Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

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Surviving one deadly night should have been the end of the story. But in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, it’s only the beginning.

Picking up right after the events of Ready or Not, the sequel quickly makes one thing clear: the nightmare didn’t end with one family. What once felt like a strange, isolated ritual is revealed to be part of something much bigger and far more dangerous.

This time, the story moves beyond the mansion and into a wider world where powerful and wealthy groups operate under their own dark rules. The stakes are larger, and survival is no longer about making it through the night; it’s about staying alive in a system designed to hunt you down.

Grace, the sole survivor of the previous film, barely has time to recover before she’s pulled back into danger. The destruction she escaped from has created a power vacuum, and now several powerful groups are fighting to take control.

Unfortunately for Grace, she’s still right in the middle of it all.

This time, she isn’t alone. Her estranged sister, Faith, is dragged into the chaos. The two are forced to work together despite their unresolved issues. Their relationship adds tension to the story, as survival depends not just on escaping danger, but also on trusting each other.

The film moves at a faster pace than the first. Instead of being trapped in one location, the characters are constantly on the move, dealing with a much larger and more unpredictable environment. The shift brings more action, but also changes the tone of the story.

✅ What Works

  • Expanded World and Higher Stakes:

The film successfully builds on the original by introducing a larger network of powerful families. This expansion makes the story feel bigger and more dangerous, showing that the threat goes far beyond a single household.

  • Faster Pace and More Action:

The sequel leans into a more action-driven style. The constant movement and frequent confrontations keep the energy high and make the film feel more intense from start to finish.

  • Strong Character Dynamic:

Bringing in Grace’s sister adds emotional depth. Their strained relationship creates tension that runs alongside the main conflict, giving the story more than just physical survival to focus on.

  • Dark Humor That Still Lands:

The film keeps the dark, satirical tone of the original. The wealthy villains are often portrayed in ways that highlight their arrogance, adding humor even in violent situations.

  • Creative and Entertaining Set Pieces:

The action scenes are exaggerated in a way that fits the film’s tone. They are chaotic, sometimes absurd, but consistently engaging.

❌ Where It Falls Short

  • Loss of Intimate Tension:

Moving away from a single location reduces the tight, claustrophobic feeling that made the first film so suspenseful. The wider setting makes the danger feel less immediate at times.

  • Uneven Tone:

The balance between comedy and serious moments doesn’t always work smoothly. Some emotional scenes feel rushed because of how quickly the film shifts back into action.

  • Reduced Focus on the Supernatural:

The darker, mysterious elements that played a big role in the original are less important here. The story focuses more on action than on building that eerie atmosphere.

  • Some Predictable Moments:

Despite its expanded world, parts of the story feel familiar. Some moments feel closer to a standard action thriller than a unique horror experience.

⚖️ Final Verdict: 4/5

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come takes a bold step by expanding its story instead of repeating the same formula. It trades the tight suspense of the original for a bigger, louder, and more action-focused experience.

While that shift doesn’t always work perfectly, the film still delivers an entertaining ride filled with chaos, dark humor, and high-stakes survival. It may feel different from the first movie, but it proves there’s still plenty left to explore in this world.

For fans of the 2019 release, this is a fun and energetic sequel that keeps the story moving forward.

Hokum Arrives as Part of a Major Wave of Original Horror in May 2026

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The new horror film Hokum has officially arrived in theaters, marking the latest feature from Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy, director of Caveat and Oddity. The supernatural horror film was released on May 1, 2026, through Neon. 

The film stars Adam Scott as Ohm Bauman, an American writer who travels to a remote hotel in Ireland connected to his family’s past. As he investigates the location and the mysterious disappearance of a bartender named Fiona, he becomes drawn into increasingly disturbing events tied to local folklore and supernatural forces. 

Early reviews for Hokum have been strongly positive. Tom’s Guide described the film as one of the standout horror releases of 2026, praising Damian McCarthy’s atmosphere-driven direction, unsettling imagery, and layered mystery storytelling. The review also highlighted Adam Scott’s performance, noting the film’s focus on psychological unease and emotional isolation rather than relying heavily on jump scares. 

