Will “Passenger” and “Backrooms” carry the momentum May 2026 has had so far into one of the best months for the genre in recent memory.
With two amazing movies already out and getting great fan reactions critically and within the horror community as a whole (“Hoakum” and “Obsession”) May 2026 has already been a delightful month for fans of the genre… especially for one outside the traditional window for horror films (late September and October). Both films have really had massive amounts of great fan reactions, critical success, word of mouth, and even commercial success.
But this month isn’t over… there are still a couple wide releases this month that still are to be released.. the first of which, coming out this week is “Passenger” from Andre Øvredal (The Autopsy of Jane Doe/Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark/Last Voyage the Demeter), and “Backrooms” the directorial debut of Kane Parsons. If these two films can maintain the stride set by “Hoakum” and “Obsession” are we looking at one of the best individual months for the genre in a good while?
“Backrooms” is already receiving a good amount of hype and attention, has had mostly positive reactions from early press screenings..and is already setting high expectations for itself and does seem like it will be up to the task of holdup its end of the bargain in keeping the May momentum rolling.
The biggest question mark is “Passenger” out this week. As of today there have been no early screenings or press initial reactions that I’m aware of. The review embargo has yet to be lifted only a couple of days before preview night… generally not a good sign. But, IMO I think director Andre Øvredal has earned a bit of the benefit of the doubt. While nothing he’s done recently has lived up to “Autopsy of Jane Doe” both Scary Stories and Demeter were pretty solid. And if “Passenger” can at least live up to his recent output it wouldn’t be a blight on this month for horror. I’m kinda looking forward to it.
Now I’m mostly looking at critical and fan reactions to these upcoming films…. But if you want to look at box office success that’s worth noting. I think, especially going into the deep end of the summer movie season both these films are going against a strong current… but if there good enough there’s no reason to think they can’t turn a profit either.