The Shock & Horror Report
A monthly deep dive into where horror is actually moving: which genres and sub-genres are compounding, which countries are shooting the most of it, and which effects houses are building the creatures behind it. Every figure below is counted from the 194 titles on the 2026 slate (released and announced) across 45 countries, compared against 2025 (290 titles). 2026 is a partial year. Grosses and bellwether picks ($2.65B reported worldwide so far) count only titles that have opened. The slate also includes announced titles that have not opened yet.
This month: Psychological leads the slate with 112 of the 194 2026 titles (58% share, -35% vs 2025, $2.01B reported) — bellwether Obsession. United States filed 105 titles (-30% year over year), mostly horror · thriller. On the craft side, Fractured FX is exposed to 118 slate titles worth $2.40B.
Trending genres
2026 titles vs 2025A title can carry more than one genre, so genre counts and grosses add up to more than the slate total.
58% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (54) · Thriller (24) · Horror · Mystery (22) · bellwether Obsession
20% of the slate · leading modes: Horror (11) · Horror · Mystery (8) · Horror · Thriller (7) · bellwether Obsession
18% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Comedy (24) · Comedy (11) · Thriller (7) · bellwether Send Help
17% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (12) · Science Fiction (7) · Horror (5) · bellwether Backrooms
15% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (13) · Horror · Action (10) · Thriller (7) · bellwether Resident Evil
13% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Science Fiction (10) · Science Fiction (10) · Horror · Mystery (5) · bellwether Backrooms
8% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (6) · Horror · Comedy (3) · Horror · Mystery (2) · bellwether Scream 7
7% of the slate · leading modes: Science Fiction (5) · Horror (4) · Horror · Mystery (3) · bellwether Backrooms
7% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (5) · Horror · Comedy (3) · Mystery (3) · bellwether Insidious: Out of the Further
5% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Comedy (4) · Thriller (2) · Horror · Thriller (2) · bellwether Evil Dead Burn
5% of the slate · leading modes: Horror (4) · Horror · Mystery (2) · Horror · Drama (1) · bellwether Backrooms
5% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (3) · Horror (2) · Horror · Drama (2) · bellwether Hokum
4% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (4) · Horror · Science Fiction (2) · Science Fiction (2) · bellwether Resident Evil
3% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (2) · Horror · Mystery (2) · Science Fiction (2) · bellwether Backrooms
3% of the slate · leading modes: Horror (1) · Horror · Comedy (1) · Horror · Thriller (1) · bellwether Hokum
2% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (1) · Horror · Crime (1) · Horror · Comedy (1) · bellwether Faces of Death
Sub-genre deep dive
the granular read from the slate| Sub-genre | Genres | Titles | 2025 | YoY | Gross | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horror · Thriller | PSYC FOLK SURV | 54 | 85 | -36% | $966.9M | COOLING |
| Horror · Comedy | COMH PSYC TECH | 24 | 25 | -4% | $109.0M | STEADY |
| Thriller | PSYC COMH TECH | 24 | 52 | -54% | $25.2M | COOLING |
| Horror · Mystery | PSYC COMH TECH | 22 | 42 | -48% | $833.3M | COOLING |
| Horror · Drama | PSYC COMH FOLK | 17 | 17 | +0% | — | STEADY |
| Mystery | PSYC COMH FOLK | 12 | 14 | -14% | $3.2M | COOLING |
| Comedy | PSYC COMH CRTR | 11 | 8 | +38% | $138.4M | ACCELERATING |
| Science Fiction | PSYC TECH CRTR | 10 | 8 | +25% | $564.3M | ACCELERATING |
| Horror · Science Fiction | TECH CRTR SURV | 10 | 21 | -52% | $412.4M | COOLING |
| Horror · Action | SURV PSYC CRTR | 10 | 19 | -47% | $86.8M | COOLING |
| Drama | TECH COMH PSYC | 7 | 19 | -63% | $3.0M | COOLING |
| Fantasy | PSYC SURV TECH | 5 | 15 | -67% | $50.7M | COOLING |
Locations
where 2026 horror is being madeDominant mode: Horror · Thriller. Bellwether: Obsession ($525.1 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Thriller. Bellwether: Obsession ($525.1 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Comedy. Bellwether: Ghost in the Cell ($106 thousand).
Dominant mode: Horror · Comedy. Bellwether: Backrooms ($400.6 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Thriller. Bellwether: The Strangers: Chapter 3 ($11.0 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Thriller. Bellwether: Leviticus ($8.5 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Thriller. Bellwether: Resident Evil ($384.5 million).
FX houses
who is building the creaturesLos Angeles, US · Character prosthetics for anthology horror TV
118 2026 titles in its lanes · $2.40B reported · e.g. Obsession, Backrooms, Resident Evil
Resets the creature brief every season — built for limited-series horror.
Glendale, US · Animatronic characters that carry dialogue
62 2026 titles in its lanes · $2.38B reported · e.g. Obsession, Backrooms, Resident Evil
Del Toro's creature shop; built the Demogorgon for Stranger Things.
Wellington, NZ · Practical creatures, prosthetics, miniatures
48 2026 titles in its lanes · $2.06B reported · e.g. Obsession, Backrooms, Resident Evil
Born in splatter — Braindead's blood rigs, now a full physical department.
Los Angeles, US · Studio-scale creature suits and animatronics
28 2026 titles in its lanes · $1.19B reported · e.g. Backrooms, Resident Evil, Scream 7
Suit performers inside the monster on the day — Alien, Tremors, The Thing.
Los Angeles, US · Gore, prosthetic makeup, creature suits
22 2026 titles in its lanes · $772.9M reported · e.g. Resident Evil, Scream 7, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
The reference shop for slasher and zombie prosthetics on a TV cadence.
Buckinghamshire, UK · Prosthetics, creature effects for UK productions
16 2026 titles in its lanes · $557.6M reported · e.g. Resident Evil, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Iron Lung
Fast-turn prosthetic pipeline feeding British folk and infection horror.
Method: genre, sub-genre and location counts are tallied directly from the release slate (194 titles on the 2026 slate (released and announced) vs 290 for 2025); gross figures and each row's bellwether title count only titles that have opened, and are the reported worldwide totals published for each, so genres carrying unreported indie titles will read light. 2026 is still filling in, which is why year-over-year counts skew negative this early. FX-house demand is scored from the slate volume, gross and growth of the lanes each shop works in. Want a genre, territory or shop added to the roster? Ask on the About page.