Additional reactions from critics have emphasized the film’s eerie Irish setting, folk horror influences, and slow-building tension. Cinemablend reported that the movie currently holds a strong Rotten Tomatoes score following its debut, while several reviews praised McCarthy’s use of suspense, sound design, and supernatural ambiguity. 

The release of Hokum also arrives during what several horror outlets have described as a major month for original horror cinema. Upcoming releases recently highlighted May 2026 as an unusually strong period for non-franchise horror films, pointing to titles such as Backrooms, Obsession, Passenger, and Hokum as part of a broader wave of original genre projects. 

Among those upcoming releases is A24’s Backrooms, directed by Kane Parsons and scheduled for May 29, 2026, alongside supernatural romance horror film Obsession, which is set for a May 15 theatrical release. 

With Hokum, Damian McCarthy continues building on the reputation established by his earlier films, delivering another atmosphere-heavy horror story rooted in folklore, grief, and psychological tension. 

Smothered Trailer Unveils Joko Anwar-Produced Folk Horror Ahead of Shudder Release

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Shudder is preparing to add another unsettling international horror title to its lineup with Smothered, a new folk horror film produced by acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar.

The recently released trailer teases a tense and atmospheric story rooted in superstition, generational fear, and psychological dread, continuing the growing popularity of folk horror in modern genre cinema. Rather than relying on loud scares, the film appears to focus on slow-building tension and disturbing imagery tied to local mythology.

Set within a remote rural community, Smothered follows a family that becomes entangled in a mysterious curse linked to long-buried secrets. As paranoia and fear spread through the household, the line between inherited trauma and supernatural influence begins to collapse.

Joko Anwar’s involvement immediately gives the project added attention among horror fans. Known for films like Impetigore and Satan’s Slaves, Anwar has become one of the most respected voices in contemporary Asian horror, particularly for his ability to blend emotional storytelling with folklore-driven terror.

The trailer highlights a heavy emphasis on atmosphere, featuring isolated landscapes, ritualistic imagery, and a lingering sense of unease. The film appears to lean fully into the folk horror tradition, where the environment itself feels cursed and inescapable.

Shudder is set to premiere Smothered in May 2026, continuing the platform’s strategy of expanding its international horror catalog with distinctive, auteur-driven projects.

With its eerie visual style, folklore-inspired premise, and strong creative backing, Smothered is already shaping up to be one of the more intriguing horror releases arriving on streaming this spring.

Best Horror Comedy To Watch: Present and Past

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You’re watching a horror film. Someone opens a door they very clearly should not, and you already know what’s coming. The music has been telling you for thirty seconds, and then, right before the evil occurs, one of the characters does or says something funny, and you laugh.

That involuntary laugh is exactly what horror comedy was built on. It is the only genre in cinema that earns your trust with a joke and then slams you with the expected feel of horror. It doesn’t ask whether you want to be scared or whether you want to laugh; it decides for you, usually at the most unwanted moment, and that’s precisely why it works.

What Are Horror Comedies 

A horror comedy is a film genre that deliberately blends elements of horror and comedy using humor to either heighten or undercut the fear, depending on the filmmaker’s intent. The goal is to produce both laughs and scares, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes in sharp contrast to each other.

Horror and comedy should not work together. Fear tightens the body. Laughter releases it. They’re physiological opposites. And yet, filmmakers have been pairing them since the silent era, because they discovered something audiences hadn’t fully articulated: both emotions make people feel alive.

The genre has been pulling this trick for decades. In 1948, Abbott and Costello walked into a room with Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster, and somehow, nobody blinked. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein made horror mainstream by making it fun. 

Then, An American Werewolf in London (1981) flipped it funny enough to make you comfortable, gruesome enough to make you regret being comfortable. Gremlins (1984) went further and wrapped genuine childhood terror inside a Christmas movie, which is either brilliant or unforgivable depending on who you ask.

Modern horror comedy kept the chaos but sharpened the edges. Get Out (2017) used social anxiety as its horror engine; the jokes land because the discomfort is real. 

