Horror fans are currently enjoying one of the most exciting years for the genre in recent memory. New filmmakers have been making their mark on the genre throughout 2026, starting with Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach‘s surprise hit Iron Lung in January, followed by fellow YouTubers Curry Barker and Kane Parsons in spring with cinematic breakthroughs Obsession and Backrooms that took theaters by storm. At the same time, favorites of the macabre, like Sam Raimi and up-and-comer Damian McCarthy, also returned with their new projects, Send Help and Hokum, and long-running franchises have been graced with new entries, from 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple to Insidious: Out of the Further. With so much to watch, there will be plenty to catch up on or revisit when spooky season begins next month.
Paramount+ is already preparing for the occasion with the return of its annual Peak Screaming collection. This year, the streaming service isn’t waiting until the leaves turn, announcing today all the terrifying titles that will be available throughout September and October for subscribers looking for a scare. It’s already the home to some major horror staples, including the Scream, A Quiet Place, Paranormal Activity, Pet Sematary, and Scary Movie franchises, but the event will also feature other goodies throughout the season. Kicking things off today is the arrival of the recent Scary Movie revival and its extended cut, bringing back the Wayans Brothers with new horror parodies from Sinners to Ma and Weapons.
Peak Screaming’s return also coincides with the return of serial killer Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) for Dexter: Resurrection Season 2. Premiering in October, the series will see Dexter picking up where he left off after dispatching with Prater’s (Peter Dinklage) murder club. He’s not just caught between two terrifying serial killers, but also his own midlife crisis, all while his son, Harrison (Jack Alcott), continues his own campaign of justice. For this chapter, Hall will be joined by some big new names, including Dan Stevens, Brian Cox, Nona Parker Johnson, and Bokeem Woodbine, as well as some prominent returning ones like Uma Thurman and Krysten Ritter as Lady Vengeance.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
Paramount+ Reveals All the Movies Streaming in Time for Halloween
Michael C. Hall as Dexter walking in New York with Jack Alcott as Harrison in Dexter: ResurrectionImage via Paramount+
Dracula looking goofy at Mavis, Johnny and their son in Hotel Transylvania 2Image via Sony Pictures Animation
“Bring Your Daughter to Work Day” – Trevor finds a way to spend more time with his newly discovered daughter, Abby (Gideon Adlon), by getting her at job at Jay’s restaurant, on GHOSTS, Thursday, Nov. 6 (8:31-9:01 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on-demand for Paramount+ Premium plan subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after
Image via Bertrand Calmeau/CBS
The beginning of September already brought a wealth of horror titles to Paramount+, including the aforementioned Pet Sematary films, several Stephen King titles, and other classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Event Horizon, and Seven. October, however, has a few more heavy hitters for all ages coming at the beginning of the month. Mike Flanagan‘s acclaimed King adaptation and The Shining follow-up, Doctor Sleep, will join the streamer’s library, alongside the modern classic It Follows, David Cronenberg‘s body horror hit Crimes of the Future, and Bong Joon-Ho‘s historic Best Picture winner, Parasite, among others. For younger audiences, the first two Hotel Transylvania films will also be available to get in on the spooky fun.
Finally, on the more comedic end, CBS will have not one, but two more spooky contributions to the Paramount+ lineup with the new Ghosts two-part Halloween special and the premiere of Eternally Yours from the creators behind the paranormal hit comedy. While the former is shifting mostly to mid-season for Season 6, the return to Woodstone Manor for the spooky holiday on October 29 will pick up from Season 5’s cliffhanger that saw Pete (Richie Moriarty) fully disappear after a mission across the pond to save the bed and breakfast. Eternally Yours will help fill the gap on Thursdays starting on October 8, centering on couple Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards), the heads of a coven of vampires who are struggling to accept their daughter’s new human boyfriend while wrestling with the loss of passion in their own relationship after over 500 years together.
Paramount+’s Peak Screaming collection is now available and will have plenty more spooky titles to add once the calendar flips over to October. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on everything coming to the streamer throughout the season.
Image via Paramount Pictures
