Shudder Unveils Massive 2026 ‘Season of Screams’ Lineup

Shudder is stretching spooky season across four months with weekly premieres, returning favorites, live watch parties and a brand-new Ghoul Log.

Shudder is not waiting until October to begin spooky season. The horror-focused streaming service has officially announced its 2026 Season of Screams lineup, a four-month celebration packed with new movies, returning series, live watch parties and enough found footage to keep the lights on through New Year's Eve.

The event begins September 1 and runs through December 31. Shudder plans to release a new premiere every Friday through the end of the year, while also adding familiar favorites including Psycho, Psycho II, Psycho III, Psycho IV: The Beginning, Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious: Chapter 3 and Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Halloween Starts Early on Shudder

Rather than treating Halloween like a single weekend, Shudder is turning the final four months of 2026 into one long horror marathon. September begins with Parasomnia on September 4, following a young woman whose night terrors may be crossing into the real world.

Mārama arrives September 11 with the story of a young Māori woman confronting the horrors of her colonial family history in Victorian England. Goody Goody follows on September 18, trapping expecting parents and their midwife inside a home during a blizzard as a difficult birth takes a sinister turn.

Bloody Tennis closes out September on the 25th. The body-horror thriller takes place inside an elite European tennis academy where competition becomes increasingly brutal and the school appears to be hiding something much darker.

The Creep Tapes and V/H/S Are Coming Back

The Creep Tapes returns for Season 3 with a two-episode premiere on September 15. Mark Duplass is back as the socially uncomfortable and deeply dangerous killer at the center of the Creep franchise, with Patrick Brice again serving as writer and executive producer alongside Duplass.

The new season will feature appearances from Kate Siegel, Nic Hamilton, Elliott Fullam and Ora Duplass. Shudder has not revealed every surprise waiting inside the new tapes, but the series' mix of awkward humor and slow-building dread remains one of the strangest corners of modern found-footage horror.

Then, on October 9, V/H/S/Mixtape becomes the ninth movie in the long-running anthology franchise. This installment uses music, rhythm and sound as the connecting theme across new segments from Ernest Dickerson, RZA, David Moreau and Renee Zhan. Flying Lotus directs original music-video interludes, while GWAR will also make an appearance.

A Full October of New Horror Movies

October begins with Infirmary on October 2. The found-footage movie centers on bodycam video recovered after a guard disappears during his first night inside an abandoned psychiatric hospital.

Hallowarrior arrives October 16 with Milly Shapiro playing Pumpkin, the last girl on Earth after a humanity-ending plague. Her lonely Halloween ritual is interrupted when raiders led by Shannyn Sossamon arrive at her door, forcing her to fight through the night with candy, weapons and whatever else she can find.

The Cycle premieres October 23 and stars Deborah Ann Woll as an estranged daughter pulled into the disturbing mystery her father tried to take to his grave. Jeffrey Donovan also stars.

Big Baby follows on Devil's Night, October 30. The movie concerns a horror writer whose nightmares about a killer in a baby mask begin influencing his new script and possibly the real world. Spider One directs, with Cher serving as an executive producer.

Halloween itself brings Hunting Matthew Nichols, a mystery about a documentary filmmaker investigating her brother's disappearance on Vancouver Island two decades earlier.

Joe Bob, the Chainsaw Awards and Halloween Night

Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Girl return for Joe Bob's Halloween House Party, airing live October 23 before becoming available on demand October 25. The double-feature titles are being kept secret for now.

The 2026 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards will also stream live on October 25 with Devon Sawa hosting. Shudder will follow the ceremony with a Full Moon Fever triple feature of The Cycle, Dog Soldiers and Werewolves Within.

On Halloween night, Shudder TV will host a Trick or Treat watch party featuring Halloween from 1978, Late Night with the Devil and Deadstream. Other October events include a six-film V/H/S marathon, a found-footage double feature and a Maniacs in Masks watch party.

Even the Ghoul Log Is Getting Bigger

Curse of the Ghoul Logs begins streaming October 1. The annual alternative to a traditional holiday yule log comes from the filmmakers behind Hallowarrior and, for the first time, features multiple haunted pumpkins.

The four-month schedule will eventually stretch into holiday horror, although Shudder says additional programming for November and December will be announced later.

For horror fans, the best part of this lineup is the variety. There is found footage, body horror, supernatural terror, post-apocalyptic survival, classic franchises and enough live programming to make the season feel like an event instead of another list of movies quietly added to an app.

Shudder's 2026 Season of Screams begins September 1. The only real question is whether your watchlist can survive until December 31.