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 192 titles on the 2026 slate (released and announced) across 39 countries, compared against 2025 (294 titles). 2026 is a partial year. Grosses and bellwether picks ($2.19B 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 109 of the 192 2026 titles (57% share, -39% vs 2025, $1.93B reported) — bellwether Obsession. United States filed 103 titles (-32% year over year), mostly horror · thriller. On the craft side, Fractured FX is exposed to 114 slate titles worth $2.04B.
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.
57% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (53) · Thriller (24) · Horror · Mystery (20) · bellwether Obsession
21% of the slate · leading modes: Horror (11) · Horror · Thriller (9) · Horror · Mystery (9) · bellwether Obsession
18% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Comedy (24) · Comedy (9) · Thriller (6) · bellwether Send Help
18% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (15) · Science Fiction (7) · Horror (4) · bellwether Backrooms
16% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (12) · Horror · Action (10) · Thriller (8) · bellwether Resident Evil
14% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Science Fiction (13) · Science Fiction (10) · Thriller (5) · bellwether Backrooms
8% of the slate · leading modes: Science Fiction (6) · Horror (4) · Horror · Thriller (3) · bellwether Backrooms
7% of the slate · leading modes: Thriller (4) · Horror · Thriller (3) · Horror · Crime (3) · bellwether Scream 7
7% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (5) · Horror · Comedy (3) · Mystery (3) · bellwether Insidious: Out of the Further
6% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (4) · Horror · Mystery (3) · Horror (3) · bellwether Backrooms
6% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (3) · Thriller (3) · Horror (2) · bellwether Hokum
5% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Comedy (4) · Thriller (3) · Horror · Thriller (2) · bellwether Iron Lung
4% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (3) · Horror · Science Fiction (2) · Science Fiction (2) · bellwether Resident Evil
4% of the slate · leading modes: Horror (2) · Horror · Mystery (2) · Horror · Thriller (2) · bellwether Hokum
3% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Thriller (2) · Horror · Mystery (2) · Science Fiction (2) · bellwether Backrooms
1% of the slate · leading modes: Horror · Crime (1) · Horror · Comedy (1) · Action (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 CRTR FOLK | 53 | 90 | -41% | $971.0M | COOLING |
| Horror · Comedy | COMH BODY SUPR | 24 | 24 | +0% | $124.8M | STEADY |
| Thriller | PSYC COMH SLSH | 24 | 54 | -56% | $40.3M | COOLING |
| Horror · Mystery | PSYC GOTH TECH | 20 | 40 | -50% | $835.1M | COOLING |
| Horror · Science Fiction | TECH CRTR SURV | 13 | 23 | -43% | $137.1M | COOLING |
| Mystery | PSYC BODY SUPR | 11 | 16 | -31% | $3.2M | COOLING |
| Horror · Drama | PSYC COMH FOLK | 11 | 17 | -35% | — | COOLING |
| Science Fiction | BODY PSYC CRTR | 10 | 9 | +11% | $513.1M | ACCELERATING |
| Horror · Action | SURV COMH SLSH | 10 | 20 | -50% | $33.7M | COOLING |
| Comedy | PSYC COMH SURV | 9 | 9 | +0% | $119.3M | STEADY |
| Fantasy | PSYC TECH SLSH | 6 | 18 | -67% | $69.7M | COOLING |
| Action | CRTR TECH SURV | 6 | 18 | -67% | $21.0M | COOLING |
Locations
where 2026 horror is being madeDominant mode: Horror · Thriller. Bellwether: Obsession ($516.8 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Thriller. Bellwether: Obsession ($516.8 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Comedy. Bellwether: Backrooms ($402.5 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 · Adventure. Bellwether: Resident Evil ($108.5 million).
Dominant mode: Horror · Science Fiction. Bellwether: Return to Silent Hill ($48.0 million).
Dominant mode: Thriller. Bellwether: Salmokji: Whispering Water ($17.4 million).
FX houses
who is building the creaturesLos Angeles, US · Character prosthetics for anthology horror TV
114 2026 titles in its lanes · $2.04B reported · e.g. Obsession, Backrooms, Scream 7
Resets the creature brief every season — built for limited-series horror.
Glendale, US · Animatronic characters that carry dialogue
65 2026 titles in its lanes · $1.94B reported · e.g. Obsession, Backrooms, Scream 7
Del Toro's creature shop; built the Demogorgon for Stranger Things.
Wellington, NZ · Practical creatures, prosthetics, miniatures
50 2026 titles in its lanes · $1.66B reported · e.g. Obsession, Backrooms, Insidious: Out of the Further
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 · $866.7M reported · e.g. Backrooms, Scream 7, Resident Evil
Suit performers inside the monster on the day — Alien, Tremors, The Thing.
Los Angeles, US · Gore, prosthetic makeup, creature suits
21 2026 titles in its lanes · $491.8M reported · e.g. Scream 7, Resident Evil, 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
18 2026 titles in its lanes · $281.7M 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 (192 titles on the 2026 slate (released and announced) vs 294 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.