is a corporate strategist who was set for a promotion before her boss’s son, Bradley Preston (a delightfully slimy Dylan O’Brien), took over the company. Bradley tells Linda that she’s not getting the promotion, and he plans to transfer her out after they get back from a business trip overseas. Unfortunately for Bradley, the trip doesn’t go to plan as the plane crashes on a remote island, severely injuring him and placing his survival in the hands of Linda. 

To explain any more would spoil the gruesome, grimy, and darkly hilarious twists this movie has in store. If you’re in the mood for a horror movie that’ll make you laugh as much as it will make you squirm, you can catch Send Help on Hulu. 

So if you’re trying to catch up on some of this year’s bangers, catch some spooky vibes, and not break the bank, these movies are worth checking out. 

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