No Spooky Season would be complete without subjecting yourself to several twisted, bloody, psychological, gut-tearing, horror films to watch right before bedtime! So here’s our newest member of the team, Ashlyn Anarchy, here to kick things off with her personal top 10 Horror Movies of 2026 So Far…
#7 – Undertone
I’m always excited for something that’s produced by A24. Maybe that’s the pretentious film nerd in me that knows a lot of their films stand apart from anything produced by other companies. I’ve even worked on a few A24 films and those have been some of my favourite sets to be on. Their horror specifically — Midsommar, Hereditary, I Saw the TV Glow, X, Heretic, The Lighthouse, and Green Room to name a few — were all fantastic. A24 puts an emphasis on narrative driven horror; they may be unsettling or scary, but above all they are just good stories. If you strip away the things that make them horrific they’re still a solid film from cinematography to direction to acting performances. They allow their artists to do what they want. So when they have a new one, I always make time to at least give it a shot.
Undertone follows Evy, a paranormal podcaster who has just temporarily moved back into her childhood home to take care of her mother during her final days. Evy and her cohost Justin are emailed mysterious audio files from a pregnant couple experiencing something paranormal in their home. Together, they decide to listen to said audio recordings on their podcast. The further they get into the recordings to discover the story behind them and the potential demonic entity attached to them, the more unsettling things become for Evy.
This film definitely won’t be for everyone. It’s certainly a slow burn, but I think it builds tension well. It makes interesting choices in regard to cinematography. In some of the shots the camera is askew or there are even a few instances where we have a fully black screen. The only people we ever physically see are Evy and her mother. Everyone else is a voice over the phone. The emphasis is really on the audio and this is what makes this film so interesting. The audio mixing is SO deliberate that there are times where it cuts out entirely to give us a blissful few seconds of silence and times when you think you might hear something in the background. Every little sound matters. There is no music, only ambient audio that most other filmmakers intentionally dull down — a short breath, the drip of a faucet, the ringing of water out of a sponge — and all of it works very successfully to build suspense. The viewer goes on the journey of discovery with Evy and Justin. We are witnessing and discovering everything in real time with them. The last 20 minutes are an absolutely insane ride. The ending is ambiguous, which I find makes it all the more effective.
I definitely found my heart racing at times during this. I used to go ghost hunting all the time and I have spent hours just like Evy and Justin pouring over audio files and finding little anomalies in them — so it brought me back to some of those experiences. What makes those experiences so scary isn’t necessarily what you’re seeing, it’s what you’re hearing and the spaces your brain is filling in. It makes you question whether it’s you or something external. This film does the same thing. I haven’t seen anything quite like this one when it comes to audiovisual choices. The closest thing I could compare it to would be the feeling I got when watching Sinister for the first time. I’d definitely give this one a watch if you like paranormal horror or if you’re an audiophile.
#6 – Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
I won’t lie. This is probably the film that I’ve rewatched the most this year, not because it’s artsy or cerebral or anything like that, but because it’s really goddamn fun. I loved the first Ready or Not and this picks up immediately and I mean IMMEDIATELY once that one ends. They do not give Grace a singular break. They throw her right back into it as soon as she thinks she’s out. Girlypop gets to the hospital and doesn’t even get a single second to breathe. The elites of the cult of Le Bail are trying to get her ass, will she be able to defeat them again and come out triumphant?
The cast this time is absolutely stacked—even more so than the original. Samara Weaving reprises her role as Grace MacCaulley having just survived a game of hide and seek on her wedding night. We also get Katherine Newton as her estranged sister Faith, who is thrust into Grace’s gruesome world simply from being at the wrong place at the wrong time. On top of that we get a brief cameo from the legendary David Cronenberg as the patriarch and overlord of basically everything on earth: The High Seat of the cult of Le Bail — Chester Danforth. Shawn Hatosy and Sarah Michelle Geller play his two sadistic twin children, Ursula and Titus Danforth who will do whatever it takes to keep the power of the High Council in the family. Rounding out these new additions is Elijah Wood as Mr. Le Bail‘s satanic lawyer.
This sequel follows the formula that we got in the first movie: kill the girl, get the power. Only this time the power is the ability to control basically the entire world. While it doesn’t necessarily add anything entirely new. It’s still a very enjoyable watch. The ensemble cast really holds its own against the intensity of Samara Weaving. The Danforth Twins specifically play off of each other brilliantly and really add a fun new dynamic to the story. I shouldn’t be rooting for them — I love Grace, she’s one of my favorite final girls of the past decade, but there’s something about Titus. He’s so deliciously evil. Hatosy’s line deliveries had me laughing out loud for most of the film. He’s an instant scene stealer. The same can be said about Elijah Wood’s character of
“The Lawyer.” I would watch an entire TV show or prequel film just centered around him and all the tasks he’s sent to do for Mr. Le Bail.
The place I found it a bit lacking, which is shocking because normally I love her, was actually Kathryn Newton‘s character, Faith. To me; the stakes for her didn’t feel as heightened as they should have been. There was almost an apathy to certain situations that felt out of place against such incredible intensity from Samara Weaving. There’s a way to play the cynical and frustrated sibling without losing the power of the circumstance the character is living through. There were times where it almost felt like she didn’t care that she could die at any minute, and couldn’t keep up with the strength of the performances around her.
The ending of this one did take me by surprise. I won’t spoil anything, but it is not what I expected. There’s also a dress that’s worn by Grace that has literally become one of my Roman Empires. I have not stopped thinking about that dress since I saw it. I need it, and if I have to attach myself to Titus Danforth to get it I’ll gladly accept my fate.
If you enjoyed the first film and you like a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously while still being action packed and gory with a great ensemble cast, you’ll have a good time with this one.
Don’t forget to check out the previous entries and be sure to return as we kick off the top 5!
Ashlyn Anarchy