Ready or Not (2019) gave us a bride in a wedding dress hunting her in-laws through a mansion, which is both terrifying and deeply satisfying. And Heart Eyes (2025) proved the genre still has new rooms to explore this time with a Valentine’s Day serial killer and two coworkers who really did not sign up for this shift.

Horror comedy is prestigious now. It has Oscar conversations, nominations, and it has devoted fan bases. In 2026, it will have some of its most interesting releases yet.

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The Watchlist 

Whether you want something to revisit or something you haven’t seen yet, this list has both. Delve into this during the day or maybe when the lights are turned off.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (2022)

Source: The Hollywood Reporter.

A group of wealthy, over-connected Gen Z friends decides to ride out a hurricane together in a massive mansion. Somebody suggests they play a murder mystery game to pass the time. Then somebody ends up dead, and suddenly nobody trusts anyone in the room.

What makes it great is how uncomfortably real it feels. These are not strangers. They are best friends who, the moment things go wrong, immediately turn on each other with everything they have: old receipts, buried resentments, petty jealousies that have been sitting in group chats for years. 

The horror is almost secondary to the social carnage happening in real time. Director Halina Reijn understood that nothing is scarier than the people who are supposed to have your back deciding that they don’t. The ending alone will make you put your phone down and just sit with it for a minute.

The Blackening (2022)

A group of Black friends reunites at a cabin in the woods for Juneteenth weekend. They find a board game in the basement called The Blackening, and it talks. 

It forces them to answer trivia questions about Black culture, or someone dies. Then it asks them to decide who among them is the least Black, because that person gets sacrificed first. The arguments that follow are funnier than anything a writer could deliberately plan.

What makes the film great is the central question that drives the story. If the black character always dies in the horror movie, what happens when everyone in the movie is black? The director of this movie, Tim, takes the story and runs with this premise so confidently that you forget it started with a comedy.  The cast bonded like they had been friends before the movie, which made the film feel real. 

The horror is light, the comedy is sharp, and the social commentary never once feels like a lecture. It earns every laugh because it actually has something to say underneath all of it.

Heart Eyes (2025)

Source: ScreenRant

Two coworkers pulling a late shift on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by a sadistic killer with a very personal grudge against romance. They decided to fight back to end the reign of terror. 

The horror comedy trap that sinks most modern entries in the genre is self-consciousness, films that are too busy being aware of themselves to actually be scary or actually be funny. Heart Eyes sidesteps that entirely. 

The chemistry between the leads gives the comedy real weight, and the kills are staged with enough craft that they don’t feel like punchlines. It is the kind of film that makes you realize how rarely genre films fully believe in their own concept.

They will kill you (2026)

Its plot follows an ex-convict who answers an ad to be a housekeeper at a mysterious New York City high-rise, not realizing she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years. Zazie Beetz leads the film with a ferocity that carries every scene; it doesn’t ease you in, no slow burn here.

Most horror comedies give you time to settle. This one doesn’t, and that choice is deliberate. The gothic setting is used like a character, claustrophobic, visually dense, and constantly threatening. The comedy in They Will Kill You is dark and bone-dry, which makes it hit differently from everything else on this list. 

Source: MovieWeb

Where Shaun makes you laugh from affection, and Tucker and Dale make you laugh from absurdity, this one makes you laugh from sheer disbelief that things keep getting worse. Beetz is the reason it works. Without her, it’s chaos. With her, it’s controlled chaos, which is a very different thing.

Why It Hits Different

Horror comedy definitely works. Fear tightens you up. Laughter loosens you. They are physiological opposites, and yet, filmmakers have been exploiting that gap for over a century because they figured something out: your guard is lowest when you’re laughing, and that is the perfect time to strike.

The best horror comedies use comedy as a setup, with every joke quietly loading the next scare. That rhythm is what separates a great horror comedy from a forgettable one, and every film on this list has it.

There’s also something uniquely honest about the genre. Real fear is almost never clean. People make terrible decisions when they’re terrified. They laugh at the worst possible moment. Horror comedies reflect that truth back at you with an accuracy that pure horror rarely bothers with.

So pick one from this list. Turn the lights off. And when you laugh at the exact moment you shouldn’t, just know that was always the plan.

