Our Most Anticipated Horror Movies at Sundance 2026
From a buzzy A24 podcast-centred thriller to a timely body horror parable, it’s an exciting time for the genre in Park City
by Alex Secilmis 21 January 2026
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Ready to be chilled by more than just the weather, we’re jetting off to Utah to cover cinema’s most celebrated independent film festival. The 42nd edition of Sundance is a landmark event, the last to be held in its longtime home of Park City and the first since the passing of founder Robert Redford. And with its storied Midnight section, we’re hoping it will deliver audiences another all-time-great horror film.
In just the past three years, Sundance has been a home to indie horror hits like Talk to Me, I Saw the TV Glow, and Together. Looking further back, modern classics American Psycho, The Blair Witch Project, and Hereditary have all premiered at the festival. From the Midnight section to some starry horror-adjacent films, these are the movies we’re most anxious to see.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Leviticus
Two cursed teenage boys must face a malevolent being that assumes the form of the person they desire most: each other. Described by Aussie director Adrian Chiarella as a “sexy, scary, queer love story”, Leviticus stars Talk to Me’s Joe Bird alongside Stacy Clausen and Mia Wasikowska.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
undertone
Already tapped for a March 13th release from A24, undertone centres on a skeptic paranormal podcast host (Nina Kiri). When her believer co-host Justin (Adam DiMarco) passes on 10 disturbing audio files sent in by an anonymous email, she starts to find unwelcome parallels between the recordings and her own life.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
The Gallerist
Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega try to sell a dead body at Art Basel Miami in this star-studded morbid comedy thriller from Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan. A biting satire of the art world, complete with a corpse courtesy of The Substance SFX artist Pierre-Olivier Persin, The Gallerist also features Zach Galifianakis, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Charli XCX.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Saccharine
Returning to Sundance after her psychological thriller Relic charmed critics in 2020, Australian-American writer-director Natalie Erika James turns her skills to body horror. When Hana (Midori Francis) partakes in a bizarre weight-loss craze involving the consumption of human ashes, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of the poor soul she swallowed. Saccharine was just acquired yesterday (20th January) by IFC and Shudder.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Buddy
Details about the latest from director Casper Kelly have been kept securely under wraps. All we have is a blunt logline (“A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids televisions show”) and a stacked cast (Cristin Milioti, Michael Shannon, Topher Grace, Patton Oswalt, and Keegan-Michael Key).
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Rock Springs
After her father dies, a young girl (Aria Kim) moves into a remote house with her mother (Kelly Marie Tran) and grandmother (Fiona Fu). The catch? There’s something lurking in the woods. Also starring Benedict Wong and Jimmy O. Yang, writer-director Vera Miao’s debut is a horror film rooted in the inherited trauma of diasporic communities.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
I Want Your Sex
12 years since his last feature film, indie queer auteur Gregg Araki is giving us an erotic thriller. When 20-something Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) is hired by artist and provocateur Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), she makes him into her sexual muse. Expect kink, murder, and plenty of the spunky, spirited filmmaking demanded by an Araki film.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Night Nurse
Another thriller centred on sexual obsession, Georgia Bernstein’s first feature follows Eleni (Cemre Paksoy), a new nurse at a luxury retirement community. As she starts to notice something is decidedly off at the centre, she becomes entangled with a mysterious patient.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Saw (Park City Legacy)
The nail-biting horror classic that launched the careers of James Wan and Leigh Whannell—filmmakers would go on to further change the face of the genre with the Insidious and The Conjuring franchises— returns to Park City with a director-approved digital restoration.