Our Most Anticipated Horror Movies at the Cannes Film Festival
From Her Private Hell to Ken Russell’s The Devils
by Alex Kaan 8 May 2026
A24
With a queer slasher, a modern-day giallo, and an epic sci-fi thriller all set to be unveiled, the Cannes Film Festival is returning with a stellar selection of horror films.
The line-up features new films from Nicolas Winding Refn (The Neon Demon), Na Hong-jin (The Wailing), Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), and Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan), with stars like Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), Maika Monroe (Longlegs), Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets), and Monica Bellucci (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) all returning to the genre. Meanwhile, the elusive director’s cut of Ken Russell’s The Devils, one of the most controversial films of all time, is finally getting a public release and a 4K restoration.
From Colony to Victorian Psycho, these are the genre films we can’t wait to see.
Victorian Psycho
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
Adapted from Virginia Feito’s novel of the same name (billed as Jane Eyre meets American Psycho), the film follows a governess (Maika Monroe) who arrives at a remote manor, where staff members begin to inexplicably disappear in this wintry Gothic horror story.
Her Private Hell
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
Nicolas Winding Refn’s (The Neon Demon) first film in a decade begins in a future metropolis where actresses have gathered at a luxurious hotel to shoot a Barbarella-esque film, while a killer known as Leather Man is targeting women across the city. Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) and Charles Melton (Beef) star.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
Billed by writer-director Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) as “Portrait of a Lady on Fire set in a Friday the 13th sequel”, the queer horror film follows a young director (Hannah Einbinder) rebooting a beloved slasher franchise who becomes obsessed with the original movie’s Final Girl (Gillian Anderson).
Colony
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho is returning to the zombie subgenre with this film about a biotech conference sent into chaos by the outbreak of a rapidly mutating virus. Jun Ji-hyun and Koo Kyo-hwan star.
Ken Russell’s The Devils (4K Director’s Cut)
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
One of the most controversial and censored films of all time, this 1971 horror drama follows a sexually repressed nun (Vanessa Redgrave) who incites a witchcraft trial in a 17th-century Catholic Church. Warner Bros. Clockwork is finally releasing a 114-minute 4K version billed as “The Director’s Cut”.
Hope
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
10 years after his critically acclaimed last film—supernatural horror The Wailing—premiered at Cannes, Na Hong-jin returns with a sci-fi thriller about a remote harbour village plagued by a terrifying mystery involving a strange beast. The cast includes Jung Ho-yeon (Squid Game), Taylor Russell (Bones and All), and Michael Fassbender (Prometheus).
Karma
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
When a woman with a troubled past (Marion Cotillard) becomes a suspect in her six-year-old godson’s mysterious disappearance, she flees to France to hide in the religious community she grew up in. Convinced she cannot possibly be guilty, her partner tries to find her before the police do in this psychological thriller.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
The recipient of the longest standing ovation in the festival’s history (22 minutes), Guillermo del Toro’s horror fairytale returns to Cannes for its 20th anniversary with a 4K restoration overseen by the Mexican director.
Roma Elastica
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
Known for his gory, gender-bending genre films, non-binary director Bertrand Mandico returns with this 1980s-set midnight movie about an actress (Marion Cotillard) shooting a futuristic sci-fi film in Rome—a film which may well be her last.
Sanguine
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
In this French body horror film, a young intern (Mara Taquin) at the most competitive ER in the country begins seeing unusual symptoms in multiple patients her age—before her own body starts to undergo disturbing changes. Oscar-winning SFX artist Pierre-Olivier Persin (The Substance) is handling the prosthetic design.
The Birthday Party
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
Thomas (Bastien Bouillon), Nora (Hafsia Herzi), and their daughter, Ida (Tawba El Gharchi), live on a remote marshland, with only their neighbour (Monica Bellucci) to keep them company. But on the night that the two households throw a surprise party for Nora, a series of strange disturbances leads to a home invasion thriller.