Looking for something to watch next? Explore our updated horror streaming picks and find your next scary movie night. Find Horror to Watch →

Shudder Picks Up Post-Apocalyptic Horror Hallowarrior Starring Milly Shapiro

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Shudder continues to double down on distinctive genre storytelling with the acquisition of Hallowarrior, a post-apocalyptic horror thriller led by Milly Shapiro.

Set in a fractured, survival-driven world, the film follows a young woman navigating isolation and growing danger in an environment where trust is fragile and threats are never far away. While full plot details remain under wraps, the premise leans heavily into character-driven tension and psychological unease rather than large-scale spectacle.

Shapiro’s involvement gives the project a strong anchor. After her breakout performance in Hereditary, she’s built a reputation for emotionally intense roles, and Hallowarrior looks like another step deeper into the horror space, this time within a bleak, end-of-the-world setting.

Directed by Ben Sottak, the film appears to focus on atmosphere and slow-burn dread, favoring mood and internal conflict over fast-paced action. That approach aligns closely with the kind of films Shudder has been prioritizing, smaller, more deliberate horror stories that rely on tone and character.

The film is set to make its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 10, 2026, before heading to a wider audience later in the year. Shudder plans to release Hallowarrior on the platform in Fall 2026, making it part of the streamer’s seasonal horror lineup.

As part of the deal, Shudder has secured distribution rights across North America, the UK and Ireland, as well as Australia and New Zealand, ensuring a broad international reach for the film.

With a festival debut locked in and a streaming release on the horizon, Hallowarrior is shaping up to be one of Shudder’s more notable upcoming titles, especially for viewers drawn to quiet, unsettling survival horror.

They Know Cast Expands With Rising Young Actors

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The upcoming horror film They Know, marking the feature directorial debut of Bill Hader, continues to build its cast with the addition of two rising young actors.

Lilou Lang (Free Bert) and Lorelei Olivia Mote (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever) have officially joined the film.  

Hader is not only directing the project but also writing and starring in it, making They Know a deeply personal venture as he transitions from television into feature filmmaking.  

The film centers on a divorced father (Hader) who becomes increasingly suspicious of his ex-wife, played by Linda Cardellini, believing she is involved with a mysterious man who may be influencing their children, characters portrayed by Lang and Mote.  

The project is backed by MRC, with Hader co-writing the script based on a story he developed alongside his Barry collaborator Duffy Boudreau.  

Production has already begun in Los Angeles, signaling that the film is moving forward at a steady pace.  

Behind the scenes, Hader is producing under his Hanarply banner alongside Robert Graf, while Alyssa Donovan is serving as co-producer.  

With a strong creative team and a cast that blends established talent with emerging performers, They Know is shaping up to be an intriguing addition to the modern horror landscape, particularly as it marks Hader’s first time directing a feature-length film.

Parker Finn’s Possession Remake to Star Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner

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A major cult horror remake is officially moving forward with a high-profile creative team and cast. Director Parker Finn is set to helm a new version of Possession, with Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner confirmed to star in the lead roles.

The project recently gained momentum after a competitive bidding war between major studios, with Paramount Pictures ultimately securing the rights.  

The film will reimagine the 1981 psychological horror classic Possession, originally directed by Andrzej Żuławski. The original movie followed a couple whose marriage collapses into psychological instability, infidelity, and surreal horror, eventually earning cult status despite a controversial initial reception.  

Finn will write, direct, and produce the remake, marking his next major project after the success of the Smile films. The casting of Qualley and Turner suggests a fresh interpretation of the central relationship, originally portrayed by Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill.  

The project has been in development for some time, but the confirmed casting signals that it is now moving into a more advanced stage. Reports indicate that Robert Pattinson remains attached as a producer, further boosting the film’s profile.  

While specific plot updates for the remake have not been revealed, the original’s legacy as one of the most emotionally intense and disturbing psychological horror films sets high expectations for Finn’s reinterpretation.  

No official production start date or release window has been announced yet, but with a major studio backing the film and key talent now attached, Possession is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated auteur-driven horror projects currently in development.