For the past couple of years, I have felt a lot of the new movies from the horror genre missed the mark for me, whether it be plot-wise, originality, or disappointing characters. However, 2026 was the year for some of the best horror movies I have seen yet. They served us creative twists, unique character development, and have finally moved away from endless sequels (no offense Scream). As I continued to watch some of this summer’s horror movies come out, I realized most, if not all, addressed certain social issues.Â
For this article, I will be focusing on Send Help, Obsession, and Leviticus which all came out in theaters in the US this year.
Send Help is directed by Sam Raimi and stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. The main protagonist, Linda Liddle, has worked her way up to the boss’s confidant at her company and has been soon promised a promotion to CEO since her boss is retiring. However, the boss’s son (Dylan O’Brien) actually takes the spot and tries to demote Linda. Then, the roles get reversed when they end up in a plane crash that was supposed to be on the way to a meeting with an international company. She uses her intellect (and her outdoor knowledge) to not only taunt the boss’s son but completely overpower him and show that he is only powerful through the construct of the office hierarchy.Â
Linda, while under the son’s rule as CEO, is belittled by her boss making jokes at her expense in meetings, demoting her to a smaller position, and trying to remind her that she is less than. This happens to women all the time in the workplace, where men think women are not as intelligent as men just because they are women. This movie does a great job of exploring that premise and is a great watch.Â
Now, moving on to one of the top horror movies from this summer: Obsession, starring Inde Navarrette (Nikki) and Michael Johnston (Bear). Bear works at a music shop and has a huge crush on his coworker Nikki. Although, he feels that she would never go out with him voluntarily because they have been friends for so long. So, he uses a wishing willow (a supposedly powerful wish summoner) to wish that “she loves him more than anything in the world”. The next day, Nikki seems to have a spell cast upon her and is into Bear. As the movie progresses, we see Nikki try to battle with this spell that the wishing willow seems to put upon her.Â
This movie explores the male loneliness epidemic, the phenomenon where men feel increasingly lonely or sad. This effect has been known to decrease someone’s self esteem which can change the way people think they can interact or be with others. These men get in relationships and want to back out because it is not exactly what they want. Like when Bear gets scared because of how attached Nikki has been, but this is exactly what he wished for. Even when he figured out that there was a “spell” controlling Nikki to want a relationship with him, he did not care and asked why it was “so painful” to be with him. Why was that not what the real Nikki wanted? Bear would have been fine with going on with their relationship until it started to affect him and stopped boosting his self esteem. I honestly cannot recommend this movie enough and encourage you to watch it.Â
Lastly, I am going to talk about one of my favorite horror movies from this year, Leviticus. The movie stars Stacy Clauson (Ryan) and Joe Bird (Naim)as two gay teenagers in a small conservative town. As they start to develop feelings for each other, a mysterious priest gets called into town by their family members who suspect that they may be more than just friends. They bring both boys to a ritual with the pastor which causes them to see a ferocious spirit that takes the form of who they love most: each other.Â
The film mainly addresses the internal homophobia that people in the LGBTQ+ community can have from oppressive environments or super conservative backgrounds. The two entities that take the form of Ryan and Naim start to make them resent each other. They make them feel as though they are the problem because their loved ones and community see their pairing as unnatural. This creates a fear between both of them when they see each other, but are unsure if it is the “real” person or the spirit version. It also leaves them feeling very isolated and unsure of who to turn to for help, and cuts a sharp divide between both of them. While people in the LGBTQ community do not fight against physical demons, they fight their own silent battles every day and may have to do so completely alone.Â
Overall, all three films (again, in my opinion) were great due to their clear character stories, chilling scenes, and how they delicately deal with current social issues that people face daily. So, if you are looking for a film to throw on this spooky season, I would highly recommend one of these.