Frightening Strikes

Hokum is a tense supernatural mystery rooted in Irish folklore, blending gothic horror with murder-mystery intrigue. Set mainly within the Bilberry Hotel, the film follows Ohm Bowden, a successful novelist returning to Ireland to scatter the ashes of his late parents at the place where they honeymooned years before. What begins as a personal pilgrimage spirals into something far darker, tied to the legend of a witch imprisoned within the hotel’s honeymoon suite. The Weight of Unresolved Grief Ohm isn’t an easy man to warm to. Abrasive and emotionally guarded, he manages to alienate most of the hotel staff soon after his arrival. But the harsh exterior masks the weight of unresolved grief — a secret he’s carried for far too long — and it gives the character a sharp, uneasy edge. Fiona, one of the hotel employees, is the only person willing to challenge his cynicism, and the brief connection between the pair gives the film an emotional focal point. When Fiona later intervenes during a d...

Undertone is a supernatural psychological horror film that   centres on Evy, a young woman with a troubled past, now living back at home and caring for her terminally ill mother. To cope with the isolation, she co-hosts the titular podcast with Justin, a London-based collaborator we never see: Evy plays the sceptic, Justin the believer, as they dissect urban legends and creepypasta stories. A Strange Email with a Cryptic Message The film opens as they prepare to record a new episode. Justin reveals he has received a strange email containing a cryptic message and a set of audio files - files he unwisely opens. After sampling one, he saves the rest for the recording, allowing both hosts to experience them in real time. What begins as natural curiosity soon develops into something far more sinister. The audio narrative starts innocently enough: a man records his partner while she sleeps because she doesn’t believe she talks in her sleep. But as the content unfolds, increasingly distur...

As the weather warms and the evenings grow lighter, those cosy nights spent with something dark and unsettling start to feel a little rarer. Still, May looks set to be a solid month for horror fans, with a line-up that covers a wide range of the genre. The month’s releases range from supernatural horror and psychological chillers to creature features, offering a mix of intense genre thrills with slower, mood-driven stories. Whatever your preference, there’s a good spread of titles arriving throughout the month. Here’s a look at what the horror films in May have in store. Hokum A reclusive novelist travels to a remote Irish hotel to scatter his parents’ ashes, hoping for solitude and closure. Instead, he finds himself drawn into the hotel’s unsettling atmosphere, where staff whisper of an ancient witch said to haunt a long-sealed honeymoon suite. As disturbing visions take hold and a sudden disappearance deepens the mystery, his grief begins to intertwine with something far more s...

Black Phone 2 shifts the focus away from Finn and places Gwen at the centre of the story, leaning further into the supernatural elements hinted at in the first film. The sequel explores how both siblings continue to deal with the aftermath of their ordeal while introducing a renewed threat as The Grabber returns for revenge — forcing them to confront the killer once more and revealing deeper, darker connections to their family’s past. Life After Survival The story resumes four years after the original. Finn and Gwen are older and changed by what happened to them. Finn has become a rather angry young man, clearly still struggling to process his trauma. Gwen, on the other hand, is moving into adolescence and beginning to look outward — including a growing interest in Ernesto, the brother of Robin and one of The Grabber’s victims. The siblings are as close as ever, but Finn is trapped in the prison of his trauma, unable to talk about his experiences. As Gwen tries to help him through it,...

February is shaping up to be a busier month for horror releases than either January’s cautious trickle or December’s end-of-year slowdown. After a quiet start to the year, February welcomes a slew of new titles spanning studio sequels, indie thrillers, and high-concept supernatural stories. To make sense of the congestion, I’ve split this month’s releases into two groups. The "Looking Good" titles are the films currently generating the most attention — whether through trailers, familiar franchises, or early word of mouth — while "Hmm, Not So Sure" gathers projects that may still surprise, but are arriving with fewer indicators to a standout debut. It’s not a verdict, just a way of navigating a crowded release slate. Looking Good The Morrigan   When Fiona, an American archaeologist, travels to rural Ireland to excavate an ancient burial site, the dig unleashes an ancient force tied to Celtic mythology — The Morrigan, a vengeful war goddess bound to blood, prophecy,...

Bring Her Back is a dark psychological horror that peers into the abyss of grief and the dangerous lengths we might go to in order to ease it. What begins as an intense study of loss gradually morphs into something far more disturbing, unfolding with a confidence that set it apart from more formula-driven genre entries. An Unconventional Presence Andy and Piper are step-siblings reeling from the sudden death of their father at home. With Andy just three months shy of legal adulthood, the pair are placed into foster care rather than being allowed to remain together independently. Their new guardian is Laura, an experienced social worker and counsellor who initially only wants to take in the younger, visually impaired Piper. She reluctantly agrees to accept Andy as well, on the condition that he maintains good behaviour. At first, Laura appears to be an unconventional but caring presence. Her eccentricities are easy to dismiss as quirky, and her background suggests she is equipped to sup...

  Introduction January may not be overflowing with horror releases, but the few films hitting screens this month show plenty of promise. From psychological thrillers and survival horrors to creature features and supernatural tales, the lineup offers a strong mix of tension, atmosphere, and character-driven scares. While the selection is modest, each title has something distinctive to offer — whether it’s a chilling return to a classic franchise, a fresh take on folk or cosmic horror, or a tightly wound survival nightmare. Here’s a look at what horror fans can expect this month. We Bury the Dead   In the aftermath of a sudden global collapse, a small civilian task force is assigned to recover bodies from a quarantined zone. What begins as a grim logistical operation soon turns nightmarish when signs emerge that the dead are not staying buried. As isolation deepens and trust erodes, the team must confront a horrifying truth about what remains of humanity — and what is rising to ...

Good Boy begins with a quietly unsettling image: Indy, the titular good boy, watching over his owner Todd, who lies unconscious with blood trickling from his mouth. Flickering lights and static from the TV unsettle Indy, who senses that something isn’t quite right. Todd’s sister, Vera, arrives just in time to call an ambulance, but the strangeness of the moment lingers. The Bond Between Man and Dog The film then shifts into a montage of Indy growing up alongside Todd—a warm glimpse into their bond that lays the foundation for everything that follows. It’s this connection, communicated almost entirely through behaviour rather than dialogue, that becomes the emotional core of the film. Once Todd is discharged from hospital, he insists on retreating to their late grandfather’s isolated countryside home, hoping the change of scenery will restore some sense of normality. Vera warns him against it, worried about his health and uneasy about the house, which she describes as “creepy” and poss...

December’s horror slate is a bit thin this year, but there are still a couple of standouts worth keeping an eye on. As the festive season kicks in, audiences can expect a mix of yuletide terror and chilling thrills — from blood‑soaked holiday mayhem to tense, atmospheric scares. While the selection isn’t as packed as other months, these releases (including t wo sequels and a re-make)  promise to inject a little seasonal fear into your Christmas celebrations, proving that even the most cheerful time of year isn’t safe from horror. Wishing you a joyful Christmas and a happy New Year. Troll 2   When a massive new troll awakens in the depths of the Norwegian wilderness, it triggers a wave of destruction that plunges the country into crisis. Paleontologist Nora Tidemann is pulled back into the fray, joining seasoned troll-hunter Kristoffer “Kris” Holm to uncover what sparked the awakening — and how to stop this force of nature. As it grows more dangerous, the team must confront ...

Before I Wake opens with a tense, unsettling scene that immediately establishes the stakes. A distraught man enters a child’s bedroom with a gun, seemingly moments away from shooting the sleeping boy, only to be interrupted at the last moment. It’s an arresting start that sets up the film’s blend of mystery and emotional unease. Rebuilding Lives We then shift to Jess and Mark, a married couple dealing with unimaginable grief after the accidental death of their young son. Hoping to rebuild their lives, they decide to foster a child. Their first placement is Cody, an eight-year-old boy whose background is patchy at best: his mother died when he was three, and both of his previous foster placements ended with the unexplained disappearance of one or both guardians. Jess attends a support group in an effort to work through her grief, while Mark prefers to manage his privately, but the couple seem united in their desire to provide Cody with stability and regain a sense of normality for all ...

After waking up in the basement of an unfamiliar apartment building, Joni begins searching for her missing sister, Emily. Along the way, various tenants warn her that she isn’t supposed to be there, and she’s pursued by a menacing, shadowy figure. Her curious arrival — and the search that follows — takes her through the building floor by floor, with each level introducing a new tenant and a new horror. As she ascends, she’s exposed to the frailties, fears, and insecurities of its inhabitants . A Wraparound Journey Tenants is a horror anthology that uses Joni’s journey as a wraparound narrative, linking seven stories about people undone by their personal demons. The segments vary in tone, mixing emotional drama, dark comedy, and supernatural elements. Among them are “Acting Rash,” in which a struggling actress’s vanity takes a grotesque turn; “Hoarder,” centred on grief and self-imprisonment; “Do You Need Something,” a twisted, funny tale of domestic irritation between roommates tha...

Part mockumentary, part found footage, and part traditional horror, Shelby Oaks follows Mia, whose sister Riley went missing twelve years earlier while investigating an alleged haunting with her vlogging team. The film opens with clips from Riley’s YouTube channel, The Paranormal Paranoids, where she and her team explore derelict locations, including the now-infamous town of Shelby Oaks. When they vanish during one of their investigations, the footage sets off a disturbing and increasingly frantic search for the truth. A Shocking Event Mia has never stopped searching for her sister, and when she’s interviewed for a new documentary on the subject, the renewed attention reignites her determination to get to the root of the mystery once and for all. After a stranger arrives at her home, a shocking incident leads to the discovery of a Shelby Oaks tape, featuring the last recordings of the Paranormal Paranoids. Mia decides to withhold this from the police (plausibly, in my view) and starts...

Directed and co-written by real-life content creator Kris Collins (KallMeKris) and co-starring her frequent collaborator Celina Myers (CelinaSpookyBoo), House on Eden follows a group of paranormal vloggers chasing the next big scare — only to find themselves in the middle of one. Mixing humour, tension, and creeping dread, the film uses its found-footage format to explore that uneasy space between performance and genuine fear. An Unexpected Detour We meet the team en route to film new content at a cemetery. Unknown to Celina and Jay, Kris has discovered a supposedly haunted house nearby and, since she’s behind the wheel, they realise too late that she’s made a detour. The property’s allure lies in its obscurity — few have heard of it, let alone visited. A quick call to real-life paranormal investigators Sam and Colby confirms that even they don’t know the place, which seals the group’s decision to explore. When they arrive, the house is immaculate yet inexplicably unlocked. They begin...